We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Justin Reyes. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Justin below.

Justin, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

As a Twitch streamer and variety content creator I am extremely blessed to be able to have fun every single day in my creative venture. Whenever I sit at my desk and turn on my PC, I try and take a moment, before going live, to reflect on the fact that I am extremely fortunate to have a community that supports me doing what I enjoy while being the catalyst for that enjoyment and success. While “fun” will always be the most important thing, that is to say that if I am no longer having fun, then it’s time to hang them up; I am happiest when able to leverage my platform for the benefit of my community and other undeserved communities.

Coming from a lower middle-class Puerto Rican family based in Bed-Stuy Brooklyn, NY, I have always worn my heart on my sleeve. Whether it was going to boarding school on scholarship in southern Pennsylvania, or working in a predominantly white-male dominated industry, it has always been important for me to be my authentic self and show others that someone from my community is talented, capable, and beautiful when given a chance. This same mentality has been at the forefront of everything that I have done throughout my time as a creative. I have always believed that creatives from the BIPOC community just need to be given a chance to succeed. The issue with the success ratio has never been talent, it has always been related to exposure and opportunity. Considering this, I have worked with “in-house” collaborators on every single project. Graphic designers, animators, editors, other steamers… they have all been people that I know directly or have built a relationship with over time. Many, if not all of these collaborators come from a similar background and identify as members of one or multiple undeserved communities. In my eyes, every single chance that I am given to highlight the skills and talents of those around me is an opportunity to showcase the beauty of the community that I am from.

In addition to this I have consistently hosted charity streams on Twitch to raise money for various charities. During the last two years I raised over $7,500 that benefitted multiple charities. Some of those charitable organizations included Bridging Tech, The JED Foundation, HourChildren, LatinXinGaming amongst others. I have always tried to identify charities that do not have the renown of some of the more popular organizations as I feel our contributions will go further and drive real change that would be otherwise impossible without the donations of the community.

To think that a gamer could effect real change and have a tangible impact on the lives of others has always boggled my mind just a bit in all honesty, but it has always been my favorite part of this whole journey. The day that I can leverage my platform to create opportunities and help others, that is the real definition of success to me.

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

I go by Jiggy to most people nowadays but my real name is Justin. I am a Puerto Rican multi-platform content creator from Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, New York. I call my community the “Jigglefam” and we call the stream “The Jigglefam Cookout”. If you’re wondering why, its because, similar to when you go to your aunt/uncle’s bbq on a beautiful summer night, I pride myself on prioritizing feel-good vibes, positive energy, and a safe space for the family to hang out and be themselves.

I started content creation in 2021 (mid-pandemic) which was the case for many people on the Twitch platform. The pandemic was a very reflective time for me. It forced me to challenge the conventional way of thinking and ask myself what my priorities were and if I was happy with a 9-5 in a large organization. While I still do work full-time and enjoy my work, I wanted to push myself to embrace my creative side. From this, came the idea to stream although I had absolutely no experience in anything remotely similar before.

On the actual content side of things, I am a casual gamer who focuses on games that really allow me to interact with my community, whether directly through the game or being able to take a pause to interact with the viewers. Despite spanning a wide range of genres, my favorites are horror and indie. You can expect to see a variety of titles being played on my channel and regardless if I’m getting scared, crying tears of laughter, or in a rage, the one consistent thing is that we all enjoy ourselves!

As I have matured as both a content creator and more importantly as an individual, I have learned that content creation is an avenue for me to do what I love while making an impact on others. I’m extremely passionate about generating opportunities, from community game days and charity streams to collaborating with creatives from the BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and other undeserved communities.

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

I think its important to understand that the definition of “support” is subjective. Support happens in a variety of ways and spans a wide spectrum. In addition to this, different people have different capacities so we cannot expect support to manifest itself the same in everyone. To me there are 2 important principles to supporting creatives…

1. Support does not always need to be monetary: As a streamer, a sub or donation is not required, nor is it expected, Equally, if not more valuable is engaging with my content and sharing it if you enjoyed it. This is a form of support that is free and pushes the art one inch further than it was before.

2. There is enough room for all of us: One of the largest misconceptions is that another person’s success means it is less likely for you to succeed. This could not be further from the truth, especially as a creative. In fact, I WANT those around me to grow! See, if my colleagues aren’t growing, it makes it more difficult for me to be seen as well. However, if they grow, then that means we all have more eyes on us. One of the most impactful things I heard in college came from a part-time professor in a Finance class. He told us “you shouldn’t be looking at everyone in this room as someone you’re competing with for that job interview. But rather, see everyone in this room as your fellow CEO’s and partners 20 years down the road.”

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

You know, I’ve spoken enough about what I enjoy and what is most meaningful to me in my personal creative endeavor so I think this is an opportunity to have some fun with this one.

Have you ever heard someone say to you (as a creative), “oh you’re on the computer again?”, or “what are you even doing right now?”, maybe even “you should get a steady job!”. I’m sure we’ve all heard this at some point and as we all know, it’s certainly frustrating. It makes you feel like your work is unappreciated and certainly makes you feel misunderstood. So allow me to say this on behalf of all creatives…

What you don’t see is the HOURS of hard work that are put in behind the scenes to create the beauty in front of the screen/on the easel/on your body. One of the earliest lessons that I learned as a content creator is that it is not just a matter of turning on the camera and going live. There are countless hours of editing, promoting, strategizing, learning that go into being a successful content creator and mastering your craft. The same way you work hard to get your promotion, we work just as hard to showcase our talent and creativity. All this is just to say, the next time you think about commenting on someone else’s craft, take a second to think about what went into that and start a conversation. We can ALL learn something from each other. That is what makes the world a beautiful place!    

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ot_jiggy/
• Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/OT_Jiggy
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/OTJiggy
• Other: https://www.twitch.tv/ot_jiggy email for collaborations: [email protected]