The University of Youtube

I want to share with you a positive story that happened recently.

My partner has been asking me to be active on Youtube for a while. After many months of considerations, in September 2020 I decided to release my first educational video.

Many colleagues of mine refer to this platform as the University of Youtube. In 2011, when a friend of mine asked me to join her designing scarves for global fashion labels, I became a Youtube student myself. Eleven years later, I decided to give back to the platform that helped me become a professional textile designer.

I thought of my first educational video as being a calligraphy snack. I had zero expectations, as I am aware that there are many stablished creatives on this platform. To my surprise, my video had been watched over ten thousand times after three months, and I started to receive subscribers daily.

By then — and totally unrelated to the content of my videos — I discovered Tara Brach and started watching her free lectures. I spent over five hours on her channel, before I jumped on her site for the first time. In there, I learned about her books, and purchased the first one. I continued watching her lectures and finished her first book.

Six months after my first Youtube video — and inspired by Tara Brach — , I decided to create a series of six other videos giving away tips and tricks for students starting out with their Copperplate calligraphy journey.

After finishing Tara’s second book, I bought her third and fourth books and two Spanish versions for my mum and auntie. This made me reflect on my own behaviour as a Youtube user, and made me realise how much value I had received from Tara’s wisdom before I actioned my first purchase.

So, I went back to my channel and added a link to all my educational videos called “Take what you need, give what you can. Support my accessible Youtube education”.

My first video has now been watched over seventy thousand times. In March 2022, I received my first donation which put the biggest of the smiles on my face :))

This blog was part of my latest bimonthly newsletter called “May 2022: The University of Youtube”