Paula Gonu sounds as sincere on the other end of the phone for this interview as she does when she looks at the camera and talks to her followers about any trinket. The Catalan content creator has established herself on social networks (almost 2 million users follow her on Instagram) without pigeonholing herself into a specific audiovisual product, because, as she tells us, she is grateful that her audience does not expect something predetermined from her.
The influencer is the new image of the Mustang footwear brand in a campaign in which it wants to claim to be true to ourselves. She also tells us about her controversies, her career, her life as a famous content creator and announces a new project: a cookbook that will soon be published. She acknowledges that “in any of my recipes you can add meniscus.”
Are you comfortable with the title of influencer?
Yes, I feel comfortable. But I like more to be defined as a content creator.
How did you start in the world of networks?
At university I didn’t have social networks and my friends and my partner at the time forced me to download Instagram because they couldn’t tag me when they uploaded photos with me.
I traveled, I did yoga and I have always really liked editing videos… That’s why the people who followed me recommended that I open a YouTube channel. With perspective, I would tell you that I am one of the first generation of influencers, but when I started there were already people with more than half a million followers.
When did you decide that social media was going to be your profession?
It was unsustainable to combine my work with networks. I was terrified of leaving my job with the security of an employment contract to dedicate myself to uploading videos to the Internet. But the moment had to come for my health. So I didn’t sleep much because I spent editing the videos until two in the morning and the next day I woke up at seven to go to work. In the end, I signed an annual content creator contract with a brand and, with my mother’s approval, which I still need for many things, I took the final step to dedicate myself solely to social media. I told her ‘mom, you trust me’, and she said yes. At that moment I was screwed, to be honest.
You are active on many social networks, is creating content a daily job for you? How many people are on your team?
I have an editor for YouTube videos with whom I understand well and there is another person who helps me record. There is one good thing about Youtube now. When I started you could only upload a post or video in square format on Instagram and a horizontal format video for YouTube. Right now, with so many platforms and networks, you can optimize and reuse your work. For example, I record videos for YouTube and from that content I make shorter ones for other social networks in vertical format.
Do you try to provide different content on each social network?
That drove all of us content creators crazy for a while when TikTok came out. What do I share on that social network and what do I share on others to differentiate them. My way to have a bit of mental order is that on Instagram I imagine the content to be more polished, everything more visual, more worked and meaningful. On the other hand, on TikTok, I share day-to-day content without much editing. Now I share many Asian recipes, I love them.
What is more important in social networks, quality or quantity?
For me, the quality. But it is true that if you think about which platforms you realize that quantity is also important. On TikTok, for example, quantity is rewarded.
It seems that now there is a trend on social networks that is to share as many videos as possible to see if something goes viral…
Before, what networks did was wake people up and put their ingenuity to work. Now there is that too, but what happens is that the platforms reward certain content that is trending, for example, a specific dance or song. That makes creators jump on the trend bandwagon, and I include myself among them.
Is being faithful to one’s style compatible with being an influencer?
It is very noticeable when someone is making content on networks that they do not like and that does not satisfy them. That is transmitted. When someone does something simply because it is fashionable, it shows. I don’t dedicate myself to making just one content, I don’t pigeonhole myself. I am very grateful to my audience because they don’t expect anything from me.
How do you handle the controversies?
I wear them well. It’s not that I like them, but people who know me know that I like to collect anecdotes. I’ve been thinking like this for a long time: if something goes wrong, turn it into an anecdote. That helps me so that when something happens I try to learn positively.
Last year some statements were misunderstood in which he spoke about being unfaithful to your partner, why do you think his message was not understood?
I don’t think I was misunderstood, it was taken out of context. When you are on a podcast that lasts two hours and then you watch a 15-second video, it is impossible to understand anything. I always talk to the camera as if I were talking to my friends and sometimes I don’t realize that on the other side there may be people who don’t think like me. My followers know that I change my mind all the time. Before and after the clip that went viral in which I talked about infidelity there were many nuances and buts.
Do you talk about everything that happens in your life on social networks or do you have any privacy?
Compared to years ago I feel that right now I share little of what happens in my private life. Many things that happen to me on a daily basis have to do with third parties. I became a little more secretive because of those people around me. Another thing is that I have a bond with people who have followed me for a long time and it comes naturally to me to explain some things about my life.
A breakup, for example, is difficult to communicate…
A breakup is horrible, yes. That’s why it’s a mountain for me to make a couple public on social media. I said ‘until I get married and have children with this person, I’m not going to talk about them online’, because then if there is a breakup it is a very messy process.
Do you think you are a good role model for the young people who follow you?
Part of your followers will always have you idealized even if you try to publish the good part and the bad part. I always think that I have things to learn and I think that my followers can teach me things too.
I believe that no one is a good reference. For me the word referent is closely linked to the word comparison and this always goes to another word: frustration. It happens to me with people who I can consider my role models.
Although it may sound contradictory because I am a content creator, I try to recommend people to use social media moderately. Personally, I try to have tools to put my cell phone aside.
Do you have any future projects in mind?
I don’t know if I can say it… but that’s how I commit. I am making a recipe book that will have a personal touch because I will explain where I got those recipes from and the anecdotes behind them.
He decided to add the meniscus that was removed to a plate of pasta bolognese and eat it. Will that recipe be in the book?
In any of my recipes you can add meniscus.
