We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Bucky Yaqub. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Bucky below.

Bucky, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. The first dollar you earn is always exciting – it’s like the start of a new chapter and so we’d love to hear about the first time you sold or generated revenue from your creative work?

The first time I ever gained a good chunk of money from being a content creator was after I posted an Instagram story tagging a fast food company! I know, it’s kind of wild how putting yourself out there and making money can be THAT easy. I made a fake, silly boomerang where I was eating New York Fries poutine in the food court of a local mall. The socials team replied to my Instagram story loving it, and so I literally just asked them to collab. We then started an email thread which led to me creating a vlog for them for Pride month. You can watch the video here: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CtxAuVQO6hU/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’m Bucky, also known as FameGrandpa, and I have become a content creator, fashion icon, internet personality by putting myself out there and taking up space! When I first started posting online, I never expected to grow even a tiny following. People would always be shocked my following was under 1000. When I started leveraging my ability to network and connect with creators, my accounts started to get recognition. Growing a following was the easy part, building a loyal cult like following was the hard part. My audience, the “famegrandchildren” recognize me on the streets of Vancouver, ask for advice in my messages about being queer and unapologetic, and in doing so, I am inspiring people far and wide just by being myself. As cliché as the saying is, If I can do it, anyone can!

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

My goal with posting online is to show the world that people like me exist. Being gay and Pakistani always gets me controversy online but my identity isn’t something I am ashamed of. I love being flamboyant, loud, extra and annoying. All of these adjectives can be seen negatively, but for me, I pride myself in not being palatable to the masses. Representation is everything I needed when I was younger, so being that now feels really special.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

A lesson I had to learn was that followers does not equal influence. I know a lot of creators with big followings that are not influential. The word influencer has honestly lost its’ meaning over the past few years. I believe an influencer has to have a unique perspective and identity that they openly share with their audience making their “fans” want to replicate what their icon is doing. These algorithms reward mediocrity at times which is why I always tell other small creators that we are not competing with the content creators with millions of followers. We are simply carrying the whole damn table and paving our own paths.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @famegrandpa

Image Credits

Image 1: Linda Jolly
Image 2: Francis Ward