Leveling Up: How Belizean Creators Can Thrive Online

One of the featured speakers at the Digital Leadership Conference came all the way from Lagos, Nigeria. She’s a content creator and actor with a sharp focus on monetizing digital content, an often-overlooked side of tech transformation. She joined Greater Belize Media CEO Marleni Cuellar for a fireside chat, and ahead of her session, we caught up with her to learn how Belizean creators can level up their digital game.

 

Chinonso Arubayi, Content Creator

“First of all you find that a lot of people who create content do so because they are passionate about it. So, passion drives you, but you burn out when you are not making any money. And we all know that content creation is expensive, especially if you want to make quality content. So, at the end of the day, if you are not making money, it is like you are wasting time and nobody wants to waste time in this era. When I started content creation, I used to partner with brands to reduce the cost of production. Sometimes we want to have that viral moment. We want to chase being viral. So, you find people doing all kind of crazy things. And it is disappointing when you put your face in the dump and still don’t blow. You want your content to blow up and be viral. So what I would say is be aware of the global community and the global audience you have access to, because you are creating content online. Don’t think Belize alone, think the world, think globally. So approach content creation like a business. If you are going to monetize content you have people in America you have to trust wih your money, because in the U.S. and UK you can monetize content. That is what we use to do in Nigeria before it was possible to monetize content on Facebook.