We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Dilcia Guzman a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Dilcia, thanks for joining us today. What do you think Corporate America gets wrong in your industry? Any stories or anecdotes that illustrate why this matters?
So, in my work, as a freelance performer, I mainly work and doing live entertainment for events, such as children’s birthday parties, community, outreach, etc. and one of the biggest assumptions with my line of work is that clients are paying for a babysitter for an hour or two. While I do my absolute best to keep children’s safety in mind, especially working at birthday parties, I am not there to watch over your kids, I am there to entertain them, as well as the majority of party guests. I am not there to discipline them, or tell them what to do , I am there to make magic for all, and it would be extremely helpful if a lot of the adult gas at an event, would do their part in parenting their children properly.
Dilcia, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
So I initially got into the work of freelance performing due to one of my passions, cosplaying. I started cosplaying online on social platforms, such as Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, etc. through out the COVID-19 pandemic, and in late 2021, one of my cosplayers blew up immensely online, because of my resemblance to the character, I was cosplaying, Mirabel Madrigal. From there on out, I had a bunch of people, asking for personalized videos online, and show immense appreciation for my work, but the biggest surprise was when one of my friends from college, Taylor Chapman, reached out to me and told me that the company she was working for needed some more performers of color, and I was more than happy to get on board! From there, on out, I have hit the ground, running within live entertainment, and I’ve done more than 300 events in the past two years. I have dedicated most of my weekends for this profession, but it makes me extremely happy; if you told me 20 years ago, that a little girl obsessed with Disney movies was one day going to be a princess every day for hundreds of people, I would’ve laughed. Back in the day, it felt like being a princess was only for certain people, and I didn’t fit that criteria, but I’m really glad that people are far more receptive, and excepting of others, being the hero of their own stories, and bringing inspiration for others to see I’m so happy I have gotten into this profession, and I will cherish it for as long as I can!
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
I built my audience organically through TikTok, and it helped that I had a bit of virality to aid in that audience boost, but my biggest advice for building, a social media presence is to keep on creating content, keep on making what you love, not to follow whatever is the latest trend, because that will disappear in the blink of an eye. It is far more important for you to continue making stuff that you are proud of, and curating the right audience for your work, and for your business.
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
I believe word of mouth and positive reviews have built me a good reputation within my market. I have a sizable amount of repeat clients now going into my second year as a freelance performer that will specifically request me for events, and then they will share their testimonies to their friends, to the coworkers, and even share about it online. hearing all this positive feedback is a good reminder to myself that I am doing a good job. There have been white a handful of moments where I have doubted the work I’ve put in, but it’s nice to look back on what so many people had to say about my storytelling, and the magic that I brought to each of their events! As long as you stick by your mission, and uphold a certain level of quality within your work, you will reap the benefits.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.dilciaguzman.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dilcia._.guzman/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dilciaguzmansings/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/DilciaOfficial
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAXEv0-5uR5FSMIN_rozbHA/
- Other: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMJAf7SVd/