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

Hi Marlene, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about the things you feel your parents did right and how those things have impacted your career and life.

Leaving everything behind and not knowing any English, my parents immigrated to America for a better life. Being a first generation Mexican-American I have always felt pressure to succeed for my parents and not let them down after all they did for me. Growing up my parents pushed me to do well in school and be active in activities. They constantly reminded me that if I didn’t want to struggle like they did I had to graduate, go to college, and get a job. I felt like I was the door opener for my family and siblings and I had to be responsible to make these things happen so that’s exactly what I did. In middle school I was in band and played soccer, then in high school I continued soccer until my senior year. I went to my local community college and was in general courses for my first two years. I ended up becoming pregnant with my son so I had to wait about a year to start the dental assisting program I had been accepted into as a part of our schooling is taking x-rays which isn’t safe for pregnant women. I felt like a disappointment at first but my parents reminded me to look back over the years at all my accomplishments and where it got me. I graduated college as a Certified Dental Assistant the following year and have now been in the field since. My parents did right by pushing me to try things and go to college. I don’t believe I would be where I am today had they not raised me the way they did. When I was younger I hated how pushy they could be sometimes but now that I am an adult with my own child, I completely understand they wanted me to have a life and opportunities they weren’t able to get here.

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?

Two years ago like many others I got into TikTok. I loved watching shopping videos and wanted to try this by making TikTok’s of me shopping for hello kitty items and sharing my finds. After seeing how many people were liking my content and following me, I quickly became addicted and enjoyed doing it as a little hobby. Eventually I made a page on Instagram posting similar content and grew a following there as well. After about a year of being on Instagram as a Hello Kitty page some of my reels views started reaching millions. I could not believe that many people liked my content. Shortly after I got invited by Silver Buffalo to LA for an exclusive Hello Kitty event that was collaborating with Pixi Beauty. I didn’t want to miss the opportunity and flew to LA for the first time. Being able to go to the event was a dream come true for me. Over the past few months I have received a variety of PR packages that I enjoy publishing for the brands that send me them. I love being able to put Hello Kitty content out into the world for other collectors and fans to enjoy. For awhile I was a personal shopper helping others get Hello Kitty items they were in search of and it made me so happy that I could help out people all over the US. Recently I ended being a personal shopper because it became very time consuming and with me being a full time dental assistant and mom with a son in sports I felt I couldn’t fulfill personal shopping as people would expect from me. I am proud that I’ve been able to help others add into their Hello Kitty collections. I really enjoy sharing content for others to come across and see what items are out there in the stores for collectors to keep a look out for. Being in the Hello Kitty community I’ve met a lot of sweet genuine people and I’m glad we can all come together and enjoy sharing our admiration for Hello Kitty together.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

I would say the most rewarding aspect of being a Hello Kitty content creator is being able to come together with other creatives and companies to help each other grow. Some people may think creating content is easy but it can be difficult at times. Supporting each other plays a big role in how we can get out there for others to see our content.

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

If it hadn’t been for me being influenced by other creators I wouldn’t have a Hello Kitty page. I was able to grow my Instagram and TikTok pages by finding an algorithm that worked for me. I would look at trending videos and posts and try to base my content along that to help mine get into the algorithm. I eventually found a time to post that worked for the audience I was getting. For me it’s better to post in the evenings as that’s typically when people get off work and are on their phones more, I feel like my content has a better chance of being shared more then. My advice to anyone starting or wanting to create content is to look into the type of content you’re wanting to purse and familiarize yourself with what’s trending.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://beacons.ai/hk.fairyy
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hk.fairyy?igsh=eHpiaXdkaDR3MG5j&utm_source=qr
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/tCJU5KvWuEphhwRs/?mibextid=kFxxJD
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@hk.fairyy?_t=8q9jJNIWzFK&_r=1