Chris Freeman

A lot of people have asked me where the name "The Kuya Brand" came from, so I thought I'd finally share the story.

I'm half Filipino, and you'll occasionally catch glimpses of the tattoos on my shoulder that represent both my family and my Filipino heritage.

In (Tagalog) Filipino, "Kuya" means older brother or big brother.

When I was trying to come up with a name for the channel, I thought it was the perfect bit of wordplay. A lot of what we build with automation can feel like there's always a "Big Brother" quietly working in the background. Watching everything, tracking everything, and making sure the process runs exactly the way it's supposed to. I always thought that was a funny connection, so "The Kuya Brand" just stuck.

It also became the perfect name for the fictional company I use throughout my tutorials, so every demo app and automation has a consistent story behind it.

On a more personal note, my Lolo's family is from Aklan and my Lola's family is from Manila. It's a small way for me to represent that side of my family while sharing something I genuinely enjoy teaching.

Thanks for letting me share the story behind the name.

Did you already know what "Kuya" meant, or is this the first time you've heard the word?

1 week ago | [YT] | 4

Chris Freeman

It's been about a week since my last upload, so I wanted to check in!

Work has been keeping me incredibly busy lately, and that's honestly been where most of my time has gone. I try to keep a pretty clear separation between my day job and this channel, so I don't really talk much about what's happening behind the scenes. But just know I've been heads-down working and haven't forgotten about you all.

The good news is... I literally just finished filming the next video. 🎥

Now it's time for the editing marathon, and I'm hoping to have it ready for you soon.

Thanks for sticking around and for all the support. I'm excited to get back into a regular rhythm of sharing Power Apps and Power Automate content!

What have you all been building lately? 👇

1 week ago | [YT] | 11

Chris Freeman

NEW UPLOAD: Insert a Picture into an Email with Power Automate

https://youtu.be/-UEFuc0UAGc

Power Automate emails have to look plain.

In this one, I show how to pull an image from OneDrive, insert it into an email, and then use HTML to resize it, align it, round the corners, add borders, adjust opacity, add shadows, and even make the image clickable.

Basically… let’s make automated emails look a little less automated. 😅

What else would you add to a professional Power Automate email?

3 weeks ago | [YT] | 4

Chris Freeman

NEW UPLOAD: Generate a PDF with Power Automate

https://youtu.be/2Iqw_3-H3ew

This video actually came from a comment on one of my previous videos.

Someone asked about generating PDFs from Word and Excel, so I spent the weekend building out a few different solutions and putting everything into a full walkthrough.

One thing I want everyone to know: I really do read the comments. A lot of the videos on this channel come directly from questions, challenges, and ideas that people leave below the videos.

So keep them coming.

Whether it's Power Apps, Power Automate, SharePoint, Forms, Excel, or something that's driving you crazy at work, there's a good chance it could become a future video.

What topic would you like to see covered next? 👇

1 month ago | [YT] | 7

Chris Freeman

Just wanted to say thank you to everyone who’s subscribed recently to the half Pinoy Boy!

A few months ago, this channel had almost no audience. Today, we’re pushing past 250 subscribers and growing every day. It’s been awesome seeing the comments, questions, and conversations around Power Apps and Power Automate.

I’m taking a PTO day today and spending it in the studio filming and editing more content for the channel. Lots of ideas in the pipeline, and I’m excited to share them with you.

Thanks for being here and helping grow The Kuya Brand. More videos coming soon! 🚀

1 month ago | [YT] | 10

Chris Freeman

NEW UPLOAD: Power Apps Security Item-Level Permissions Explained

https://youtu.be/A79JNQaCjdw

I've been using this concept for about a year now, and it's solved a lot of maintenance headaches.

Instead of hard-coding managers, approvers, and email recipients, I dynamically gather the chain of command directly from Microsoft 365. That means when the organization changes, my automations continue working without needing constant updates.

In this video, I show how to build the chain of command loop and a couple real-world use cases I've used in production.

What would you use a dynamic chain of command for? 👇

1 month ago | [YT] | 5

Chris Freeman

What's the most frustrating thing about Power Apps?

1 month ago | [YT] | 1

Chris Freeman

🚀 NEW VIDEO: Automate SharePoint List Permissions with Power Automate

https://youtu.be/knWUsZtCMMw

You've shared the Power App.

But did you share the SharePoint list? 😅

Today's video covers how I automate access to multiple SharePoint lists so new users can actually use the app without me manually touching every data source.

One flow.
Multiple lists.
Add access.
Remove access.

What's your current process for handling permissions? 👇

1 month ago | [YT] | 5

Chris Freeman

NEW UPLOAD: Automate Power Apps User Access

https://youtu.be/6pPaPkz5wuE

I've been using this approach for years. Instead of manually sharing apps one user at a time, let the automation handle it.

How are you managing Power Apps permissions today?

1 month ago | [YT] | 4

Chris Freeman

NEW UPLOAD: Build Dynamic Teams Meetings in Power Automate

https://youtu.be/JSLJszIcMcQ

One of the things I try to focus on is solving real business problems, not just showing features.

In this video, I walk through creating Teams meetings automatically from SharePoint data, including handling multiple attendees, start/end time formatting, and a few of the details that usually take way longer to figure out than they should.

Question for everyone:

What's one task in your organization that you're still doing manually that you wish could be automated?

2 months ago | [YT] | 4