Today we’d like to introduce you to Xavier Ray.
Hi Xavier, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’m a Filipino-American Content Creator in San Diego. I make Youtube videos helping out and doing gear reviews for new vloggers. But I didn’t always make Youtube videos. Before doing Youtube, I started out in acting back in 2015. I did a few plays and a lot of short films. A bunch of my actor friends and I worked on a Star Wars parody web series. We only filmed two episodes, but behind the scenes, I learned so much about how to lead a team, facilitate team meetings, hold interviews, cast actors and how to edit videos. It was a good two years (2017-2019) project and I am so proud of my team.
In 2019, I went on a vacation to the Philippines for a few months. While I was working on our parody and enjoying the sights of the Philippines, my external hard drive crashed. Everything was lost. All our assets and screen captures. And just like that, our parody was over.
Devastated, I honestly didn’t know what to do creatively. I spent a week in a bunch of coffeeshops in Manila being sad and feeling sorry for myself. Then my best friend suggested I make my own Youtube channel. Her thought process was since I’m in the Philippines for a while. Why not document my time there. “You’re a tourist. Film it and take us with you.”
And thus, my channel was born out of a broken hard drive and peer pressure. All joking aside, I’m glad my friends pointed me in the right direction. It’s been a fun journey and I’m still learning a lot from it.
My channel started out as a tourist vlog but when I came back to California from my vacation, I had to pivot because I was no longer a tourist. I decided to do gear reviews. At the time, it was fun, and I learned a lot from changing up my channel. Little did I know, but the new direction opened up some doors for me.
Someone from the Skillshare team saw one of my videos and asked me if I’d be interested in making a class for them.
It actually took me a couple of months to film and edit my class for them. And since then, I’ve been making content to help out new vloggers. My Skillshare class and YouTube channel are resources to help out someone if they don’t know where to start if they want to start creating videos for either Youtube or just making videos in general.
I’m happy to say that with all the setbacks and challenges, I’m finally at a place in my life where I can help people with my content.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
My biggest challenge for me would be finding Time and a Place to film. I think every content creator has gone through something like this, in one way or another.
During the last half of 2020, I moved into an “unsafe” environment and experienced several physical assaults that resulted to a long break in filming and a hospital visit. I even had to sneak in my food or else my roommates would cough in it.
If anyone finds themselves in a similar situation like mine, please find a way to leave that place.
It took me forever to leave due to the pandemic. But no one deserves to stay in a dangerous place.
Fast forward to 2021, I was finally able to move out after getting my vaccine.
Right now, I’m in a safe and loving home. But I’m still having trouble finding time to film.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I’m a content creator on Youtube. I make Gear Reviews for New Vloggers. Basically filming gear or tools for vlogging. But it didn’t start out like that. I was actually in the Philippines when I started my YouTube channel which was basically a tourist vlog. Which was fun and it gained a lot of views for a new channel. But now, I help new vloggers make videos and talk about gear that’d best help them meet their goals. I actually made a Skillshare class on this very topic. One thing I specialized in was to make every video pleasing for the viewer. I always tried to make every video I make presentable.
Aside from making videos for Youtube and Skillshare, I also do real estate videography. I help real estate agents sell homes with my videos.
Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
I never really had a formal mentor in my field. But I always surrounded myself with people who were smarter and more experienced than me.
When it comes to finding a mentor, I’d suggest reaching out to friends or colleges in your field. In my experience, being around friends who are in my field has always been a good experience for me.
It’s always been a good experience asking my friends who also do Youtube for advice and help. Actually, one of my friends who helped with our Star Wars parody became an informal mentor figure. Tiffany Porter, a San Diegan actress helped and guided me through the whole process of creating that parody. Without her and our team, we would have never finished as many episodes as we did.
One lesson I learned from her was to “kill your darlings”. The main goal of “killing your darlings” was to cut off anything and everything that doesn’t benefit to the narrative of your story or video.
I literally took that lesson with every video I made since we had that talk.
On the topic of mentors, one thing that really helped me during 2020 and 2021 were audiobooks. I may not be able to meet people in my field, but I can listen to their books. Gain insight from their experience without even having to meet them. Audiobooks are a great tool and they helped me a great deal during the pandemic.
Contact Info:
- Email: InboxXavierRay@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/xavierRayYoutube/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/xXavierRay/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/XavierRay
- Other: https://skl.sh/3nA6iZP
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/xavierrays
Image Credits
Head Shots were taken by Sandy Spears Photography
