Snapchat’s Top Hispanic Creators Reflect Over Content and Culture

As the platform does during many cultural holidays and events, Snapchat this year celebrated Hispanic Heritage Month by launching a new Spotlight Challenge for its diverse community of creators. The challenge, which ran on Snapchat’s short form area Spotlight, encouraged viewers to bring Hispanic cultural impact into the conversation by showing off their favorite Hispanic owned businesses in their content for a chance to win part of a $10,000 prize fund.

And, to further celebrate the contributions of the diverse creators on the platform, the challenge was hosted by Hispanic creator Natalie Alzate.

Alzate, the face behind the popular, cross-platform social channel Natalies Outlet, posts videos documenting her life across various interests from beauty, to fashion, to educational life hacks, and more.

“My socials are really all about spreading positivity and making life just a little bit more enjoyable,” Alzate said.

Alzate, who is Colombian-American, describes growing up watching content creators in a similar niche such as Michelle Phan and Dulce Candy. So, in her final year of college, she got to work posting regular videos of her own, beginning a journey that not only built her brand, but also led her to become one of the fastest growing multicultural channels on YouTube.

Alzate describes her culture and background as core to her creator journey, even pointing to one example of when her connection to family overseas pushed her to shift her overall content strategy.

She begins by describing how, in the beginning, her family back home in Colombia gave her the support she needed to keep going.

“All of my family in Colombia was sharing all my content through WhatsApp, and they were my biggest supporters, like straight up. I feel like they kind of helped me with just getting my word out there,” Alzate said.

However, Alzate was shocked when, eventually, her aunts let her know that while they were happy to support her, they didn’t always fully understand what she was saying in her English language videos.

So Alzate wanted to address that immediately.

This led her to launch a second channel, a new one fully in Spanish and custom built for a Spanish-speaking audience. And this new channel’s popularity led her to hit the one million subscriber mark again within only a year, a feat her original page took much longer to achieve.

On Snapchat specifically, Alzate emphasizes how this platform, more so than alternatives, is fantastic for building a closer level of communication and connection with her audience. This is especially the case for the younger demographic within her viewership who, she’s found, spends a lot of their time on Snapchat.

“Every app plays a different role, right? But I really feel like Snapchat is a powerhouse for connection,” Alzate said.

Snapchat has also highlighted other top Hispanic creators on their platform this month, including familiar names such as Salice Rose, current Dancing with the Stars contestant Lele Pons, and Brent Rivera, who recently featured in the top 10 of this year’s Forbes’s Top Creators List. And Rivera also finds that one of Snapchat’s primary benefits for creators is that of community building and communication.

“I definitely see a lot of audience feedback, and I ask questions. And it’s a really cool platform to be a part of because you really feel connected with the audience,” Rivera said.

Rivera, who gained prominence initially off the social platform Vine, has been creating content for over ten years now and has built a large and loyal following across platforms with his approachable and humorous skit-style videos.

Rivera identifies as Hispanic from his dad’s side, with his great-grandparents originally immigrating here from Mexico. And while he is passionate about encouraging people of all backgrounds who aspire to become content creators like him, he describes enjoying being a source of support for his younger cousins on that side of the family who are interested in his work.

“You know, they’re young still. They’re like 10, 11, 12, but they find it super fascinating. And so I always tell them to come over whenever they can and watch us make videos and stuff, and then help them with their own little like TikToks,” Rivera said.

When asked about younger Hispanic creators who may be looking up to her and wanting to do what she does, Alzate expressed that she would be honored if anyone felt inspired by her example. But the advice she’d have for those creators, she says, is encouraging them to celebrate their cultural backgrounds in their content as she has, and from there to appreciate the rich, cultural backgrounds of creators all around them.

“One thing I would want to emphasize is just the power of embracing your unique identity,” said Alzate.

Entries in this year’s Hispanic Heritage Month Spotlight challenge can be found on the Snapchat platform under the hashtag #HispanicOwnedBusiness.

For more on the creator economy, movies, and TV, follow my page on Forbes. You can also find me on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, X, and Snapchat.