MANILA, Philippines — Filipino food content creator Abi Marquez was a “girl living her dream” when she collaborated with her fellow global food content creators in the United States, even not food content creators, such as proudly Filipino-American artist-rapper Saweetie.
“Basically my US trip, it’s both productive and very ‘a girl living her dream’,” Abi told Philstar.com in an exclusive interview during a recent Knorr event.
“The creators I collaborated with are people I actually admire and respect,” she added.
She said that she was the one who reached out to them and was happy to know that they were also interested in collaborating with her.
She is happy that many of the collaborators were interested to make Filipino food, including her fellow Filipino-American content creators Jeanelle Castro or Jeanelleats and Grammy-nominated singer Saweetie.
Jeanelleats moved to the US when she was younger. She is based in California and does mostly baking and Filipino food content. Saweetie, meanwhile, has been proud to say that she came from a Filipino-Chinese mother and an African-American father.
Apart from these two, Abi cooked with her fellow popular global food content creators such as AndyCooks, Uncle Roger, and QCP a.k.a TikTok’s “Pasta King” Gianluca Conte.
Abi said it was fulfilling to be able to make a video out of her niche, and to be known to a different market as hers.
“On top of that, these people have a completely different audience and in the videos we did, we again cooked Filipino food.
“One of the biggest accomplishments for me is to be able to help Filipino food reach new audiences,” she said.
Abi was recently included in the list of Forbes 30 under 30 for 2024. She was also named TikTok Food Content Creator for 2023.
The 23-year-old is among the seven Filipinos in this year’s list, which also includes Filipino-American rapper Ez Mil, in a list that features 300 names from various fields from across the Asia Pacific region under the age of 30.
“I think as a creator, ang focus ko lang talaga is to just put out high-quality videos every day. And I don’t really take things too seriously and I don’t make videos saying, ‘Gagawin ko ito para magkaroon ako ng award or gagawin ko ito para mapansin ako ni Forbes 30 under 30.’
“That’s why it’s a surprise to me and I’m just really happy and honored to get those recognitions because I see myself not just as a food creator on social media, but the representation of young Filipina women and Filipino food,” she said.
As of press time, Abi has 1.49 million YouTube subscribers, 3.9 million TikTok followers, 1.2 million Instagram followers, and 2 million Facebook followers.
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