Welcome! My name is Rezel Kealoha! Yes, this place is named after me. Rezel is my first name and Kealoha is my middle name. I'm a Food Photographer, Stylist and Recipe Developer.
I was born in Hawaii (hence the Kealoha) to Filipino parents and have lived in the Philippines, Japan, Australia and Singapore. Now I live in the Bay Area of San Francisco California.
My Dad was in the US Navy but I was lucky enough to have a pretty stable childhood. He was stationed in Subic Bay for 8 years, so I got to spend all my elementary school years there. We finally had to move and I went to Middle and High School in Japan. My prom was in Tokyo! I know! Then he retired from the Navy and we moved to Sydney, Australia to be with my Mom's side of the family. Then I moved myself to Singapore to get away from everyone. Haha. That is the condensed version of my life story.
Here I focus on making doable Filipino recipes with ingredients you already have in your pantry. You will see some traditional recipes as well as recipes that have been flipped, or re-imagined in a different why while still sticking to the key flavors of the dish. My remixes of palabok and bibingka have been a hit.
Before I started the food thing I was a Director of Enterprise Business Solutions at Visa Inc. Yes! The credit card company. I spent 15 years there starting as an IT support person working my way up to the Global CTO office working on data analytics. I actually started working for them in Australia and then got moved to our office in Singapore and eventually to Headquarters in San Francisco. It was a great run, but when my daughter was born, I could not leave home. So my hobby of food photography on Instagram started a business where I create recipes for the most awesome food brands and for you! I also take photos of those recipes and love seeing them all over social media and on corporate brand sites.
I've also dabbled in a bit of writing in the beginning for Taste and Epicurous and contributed as an author (and also shot all the recipes) for the We Cook Filipino Cookbook.
Salamat (Thank you) for following along and if there is a recipe or story you want to see, let me know! You a send me an email at anytime at hi@rezelkealoha.com. Also don't be a stranger on Instagram and Pinterest.
Friends and Partners
Here are some of the companies that I have had the pleasure of working with. You'll see some of them throughout the site supporting our recipes.
Simple Mills | VineBox | California Walnuts | Amy’s Kitchen
Anthropologie | Jord Watches | Corto Olive Oil | Mighty Tea
Vital Proteins | Health-ade | Jana Foods | WelleCo
Elements Truffles | One Hope Wine | Big Island Organics | Just Date Syrup
La Tourangelle | Paleo Hacks | Paleo Plan | Luvo Foods
Morton Salt | Aiya Matcha | Ottos Natural | Oodaalolly Chocolate
Lillet | Velvet Cocoa | Purely Drinks | Miss Jones Bakes
California Olive Oil Council | Pop & Bottle | Edible Eastbay | Taste Cooking
Renewal Mill | Harvey & Sons Tea | Jenni Kayne | Right Rice
The Feed Feed | Epicurious | Spread The Love Foods | Latitude Beverage
Valley Fig | PBS | jcoco | pepper.ph | Saragani Bay
nolisoli.ph | OZO Foods | Side Chef | Empress Gin
Red Boat Fish Sauce | FilliFlavors | Filla Mania | Magnolia
Sarap Now | Kasama Rum | Tanduay Rum | Auro Chocolate