Meet the Creators x Pride: Matthew and Ryan
To celebrate Pride Month 2021, TAKUMI had a chat with the colourful and charismatic creator couple, Matthew and Ryan. They shared their experiences as creators within the LGBTQIA+ community, using their platform to encourage positivity, acceptance, and love in all its forms.
Hi Matthew and Ryan, tell us a little bit about yourselves?
Hey! We’re Matthew and Ryan and we’re LGBTQ+ Creators from Southampton. We’ve been creating content since 2016 and share our love, life and adventures to the world! We absolutely love creating content to make people laugh, escape whatever they’re going through, whilst normalising same sex couples and the LGBTQ+ community!
Aa creators, why is it importance to you to be vocal about your queer identity, and the LGBTQ+ community, on your platform?
When we were younger, in school, social media wasn’t really a thing like it is now. There wasn’t really anywhere or anyone to look up to, or show us that being different or gay is okay. We find it really important to be as vocal as we can online, to help those people who were like us to know it’s okay to be YOU. Although this answer is very much based on influencing our younger audience, we do get a lot of an older generation message us, thanking us for helping them come out and be comfortable with themselves.
Ultimately our goal is just to normalise same sex relationships and give people the confidence they need to live their lives as their authentic selves.
The LGBTQ+ community is still heavily under/misrepresented in mainstream media, What changes would you like to see in terms of the way gay people are represented and portrayed?
We think just making sure the LGBTQ+ community is given equal opportunities as everyone else. For example, showing a diverse range of LGBTQ+ people in mainstream media which will help further normalise LGBTQ+ people in society.
What is your philosophy for working with brands?
We always work with brands we love and are passionate about, we think this is really important to stay authentic. We also make sure the brand aligns with our own values of being accepting and diverse across their campaigns.
Based on your experiences, how can brands continue to support the LGBTQ+ community post pride month- all year round?
It’s so important that brands show their support of pride all year round, not just during pride month. Working with LGBTQ+ creators throughout the year in campaigns or across marketing is extremely important, not just during pride – this really shows that the brand are supporting pride and their LGBTQ+ creators for the right reasons whilst ensuring diversity is shown.
If you could give any piece of advice to your younger selves, what would it be?
BE YOU! The world is huge and there is a MASSIVE LGBTQ+ community waiting for you with open arms. There may be tough times ahead but being you is what will make you shine.
