We were lucky to catch up with Elba Spires recently and have shared our conversation below.
Elba, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s talk about social media – do you manage your own or do you have someone or a company that handles it for you? Why did you make the choice you did?
I manage my own social media for the most part. I do have a handful of people who will volunteer their help on ocassion but none of us are getting paid for our efforts. We simply do what we can to serve our community while combating misinformation, internet trolls, so on and so forth.
Elba, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
Da iri le (my name is) Elba Spires. I’m a Taino woman, wife, mother, and council person from Boriken (Puerto Rico). I was born at el Hospital Pavia in Santurce but was raised mostly in Aguadilla. Due to being a military/government employee brat, I moved to Florida in the late 90s and graduated from high school in Georgia. As part of the diaspora, I’ve had to overcome many obstacles including how to teach my children about their people and culture. It was for them that I started doing a lot of personal research. compiling everything I came across, then sharing it all publicly.
In March 2017, Taino Book Club was created with the intent of being a gathering place for Taino to read together. Its name was changed some months later to Taino Library because it had so many Indigenous Caribbean resources in it and became more of a study group. From the beginning, it’s been a 100% volunteer-run effort and something I’m very proud of because it’s helped Taino people all over the world connect or reconnect.
How did you build your audience on social media?
When I created Taino Library on Facebook, the first thing I wanted to ensure was that it was as safe and unbiased a space as possible. This was achieved by establishing group rules early on as well as adding moderators from different communities who I respected and with whom I also had some rapport.
Crossposting to platforms other than Facebook like Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok have proven to be worth the time and energy. They help spread awareness about Taino people, our history, and our community efforts by expanding our reach.
Having a larger audience can be a double-edged sword though. The best advice I can give someone just starting to build their online presence is to be both clear and firm with your boundaries as an individual as well as an organization. Also, have as much pre-planned or scheduled ahead of time as possible. This helps with days when you’re busy, uninspired, or need a break.
Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?
Two of the people I’ve been working with the most closely are teacher, artist, and activist @Inaru_Arts as well as Behike (Spiritual leader) and fellow council person @WaterVixxen. I’m using their TikTok names because I haven’t gotten consent to use their real names but they’re both absolutely brilliant at what they do.
I’ve lost count of how many times I found myself leaning on these women when I was losing my will or patience in a given situation. I’ve also tried to be there when they were the ones needing a rock to lean on. It’s paramount to not only conduct your business but to check in with your people emotionally and mentally if you want to keep morale up. Maintaining open lines of communication and avoiding heirarchal thinking because people matter more than position, power, or prestige are what make for a successful team in my opinion.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.tainolibrary.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tainolibrary
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TainoLibrary/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elba-spires-260ba7253
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/TainoLibrary
- Youtube: https://studio.youtube.com/channel/UCmcHYjCf5pOjCWKp9USkwDw
- Other: Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/tainolibrary Tumblr: https://tainolibrary.tumblr.com Yumpu: https://www.yumpu.com/user/tainolibrary Linktree: https://linktr.ee/tainolibrary Quizlet: https://quizlet.com/TainoLibrary/classes