We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Imani a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

IMANI, appreciate you joining us today. Do you wish you had started sooner?

This has been a question that used to pop into my head a lot when I started my content journey. And with where I’m at in my journey I feel like i joined right when I was meant to. Some people like waiting until the right time to do things such has having the right equipment or knowing more about their craft. But with anything you learn as you go. You should never feel pressured into doing something and you shouldn’t hold yourself back from taking a risk or doing something new. When I first started back in 2020 I never thought I would be in the place that I am now surrounded by the amount of support that I am continuously given. Back when I started I was in my second year of college and covid started, I was looking more so for something to invest my time in for fun. I always love talking about how my experience was when I first started because I started being a content creator because of the motivation of my best friend Saydí. We had started together the summer of 2020 and it one of the greatest and most memorable times I’ve had. It was my first time being able to voice and express who I was as a creator. It was the first time I got to see how I can have an impact being online even as a small creator. The motivation I had back thing is something that I still carry very close to me now because when that summer ended a handful of the people I connected with were slowly going back to school or their normal lives. So I had to make a decision whether or not I should quit or stay. The decision I made to stay on the path that I’m on now I’m happy decided to pursue because I’ve been able to experience and push myself to new limits. And I’ve also met incredible people that I can call my friends and a supportive community that has been super patient with me.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My name is “xomaarz” by I go by Mani. I got into being a content creator because i’s been a passion of mine ever since I found out about the online gaming space. I grew up watching creators like H2o Delirious, KYR SPeedy, Markiplier, and CoryXKenshin watching their videos after school would always put a smile on my face. I wanted to have that kind of affect on people as well. Within the gaming growing up it was a lack of popular women gamers that I would see and it almost made me believe that the space wouldn’t be something I could be successful in. Like a one in a million chance. Then in 2020 I came across Twitch and I started seeing more women that looked like me having Twitch Partner, more women on dominating Tik Tok and Instagram and the online space as a whole. So it gave me hope ambition that my dreams weren’t impossible that I could do it if I really wanted to. Even though I haven’t become a viral internet sensation overnight I’ve been able to accomplish things I once thought were I would never reach. Collaborating and networking with some of my favorite content creators and going to conventions with people I get to call my friends. With pushing myself to become a content creator I’ve learned what I wanted and that was to motivate others to chase their dream. No matter what dream it is that they want. No matter how big or small. That nothing is impossible. I’ve been able to connect with more women in this space and I’ve been able to inspire them to challenge themselves and chase after what they want. I’m proud of being able to have a community of people that hardworking no matter what field they pursue. I aim to continue to grow as a creator and to show that it’s not impossible for women who look like me to be successful. It’s always talked about how if you are a black woman that you will have to work twice as hard to be successful. But all that effort is worth it and you should never give up. That dream you are chasing after will come true as long as you never give up

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

I built my audience on social media by being involved in other communities. Mainly learned this from being on twitch and wanting to interact and connect with other content creators but it truly is so important if you want to grow. With connecting with other creators you can potentially even make really good friends which I have an I’ve probably mentioned it a handful of times how I’ve been fortunate enough to have those connections with the people I’ve met online.
It’s important to know that you don’t have to just be connected with the streamer of a community that you are in but as the community as a whole, especially if that is a community that have similar values as yourself or what you identify with. I do find it very important that you want to connect with that community not just because you want to grow but because you would want to be connected with those people. There will be people that will have disingenuous intentions while connecting with you when you are online and its very important to not only watch out for those people but to not be like that either.

To expand more once you do start building your own community it is important to have a discord server or a space for everyone to be able to interact together. Discord is the easiest and best for me because I can host movie nights or game nights in voice channels to connect with my community and schedule events. It also allows me to update my community on when I stream or post on other social media platforms. Posting on all socials or as many as possible is beneficial in building a community because it widens the ways people are able to find your content.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect is even though right now I am a small creator, I still do have an impact on people’s lives. That watching or engaging in my content can make someones day better. That’s my whole purpose of doing what I do. Playing video games and having just chatting segments on stream is fun but having people tell me that they are proud of me but even that my streams make their day better pushes me to keep going. It’s extremely heartwarming to have that kind of support in your life.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://beacons.ai/xomaarz
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/xomaarz
• Twitter: https://x.com/xomaarz
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@xomaarz
• Other: https://www.twitch.tv/xomaarz

  https://www.tiktok.com/@xomaarz

Image Credits

i took the images