Content Creators Are The Future

In this week’s episode, I’m reflecting on a mindset shift that completely changed the way I approach social media—and honestly, my career. For a long time, like most people, I was just consuming content. Scrolling, liking, watching everyone else create. But the moment I shifted from being a consumer to a producer, everything started to open up.

In this video journal, I talk about how what started as a TikTok internship unexpectedly turned into an opportunity to lead a company—helping shape brand voices, creating a consistent content schedule, and sometimes even being the one educating the room about the future of social media.

It reminded me of something powerful: when you show up for yourself consistently by producing, you build real leverage. Not just followers—but skills, confidence, recognition. The kind of proof that a résumé alone doesn't capture.

This episode is really about taking ownership of your ideas, trusting your voice, and realizing that the things you create today might quietly open doors you never planned for tomorrow.

Transcript

Preview

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Someone is waiting for you to put your work out there, but your fair to be seen is holding you back. Put your work out there. You never know who's watching. You can get five views on a piece of content, but if one of those views is Oprah Winfrey, that can change your life for the better. I'm your host, Deja Wallace. As you can hear, as you can see from my visual listeners, my subscribers on my YouTube. Subscribe if you're not. And if this is your first time joining me, welcome. If this is not, welcome back. Like I really appreciate you. You really came back to listen to another episode of Mind Over Matter, episode 112, Pony ahead. On episode 112 of Mind Over Matter, baby, I will be talking about how social media can change your life, how it changed my life, and why you should take it seriously. The importance of being a producer rather than a consumer, and why social media managers are the new CEOs. So if this is something you're interested in, kick back, relax, and let's get into this episode. You get me? Marketing, marketing, marketing. Marketing is the way you sell your business to others. A lot of us have been hearing that term recently, more and more. Um, and advertising was created as a way to market to the masses. When advertising companies found out that they can market to the masses using social media, it was game over. And sending them to our friends to us trying to convince our friends to pay attention to whatever we are trying to market to them. I do believe if you have a social media account and you are not producing content on your page, you are not using your social media to its full capacity. I started social media management. I started taking it seriously at least in 2021 when I became Brooklyn College's first ever social media intern for their TikTok page specifically. I had no job description that came along with that role. They just threw me out into the wild, and I just thought it was an opportunity for me to get a few extra credits. And I knew it would be fun, like a TikTok intern, like all I would have to do is just post content on TikTok, make silly videos of my friends and my peers all day long. I did know some things about the role because I did have the podcast, I had Mind Over Matter for about a year up until that point. So I did have experience managing social media, but I never knew or actually called it social media management. But I had already started a year before not even knowing, posting consistently podcast episodes every week for a year up to that point. But something felt different about this internship. It felt like I could take full control creatively of how Brooklyn College is portrayed to the world to a certain extent, of course. And I remember walking in just feeling like that's so powerful. Like I have the power to dictate how an institution is portrayed to the world. And I remember walking into the communication department the first day of the job, and everybody looked at me just confused, clueless. They didn't even know what to have me do. They were looking at me to lead them. And I just knew that this internship was different. I've had done, I have done I did internships, I've done internships leading up to that point, but I admitted me, I've done internships leading up to that point, but I immediately knew that this one was different. I felt like I was the head of the department, and everybody was looking at me for guidance on what to do. Me and the other girl I was interning with, we were the youngest in the room. So we found ourselves a lot having to teach and educate the department on what TikTok was and the importance of it and why it's important to even be present on social media based off of just our experience posting silly videos and my experience podcasting up until a year at that point. Little did I know I was helping pioneer and set an industry standard of what would be expected of future generations going behind me of what social media interns will look like after me. I felt as if I was my own bow. I felt like if I was my own boss, no Rick Ross. And I was. I was a boss. I felt like I was a boss. And social media management, it's not too late to go into it. If you're thinking, is it too late? It's 2026. I'm talking about this. This was 2021. But this is one of the fastest growing industries, and it's not too late. You did not lose your chance, and I'm telling you that. And I've been in it for about like six years now. Telling you, it's still not too late. The industry is constantly shifting, it's still very new, and I feel as if many people also have a stigma that's attached with being a content creator, that it's not a real job, it's not real work. You're talking about this way too seriously. But I can assure you, it is real work, it's real impactful work, and it's hard work. And the reason it's so impactful is because you have the power to this, you have the power to dictate how other people are introduced to a brand. And you have the responsibility of upholding that brand's image to the public. It's a lot of responsibility that comes with relaying a brand to others in a way that fits what the company wants to portray. But outside of all that corporate perspective mumble jumbo, just posting videos on your page, you have that personal responsibility of how you relay yourself and sell yourself to the world and to a similar way that competes for your audience's attention. And this brings me to my first point how social media can change your life if you prioritize it, and prioritize specifically becoming a producer over a consumer. A lot of us already prioritize social media in a way where we're more so consuming rather than producing. So when I decided to stop scrolling on my phone, stop Doom scrolling, and I decided to take agency over my life and became a producer over a consumer, I realized how to leverage and take back the time these attention-grabbing applications try to take from me. I did this by not waiting for my dream to just fall into my lap. I created my dream job. I really wanted to be a TV personality, a radio personality, or even have my own podcast. And I always watched other people scrolling through my feed, seeing other people do it. I'm like, oh, wow, I wish that was me. Oh, wow, I could do that. So you know what I did? I did it. I picked up my phone, I started speaking into my mic, and the rest is history. I didn't care if I got five views. I didn't care if it was just me, myself, and I viewing that video or 5,000 views. I just wanted to do what I love, and I did it. And this forced me to learn how to market myself to my audience and enhance my social media presence as a result. I found myself watching videos of how to video edit and use Photoshop. I even created Mind Over Matter logo by learning to use Photoshop. It was one of the first things I created on Photoshop. And by enhancing these skills, this made me a valuable asset to other companies who wanted to help elevate their brand's present brand's presence, looking for a social media manager, looking for that young mind that could help them just brainstorm on how to get their brand bigger. And opportunities just started flying my way. Like I was neon the matrix, like I had to go. It was so many opportunities flying my way. And I was asked to cover high caliber events with companies. I wouldn't even have been on their radar if I never put myself out there and started taking agency over my life. These companies wouldn't even know, wouldn't have known I existed. And I started producing instead of mindlessly consuming, and that changed my life. I started watching myself evolve right before my eyes, going back, editing videos, each episode I saw looked better than the last because I was learning more. I learned how to be 1% better than the last episode, and each opportunity even just kept getting better and better. Although I wasn't getting paid a glamorous salary, getting flowed to Dubai like you see a lot of these um Instagram baddies and getting flown to Dubai on brands. I was living a life I never knew was even possible. All because I took content creation seriously and used mind over matter as a catalyst to market myself to other companies. Along the course of my five years with the podcast, I learned how to sharpen my confidence on camera, how to speak so eloquently as you hear here, how to articulate myself better, how to market myself, how to enhance my video editing skills, and as a result, stand out from 99.9% of people who didn't put themselves out there because they didn't have enough confident confidence to be seen, or they weren't consistent enough to even see the fruits of their labor. They got caught up in the lack of likes and views and what other people think of them, and they just continue scrolling, wishing somebody else's life was theirs. But by not get adopting that mindset by even caring how much views I got, I was able to get reality TV deals off the off of a video that had 50 views, witness and cover historic moments and culture, and meet people that have changed my life in such a positive way. That's priceless. Moments like that is priceless. A salary could not afford those moments. And the best part of it is I have full autonomy over my life. Instead of falling into the mindset of demonizing social media for making people slaves to their phones, I shifted my mindset to set my perspective on how social media has changed so many people's lives and created a new route for content creators to create the reality they desire instead of waiting for someone else to give it to them. It's not gonna fall in your lap, babes. I'm just saying it's not by creating a reality, not just on social media, but in real life, by doing the groundwork and becoming teachable, those are keys right there. And learning the art of marketing and social media, you'll see firsthand how you are your own CEO. You are your own CEO. Maybe I should have named this episode you are your own CEO of your life. But it's too cliche, you're your own CEO of your life. I heard it way too many times. But all of that being said, I just wanted to leave you off with this. If you didn't take anything from this episode, someone is waiting for you to put your work out there, but your fear to be seen is holding you back. Put your work out there. You never know who's watching. You can get five views on a piece of content, but if one of those views is Oprah Winfrey, that can change your life for the better. It's never too late to believe in yourself and take authority over your life and start creating the reality you want instead of waiting for life to happen to you. Stop waiting for life to happen to you. Remember, you are the CEO of your life. So act like it and produce something that you're proud of instead of consuming the life you could have had watching others do what you always wanted to do. So I hope you enjoyed this episode. It was quick, it was short, it was sweet, and I hope it enlightened you in some way. Remember to tell a friend to tell a friend, mother, auntie, sister, daughter, doggie that it's mine over matter, baby.