“Every time I see a family celebrating a birthday at one of our tables, I know the hours I’ve put in for the day are worth it,” said Adelaide “Adie.”
Twenty-five-year-old Adie Uy, a Branding and Digital Creative, has worked with a group of prominent restaurants in New York City — Sailor, Joseph Leonard, Jeffrey’s Grocery, and Fairfax.
Branding as a job sounds distant to a young lady who was a graduate of Ateneo de Manila University, with a degree in Legal Management and Literature.
“I had always been interested in the hospitality industry — working brand manager roles at restaurant groups in Manila fresh after college.”
Adie said that her work at Happy Cooking Hospitality’s restaurants in New York entailed building a creative vision for the company, developing an identity, and making them recognizable by name, image, or design.
New York City has a massive restaurant market with some 12,000 restaurants, and Adie is tough enough to make it there.
“Restaurants are my forte,” said Adie, who hails from Bacolod City, known for its rich culinary traditions. Adie’s mom, Cess and aunties are in the restaurant business. Her Uncle Chin Chin is a councilor at Slow Food International.
“I moved to New York in August 2022 to do my Masters in Fashion Management at Parsons School of Design,” Adie said. “I never wanted to move to New York, but I always wanted to go to Parsons, it was my dream school. It just so happened to be in New York.”
At Parsons, Adie was a commendable student. She was a speaker at the MPS Fashion Management Creative Thought Leaders imparting industry advice to aspiring postgraduate fashion business students. Adie finished her course at Parsons in May 2023.
Her first internship was for Public Relations at Gabriela Hearst, a renowned fashion house. But then Adie realized that the fashion industry was not for her.
“I went on to become a lead research associate at CADA, a non-profit organization in New York advocating for sustainable production techniques in indigenous communities in Mexico.”
As a research associate, she helped document and advocate for traditional craftsmanship, ensuring ethical sourcing and fair trade opportunities in local and international markets.
Adie said she was able to utilize both her legal research and marketing sensibilities and her interest in traditional craftsmanship later led her to another job.
With her interest in both food and fashion, Adie was able to get a second job at Gohar World, an influential brand in the tableware and art scene. Gohar World opened in 2023 and has a store in lower Manhattan.
With her two main projects — restaurants under Happy Cooking Hospitality and Gohar World, she established her passion as a digital creative in New York.
Happy Cooking Hospitality, a restaurant group, was Adie’s first real job. It has three restaurants in the West Village and one in Fort Greene with many accolades (Sailor).
“I was extremely lucky to be able to tell their story through marketing and social media,” said Adie.
What is a working day like for Adie?
“I usually come in at around 11 a.m. and plan out content for all of the restaurants until 3 p.m., usually hopping from one establishment to another as they’re all in close proximity. I communicate with everybody: the Chefs, the managers, the dining room team. I’m always
moving around.
“When 3 p.m. rolls around, I sit down to join line-up with the dinner service teams — often taking photos of food or wine before line-up starts. At 4 p.m., I sit to edit the photos I’ve taken, and then I write and write until the posts are ready. I leave at 7, usually getting a drink at one of the spots on my way home, to unwind.”
At the Gohar World Studio in the other hand, Adie worked regular hours.
“As a digital creative, my day-to-day was always different, and always depended on the job,” Adie said. “At Gohar World, I would come in at 10 a.m. and get the posts ready for the entire day. Then, I spend the rest of the day, until 6 p.m., in meetings or preparing for image-making — getting in touch with other talented creatives. I have worked with some of my favorite photographers, stylists, and content creators.”
“Some days, though, I get to go to the MET Museum’s Watson Library to do research on the history of food, table settings, and dining rituals. Some days, I go to the Union Square farmers’ market and share live content.”
Creating content for Gohar World, Adie said, is all about connecting with an audience that’s interested in food, art, and culture.
“I studied Legal Management in college, and while my current field may seem unrelated, the truth is that I absorbed many useful competencies from Legal Management, Adie said.
“I’m quick to scan a large body of text, skim it, and gather what’s significant from it. I’m able to look at a problem, take it apart, and solve it objectively. I’m able to review contracts with a special eye, which will always be useful no matter what you do in life.”
Legal Management, Adie said, gave her more confidence to pursue a creative career.
New York City has the most competitive and trendy restaurant market, and it’s difficult to build relevance within that scene. But there are many groups of Filipinos who support each other professionally in New York, Adie said.
“I deeply value a Filipino perspective in any work environment,” Adie said. “There are specificities that are better understood among fellow Filipinos; the third world perspective, the
postcolonial perspective, the common goal of representing our country positively. I work with a lot of like-minded, talented Filipinos in NY, and we’re all fueled by the same goal — to represent our country in the international art and food scene.”
Adie has been in New York for three years, “I can’t imagine living anywhere else,” she said.
“It is still the hardest thing to be away from my family. I find this to be my only challenge. I love the work that I do but I really wish I could be there for my brother’s soccer games or eat breakfast with my grandparents.” (Contributed By Sol F. Juvida)