Today we’d like to introduce you to Jackie Flores
Hi Jackie, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My inspiration to pursue true crime and content creation was always there. It all started in 2013 when I was watching Law & Order SVU and I was glued to the TV and specifically, glued to Olivia Benson. For me, it was the way Olivia cared so much about the victims, the law, and justice that was inspiring and that gave me the push to start taking criminal justice classes in high school and I continued into university.
However, it wasn’t always just about true crime. I also always had a huge passion for beauty and fashion, which started to shine through more while I was in university in 2016 studying criminal justice. I loved the idea of one day owning a beauty brand as a Latina and through my brand giving back through advocacy work to continue my impact and passion for criminal justice. Therefore, I switched my major at university from criminal justice to beauty/fashion merchandise & marketing, and with that came my inspiration to start creating beauty content. So, I grabbed a camera, hit record and started posting on YouTube and Instagram.
I started growing my community in the beauty space and had opportunities to work with big brands like Maybelline to film a commercial with them and two of my favorite beauty creators, to becoming an Ipsy beauty creator, and more. I was doing well with beauty and had about 70K subscribers on YouTube but in 2020 everything changed when I decided that I missed true crime. At the time, I was also watching a lot of true crime YouTube videos from creators like Kendall Rae and Stephanie Soo and I thought “I want to have a voice in this space, why don’t I start creating videos?” so I decided to upload my first true crime video on my channel.
I thought to myself, I am known for beauty to my community, but even if just ten people watch this video, that’s ten more people that are aware of this victim’s story and they could share it and bring more awareness. Whether a case is solved or unsolved, the victims and their families still deserve to be remembered and awareness is so important – and that’s my mission with my videos. Fast forward, and here we are with 250K+ subscribers on Youtube and almost 2 million followers across TikTok and other social channels. I don’t call them my subscribers or followers though, they feel like family so I call them “La Familia” and together we are spreading awareness and making a difference. They are the best community and I would not be here today without them. I feel so lucky to be doing what I love every day and more importantly, being a voice in this space and making an impact.
With the growth in community and opportunities, my team is also growing (which still feels surreal to say I have a team now), two of whom are my sisters which is so cool to be able to work together on this. Every day I am so grateful and I am not stopping anytime soon. There is so much more I want to do with my platforms and I can’t wait to see what the future holds.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
There have been a lot of learning curves to this job, especially in the beginning. When I first started creating content on YouTube, I didn’t have experience with cameras, lighting, microphones, editing, software, or even really how to upload the video after I filmed it to the platform. This technical learning was part of the journey but it was exciting to me. It also takes a lot of hard work and dedication to pursue something not many others are doing (especially back in that time). I uploaded videos for years with mostly my family and friends watching, but I never gave up even though it was hard and took time away from other things I could be doing. I believed in my dreams and was going to give it all I had.
There also will always be emotional and mental struggles in this space. When you put yourself online, you’re exposing yourself to the opinions of others and that can be scary. People will judge your work, your personality, your appearance…everything. The biggest struggle I’ve had to manage is learning to not listen to any hate I may receive. The reality is that you’re not going to be everyone’s cup of tea and that’s okay. I am lucky to have a very positive community and the love outshines the hate but that’s something that comes with the territory. There is always some struggle when you are pursuing something, so you might as well do what you love and what you are passionate about.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
My main focus is true crime content creation, specifically on long-form on YouTube and also with short-form content on TikTok, Instagram, and more. I create content ranging from true crime, and mystery but also lifestyle and beauty content. One of my dreams growing up was to be a lawyer and work in criminal justice. It’s something that I’ve always been passionate about and although I did not go down the legal path, I’m happy to still be a part of that work through my channels. For me, working with families and organizations to spread awareness on these cases, is everything. My mission is to give a voice to those that no longer have one & I believe my channel is a safe and successful way of doing that. I believe what sets me apart is that I’ve focused my true crime YouTube channel on Hispanic true crime. I cover cases that have happened in Mexico, Argentina, Colombia and other Latin countries. My goal is to bring awareness across borders so that my community hears these victim’s stories and I can highlight injustice that happens around the world. In most cases, the criminal justice system in those countries is often not the best. There are so many families looking for justice, trying to be heard and just aren’t listened to. Bringing these cases to my audience who is mainly in the U.S. helps spread the word & brings awareness to the injustice happening all over the world.
Along with true crime, I also create content around mystery. I love anything spooky so whether it’s sitting down with my viewers to discuss a thriller movie or share ghost stories, I’m all about it!
Last but not least, I’m a true makeup girly! When I’m not researching a case or watching a horror movie, I love to sit down at my vanity and play around with a fun, girly makeup look. It’s my “me” time where I can just melt away into the beauty world with my makeup brushes, eyeshadow palettes & lipsticks, to create a beautiful look. I want to get back to creating more beauty content again since that’s really where my roots started, but right now I’m really going full-force with my true crime and hoping that the beauty comes back soon.
Overall, I am a passionate and empathetic Latina who wants to inspire, educate, and impact others through my content and I am so grateful to be doing it in this way.
Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out?
Anyone that wants to start their own thing, whether that’s starting a business, creating content, getting a new job, or pursiong something else that maybe not many others are doing, is very brave. The courage, passion, and determination has to outweigh everything else. My biggest advice for anyone starting out is to never give up. I know it sounds cheesy but it is so true. It took me almost seven years to get to the point to where I am now and there were so many times when I wanted to give up, but I never did. I knew I wanted to do this and when you truly believe in yourself and what you are pursuing, you won’t let it go that easy. It would have been so easy for me to just throw in the towel, sell my filming equipment, and move on from this dream, especially in the beginning. But, I knew I would regret it and feel eternal guilt for giving up something so amazing and that I loved. I am so happy that I stuck through it and I am living my dream. I’ll leave you with this… if you are starting a YouTube channel or any special project, please know that it is in your heart for a reason and you would not have the opportunity if you didn’t already deserve it and have what you need to succeed within you. Keep going and know that all that hard work, all those late nights, and the struggles, will be worth it. Time goes by anyways and we get one life, so give yourself the shot to go for it.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.tiktok.com/@truecrimejackie
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/truecrimejackie/
- Twitter: https://x.com/jackietruecrime
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@truecrimejackie/videos
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@lajackieflores
