Max Macahilo: From journalist to pizza maker
By Carla N. Cañet
MEDIA practitioners are among those hardest-hit by the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic.
Usually, we serve as refuge of people who need help, but this time, help becomes necessary too for the fourth estate, not coming from the external sphere.
This time, the help that comes from within, meaning, one must need to help himself to survive the economic difficulties caused by the pandemic.
Max Macahilo, a former media practitioner, was not only hit by the pandemic but also by the media entity that temporarily closed down and later came back slowly in a mixed digital and traditional format.
Macahilo did not bother to wait to get help from others. Instead, he opted to help himself find means to earn a living.
It was his survival instinct that pushed him to innovate and did a diversion of his choice from being a journalist to a pizza maker.
The series of lockdowns and the health restrictions opened an opportunity for him to act on how he can make ends meet.
“When the lockdowns were really at their peak, I thought of something that I can make for a living. Selling pizza was one good option to try,” Macahilo recalled.
“First, I was thinking of rolling food carts in our town which we did until it ended up with putting up a simple pizza house within our residence in Murcia,” he said.
Now, Macahhilo has his own small pizza house named CeleroMax pizza where people come to dine and order take-outs.
They also take online orders, he said, adding that he is thankful that his hard work paid off.
Macahilo said it is a fallback from the economic difficulties that the pandemic has caused, affecting all cross-sections and communities.
While he still does his freelance work as a journalist, most of his time is spent in running his pizza business.
He said that not all negative situations are bad. “You just have to find the silver lining because we have corresponding favorable opportunities that go with it. It’s just a matter of finding it wholeheartedly.”
