To launch my Creatives of the Future e-book, (you can purchase on Amazon or Gumroad) I interviewed some creatives who were already monetizing their platforms because of their work on social media. One of those people is actress and international model-turned-DJ, Gabrielle Davis.

What do you do for a living?  I am currently juggling modeling along with balancing my new found DJ career. 

How many followers do you have? Close to 60K followers on IG.

If you could eat any type of food (right now) what would you buy?  Hmmm… if I could eat any type of food right now I would need a few options. I am a foodie… lol I would go for curry shrimp & a slice of carrot cake on the side. Dessert is a MUST …oh and I love donuts 🙂

What is your dream job? My dream job was to be a child psychologist funny enough, but I am focusing on being successful as a DJ. I would also like to still love to get into the acting business in the near future.

What Netflix series are you binging on? OZARK

Favorite Influencer/YouTuber of all time?  Not so sure if I have a fave influencer … right now I enjoy watching Quarantine radio with Torey Lanez … great for laughs and he’s so entertaining.

How has social media helped your career?  Social media has helped me connect with a variety of people in the industry and has given opportunities I probably wouldn’t have gotten without the exposure. It’s a great platform to share your talent and to connect.

What advice would you give others trying to make a name for themselves?  My advice to anyone trying to make it in whichever field they choose would be to stay consistent, persistent, be positive, don’t allow others to discourage you. There will be times you may have self-doubt but allow yourself to process it. Never give up and never stop trying. Don’t limit yourself and don’t listen to people who tell you that you can’t or that time is running out. Most importantly practice patience.

What is the last thing you liked on social media? The last thing I liked on social media was a video of someone getting their nails done … because quarantine 

Who is your hero? – My hero will always be ME. I’ve never given up on myself. Not for long anyway.

How are you monetizing at this time? – At this time I work with brands who want products showcased and that are true to my lifestyle.

What made you want to be a DJ? – I’ve always wanted to do music for the last 5 years I was just not confident enough but I finally after sharing it with my manager we came up with a plan and we are putting it into motion.

What kind of music interests you? I love music…I am interested in all genres… I can’t just choose one.

The digital space is more important than ever to elevate brand awareness and develop business relationships. Consumers are viewing content from a different perspective than just three months prior, and those that can pivot fast are effectively winning.

Gabrielle Davis otherwise known as “DJ Gabby” has been playing music for only a few months but has been making waves.

More popularly known from her appearance on the first season of VH1’s Love and Hip Hop: Miami in 2018 and her international modeling career, Gabby became verified on Instagram about a year ago and has been continuing to create interesting content for her followers, most notable with her IG live DJ sessions.

Gabrielle who started modeling at the age of 16, has never been afraid of hard work. Although she doesn’t do runway because of her height (she’s only 5ft 4″) she recently walked for costume designer Annaxie for Xamayca International’s Carnival 2020 launch. More than a pretty face, Gabby uses her acting skills appearing in music videos for everyone from Shenseea to Agent Sasco, where she is able to communicate a charming story with just a few slight gestures.

“There will be times you may have self-doubt but allow yourself to process it. Never give up, never stop trying. Don’t limit yourself and don’t listen to people who tell you that you can’t or that time is running out. Most importantly practice patience.“

Being a female DJ is not a novel idea in Jamaica, there are a few, but with the trending, IG lives and song battles, most of the related content has been filled with attention seekers, often with no real plan. She hasn’t allowed the lack of outdoor events to stop her from bringing new energy to the platform with themed DJ sessions.

Her music tastes aren’t average, you will find afro-beats mixed in with a few dancehall rhythms but she definitely makes you feel like you’re on an island in Ibiza instead of Jamaica.

Gabby also has an online store, where she shares her favourite things called www.shopwithgabby.com

I have been struggling all my life, from when I was a child of only 10-years-old to an adult. My struggles were mainly internal as I was always questioning my self-worth, my purpose, and my reason for being here. 

When I was 10, I struggled with depression and had continuous suicidal thoughts because of the way I was treated by the one person who was supposed to love and appreciate me. Being told that I was no good and that they would be better off without my existence took a major toll on me. All of this coming from the person who is supposed to love and shelter you can have a major impact on your life. While I was grateful that I was provided for at all times with clothes, food, and shelter, I was still left unsatisfied internally. 

Emotional Struggle

While I was young, I would struggle to get a hug or even a word of appreciation. So moving forward, this made things difficult for me emotionally. I was completely detached from everyone, mostly because I wasn’t taught the right things and how to be emotionally attached to others.

When I was in high school, I didn’t know how to express myself to anyone. I was considered a recluse even though I was surrounded by great friends all the time. I was usually the one who sat in the corner and didn’t talk. Even though I wasn’t much of a talker, being at school was my escape from what I went through at home. 

Spending time at home was the worst considering the constant backlash I would receive. The idea of being alone in the house and hearing nothing but continuous criticism from that person was something I wanted to avoid. There was not a single spec of love within the household. Being told that I wouldn’t be able to do anything in my life by the person that was supposed to do the opposite was the main reason for my struggle. These feelings stayed with me as I grew up and became a major part of me throughout my life. 

The Impact Of Internal Struggle On Life

When I moved to the UK, these struggles stayed with me and there was no running away from them. Even after turning 30, I continued to struggle internally as nothing would be good enough, no matter what I do. My struggles manifested in different ways over time. I became a perfectionist, I wanted to make sure that everything was perfect; the way I want it. This took a toll on my children and my other relationships as well. I had a lowered sense of trust in others. 

Throughout my life, I had a problem trusting women mostly as the underlying reason for my struggles revolved around a woman who didn’t love me. The only thing that would come to my head when I would be with a woman is that they would hurt me. This was one of the deepest and extreme struggles I have had since I was young. Because of this, I struggled in school even though I had enough ability to get my school work done but I was emotionally drained and damaged to do anything so I focused on thinking about other things. I struggled to connect with others and create lasting relationships. 

Because of how I was raised, I started treating women a certain way. Since being hurt again by a woman was not an option, my defense mechanism emerged into womanizing. All I thought about was that nobody was going to love me or appreciate me. To get rid of the feeling, I would have numerous girls around me all the time. It was difficult for me to trust them and I knew that every time a woman stepped out of my house, they would take a piece of me. I would hurt myself and hurt them simultaneously. But I didn’t want to accept the truth behind what I was doing and it carried on for years. 

This is only a small part of the struggle that I dealt with. I struggled with emotions, understanding, acceptance, hope, kindness, and more, all of which I didn’t have while growing up. 

Know Your Worth And Invest In Yourself

During the last 10 years, I have changed myself and started living the way I wanted to and the way I should have been living since the start. I still have a long way to go but I am on the road and I’m closer to where I need to be now than I was ever before.

For a major part of my life, I would claw, push, and fight to get the attention that I wanted. I felt like nobody could see me and that made me want to fight for the attention always. But over time, things have changed, and I have learned to accept myself.

The only way I got out of this situation was after I took sabbatical for a year. This made me analyze things and made me realize my self-worth. I accepted how I hurt myself and others around me while I took a break from every wrong thing that I was doing. 

You can only truly get over the trauma and struggle once you invest in yourself and come to terms with things that go on in your life. It was after I took time out myself that I realized what my true worth is. 

Even though I will always be susceptible to some form of emotional trauma as I have been through a lot. But I need to fight it off myself and accept myself. This has led me to be surrounded by people I can rely on.

My partner, my wife, since the last 5 years has been a blessing for me. She helps me keep my ground now and supports me fully through everything. Having someone who loves and appreciates you makes you want to do better. 

In the end, it is okay not to be okay. But we need to continuously work towards accepting who we are and where we are. This will help us write our own story and reach the place where we want to be.  

Andre Ferguson is a family man, Speaker, coach and mentor who helps the modern man go from struggle to victory, making him realise the reasons for his struggles and bringing him to live his purpose. Learn more about him on www.andreferguson.com. You can also follow him on instagram at andreoferguson

We tell stories to our friends and colleagues all the time. We love the way a story brings people closer together: how it always reminds you of a person or time, brings the children closer together at storytime, keeps us on the phone with our girlfriends a little longer, keeps us up late in bed to read one more chapter – just to hear a good story.

I launched The Storyteller Agency.Co in January 2020 and we had a great start building long-term partnerships with a non-profit, creating content for brands that needed to connect using locally relevant imagery. To date, we’ve worked with brands such as Joy Spence’s Appleton Estate Night Rum Tour with Freddie McGregor, Ministry of Culture, Gender, and Sport covering Reggae Month, visited by invitation only the home of Cafe Blue, Clifton Mount Estate in the Blue Mountains and several launches and appearances. We were set to work with a regional restaurant chain in March but that got put on hold. Now in its fifth month after doing some great projects, much of our activity has slowed due to COVID-19.

We often pitch to brands and are constantly working on building brand partnerships for the talent on our roster which includes YouTubers, celebrity photographers, bloggers, and influencers. 

In February 2020, Hootsuite issued their annual Digital Report, of the 1.63 million internet users there were 1.30 million social media users in Jamaica*(January 2020). That study also showed that the number of social media users in Jamaica increased by 106 thousand (+8.8%) between April 2019 and January 2020. In February 2020, Instagram had 660,000 users. However, Google search still gets far greater traffic.

Google.com is the number one website and search engine in Jamaica. It’s the first place Jamaicans go to search for anything. Yet brands are still using influencers who are only on Instagram. For Reggae Month our influencer campaign was robust, it included Instagram posts and IG takeovers but were supported by blogs to spread the key messages and coverage of the campaign. The blogs ranked on the first page of Google, second to major publications.

In the age of COVID-19, brands are flocking to IG with lives but they should think more long-term. With more people staying at home due to homeschooling and working from home, brands need to focus on how people consume their products in their environment.

More people are spending time on their phones due to curfew but we also know that there is more to connecting with an audience than Instagram. An IG Live stays up for 24 hours and then disappears. I’m suggesting that brands also focus on YouTube which is ranked the second most frequented site on the internet for Jamaicans. YouTube has a far greater reach and stays “live” forever, even if you go live. 

YouTuber Annesha Adams used to create travel tips for tourists wanting to visit Jamaica. She also did series on best places to go in Manchester, St. Elizabeth and so on. She had to make a shift since beaches are closed, so she’s sharing more in-depth tips on how to start your own YouTube channel and how to make money online until this is all over.

Some ideas for brands to sponsor during this time are highlighting home consumption and building an emotional connection, by sponsoring Netflix reaction videos, easy to make at home recipes, reviews of tech products and give room makeovers.

Instagram has just started a beta monetization platform, so influencers and musicians will only benefit through brand sponsorships. By going Live on YouTube, content creators can still reap the benefits of monetization even after the event has ended.

Wah Gwaan! Wah deh gwaan, everyting irie? Mi deh yah, yuh know. But seriously tho, how’s everyone surviving Covid-19? Is there currently a lockdown …

AN INTERVIEW WITH JHUNELLE JUREIDINI – BLOGGER, TRAVELLER AND STORYTELLER

To launch my Creatives of the Future e-book, (to purchase click here) I interviewed some creatives who were already monetizing their platforms because of their work on social media. One of those people is creative director Rockstaar. Here is his story.

1. What do you do for a living? All-round creative: creative director, photographer and videographer.
2. How many followers do you have? 9,289 followers
3. If you could eat any type of food (right now) what would you buy?  pasta
4. What is your dream job? Restaurant owner
5. What Netflix series are you binging on? Narcos
6. Favourite Influencer/YouTuber of all time?  None.
7. How has social media helped your career?  Strangely, every time I post I get a new client from social media.
8. What advice would you give others trying to make a name for themselves?  “Believe in you like how you’d believe in someone else.”
9. What is the last thing you liked on social media? My artwork for a client
10. Who is your hero? My mom.

There’s a new wave of entertainers and musicians using social media more often nowadays as COVID-19 forces more people indoors. Producer Rvssian has interviewed IG models on IG live. Deejays are hosting online radio parties, but the average creative is still skeptical about how to make money through social media.

Some photographers have this innate fear of posting their photos on social media because of worry that people will steal their content. They often find ways to watermark them but Peter Clarke, more popularly known as Rockstaar,  is never worried, because he knows that social media has changed his life.

The Jamaican-born self-taught creative, Rockstaar has amassed almost 10,000 followers on Instagram because of his iconic perspectives and wide-angled shots. “Everytime I post a picture on social media, a potential client reaches out to me,” he says. Which shows the value of a DM.

Most big artists and mega-influencers don’t respond to DMs because they don’t know who the message is coming from, but when you understand that potential business can come from a message, it matters.

It’s not surprising, because when HootSuite issued their annual 2020 Digital Report, of the 1.63 million internet users in Jamaica, there are 1.30 million people on social media. 660,000 of those are on Instagram.

Instagram is not just for IG models, alot of musicians have been discovered on the internet, but few talk about the creatives behind the artistes that support to make their messages more impactful.

His self-portraits, are usually in a exotic location, everywhere from standing in front of a sports car in Accra, Ghana to sitting on the patio of a mansion in Los Angeles. His travels have exposed him to architecture, art and other cultures and helped enhance his view of the world, which is shown in his work.

Rockstaar was born in Thompson Pen, Spanish Town and at the age of 8,  moved with his immediate family including a younger sibling to live in Bridgeview, Portmore. At that time, he was attending George Headley Primary School and exposed to the wonders of technology, and decided he wanted to pursue ICT (Information Communication Technology) as a career.

In Grade 9, he had to move back to Spanish Town to live with his grandmother and  finished high school. It was then that he was gifted with his first Canon camera and started to do self-portraits with a timer as a hobby. 

He decided to pursue IT at the college level but after his first year, due to transportation difficulties, he dropped out.

Shortly after, he met into a car accident that challenged him to reevaluate his life and take things more seriously, so he decided to start traveling and planned to eventually migrate to Canada. 

He started posting  self-portraits of his travel adventures on  Instagram and was discovered by a member of dancehall artist’s Alkaline’s production team who eventually hired him as a event photographer to cover his concerts and journey. He also shot Akaline’s 2018 hit, “Perfect”, which has received to date over 7,601,711 views on YouTube.

Working with Akaline has allowed him to travel to countries like Ghana, Cayman, Germany, Trinidad, Grenada, Bahamas and Guyana.  Being on Instagram has also exposed him to other artistes who have hired him to do creative work such as J. Prynse, Narkoz, Iwaata, Trance Outlaw, Jahvillani, among others. 

He’s also branched out into doing wedding, lifestyle, corporate and personal branding shoots.

Whilst the journey hasn’t been the easiest, the rewards by staying motivated has been working out for the young creative thus far as he continues to develop his skills, earn new clientele, travel the world and experience new cultures while doing what he loves.

Follow Rockstaar on instagram www.instagram.com/rockstaar_