The Highlights Of Our Fun And Informative Metro Chats On Kumu Interview With Divine Lee-Go

Quarantine hasn't stopped Divine—a mom, celebrity, influencer, and entrepreneur—from working at full-speed! In fact, she might just be at her busiest yet these days as she's been able to concentrate on two of her favorite ventures: a clothing line for children and another that focuses on lounge wear. Both businesses were born out of her own needs and fulfilling a market void: the clothing line came from Divine wanting to get her firstborn, Baz, specifically European-style clothes that she couldn't find in Manila. As for her lounge wear venture, that came about with her experiencing a problem most women faced during the beginning of the quarantine: "Naubusan ako ng pambahay!" she laughs.

She's enjoying transitioning from blogging to vlogging! Divine is embracing all these new avenues for personalities like her to expand their reach, and with her blogging background, she says it's been fun learning how to be creative with images and video clips other than just using her words. She's even on Kumu, and it's been a blast learning about the made-for-Pinoys community app. It's been one of her favorite ways to "meet" with friends and "hang out" despite COVID-related physical limitations.

Divine, her husband Blake, and their house help haven't stepped out of the condo since March 14, and yet they all tested positive for COVID-19 in July. They hadn't seen delivery personnel of any kind and literally had zero interactions with the outside world, save for deliveries. Her husband tested positive first (his first symptoms being a sore throat and a cough), and Divine followed (she was asymptomatic). Thankful for only being affected by a mild case of COVID-19, Divine says that the worst part of it all was isolating and being away from her two young children for two weeks, when they couldn't fully grasp the situation. The only explanation to Divine and Blake's diagnoses was that they were infected from surfaces or containers, which means extra precaution is truly necessary, no matter what!

She didn't tell her Manila-based family members about her diagnosis to save them from worrying about her (Divine and her family are based in Cebu, and it was Blake's family helping them through the experience). What she did was confide in her friends—Iza Calzado, first and foremost. The actress who survived a distressing COVID-19 ordeal gave Divine the best advice (including to stay calm!) and helped keep her feet on the ground. Fortunately, Divine's kids were kept safe from getting infected, too.

Having lived through a positive COVID-19 diagnosis, Divine took the liberty of explaining what to do if and when you or a family member you live with is found positive. It's all on her social media, she says, and it's important that people check it out because it provides information to the other side of the coin. Everyone has memorized standard health protocols for protecting yourself from infection, but what happens when you do get it, especially when you're a mild case? Her firsthand experience is meant to fill in that information void!

Even though she sounds like a broken record, Divine was firm in saying that our best defense against COVID-19 is self-care. Take your vitamins. Get enough sleep. Rest your mind. Get moving, one way or another, even if you're just at home. You can be as careful, vigilant, and "praning" as Divine and her family and yet still get infected (with Divine herself as a case in point!), but at the very bottom of it all is the amount of self-care you afford yourself. There's no getting away from it!

The best, best part of quarantine is seeing her children grow up, not just physically, but through their personalities, too! Divine was all laughs describing Baz, her baby boy, as "sutil" and sarcastic even at this age, while Blanca is the chillest, most low-maintenance, sweetest, no-cry baby she's ever encountered. It's been a joy for her and Blake to spend so much time with the kids and enjoy moments with their children that won't last forever (kids don't stay kids forever after all, as all parents know).

Seeing her kids grow up in front of her very eyes, she can't help but low-key worry if she's helping them reach their developmental milestones properly, the same way they would be if they were in school under the care of well-trained teachers. She's freaking out, she laughs, and she's definitely pressured by seeing all these Internet-famous moms master the art of homeschooling their kids and keeping them as productive as possible. It's a pain to keep her older son busy and his energy directed at the right things (he "Tarzan-ed" her curtains and destroyed them, for one thing), but all Divine is looking forward to now is when the kids are bigger, hopefully they grow up as happy, well-adjusted adults.

Time is quarantine's biggest blessing for Divine, especially when it comes to her family. There was a time when she would fly from Manila to Cebu, back and forth, four times in a week just so she could sleep next to her kids. These days, she's realized that time can be spent on the things that matter most (no more traffic, no more driving around, no more flights) and there were things about life, pre-pandemic, that were totally unnecessary. It's the most positive life change the pandemic has blessed her with.

Divine and Blake have been figuring out how to juggle married life and working from home while avoiding the "sawa" factor, she teases. Boundaries had to be set and fresh ways to bond (despite being together 24/7!) needed to be discovered, but it's been good, overall, for this couple. (Though for Blake, it definitely is still a challenge to get through a pre-bedtime master class initiated by Divine, instead of a carefree Netflix binge).

There are four things she's enjoying for me-time these days: dressing up for the heck of it (she wore a gown at home, for no reason at all), spending time on skincare (she took the time to do a facial peel while in isolation), adhering to a workout schedule (she has phone alarms for weights and cardio), and exploring homemaking (different plates and tablescapes to spruce up the home are the name of the game for her now!). Also, zero makeup days are now her new favorite days.