“I’d say I was raised in a typical Filipino household: [we had] a lot of fiestas growing up, I was surrounded by a lot of food, and hospitality was certainly a big value of ours,” shares the Queens native. “I always enjoyed entertaining and having people over, and I think that was a really big part of why I entered the hospitality industry...So when I learned about the Culinary Institute of America, I just knew that that was the only school I wanted to go to; I knew that that was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life and that I probably wouldn’t be happy doing anything else.”

After completing her bachelor’s programme in culinary arts management at the prestigious academy, Camara fortified her resume with varied experiences, from catering to pastry and even research and development—funnily enough, mostly in savoury applications, and prior to Kora, she had never sold anything of her own. “There was no A to B path,” she says, describing her winding journey through the industry.

Read on to learn more about Kora’s origins, the secret behind its whirlwind success, and Camara’s plans for the near future, below:

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How and why did you start Kora? 

The doughnuts came about very haphazardly. In March of 2020, I was working for a company called Union Square Hospitality Group in their catering division as their research and development cook—I was helping them develop recipes for basically their entire catering menu. Then because of the lockdown, that whole company laid off 2,500 to 3,000 employees in one fell swoop, including Kevin Borja (the co-founder of Kora, who is also my boyfriend) and myself. We didn’t know what was to come and we had a lot of spare time, so I was doing a lot of recreational baking at home much like the rest of the world.

I had this leftover brioche in my freezer and I brought some with me as I was spending some time with my parents over quarantine. Then came the day I finally wanted to use it, I started rolling it up, I let it proof, and I was ready to bake it off, then I pop open my parents’ oven and there were a bunch of pots and pans in there. I thought to myself, What if I just fry it? I know people fry brioche and turn them into doughnuts, so I’m sure they will turn out great. So I ended up doing that, and I had some leftover ube pastry cream because a couple of days prior, I had made an ube crepe cake for a friend of mine for her birthday. I thought, Oh why don’t I just fill these doughnuts with some pastry cream and see how it goes?

I remember trying it and going, “Ugh this is so good, I would go somewhere and buy this because it is so delicious”. And I thought to myself, I don’t know when, or how, or if I’ll ever get back into the workforce, but maybe in the meantime I can sell something. I knew I wanted to sell some sort of dessert, so when I made these doughnuts I figured I’d just try making doughnuts! That’s literally where it started—I didn’t have some affinity for doughnut-making, I was no doughnut connoisseur.

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What inspired you to offer Filipino flavours exclusively?

I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do with my career—I was really all over the place in the industry, and I really didn’t know where I wanted to end up. All I knew was that I wanted to be in food, and I wanted wherever I did end up to be some representation of myself. That, for me, was something to do with Filipino culture. So when I was coming up with flavours for these doughnuts, I knew it was going to have to be something Filipino. I thought it would be a really cool way for people to learn more about Filipino food, and also for myself to explore my culture a little more.

My grandmother passed away in January 2020, right before the pandemic, so I had decided that I was going to do something in my life to pay homage to her and keep her alive in my own way. I got a lot of my early influences in kitchens, cooking, and Filipino cuisine from her. After she passed, I found a book of her recipes, and one of them was for her leche flan. I knew I had to use it somehow, so when this whole doughnut idea came about, I thought, Okay, here’s the time to use this recipe. That was actually the very first flavour I came up with, and it’s the one that we’ve become known for.

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How did Kevin Borja get involved with Kora? What is it like to work so closely with your life partner?

As our operations got bigger and more complicated, it was very apparent that I needed a right-hand person. He was the perfect one for me, in both the business and in real life. We complement each other in so many ways, not only in our personal lives but also in business: he’s in front of house, I’m in back of house; I like to hide in the kitchen, and he likes to deal with customers. It felt like the perfect time to join forces and make something work.

Borja is not Filipino, so it’s also been a really cool time for him to learn about me, my culture, and the food I grew up eating. Being business partners is a lot of fun; it’s really rewarding to build something with your life partner. Kora is certainly centred around me and my story, and he’s so happy to help me achieve everything I want to achieve. But as much as I can, I try to find opportunities for him to really shine in his own light since his experience is in fine dining and front of house.

We recently had this event called Tsokolate where we partnered up with Auro Chocolate [for an eight-course dessert tasting menu]. It was a really cool moment for Kora to express itself in a different way than what people are used to. The most exciting thing for me to see come out of that event was having Borja be able to really shine, show his expertise, and what he has to offer.

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What was the reception like at first? How did it become such a sensation?

The funny thing about that was I really thought this was going to last maybe a couple of weeks, a month or two, pretty much until it was time to get back to work. We really just rode the wave of the demand. It was very organic. Up to this day, none of the press or exposure we’ve gotten has been anything that we’ve paid for or prompted ourselves—it’s all just from people wanting to reach out and cover us.

What do you think was the secret to Kora’s success?

More than anything, people just really love the story. When I first started posting about the doughnuts, there would always be some sort of food memory attached to the flavours, elements that people could really connect to on a human level—food is a really great platform for that. I think that’s what really resonated with people, and for Filipinos specifically: seeing their culture represented on a grander scale. I think human connection is the biggest thing. We often say we sell doughnuts, but what we’re really selling is our experiences.

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What were your operations like when you first started, and how has that changed now?

At the apartment, we only operated on Fridays—we fried the doughnuts fresh the day they would get picked up, and we maxed out at 400. It’s not a huge apartment but we made it work. We bought two small fryers from Amazon that fit six doughnuts in each, we had those baking racks you can put a lot of trays into and roll around, and we had folding tables for work surfaces. It was definitely not easy, but it wasn’t as hard as it would be for someone who wasn’t experienced in high-volume catering. And mind you, I had two other roommates, so kudos to them for sticking it out and being okay with everything. 

Now, at the commissary, we’re doing about 2000 a week between two days. We’ve scaled up quite a bit. It’s been at most, three other cooks besides me, but we make it happen—it’s exhausting, but it’s rewarding.

Have you been toying with any new flavours for the brand?

All the time. I’d be lying in my bed from late hours until morning just thinking about flavours. The thing is, we have a pretty small team, so it’s quite hard for me to find time to actually do research and development these days. But there’s one that I’ve been thinking about for the last two to three weeks, and it’s a chicharon flavour. It’s been in my mind for so long, but I need to find time to really test it out and see how I want to put it together.

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What’s next for you and Kora? What are you most excited about?

We’ve been really trying to push for a storefront for the longest time. I think the biggest issue was finding a location that we liked, and one that would work for us operationally. What that meant to us was staying in the Woodside area, which is also known as Little Manila because it’s where all the Filipino restaurants are, and it’s actually where I live. We couldn't find any locations that were big enough to house a full-blown kitchen build-out until more recently we found this location that’s right across the Jollibee. I’m not sure if it will actually pan out, but I would say that’s the most exciting thing—for us to finally have our space. 

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