KATRINA Camarillo, together with her partner Kenny, started e-commerce platform Sarap Now with a desire to put Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) products in the spotlight.

As an immigrant, Katrina grew up around Filipino food and culture, sharing, 'It has definitely been a big part of our lives and our families. We have two little kids and I love that my son thinks ube ice cream is the norm.'

Inspired by this and paired with their background in tech and e-commerce, Kenny and Katrina introduced Sarap Now to the US market.

'We wanted to celebrate our food, our flavors, our culture, and share it with a wider audience online. It also came with the realization that despite Filipinos being the third largest Asian group in the United States, finding traditional Filipino ingredients was not easy. Even our local Asian markets (and we're in the diverse city of Los Angeles) did not have most of the things we were looking for such as traditional ingredients like ube, banana ketchup, bagoong. This was even more evident online!,' she said.

The vision for SarapNow is simple, 'Seeing the diversity gap in the online grocery space together with our passion for our culture and our people is the heart of Sarap Now. We started this because we wanted to help the Filipino diaspora gain access to traditional Filipino goods online. And the mission was and is still simple: to empower and embrace our community, inspire creativity, and deliver smiles right to your door.'

Since its inception, the mission of Sarap Now expanded to a bigger community.

'As we continued to work with brands and makers, we saw a lot of innovation happening within the Filipino and greater AAPI community, especially in recent years.On top of offering legacy brands, we're excited to support the launch of fresh and innovative products, being created by our community, that are better for the environment, promote wellness, or offer new and exciting features. We have now made it our goal to assist the creators of these products in establishing and growing their brand.'

The significance of Sarap Now is not lost on Kenny and Katrina.

'Even though Filipino Americans make up a significant portion of the Asian American population in the United States, the fact that we are often overlooked and underrepresented in American society is undeniable. So I think it's important for Sarap Now to exist to represent and help amplify the underrepresented Filipino and AAPI voices, brands, and makers.'

They support this community by giving them a platform to sell their products.

'Wejust soft launched our Sarap Now Marketplace, where Filipino and AAPI brands can list and sell through our site.'

When asked about their journey, their challenges, and their story of overcoming, Katrina and Kenny didn't hold back in sharing the authenticity of their story.

'When we first started in 2018, while accessibility was definitely a problem especially in the Filipino diaspora outside of California or New York, it was almost unheard of to shop for groceries online. But the past couple of years, with the pandemic and the rise in popularity of Filipino and Asian flavors, we are excited to be the Filipino representation in the online grocery space. But along with this new way of living because of the pandemic and the rise in popularity of Asian and Filipino flavors, also came the challenge of many competitors entering the online grocery market. While competition is needed in a healthy market, I believe we are overcoming this challenge because we represent authenticity, we are community-driven, and we are customer-obsessed to help differentiate ourselves.'

They use this as fuel for what's ahead and when asked what was next for them, they say optimistically, 'To help the next generation of Filipino-American and AAPI makers build their businesses. To help amplify their voices, their stories, and their culture. And, to help with this campaign, we have a collab with @adapt coming out in the Spring!'

To know more about Sarap Now visit sarapnow.com.