A new interview from our series "Beyond the @" means another opportunity to be inspired by the complexity of the people who fascinated us through the small screens. Today, we're having the famous Romanian vlogger, Anca Broască, the one who undoubtedly colored our teenage days! Take a comfortable seat and get ready to exclusively receive answers from a content creator and to get behind the scenes of social media platforms!

It was the summer break, I wouldn’t go out as much and I was looking for a hobby that I would spend time doing. I really liked what these teenagers were doing online, and thought that they were a nice community too. Even though they were far from each other, at that time when the industry wasn’t so big, they were still friends. And I wanted, besides joining the community and being friends with them, to find a hobby through which I would get to know and attract people that resembled me and believe in the same things as I do, or are annoyed by the same things as me".

If you started a new channel now, would you change anything about your career, along the way?

"I don't think I would change anything, because every step that I made had brought me to the point where I am now, I don't think I would have made other decisions than what I already did".

What’s the best thing you have learned over the years?

"I have actually learned a lot of things, thanks to everything that had happened online. Firstly, this thing has strengthened me, I have learned how to manage my time, how to manage hate or other people’s opinions because I’m quite sensitive and when I started, I used to take every opinion very personally. But I have learned how to tell the difference between mischievous criticism and constructive criticism. In the end, when you expose yourself online, you will receive different opinions without asking and people will talk about you, good or bad, everybody knows you and feels like they know everything about you.

This was the biggest lesson, that not only strengthened me but also made me confident, with every nice comment, nice message, every success in my career, with every person I met who inspired me and from whom I learned".

Are there people in the online environment who inspire you?

"Yes. Along the way, another model appeared in the online environment; how I grew and matured, I changed my interests, I followed from one content creator to another, but yes at the beginning I was very inspired by Tequila, Daniel Pîrvan, they were some of the reasons I started Initially vlogging, after I discovered people online to inspire me in other ways. At the moment I don't really follow content creators in Romania, but I know that at one time I was very inspired by the lifestyle and in general tests like abroad, for some time now I am super inspired by Pamela Reif who promotes a style healthy living through sports food and I think right now from online, Pamela is the only person who super inspires me".

Have you ever had moments when you doubted yourself because of a certain situation that happened online and how did you fight this?

"Yes, I have been dragged online several times in certain scandals without my will, in which things have been said about me that have not been very objective, that have nothing to do with the whole story, in which I have not been linked to say my part and it affected me very much because I didn't know what to do; whatever I posted online, people were starting to see me based on what they knew about me not based on what I showed them as I was, which was very hard for me, I gave up the vlog for a while, well at some point I gave up vlogging altogether because I realized I didn't resonate with it, but I came back to other platforms and it was very hard for me to be online myself for a while, but I'm so glad I got over it. that, I was afraid to say absolutely anything at times, because anything can be interpreted, if you say every little detail online, the world can bring you a counter-argument without an argument, but just to be against and it's a little hard, but I realized that all these things come from me, I control them because people look at what I post, not because they think about me, not because they see what they hear, and that was a step that made me come back and to get over all this".

How do you think the pandemic has influenced bloggers and vlogging in general?

"As for Tik Tok, it probably wouldn't have become so popular; many people downloaded their Tik Tok because they were bored and many out of boredom came to be content and become very popular. I think because of the pandemic, people have been online more and somehow found this voice online of content creators, especially since teenagers don't watch much TV and everyone is on the phone. Yes, I think it had an effect, at least it had on me and I think it had on you and on everyone".

Have you ever imagined that you would become a role model for so many people?

"No, all the time online I wanted to show how I lived my life at that time full of jokes and all sorts of funny things, because yet the internet is not real life, it's just a way to show other people what we want to see about us. Seeing over time that people appreciate me and tell me that I inspired them to do certain things makes me happy all the time, but it was never a plan or something I thought was going to happen".

How do you think your life would have looked without Youtube, content, etc.?

"I think that if I hadn't started the vlog, my life would have had a completely different turn. I started vlogging at the beginning of the ninth grade and after finishing high school I should have attended a college such as computer science, but thanks to the vlog I discovered my passion for advertising, I started advertising and I followed my passion and with college. Probably if I hadn't started online then, I would have been in a completely different place. Advertising helped me and gave me a lot of confidence, but I can't say it changed me; my friends are about the same, I never liked the spotlight. I am a sociable person but at the same time I try to keep this part of my social outside the rooms. I don't think it changed me, I mean I didn't run after famous people, I go to master, to work, I do tik-toks and that's it. I would not want to live for popularity or online all my life".

I personally migrated from Youtube to Tik-Tok because not following content creators on Youtube was somehow out of place for me to make content on Youtube, meaning I would become one of those content creators that I would not follow. That's when I preferred to be content on a network where I really live and which I find really funny. Another reason why I gave up Youtube is that editing is very important and if in high school it was very funny, being my favorite activity, with college and job I didn't have time".

How has personal content creation helped you?

"Especially in high school, my escape was somehow, that is, if, for example, a teacher scolded me or annoyed me, I would come home and make a sketch about the teachers in a funny way instead of pouring my anger on them. Or, in the same way, if I was arguing with my parents, with my mother, I was doing a series on Youtube with a mother played by me, somehow, I was doing something funny from everything that annoyed or upset me, I put my emotion in a creative way. The creative side helped me a lot on a personal level, it strengthened me as a person, the online hate part and I think it also helped me on the social side; I was very anxious before and thanks to Youtube I started going to meetings with followers, other vloggers, being forced to open up, to talk to them, helping me to some extent to get rid of social anxiety".

And about languages, how important is it to know a language besides English, maybe more unusual, such as Polish?

"I don't know Polish; I only know English. It's a little harder at the store because I don't know much English, older people know Polish and Russian, but yes, it's definitely a plus. We had colleagues who knew Russian, so it was easier to get along with the people there. But we taught classes in English, we also communicate in English with people our age, but the more languages ​​you know, the better. For example, I had Spanish colleagues, and they gave me an interest in Spanish,and I started Duolingo, so that I could understand them and practice conversation".

Online does not necessarily define you. We show what we want to show, not who we actually are. Keep that in mind next time you don't feel good enough or you lost your confidence and don't let yourselves be overwhelmed by social media. We hope you enjoyed the interview as much as we did! <3

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redacție: Amalia Vintilă,

Alessia Văduvă,

Delia Apetroaei

transalation: Amalia Vintilă,

Alessia Văduvă,

Delia Apetroaei

grafică: Ioana Butaru

DTP: Ioana Butaru