YOOOOOO WHATS UP

welcome to the first edition of the newsletter – so glad to have you guys here.

anyways..

i have some exciting things coming up this weekend, but today i want to talk about something very serious thats been taking a major toll on me.

food comas.

listen, some days, i would just be having the best morning routines:

wake up at 6, go to the gym, eat breakfast, shower, skincare, journal, power nap, deep work from 9 - 12:30, lunch–then boom. im out.

the rest of my day would be ruined.

that thirty minute power nap i had scheduled after my lunch would magically turn into a three-hour nap.

this was unacceptable.

obviously i knew why this was happening. my lunches consisted of 50% white tamaki gold koshihikari short grain rice. if you know anything about eating a heavy amount of carbs midday, you know how bad that is for your energy levels.

enter, riced cauliflower.

after eating my riced cauliflower meal, i prepared for the usual wave of sluggishness to hit me.

laying there on my bed, i waited, and waited, and waited.

dude.

im literally a genius.

i wasn’t tired at all.

takeaways:

• carbs at lunch = food coma

• riced cauliflower = energy hack

• i love riced cauliflower

oh right, i’m also looking forward to creator camp film fest this weekend! i’m actually writing this on the plane on my way to austin (by the time you’re reading this, i’ll already be there lol)

honestly, more than anything, i’m just excited to hang out with my friends again.

would love to hear what you guys are looking forward to next week, so it doesnt just feel like i’m just yapping to the void. if you’re interested, fill out this form and i’ll share some of the responses next week.

creator insights 🎥

many people ask me why i started creating content, expecting a story of passion or a strategic career move.

the truth?

i craved external validation.

heck if you scroll all the way down to my first tiktok post, it was literally a thirst trap.

so it was november of my senior year of highschool and i was going through a rough patch in my social life.

to help make myself feel better, i turned to social media and posted a thirst trap.

for better or for worse, it did pretty well.

so i posted more, and more, and more.

by my first month my third post already had 300k+ views and i was well on my way to becoming a creator.

however, as you might imagine, this experience wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows.

my 18 year old brain didn’t know how to process all of this attention and change. my social life also took a major blow. my friends, family, and even some of my teachers found my videos. i became uncomfortable that the lines between my online persona and real life were starting to blur.

this social media thing wasn’t something i was exactly proud of either at the time – like cmon man, thirst traps???

while it was thrilling to see my videos gain traction, it’s taught me valuable lessons about:

• boundaries (deciding what i’m comfortable with sharing online and to others)

• fear of judgement (expressing myself as authentically as i can)

• self-worth (not tying my value to vanity metrics)

in future editions of this newsletter, i want to go over not just practical advice on building an audience on social media, but also how to navigate it in a sustainably without completely wrecking your mental health–a topic that isn’t talked about enough.

community spotlight 💬

hey zuha,

if i’m being really honest with you, i don’t.

i still find myself struggling to perfectly balance everything, but here’s how i approach this ongoing challenge.

finding a strong why. initially, i was motivated to pursue a path that felt more aligned with myself—chasing my dreams and passions rather than someone else’s. this “why” has changed over time, but it’s still something i call back to.

i remember in high school, there was a phase where i tried to get better at time management. i would watch self-improvement and productivity videos but would never really take action from them because my goals weren’t deeply rooted. i only wanted quick and superficial results like the validation i got from getting good grades, so when challenges arose, i found it easy to give up.

however, during my sophomore year, i started viewing content creation as a more viable career path and took it more seriously. suddenly, my life felt like this grand adventure. i was pursuing something i genuinely cared about. i started living my life out of a task manager and time blocking my week to get more done. i started waking up earlier and going to the gym to feel more energized.

with my new focus, school, and extracurriculars sometimes took a bit of a backseat. i still maintained my responsibilities but allowed myself to be ok with not always getting a’s.

tl;dr: find a compelling reason to do what you do–your “why,” and the rest will follow.

p.s. if you want your question featured in next week’s newsletter, fill out this form!!

YOOOOOOO

thank you so much for reading this far, it means a lot to me. currently, the goal is to get a newsletter out every week-ish, but if you have any feedback or thoughts, please feel free to reply to this email!

wishing you all the best,

tulio sasaya