Behind one of Cebu’s most established travel companies is a story that goes far beyond tourism. It is a story of choosing love, embracing authenticity, and proving that success is built not by fitting into society’s expectations, but by staying true to your own.
When I think about Pride, I think about diversity, equality, and inclusion.
Matt Poonin
General Manager for Destination Management Services of Travelite
There is a common belief that business and relationships should never mix. Too many emotions, too many disagreements, too many chances for things to fall apart. Tim Tio and Matt Poonin have spent years proving otherwise.
As the business owners of Travelite, they work side by side almost every day. They make business decisions together, lead a growing team together, and navigate the same challenges. But before any of those titles, they are simply partners who chose to build a life together.
From different worlds to a shared business
Before they became business partners, Tim and Matt came from very different worlds.
Matt grew up in Laguna in a family of five siblings. Their parents ran a garment business, and their fabric samples and baby clothes became their first creative playground. They would try on dresses in front of a mirror long before they understood what their identity meant.
Their parents were deeply religious and conservative. They eventually accepted that they were gay, but their family hoped Matt would become a professional instead. “There was a time when I even wanted to become a priest,” Matt recalled. They served as an altar server, sang in the choir, and passed the entrance exam for the seminary before realizing his calling was elsewhere. Their love for fashion, design, and events won out—influences he traces back to watching their mother study fashion design.
Photo courtesy of Tim and Matt
Tim’s upbringing was different. Coming from a traditional Chinese-Filipino family in Cebu meant growing up with clear expectations. As the eldest son, there was an unspoken responsibility to eventually help lead the family business and follow a conventional path. “There was this expectation that I’d eventually marry within the Chinese community,” Tim shared, describing how family traditions shaped many conversations they had to navigate as a couple.
Rather than letting those differences divide them, they learned to understand where each came from.
Running a business without losing the relationship
Their working styles are complete opposites. Matt describes them as “yin and yang.” “Tim is the quick thinker,” he said. “He’s naturally entrepreneurial because that’s how he was raised. He can immediately spot opportunities. I’m the opposite. My background is corporate, so I’m much more strategic. I study the market, calculate the risks, and make sure every decision is backed by research.”
Before putting up Travelite, Matt worked in the corporate world. Those experiences made them methodical and systems-oriented, qualities that now balance Tim’s instinctive, visionary approach.
Tim grew up around entrepreneurship. He is comfortable taking calculated leaps and seeing possibilities long before they become obvious. “We clash because we’re complete opposites,” Matt admitted. “But whenever our ideas finally meet, we make sure the decision benefits everyone — our employees, our clients, and the business.”
Photo courtesy of Tim and Matt
Instead of seeing differences as a problem, they treated it as a strength. That same openness shapes how they run Travelite. “We hire people because of what they can contribute, regardless of their age, family situation, disability, or whether they belong to the LGBTQ+ community,” Tim and Matt said.
For Cebuanos looking to start a business or join the workforce, this matters. It means opportunity comes down to what you can do and who you are as a person, not labels.
Their leadership styles reflect their personalities too. Matt is soft-spoken and approachable. Tim is more direct and decisive. “Our offices are even on different floors,” Matt joked. “He’s the stronger personality, while I’m more on the softer side. Somehow, that balance works.”
Money, surprisingly, has never been a conflict. “I never wanted people to think I was with him because of money,” Matt said. “I couldn’t contribute financially at first, so I contributed through my expertise in finance and marketing.”
That mindset became the foundation of both their relationship and their business: each contributes differently, but equally.
But, the hardest part of working together is not the love. It is the disagreements. “As much as possible, we talk things through,” Matt explained. “If we disagree about work, we deal with it at work. We don’t bring those disagreements home, and we don’t let them linger. We resolve them because no relationship is perfect.”
Choosing authenticity every day
As conversations around Pride continue to evolve, Matt believes the celebration has become much bigger than the LGBTQ+ community itself.
“When I think about Pride, I think about diversity, equality, and inclusion,” they said. “It is about respect, kindness, and allowing people to be who they are without immediately judging them. At the end of the day, everyone is different, and we simply have to learn to embrace that.”
Those beliefs came from years of traveling the world. Meeting different cultures taught them about identity. It also showed them that LGBTQ+ people still face discrimination in many countries. They felt anxious in some places, still learning that acceptance is not guaranteed everywhere.
Photo courtesy of Tim and Matt
But they also learned something powerful: authenticity often wins. They shared stories of working with deeply religious clients who initially made assumptions. Instead of defending themselves, Tim and Matt let their professionalism, knowledge, and respect speak first.
“People may know you only on the surface,” Matt reflected. “But once they truly get to know you, many of those assumptions disappear. Be authentic. Be real. If they don’t accept you at first, that’s okay. In many cases, love and understanding eventually win.”
The same mindset carried Travelite through one of the tourism industry’s darkest periods during the pandemic. When travel came to a standstill, they adapted, explored other businesses, protected their employees, and held on to the values that built the company in the first place: integrity, ethical leadership, and trust.
For aspiring entrepreneurs, especially members of the LGBTQ+ community, Tim and Matt keep it simple. “There will always be people who criticize you,” they said. “Focus instead on those who genuinely support you. If you love what you do, give it your all…stay professional, stay kind, and don’t let negativity define your path.” Perhaps, these are the values that keep a business, and a relationship, alive when things get hard.
Looking at Tim and Matt today, it becomes difficult to separate the story of their relationship from the story of their business. Travelite is not simply the company they run together, but the product of years spent learning to communicate, to adapt, to compromise, and to trust each other through uncertainty.
This Pride Month, Tim and Matt’s story reminds us that visibility is just the beginning. Real progress happens in the everyday: in choosing kindness over judgment, in hiring people for their skills not their labels, in families willing to listen, and in communities that accept people as they are.
As Matt put it, the world does not necessarily need everyone to agree with each other. It simply needs people willing to pause, listen, and understand.
