We’re reaching out to some popular creators to get their best tips and tricks for success and better understand the ups and downs of life as a trailblazer on the internet.
This week, we caught up with Queen Motivat, a member of the Motivat family, via email. Queen is known online for warm, “wholesome” videos of her family. A lot of her content showcases her parents’ loving relationship and wise advice, but she also posts a variety of lifestyle and home renovation content.
Despite only making content for less than a year, she has already gained over 934,000 followers on TikTok, and over 66,000 on Instagram. On top of that, her family has over 32,000 followers on TikTok and Instagram. Impressively, she also works full-time as a CEO and interior architect.
The interview below has been condensed and edited.
What’s the first thing you do to start your day online?
I usually wake up in the morning and try not to go on social media and instead go on a run and smell the roses. I’m an interior architect and CEO of HQAdesigns so during the day I’m working at my company. On breaks, I usually go through all my amazing comments and DMs and reply to all of them and they make my day! During the evenings is when I edit and post content till a certain time and then log off. I think it’s important to have a good balance between your social media presence and real life.
What do you wish you knew when you were first starting out as a creator?
I wish I knew earlier that being a creator is something that will actually enable me to use my creative side and storytelling to reach millions of people and change their lives.
When did you realize you’d broken through and become a successful creator?
It depends on what success means to you, to me success is the great impact you have on society and community. As a creator who only started creating content a few months ago, I saw the impact that my videos had on people through the videos they would send me, DMs and comments. The thought that my videos are appreciated in different countries, cultures and by a diverse group of people is what fuels me to keep going.
If you hadn’t become a creator, what would you be doing right now?
By profession, I’m a CEO and interior architect and that’s where my creativity comes from. I’m very fortunate that I’m able to do it full-time and still be a creator. I don’t think I would have it any other way because both bring me joy. I get a lot of questions to incorporate more of my designs into my content, through the renovations I have done and designed. I have now started a series on Tiktok and Instagram of me renovating my parents’ home and the response has been incredible!
What’s one thing you do to manage your relationship with your fans?
For me, it’s important to always keep constantly engaging with my supporters. As a result, I have made so many new friends with people around the world! I have found that Instagram has better tools to enable me to engage with my supporters such as the ‘questions and polls’ feature on my stories. There, I have had interesting debates with my followers on things such as love, life and success which has been great!
What do you think of the idea of cancel culture?
That’s a very good question, for me, I try through my content to create a space of love and positivity where we are all challenging ourselves to be better people. I know that sometimes the internet can be a harsh place but I think it’s important to educate but also hold people accountable.
How much of your true self do you show online?
I think it’s important as a creator to be aware of what you’re putting out and what impact it will have on the people in the content and for the people consuming it. It’s a part of the social responsibility that comes with being an online creator. My wholesome POVs of my family are just great representations of who we are as a family. My content is a genuine representation of my family and myself, even though it’s just snippets! We do many other activities such as traveling together and building and managing our own individual companies in our daily lives that perhaps one day we would love to explore incorporating into the content.
What’s one of the best interactions you’ve ever had with someone who follows you?
Wow, where would I start! Some of my favourites have been the videos my supporters have sent me of how I have inspired them to be better, some of them even crying with joy because of the impact my video has had on them! Watching them all just makes my day. Now that the COVID restrictions have eased, we have actually had many people that have recognized us on the streets, which has been surreal and incredibly heartwarming.
What is your most treasured tool?
My most treasured tool is my family because without them I don’t think I would have been able to have been a creator because they are such a huge part of social media identity, and it brings me joy that I get to go through this journey with them.
What holds you accountable?
My family 100%! My parents have now become more involved in social media since I started incorporating them into my content. They now love the idea that they can have an impact on a global scale through my content so they encourage me to keep going and spreading the message of love and hope.
Thank you, Queen, for talking with us!
We’ll be featuring a new Q&A with a creator every week, so shoot an email to [email protected] for a chance to be included.
