Interview with Jade Darmawangsa
Jade Darmawangsa is the co-founder and current CEO of X8 Media, a social media marketing agency that works with influencers and brands to further their platforms. Originally from Portland, Oregon, Jade started her youtube channel at nine years old and began selling dolls online shortly after. Growing up inspired by creators like Bethany Mota, Jade wanted to create content herself. Due to eczema, Jade could not walk for a lot of her fifth-grade year, which made making friends difficult. "The camera was my friend," said Jade, while describing finding joy "talking to the camera."
Fast forward to when Jade was 16, she began to realize that brands needed help marketing their content/services and became a consultant for social media strategy. Jade had no intention of turning content creation into a career, but "due to an accident," or fate, she is now a 19-year-old CEO working with brands like Netflix and Shopify. X8 Media works mostly with tech companies to work on their TikTok and social media marketing strategies.
Growing up in the world of social media, Jade "realized how it (social media) enables anyone to do anything" and "you can do whatever the fuck you want." Citing her move into surf content on TikTok, in comparison to her marketing content that is normally produced on her youtube channel. "Surfing is a form of meditation," and "it has no rules," unlike a lot of more traditional sports. Jade also finds a lot of parallels to her life in surfing, such as "sometimes you go out there and you catch no waves, and in life sometimes you go out there and make a youtube video that gets no views." Jade, like all people, still struggles with confidence, especially when going into important meetings with big companies. She suggests imagining a friend when it comes to releasing a video or getting ready for any type of big event in life and is looking for advice. Her words of wisdom: "dude, chill, you're amazing." But now, "replace that person with yourself," Jade's therapist told her. Her main advice on confidence is to find "the things that you think are somewhere else within you."
Jade most recently launched a social media course that took nine months to create and finish, "it is literally my child." Growing up, Jade found school really boring, claiming to have the attention span of a TikTok, an issue I think all Gen-Zers relate to, she wanted to make her course fun. The courses showcase how to grow and make money on TikTok and Instagram, and they are only $7.50 per month, making them the cheapest marketing courses available. So, "If you are someone that has Asian parents and they're like you can't make money (on social media platforms), well my courses kind of showcase how you can use social media to start a business and a product to make money." Unmotivated by the monetary aspects of this project, Jade really just hopes to help others follow their dreams.
Jade also has a subsection of X8 Media, called CRE8, where they invest into starting influencers to give them a better chance at making money in the long run. This allows creators to buy things like cameras, so their content can be of higher quality. One of the ventures she wants to work on next is a surf camp that will be a nonprofit for those who can't afford traditional forms of therapy. "This was an idea I had this morning," Jade is always thinking about what is next for herself.
When I asked Jade what she thought the biggest struggle Asian and Asian American people face, she said careers in the arts and humanities. "You can literally do more than just STEM. [. . .] I was a musician, and my parents always told me 'this is cool, but this is only to get into college.'" However, Jade has plans to get back into music because she wants to "create freely."
With parental support and hesitation, Jade dropped out of high school at 16. Jade described looking for validation on her success and choice to drop out when the only validation she needed was her own. But if she could go back in time, she would tell herself "that what is meant for you will stay, and that everything you are looking for is within yourself." That "everything is going to be okay." "[To] give less fucks," and "give her[self] a hug."
"Teenage female entrepreneurs/creators are very competitive," Jade says. She also pointed out that it is not the most welcoming community but that she is guilty of some of those competitive traits too. She thinks it is more subconscious than purposeful for most people. But that it is hard to not be competitive when the reality is that most creator communities are all white. "I have a lot of Asian friends [. . .], but in terms of the media space, it's definitely hard to have Asian friends." We talked about how growing up Asian American, you have your main, typically white, friend group, and then you have your Asian friends. And while there is no reason to label Asian friends as Asian, we all do. "As an Asian person, hanging out with white friends helps you feel more fit in with society [. . .] it is almost cool not to like Asian people." We also talked about how "you are more accepted," the less stereotypical Asian traits you identify with.
"The female Asian community is very competitive; I don't think it is very supportive at all." And while Jade nor I know the solution to that, I think we can all make an effort to support each other more. Lifting each other up rather than leaving each other in the dust.
Jade is a social entrepreneur and current CEO at X8 media, an influencer marketing agency that works with tech platforms and civic movements. She also founded an incubator program, CRE8, an organization that recruits and mentors early staged creators to generate jobs and stimulate entrepreneurship. With over 500k+ fans and followers, her personal brand focuses on social media growth and motivation. Her content exceeds 15 Million views via YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram. She started the millennial entrepreneurship podcast The Raisin Brand in December 2017. Then received the "Creator on The Rise" feature on YouTube Trending Worldwide. Her beliefs include human-centered influence and wealth distribution in the creator economy (the 20 percent solution).
Check out Jade’s website to see all her work and links to her social media accounts and Youtube!
