Guap Magazine

0:00 [Applause]

0:06 hey everyone how's everyone doing oh good whenever I do talks yeah I like to start off like this can I get a woo woo yeah yeah beautiful so like said I'm ibam Kamara and I'm one of the co-founders of guap I'm going to share a little bit of my story today so cool for those of you who don't know guap is a youth Le New Media platform dedicated to discovering showcasing and nurturing emerging creative Talent we started in 2015 and since then we've worked with various Brands various brands that we love and adore however it wasn't always like this so let's go straight back to the beginning cool put your hand up here quickly here if any of you have been told by anyone that you should be one of these things or in your journey you wanted to be one of these things cool so when I was growing up here these were actually the only set careers that I actually thought of of thinking about that I wanted to do so that was either being a rapper or being a footballer or being a doctoral accountant cuz my parents said I had to be one or if I'm being honest like the people around me a lot of them were like doing negative things and that. Actually had an influence on what I wanted to be when I growing up.

1:25 And I think me and my business partner come from like similar backgrounds we're from like South London anyone from South London here yeah come on South London you have to make more noise man come on We're from south London and when we was growing up everyone wanted to BD things. And we was like the only reason everyone wants to BD things is because it's like the only things that were like showcase to us.

1:44 So we said we wanted to make a platform that would showcase real life people from similar backgrounds to us doing creative things cuz a lot of the platforms that came from the culture were music based platforms or sport-based platforms or just platforms that didn't really Spotlight creativity as a career so we wanted to be one of the first platforms to yeah showcase emerging creatives and I I want to make a key Point around emerging a lot of the platforms we looked up to really profiled people who were already at their Peak but there wasn't like a platform that would like find a young photographer who went to sfx in South London who's literally at the their journey and putting them on.

2:30 And we felt like that kind of platform was needed and giving them the same type of Spotlight we would give someone who was big so literally it was myself with a camera and my friend doing the interviews J and we were literally just go around different parts of London interviewing different creatives and then putting their stories together and literally this page here is how guap started so we literally wrote on a piece of paper guap and at the time guap had several meanings I don't like saying them but one of them was like get up and proceed really cheesy but we wanted that the brand to really be a brand around inspiring young people to go and chase their dreams so all of these little lines were different content ideas we thought we would do so like we had things like 0 to 100 which was like find them people who came from nothing.

3:26 And then became big people then we had things like online blog which we obviously have now we have things that Rising Star which was to like find Crave entrepreneurs and share their story. And it all was like all these different content Pieces Just to Spotlight Talent at the very core of it.

3:44 And that's initially how we started but then in 2016 we said you know what let's take these videos that we're creating and actually make a magazine so at first we were just trying to make like an online newsletter and it was going to be something where we create videos and then we send the newsletter to people and people would watch the content but then. I went to like a event and someone told me about augmented reality and they said using augmented reality you can bring a print to life.

4:16 So we was like oh we have all these videos so how do we integrate those videos into a print magazine so in 2016 we created our first magazine cover with someone called yinka bikini who was someone I literally saw at a party that looked creative I went up to her asked her what she does I found out her Instagram found out she was quite famous.

4:37 And I was like oh do you want to be my cover star and she said yeah. So and then we literally shot that in pekom opposite my dad's shop and yes that was our first cover but it literally was like the first depiction of what we wanted to basically showcase to the world and from 2016 we literally just again was going around documenting these stories but we had never never seen our audience online I mean never had seen our audience in real life we had just been putting out these stories and we was building this community and then in at around the middle of 2016 we done an event called guat party which was again a spotlight of talent that we thought were going to do amazing things.

5:18 So we had people like who was that our first one we had people like House of pharaoh we had people like Naja Rose we had like lanyo all the people who are like really big now but at that time they were on the come up. And we just thought we should get all these artists in one space and like Spotlight them. And we done that.

5:36 And then literally this was the first time we had seen our audience in real life it was literally in Brixton at a a venue called Dog star I think the capacity was 350 people. And I remember coming out and seeing this picture I mean seeing this crowd so I took a picture and literally that was the first time we saw that. There was an audience for what we was doing in real life.

6:02 And so from there we went on to again continue creating but then in 2017 we started working with institutions and Brands and in 2017 we became the youth ambassadors for the a which is like an Institute that do creative stuff with in central London it's one of those buildings that you've probably seen but I've never gone into but is it like they do really cool stuff and they put us on to do basically help them get youth create and young creatives within their space and we was there with an a a popular Creator now called slumflower and then we basically helped to create creative events for them and at the time they were paying us very very minimal but we done it because this was like the first time we had like work with any company and yeah when we came into that space we done exactly what we been doing from the start and that was that putting on Talent so when we came on we made this Festival that was in collaboration with the sower IA and we even had bias involved and then it had people like now I'm looking at this lineup this lineup was really good cuz does it was it was actually really good have people like KNX who's like doing amazing right now Samuel an is a great presenter right now Sophia tassu is doing amazing all. And it was literally like a festival that had film screenings it had panel talks it had live music and again I think the running thing through our journey is that we've always tried to spot like emerging creators throughout our journey and put them on in any realm that we've gone in and then all of this work that I've said now helped us to get to the point where we managed to make get our first office so in 2018 anyone heard of pekam levels yeah. So in 2018 we was like one of the first cohort to be in pekham levels and it was funny enough it was us here.

8:05 And then do you not remember the magazine gam gam were next door and then on the other side of us has anyone seen a thing on BBC called Dreaming wild black yeah.

8:19 So they were next door so literally again let just a pool of talent and literally our first office was the size of a car park space I'm being so serious like so and we painted these walls ourselves yellow stuck that V by ourselves and we were so proud of this space because it was it made our business feel real oh just to point out up until this point we still weren't making money just just saying we was very very broke very very broke our office was at £250 a month so it was quite affordable but yeah we was happy with the space cuz it felt like yeah just it just made our dreams feel a bit more real allowed people to come into our space come into our world.

9:04 And we managed to create content within this space but then we also realized we now have an office and we now have to make money so in 2018 is when we launched our creative agency so we realized that we've got this audience that Brands want to tap into and tap connect with and we basically created this magazine cover to basically encapsulate everything what guap was about. And we also created a campaign video with it which I'll play shortly which was to Showcase what we could do if a brand was to come and pay us to do something so because we didn't have no Brands coming to us in that in that sense we basically use the resources we have to create an example video that we would use to go to clients and get work.

9:53 So this is like a quick preview of what it was ♪

10:03 it's clear we ain't the same our B Just Can't Be Tamed youth culture is just way too Flames this revolution will be televised let the word spread go as far to say you're telling Nik just come correct like a Nik tick I'mma just do my bit to make sure this revolution is heard of The W is coming home make sure they can detect it like Sherlock truth I think I'm running out of time.

10:27 So I'm trying to I don't want to I think no one's signal to me yet but I am in it am I not am I not am I calm okay I should have carried it on I'm so sorry guys but I'm so sorry but yeah that video there's a line in that video that says we are young we are creative we are the future so when I was going to agencies and when I was going to Brands I was showing them that video that video showcased young diverse creatives who were doing amazing things in their spaces and then it was narrated by a young poet who had never done that kind of thing but again that kind of was like a catalyst for us to get in brand work so again I think what I'm basically saying that for is if you ain't working with Brands already do what you want them to pay you for and then.

11:13 Basically just send it to them. And it it should do something.

11:19 And then in that year we got a lot of clients and then we managed to get our second office this was still in peka and then in 2020 we had all these plans of our yeah it's going to be so sick we're going to rule the world.

11:33 And then Co came. And then.

11:36 Basically knocked us down but just before covid came we hired our first team which was kind of crazy now that I'm thinking about it and funny enough yeah Co was bad but it was actually extremely good for us because during Co I feel like everyone paused and realized why platforms that gu were important for culture so before then like I said we weren't really working with Brands but post 2020 everyone wanted to start reaching this next generation of young diverse creative audience and we were at one of the only platforms that had that organically so our year. Actually changed from 2020 and this is actually where we started making money now give me a round of applause for making money cuz I won lie that was a hard six year years five years of making no money it was a really hard year as I was living in overdraw for a long time for a long time.

12:36 But yeah Big up 2020 and in 2021 this was like another big Catalyst for us in 2021 we was approached by a brand called Kurt Giger by a random email I genuinely thought it was fake and they basically said to us they were basically trying to tap into l lond and what London looks like today and they didn't tell me it was a pitch they just asked me to come up with ideas and then we pitched the ideas and then they told us. There was other agencies pitching for it so and we didn't know.

13:12 But then when we pitched we obviously won it.

13:14 And then no I'm just saying we won it is it so and we basically bought some new freshness to the brand and this was like one of the photos of it but here's like a better example of what that it. Actually meant so before us.

13:31 This is what they were creating which is nice but but in 2021 yeah we bought the London we bought the creativity we brought diversity onto the set the they literally said to us both behind the scenes and in front of the camera that's the most diverse set of people they've ever worked with and it was a lot of people who were in it like the models it was the first time they had been on build boards it was the first time some of the people working on the set had done something of that scale so I was really proud of this campaign cuz yeah it had real impact for everyone and then in 2022 we decided to take our Spotlight in a step further.

14:14 And we decided to make something called the G Gala which is a Gala SL award ceremony for creatives cuz we felt like a lot of the awards ceremonies within culture only Spotlight certain categories but we wanted to put something where industry professionals could get spotlighted people who do amazing things in the community can get spotlighted photographer stylists and put basically everyone on a playing field this one's a video I'm going to ask can I play the full one okay thank you.

14:47 So this is the got Gala if you ain't seen it before I just do see you later no goodbyes new flows new highs through the dark clouds see the Blue Sky it will be a you way it's a new day ride in the storm like a new way shake shake shake moving to the beat now got the heat now deep down we know ♪

15:28 right going go it's going down going down tonight yeah let's go let's Go's [Applause]

15:53 go thanks guys so yeah with the G Gala event conert was one of our parts by the way so with the galala it was just something we wanted to create that was like we wanted something that was cool we felt like a lot of award shows are boring so we wanted something that integrated the awards show experience but then also had the experience of like the Met Gala and have everyone talking about what people wore and all that kind of stuff and it takes place every year at the Natural History Museum and again it's just a another thing within our journey where it's like we just want to continue Spotlight and talent so here is just like some key steps I would say for any creative that's trying to like make something out of this creative thing that we're in I would say integrate yourself in the communities that you're trying to serve if you're a photographer try to be around other photographers if you're a stylist try to be a around of stylist try to be with the people that you want to be with and when you do get there Network sideways I think a lot of people when they come into the industry they try to network upwards and try to like spe to people who are ahead of them or yeah ahead of them but a lot of the people I'm now cool with or the people I've worked with are people that I probably met really early on and as they've grown and I've grown we've all just grown together.

17:14 So in rooms like this everyone here should be the people you should be talking to rather than the people on stage and all that kind of stuff because you guys are like the the Crave industry and the future industry so just know that give more value than you receive in any project that we've done even when we've been paid pennies and even when we haven't been paid at all is always about giving as much value as you can in that situation because sometimes value exchange isn't just money sometimes there's certain things you can get from giving value that will come to you five years down the line six years down the line and then you'll get the value back in return create impactful work. That's self-explanatory create with passion and purpose and I would say be undeniably cre creative I feel like when you're sick you're just sick is it like like yeah like it's undeniable so you should try to get to a point where you know what you know you're sick and yeah that's all I have for you guys today so thank you for having me yeah