Today we’d like to introduce you to Maria Cariza Crisostomo.
Hi Maria Cariza, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I’m a social media travel content creator, and although that’s something that was never a dream job when I was younger, I feel like everything in my life constantly pointed me in this direction. I fostered a love for travel through my immigrant parents. On my dad’s side of the family, almost everyone immigrated to America, specifically San Diego, from the Philippines. But on my mom’s side, we were the only ones in the states! So when I was younger, I grew up visiting my family in Germany, Brunei, and (of course) the Philippines. I loved the experience of being abroad so much that I had aspirations to live abroad starting at the age of 12!
I also inherited an appreciation for documenting all of my travels through my dad and my lolo (grandfather in Tagalog). Both of them were avid lovers of photo and video and were constantly whipping out their cameras. This was even in moments that I thought were mundane at the time, but I’m so happy they captured when I look back at the footage now. It got me used to being both in front and behind the camera.
I started off in the travel industry in 2013 and gained so much knowledge about the ins and outs of travel. In the time that I was with my former vacation company, I was had visited over 80 cities in a matter of 7 years! I became known as the ‘traveler friend’ and kept getting questions from friends and family about which hotels to book, travel recommendations for a city I’ve been to, first-time flying tips, etc. I decided the easiest way to get that out there was through social media.
As I’ve transitioned from that company in the past year and no longer have conflict of interest, I decided to really double down on creating my own travel content with Following Maria by focusing on luxury travel for less. After what I’ve learned from my former career, I knew that I could teach others how to travel to 4 & 5 star hotels at 2 & 3 star prices! A common thread I’ve seen from conversations that I’ve had is that people automatically feel like because a hotel room is $300+ that they are not able to afford it. Our goal with Following Maria is to equip our audience with the knowledge they need to create incredible vacation memories with their loved ones!
Now, our Following Maria team is growing into a production company which I’m extremely excited about going into 2022. Because of the foundations we’re setting now, we’ll be able to create higher quality content to respectfully portray how beautiful these cities, hotels, and airport lounges are. Plus, we’ll be able to post 3-5x more content in 2022 compared to what we posted in 2021.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
One of the biggest struggles along the way has truly been deciding to commit to making content creation my long-term career. Social media content creation had always been a “when I ‘make it’ in my former company, I’ll focus on being creative on social media.” I know I have the passion and the skills for it, which will always be growing, I needed to focus on my belief that I could do it.
I started having open conversations about my content creator goals with my partner and close friends, and all of them were beyond supportive of me that their belief in me grew my confidence. I signed on with an Influencer business coach, I started networking with other creators in the Instagram and YouTube space, and I invested in my gear. It’s exciting because I see all of these efforts paying off! These small wins are constant affirmations that I belong in this space in this season of my life.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Following Maria LLC?
We are a social media travel content creation team that focuses on how to make luxury travel accessible to our audience! Maria Cariza is the face of the Following Maria brand, and she leverages her knowledge of the travel industry and tips that go along with her experience to bring value to our viewers.
What sets us apart from other travel content creators is that we are deeply invested in teaching others HOW they can travel in the way that Maria does. Almost all travel content creators showcase these incredible resorts and destinations but never show their audience how they can do it, too. We know how much travel has impacted our lives, that we seek to empower others to do the same.
Another thing that makes us so different is that we talk a lot about ‘Travel Hacking.’ Travel Hacking is using credit card points programs to get free or low-cost travel! Many channels get very granular with their explanations, but we make our content beginner-friendly when we talk about how these programs work.
If you’d like to learn how you can travel in luxury for less, follow Following Maria on Instagram and YouTube! Even leave us a DM or comment that you came from this Voyager interview! 🙂
So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
What matters most to me is impact and serving others.
When I was younger and early in my career, I was very me-focused. I wanted to be successful because I want to retire early and travel wherever I wanted. Super shallow goals.
As I began to attain those goals, I started to realize that..it’s not that fulfilling to me at all. My fiance (who may be my husband depending on when this is published) and I talk a lot about how we can give back–especially the youth. Now it’s all about how can I pass my skills and knowledge that I’ve been blessed with to others? How can we teach the youth how to grow wealth? How can we teach the youth about investments and assets? How can we teach the youth about education alternatives to college? How can I teach my audience how to have these travel experiences? How can we guide our teams to equip them to be as successful as possible in their skillsets?
That’s become my North star.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/followingmaria/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/FollowingMariaa/featured
