Right now when we're releasing this episode, we're in the midst of changing and challenging times. We recorded our conversation with Keziah Ojika before everything with the COVID-19 pandemic started, but we think you'll find it interesting and maybe a little inspiring. A lot of us are stuck at home, and it might just get you thinking about doing something that lets off some creative steam and allows you to find your voice.

Keziah works with us at Girl Scouts, where she is a leader on our ConnectZ team helping deliver culturally specific and relevant programming to girls in places like schools and community centers. We welcomed her to the podcast to talk about having a creative outlet, which for her is creating and editing videos and posting them online. We know there are a lot of girls out there who are interested in – or already are – producing their own videos for platforms like YouTube, or doing other cool, creative things in their free time.

Keziah has been creating and producing videos since high school. She got started by making music videos with her family and friends and doing projects for school, finding it to be a way to tell stories and do something fun and interesting. It takes a lot of time and effort to edit videos, but that's the part she likes - figuring out how to tell a story and going through the challenge of using effects to make the idea in her head happen on the screen.

When she started out, YouTube and vlogging weren't a thing, she just knew she loved making videos. It was a way to share her experiences, adding drama and expressing the essence of things going on in her life. She pretty much just figured it out by trying things, using relatively inexpensive equipment and getting her stories out there.

Keziah has always been behind the camera, but now has a YouTube channel and has turned the camera on herself, using it as kind of a video journal of her life and experiences, which is a new and brave endeavor for her. We get into how it feels to be vulnerable and have her own personal story published online, what it's like to interact with people in the comments on her videos, and how she deals with negativity.

Keziah shares with us how she tried to go to film school but had what you might classify as an "epic fail" - but she bounced back and figured out how to transition her passion for filmmaking to more of a creative outlet rather than a career, still in a way that felt worth it.

We talk about times she's connected with people online through her YouTube channel who have had similar life and family experiences to her, and how that gives her the energy to keep going even when it's hard and maybe doesn’t seem worth i

Our takeaways:
It's good to have a creative outlet, to create just for creation's sake. It can be therapeutic and beneficial to your well-being. That could be making music, writing, doing makeup or hair, painting, drawing, making videos or other media content, whatever you enjoy.

Keziah has a mantra: perfection is the enemy of progress. Think about that, is there anything in your life it applies to?

As long as you know why you're doing something like creating videos, art, music - that's all that really matters, even if it can be hard to keep it going. Find something that makes you feel good!

Stay tuned at the end for Would You Rather and Girls Pick, and reach out to us with your comments and ideas at girltalk.girlscoutsrv.org/contact. Stay safe and healthy!