Social media strategist · BellyCheapCook

Hi, I’m Ray Abadilla.

I bring stories to life through the food we eat, for my own audience and for the brands I work with.

My story

I love food, and I love storytelling.

In 2020, I discovered how powerful storytelling can be at inspiring and building communities centered around culture and food. I turned that obsession into a career helping brands connect with their audience through creative narratives and marketing strategies.

“Bilog ang mundo, parang kawali.”
The world is round, like a pan.
A Filipino spread: lumpia, chicken adobo, rice and grilled pork

Featured work

Fresh off the stove

Personal highlight

Two months of ramen

For two months, I lived on ramen. It was a passion project I was deeply invested in: making ramen at home. Where I’m from, ramen could only be seen on TV during Toonami, and the nearest ramen shop was about a 2-hour drive away, so my 13-year-old self could only imagine the taste. If only that version of me could see what I made in two months!

Learn how to make ramen

Collaborations

Brands I’ve cooked with

Each partnership challenged me to translate brand goals into content that feels organic to my audience. Storytelling grounded in real experiences is what builds the connection.

Previous partnerships

  • Mission
  • Kroger
  • Weee!
  • Tabasco
  • Samjin Amook
  • Tyson
  • Villain Republic
  • Nordstrom
  • Daily’s
  • Green Chef
  • Bachan’s

Case studies

From brief to final cut

Tyson Foods

7 e-commerce videos on a tight turnaround

  • Director
  • Cinematographer
  • Editor

Tyson Foods hired me to produce seven full-length videos for their e-commerce team. The goal was high-volume, brand-consistent video on an extremely tight turnaround.

I managed every phase of production, turning raw footage into polished, high-converting product videos with precise color grading and punchy audio design. Each 15-to-30-second cut was framed and edited for digital product pages and mobile shoppers.

The project proved I can stay organized, keep technical standards high, and carry a large enterprise campaign from concept to final delivery.

Villain Republic

A brand built from scratch

  • Brand identity
  • Scriptwriting
  • Filming
  • Editing
  • Sound design

No template, no blueprint. Just an idea I wanted to see through from start to finish. The brand voice, the visual identity, the narrative direction: I handled all of it. What it looked like, what it sounded like, what it stood for. It all had to feel intentional and cohesive, because if it didn’t, what was the point?

From there it went into production: concept development, scriptwriting, filming, editing and sound design for an original YouTube series. It’s still one of the clearest examples of what I can do end to end.

See the Villain Republic marketing

Nordstrom

“Nordstrom Sells Food? Yes, We Do!”

  • Brand strategy
  • Campaign planning

Nordstrom’s restaurant group had one main problem: not enough people knew it existed. When people don’t know you’re there, you lose foot traffic and leave a whole demographic untapped.

My brand marketing proposal used their existing rewards program as a bridge to bring more guests through the door, backed by campaigns built to reach a wide range of people: influencer collaborations, event activations and earned media. All of it came down to one goal: give people a reason to dine in at the nearest Nordstrom.

See the Nordstrom marketing

Tools & skills

Order up

#11Table 27

Tools

Dine-in

  • Canva
  • Adobe Creative Suite
  • Google Analytics
  • Video editing Premiere Pro & DaVinci Resolve
  • Hootsuite
  • Sprout Social
#12Table 28

Skills

Dine-in

  • Copywriting
  • Content planning
  • Community management
  • Data analytics
  • SEO
  • Planning & budgeting
  • Content strategy
  • Platform mastery
  • Market research
  • Campaign management
  • Creative direction Storyboarding
BellyCheapCook mascot

Kain tayo! (Let’s eat!)

Let’s make something people want to share

For brand partnerships, content strategy or video production, tell me what you have in mind and I’ll get back to you by email.