This Beijing Teen Stays Safe and Stays Real On Instagram

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For our latest November issue on the Digital Age, we spoke to so many wonderful parents, teens, and experts that we couldn’t fit everything into the magazine! Here’s a series of special features based on the November articles. We shared our full interview with Ava Komons before, and now it’s time for Beijing student Valeria Fallas, who was profiled in the “So You Want to Be a KOL” piece. 

Beijingkids (BJK): When did you decide you wanted to start creating content?

Valeria Fallas (VF): I decided I wanted to express myself on social media when I turned 15.

BJK: What is your content about?

VF: I just share videos and pictures of myself and my friends/family having a good time and also times where things are not so happy.

BJK: How did you choose the platform you use?

VF: I always knew that a picture could tell a thousand words, but in all honestly that is not always the case. Pictures in my opinion are the biggest liars. That’s why I wanted to show myself as I am and my life as it really is.

BJK: What precautions do you take, if any, to protect your privacy?

VF: I make sure my passwords have NOTHING to do with my hobbies, likes, names, favorite foods or number combinations of importance. I don’t give away personal details like address, phone number, and passwords.

BJK: What perimeters, if any, did you set for yourself?

VF: I post what makes me comfortable. I never interact with people who are suspicious or dangerous. I stay away from posting pictures of me or my friends in any less clothing than would be allowed at school. I keep my content friendly for all my followers, young or old. I have not gone through precautions to protect my identity in terms of my name or where I live, but I never post personal information like my address or phone number.

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BJK:  Have you found any bumps along the road and how have you navigated those?

VF: YESSS. My account used to be public so I would get a lot of people making fake accounts with my pictures on them. I was hurt and frustrated with how other people were portraying me to be and using my pictures to lie and manipulate others. Because of these incidents, I changed my account to private.

BJK: What’s the end game for you? Do you want a career doing this? Do you just want to create and have fun? Become an influencer?

VF: Become an influencer? I don’t really want to say that I want to be an influencer because we should all be self aspired. But in a weird way, I would like to be able to make a career out of being real and kind to people. I just don’t see how this would work in today’s society when people just want to see fake beauty standards, tons of money, [and] fake personas. I just want everyone to be real with themselves and love themselves for their differences instead of trying to match what’s “trending,” if that makes sense.

BJK: Have you made any money creating content and if so, how?

VF: No, I never have (she laughs), but that’s okay because this is all for fun.

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Photos: Valeria Fallas, Canva, Unsplash 

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