We recently connected with Jarryd Wentzel and have shared our conversation below.

Jarryd, appreciate you joining us 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?

My first taste of some real money was over on my personal Instagram account. I received an email from a PR company who had seen some of my comedy skit videos and they thought that I would be perfect for a Netflix South Africa campaign which would be to promote season 4 of Stranger Things. The weird thing was that I had just finished watching part 1 of that season not even a week prior to receiving the email so I did think that was really strange. Cool, but strange.

I remember waking up on the Monday morning and seeing that I had an email on my business account (which is solely for communicating with brands) and so that definitely got me out of bed that morning! The idea that they wanted me to execute on was to have a sort of charades type quiz but I only had myself as my disposal so I had to get a little creative. They sent me around 10 questions (which were related to the show) that they wanted me to act out and I started thinking up how I would do things.

I had a green-screen and I love using it so knew I could do some cool things with it which would help me as it would only be me in the video and I wouldn’t have a teammate. One of the questions was about the game that one of the characters was really good at and the answer was Dungeons and Dragons so my hint that I gave to the audience was me fighting off a dragon which I had added into the video. It came out quite well and I love adding silly yet creative elements like that to my videos. Another question was what superpower does the main character possess and so my brain said well because the superpower is telekinesis, why not act out as if I am using said power by waving my hand and acting as if a picture of the show’s villain was being controlled by me and so that’s what I did and it came out really well!

With accepting to do this video for Netflix I was also invited to an exclusive event before it was made available to the public for a real life Stranger Things experience. That was really cool and I got a ton of merch on the night and met other creatives.

Having one of my first big pay checks being from such a massive company was amazing and having “paid promotion with Netflix” next to my post on Instagram was also surreal.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My content creation journey started in 2017 when I needed to create an application video because I was applying to become an au pair in America. An au pair is an international live-in nanny as part of a cultural exchange program. This video was then sent to my agency and didn’t really think too much of it at the time. Some time had passed once my profile was live and I was doing a lot of research about what exactly an au pair does, best questions to ask your prospective host-family during your Skype interview, how to and what to pack for your year abroad and so on. I had so many of these questions and there really wasn’t that much information out there and no one was really answering the questions I had or going as in depth into a topic as I would’ve liked. Also, there was almost no one talking about what its like to be a MALE au pair. It was pretty unheard of at the time and the kind of thing that if said out loud would raise more than a couple eyebrows… because guys can’t take care of children, you know?

It was then when I decided that I wasn’t going to let another prospective au pair feel as scared, lonely or uninformed as what I did. That’s when I decided to create The Bropair and it is slowly becoming the face of au pair content worldwide. Within the last year I 5x my Instagram following alone so now our community is sitting on just over 10k followers which is crazy!

With regard to the au pair content I create there is my YouTube channel which is all the long-form content with advice, tips and tricks, storytime’s, step by step guides on how to do all things surrounding becoming an au pair and more. On Instagram and TikTok I create relatable and funny memes and skit videos to help au pairs not feel alone and for them to realize that we all go through the same things. I also offer advice to au pairs and host-families through the direct message feature and I share to my story anytime an au pair needs travel buddies for a trip or those who had just arrived to a new city and want to make friends and even au pairs who are trying to find a new family as they are in rematch or because they are extending. I also make content for other agencies and other 3rd parties surrounding the au pair program.

The thing that sets me apart from others is my pure love for the au pair program. It honestly changed my life in so many ways and gave me purpose and direction. I love what it stands for and although some of that has been lost over the years as it has, in America at least, been around for a very long time. I hope to bring that spark back and ruffle the feathers of the big players and make it better than its ever been and maybe just maybe have my own agency one day and be the best agency out there.

2 years after I was an au pair I was still in contact with my host-kids and still creating content and so the people in The Bropair community see that and gain a lot of value from the content I create and what I stand for so that is why it will thrive and continue to do so. My authenticity around the content whether its promoting how great the experience is or how difficult it can be at times is appreciated by all within it as they find my content to be the most relatable out there.

The thing I am most proud of is the community that has been built. Yes, I did start it but its the people who follow me who push me to do better and create better content and the messages which I receive from people saying how I am the reason they became an au pair, that I was the inspiration for them or how I helped them get through a tough time all motivates me to keep going and to one day be the face of au pairing worldwide.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

Entertaining people, having them message me telling me that they are going through a tough time, rough patch or even just a hard day and that some piece of content which I made went and made their day makes it worth it. Even when I am told that people look forward to seeing whatever I am posting that day just because they know it will make them feel better is such a heartwarming feeling.

Knowing that I have inspired many to follow in my footsteps or even just knowing that I’ve given someone the idea that there is so much more out there in the world if you’re just brave enough to step out of you comfort-zone to experience it for yourself.

Lastly, creating content doesn’t at all feel like work. It’s fun and I love it so much and I would without a doubt do it for free, which I did do before I started getting on the radars of brands and having them reach out to me. The money is cool but that doesn’t change anything, I do it because creating content and entertaining others makes my soul happy.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

My presence was built very slowly and it took a lot of time to get the exposure I have now. Once you reach a certain point your exposure does ramp up which is nice because more and more people relate to your content and then share it which gives you social proof.

Another reason why my presence is so big in my niche is because there aren’t many others who are doing what I am doing and creating content in this niche and not many others are creating as relatable content as what I do.

The greatest piece of advice which I could give anyone wanting to start out is to honestly just post and be consistent. The quality of the content is not super important in the beginning stages as you might come to change many things as you become more familiar in the game. Another thing is to not care about what others may think about you starting to post content. I know the fear of ridicule from peers is quite high with people who haven’t started yet but those thoughts need to be thrown out of the window if you’re going to find any success in your niche.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.thebropair.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theBropair
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theBropair
• Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/theBropair
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/theBropair
• Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@theBropair Personal Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jay_chama Personal TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@jay_chama