Influencers are popping up in every corner of the planet, it’s one the most aspirational careers for youth (all for the wrong reasons) and it’s not one you learn during your college degree, so it’s a self-made path, that comes to be in different ways for everyone trying and apparently has no rules.
One of the main reasons for me to start this blog and podcast is because as a filmmaker and person who has worked in media most of my life, I find outrage in the reckless ignorant behavior that spans from pointing cameras and phones at anything and turning it into a consumable moment to be forgotten 1 minute later.
I want to believe we can bring order to chaos and introduce some ethics and empathy for how content is created independently by influencers.
Not everyone is reckless, let’s be clear, there are people out there who from the start try to put the good in the work, sometimes it’s a trial-and-error process and they don’t get it right from the get-go, but the effort is there and the intention too.
I am particularly interested in content coming from developing areas of the world, from communities that while they now all have a phone and internet data package, have not had access to a full education, maybe live in corrupted areas, and are obviously in situations of need. I am also extremely interested in those people who understand that posting content of animals doing stupid things that are for sure the result of staging and abuse, is not the definition of ethical content creation and should not be endorsed in any form.
I love Latin America, Latinos, and the Spanish language, so when I stumbled accidentally on the content of @famlatina I was immediately drawn into the stories. The creator-in-chief is Galo Medina, a young Bolivian who turned content creator on a mission to represent stories specifically from Latin America.
He has a positive, infectious energy and some healthy mantras he follows like saying yes to everything in life, always staying on the positive side of a bad day, and telling stories in an ethical way.
“A stranger is just a friend you haven’t met yet”
Galo Medina
I asked him how he makes sure that he respects the people whose stories he is telling and he was very clear: “ It’s very simple, I take time, I arrive at a location and the first thing I do I talk to people, for hours, I get to know them, earn their trust, explain what I do, show them my previous videos, tell them why I am here to tell their stories and then I listen, I listen to their vision, to how they want to come across, to what is important for them to be shared and I respect it. I learned that my vision may not be what they want, some stories they will share with me in a conversation, but they may not want them shared with the world on camera. We have breakfast together; we laugh we share a moment. Then I go and film, for a one-minute video it’s a one-day shooting, but I lost the morning building trust, so I have to work harder and faster with the time I have left” he said.
I find it refreshing to hear this approach, to refrain from not telling the stories that communities are not ready to share, to respect boundaries, and to be transparent.
I wanted to know what happens when he tells power stories in the right way, and what are the immediate effects for the communities he is portraying, and he shared three powerful examples.
“One of the first stories that went viral was the story of Consuelo, a wonderful artisan from Bolivia who makes baskets with young bamboo plants. All her work is handmade, hand painted, and comes from century-long traditions. We told her story, and everyone started buying from her, even us at @famlatina we purchase her products for our retreats and training. She messaged me to thank me because now she has worked, a lot of work” Galo said, “there are no amount of followers that can replace the feeling for doing that, we changed her life, in a very practical way, I realized my purpose”.
The second story is from the region of Oaxacaca in Mexico “I met a family of artisans who make beautiful handmade carpets. The same day I posted the video a woman from the USA contacted them and purchased all the carpets that were showcased in that video, and they were so happy”.
The story comes from Galo’s deeper focus which is to create community. He hosts retreats and training for aspiring content creators. “Getting messages from the many people who participated in the training to tell me that now thanks to the training they have work, they make a living, is the best feeling”.
We need many more Galo Medinas to right the wrong of this abusive creator market and we need brands to also up their game and hire ethical creators only.
