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About Jeannette Kaplun
Jeannette Kaplun is the Founder and CEO of Hispana Global, a bilingual Latina mom of two teenagers, TV host, journalist, published author, and speaker. She has received the Iris Award for Best Instagram and was included on the Forbes #Next1000 2021 List.
Jeannette Kaplun created a parenting blog in 1999 before social media and blogging were established.
A post shared by Jeannette Kaplun Latina Content Creator (@jeannettekaplun)
She shares, “I had no idea that what I was doing was blogging, and there was no social media. We had to build everything. There was no WordPress, no Facebook, no Instagram, no TikTok.”
In 2012, she created Hispana Global, a brand featuring “beauty, recipes, travel, & tips for busy women.”
Hispana Global includes content for all women, not just moms. It celebrates the many hats women wear and helps them make better, informed choices regarding food, beauty, health, skincare, haircare, travel, and parenting.
Jeannette Kaplun adds, “I also continue doing TV. I do a lot of morning show appearances. I do segments in both English and Spanish.”
Creating Content to Empower Women
Since she started sharing content in 1999, creating content for the many social media platforms, demographics, and content styles now available on the Internet has become increasingly complicated.
Jeannette Kaplun explains that she carefully republishes her content on different platforms to suit different audiences and algorithms.
“For Instagram, it’s mostly reels. One piece of content might be republished on six different platforms, but the captions will change. I’m mostly doing food on the blog because people love recipes on the blog, but a lot of travel is a pillar across all my platforms, including the blog.”
Another area that Jeannette focuses on producing content for is parenting content about raising teenagers, which is noticeably lacking in the parenting sphere.
Most of all, she loves sharing content that will make women feel stronger and help them recognize their existing strengths.
“I try to support other women, not only during Hispanic Heritage Month, which I have very mixed feelings about because I dislike tremendously the notion that we should only be celebrated in the specific month when there are challenges that we overcome every single day. That deserves to be celebrated on a continuous basis, not only when it’s convenient for marketers.”
Jeannette’s Greatest Accomplishment & The Changing Creator Marketplace
Jeannette Kaplun shares that her greatest accomplishment is “to have been able to evolve across the years and to still be here. So many of the bloggers and content creators and publishers that I know are not around anymore.”
For her, continuing to survive and thrive in a constantly changing space where she has little control over trends, the algorithm, and the many unusual events over these past years is a huge accomplishment. However, with all this change, she shares that she had to make peace with her lack of control over things.
“I had to make peace with the fact that I can only control the quality of the content that I put out, but I cannot control how people are going to consume it, whether people are going to be able to see it. All I can do is just make the best effort to create the best quality content that I can create.”
The average attention span of viewers is one of the most significant changes in the creator marketplace that she’s witnessed over her many years in content creation.
“If you don’t grab somebody’s attention in those first two seconds of video or even audio, people are moving on. Just knowing that is really complicated. What hasn’t changed is the power of storytelling.”
Jeannette adds that the need to know who your audience is and what problems you are helping them solve has only continued to grow in importance due to the increasing number of creators and shortened attention spans.
“The problems [people need help with] have changed right after the pandemic. People are in desperate need of more mental health [content], things that are easier that also allow them to reconnect with the world.”
She notes that many parents also need help with the aftermath of the pandemic and its effect on their children, who are struggling after the lockdowns.
Dove Self-Esteem Campaigns
Jeannette has worked with Dove on several self-esteem campaigns. She shares that two were especially meaningful to her.
The first, #SpeakBeautiful, focused on how words affect women and girls online. Social media is typically more vicious against women than men. The goal of the campaign was to help others realize the impact of their words online.
The second campaign, Love Your Curls, helped to end negative stereotypes about curly hair. Jeannette shares that when her daughter was nine years old, she wanted to start straightening her hair because she saw her mom straighten her hair for special events, red-carpet events, and TV appearances. This observation gave her mixed feelings about her own curly hair.
In response, Jeannette stopped straightening her hair and began celebrating curly hair online to help women feel more confident in their beautiful natural hair textures.
Jeannette’s Advice for Latina Content Creators
To any Latinas interested in content creation, Jeannette advises, “The sooner you realize that if you want to be doing content creation full-time, you are a business owner -The better it is because you lay the groundwork for trademarks, for copyright, how to protect yourself legally.”
She adds that content creation isn’t all glamour like many Instagram feeds suggest and that a thick skin is crucial.
“Unless you grow a thick skin, it’s going to destroy you, and nothing is worth putting your emotional and mental health at risk.”
Developing a strong WHY for what drives you, your passion, and content creation is another essential step in staying focused and pushing forward when things get tough.
Jeannette shares that there are more opportunities for Latina creators now, but brands are still missing out on many opportunities.
“I feel that budgets for Latinas are lower, even though we reach a much more specific market and many of us create content in both languages… Also, Latinas are huge entrepreneurs. Many start their own businesses. It might be a content creation business, but so many end up developing beauty product lines, accessories, fashion, books, etc.”
Future Plans
Jeannette wants to continue to work towards her bigger visions and recentering on her WHY.
She adds, “I think that right now, I need to address the burnout and the sense of depletion that all of us feel, not only content creators but moms and women. We’ve been taking care of so many different things these past years that now it’s taken a toll.”
She plans on focusing on content that will have a more significant impact with less personal work to be more mindful of herself.
“My passion is to help others. I need to go back to that, and it goes beyond creating really fun reels and six-second videos.”
Amy DeYoung is a freelance blog post writer covering influencer marketing and business topics. As the daughter of two business owners, she’s been fascinated by all things business from a young age, which led her to graduate from college with a bachelor’s degree in business. When she’s not typing away, she spends her time reading nonfiction books and mystery novels, baking scrumptious desserts, and playing with her dog.
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