‘Made it on my own’: TikTok star Jujumao Imao on carving own niche outside famous last name
MANILA, Philippines — Jujumao is an intriguing name even for an online content creator, especially for those who are into the arts.
One cannot help but wonder if it is in anyway connected to a prominent artist, and it turns out, Jujumao descended from the line of a national artist and a notable sculptor.
Philstar.com had the chance to ask the TikTok star about it, and the seemingly shy and reserved content creator eventually admitted that he has.
“Yeah, konti. I guess, I guess I would say so,” Jujumao replied when he was asked by Philstar.com if it was intentional on his part to not use his full name during a TikTok creative cooking workshop.
The 27-year-old content creator is born Juri “Jujumao” Imao to Cielo and Juan Sajid Imao - yes, the very artist who counts the brass sundial in Bonifacio Global City and the brass Jose Rizal statue in Fort Santiago in Manila as among his works.
The sculptor Juan Sajid is the son of the late National Artist Abdulmari Asia Imao, who is a famous Mindanaoan painter and sculptor and the first Moro to be conferred the title for Visual Arts in 2006.
It could have been easier somehow to bank on a familiar name for name recall, but Jujumao wanted to be his own man. In addition, his father also advised him to strike gold on his own.
“Kasi for me, I really wanted to make a name for myself beyond like ‘yung family name ko. I think kasi that’s what my dad taught me din. He said if ever I decided to pursue anything in the future, hindi siya sa likod nu’ng pangalan ng ibang tao,” Jujumao explained.
“It’s only later on na nalalaman ng mga tao that my lolo is an artist. Medyo meron din akong sense of pride din ako na parang I made it on my own in a way.”
Not an easy path
Jujumao knew that he wanted to pursue Culinary Arts since he was young, but he had to wait. His dream was to study at Le Cordon Bleu.
His parents were open-minded, liberal and supportive, but their finances were not enough to send him to the vaunted French culinary school.
Jujumao went to the Ateneo University and took up a Management course on scholarship.
“They said use my business to get back to culinary school. You can send yourself to culinary school. So ‘yun. That’s where I got my drive. Umiiyak na lang ako habang naga-accounting. Cooking was always at the back of my head,” Jujumao recalled.
He eventually found work in a hotel’s finance department. He had a taste of his life-long dream when he signed up for the kitchen as part of their company’s cross-training.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, he joined in the dance craze challenge with his then-college sweetheart and now wife Joanna. He said they accepted quite a lot of challenges, until he started making food content videos. And then his TikTok fame started.
Jujumao makes food videos interesting by making them easy to follow and prepare. His videos are often fast cuts in the shorts format, which is no more than two minutes. His pony-tailed, shoulder-length wavy hair, which has become an identifiable mark, adds to his charm. He said it was more on practicality other than looking good. Less expense and runs to the barbershop, he quipped.
Jujumao has 826,000 YouTube subscribers, 2.6 million TikTok followers, and 1.3 million Instagram followers.
Proud parents
The arts never left Jujumao; he was inevitably surrounded by it with a father who is notable for his sculptures.
Jujumao even picked up artistic hobbies, even though he was admittedly initially fighting himself over it.
“Parang honestly, noong bata pa ako, nilalabanan ko nga. You know that feeling where either you want to be like your parents or you don’t want to be like your parents? Sa akin, I was more of like iniisip ko, ayoko maging tatay ko. I want to be my own person. Nilalabanan ko pa nu’ng una pero eventually, I learned to embrace it,” Jujumao said.
He continued, “Kasi one of my hobbies naman kasi aside from cooking, I like sketching, I like painting from time to time pero more of a hobby lang siya talaga. I never really excel too much in it. More of sa cooking talaga ako.”
Now that he has made a name for himself outside the shadow of his artist father and National Artist grandfather, Jujumao beamed at how his parents reacted to his success.
“They’re super proud of me. They’re happy… Funny nga. Sobrang nakakahiya na kwento. Kunyari minsan nasa labas kami ng restaurant, sasabihin nila sa server, ‘Kilala mo ba ito?’ Proud sila. I’m happy that I could make them proud,” Jujumao said.
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