Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Janika Bates. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Janika thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

My content creator journey started in college. I was a journalism major and initially wanted to pursue a career as a news reporter.

I learned how to write by working at both our campus newspaper and a local newspaper in the city. I learned how to edit and speak to large audiences by working at our campus radio station and campus news station. I also gained invaluable skills and connections by interning with the local NBA team and an entertainment news station in Los Angeles. On top of that, I took the opportunity to study abroad with fellow classmates to attend the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil.

I said all that to say this: being a content creator and choosing to put yourself and your creativity out into the world is hard, but I don’t think I would have gained the confidence to do it had I not begun to prepare for this journey during my collegiate years.

College is not for everyone, but it is the time where you are allowed to be as adventurous and try and fail at as many things as possible without it negatively impacting the trajectory of your life (for the most part). It was the time where I learned all the essential skills I needed to progress in my career as a creator now.

I encourage everyone to take advantage of wherever you are now in life and do things such as networking, making lasting connections with likeminded people, and getting involved in community so that you can be part of every learning opportunity presented to you.

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 passionate about helping women realize the importance of self care and self love. My social channels are dedicated to provide inspiration and support for others on their self care journey, including routines, health, meditation, traveling, skincare, hygiene care and overall personal wellbeing.

I am most proud of the positive impact I have on people’s lives. At the age of 26 I achieved every life goal I set for myself and it left me feeling extremely empty. I had to go through an intense life rebuild because I worked so hard and rushed through life to achieve my goals, but I never took the opportunity to live in the moment and enjoy my accomplishments.
My self love journey involves me slowing down and appreciating the simple things in life more, not really working toward a particular goal. I take the time to travel, go on walks, smell the flowers, admire the sunrise and the moon, and take better care of my skin and health. It brings me joy to know that others gain value from me sharing my own tips and insights on what brings me happiness.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

I think the best thing society can do to support creatives, especially content creators, is to interact with the creator’s content. Thankfully as a content creator, I don’t have to sell anything or ask for capital. I get paid by platforms simply to create and upload content and all society has to do in terms of support is to watch, press the like button, comment or share the posts. Whether it is an Instagram post or Youtube video, simply “liking” the post or leaving a comment does wonders for a creator’s growth since the algorithm favors high interaction.

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

I’ve had Instagram since 2009 but I didn’t reach even 10k followers until 2021. Instagram began to push IG Reels really hard to compete with TikTok, and it was also around the same time I started my YouTube channel and began to take content creation more serious.

Self care was also big at the time since it was a year after the unfortunate events of 2020 and everyone was looking for ways to take better care of their mental health. I believe I built my audience by following along the trend of posting IG Reels consistently and having my YouTube channel linked in my bio. Thankfully other people who were on their own self love journey were able to find me and gain valuable insight from someone like me who practiced self care daily.

As a content creator, a lot of us are at the mercy of the platforms we choose to post on. I decided to post more IG Reels consistently since that was helping my platform grow the most at that time. Sometimes the best way to grow on social media is to follow the trends to allow more viewers to find you.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @JanikaBates
• Youtube: @JanikaBates

Image Credits
Janika Bates