{"id":91314,"date":"2016-08-17T13:16:43","date_gmt":"2016-08-17T13:16:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/?p=91314"},"modified":"2016-08-17T13:16:43","modified_gmt":"2016-08-17T13:16:43","slug":"vlogger-spotlight-jack-ben-our-swirl-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/blog\/vlogger-spotlight-jack-ben-our-swirl-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Vlogger Spotlight: Jack & Ben, Our Swirl Life"},"content":{"rendered":"

After two years together, Jack and Ben decided to create an Instagram<\/a> account to capture their lives together as an interracial gay couple. Within weeks the London-based duo picked up a 10k following. Wanting to expand on their huge Instagram following, Jack and Ben launched their YouTube channel<\/a> in April, which became<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0an instant success generating over half a million\u00a0<\/span>views. Now successful <\/span>vloggers in their own right, Jack and Ben use their YouTube channel to answer fan questions from their large following, offer relationship advice, as well as film themselves doing fun popular online activities like the <\/span>the boyfriend tag and the yoga challenge. In this spotlight we chat to Jack and Ben about their meteoric online success, why being a British interracial couple has been an asset to their brand, how they respond to homophobic and racist comments on YouTube, how they like to work with PRs, why they only promote things that they are passionate about and why they want to use their channel to make a difference. \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Jack&BenOurSwirlLifeSpotlight\"<\/a><\/p>\n

What made you decide to start vlogging?<\/span>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jack:<\/strong> The inspiration came about as a result of a conversation with a very successful YouTuber, who is actually Ben\u2019s colleague at Google. He had seen some of our couple photos on our personal Facebook accounts, and mentioned that he hadn\u2019t seen an interracial gay couple on YouTube (especially not British), so maybe we could be the first.<\/p>\n

Ben:<\/strong> The first step we took was creating an Instagram account, in February 2016, to build up a bit of a buzz around our upcoming channel, and once the account unexpectedly reached 10,000 followers (in around two months), we jumped into making videos. Our hopes are that through vlogging about our relationship, we can add to the \u2018normalisation\u2019 of healthy gay relationships, provide a voice for LGBT ethnic minorities, and ultimately inspire people like us to be more proud of their sexualities.<\/p>\n

What are your individual backgrounds?<\/span>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jack:<\/strong> I actually grew up in Wales, in a tiny town where everybody knows everybody. There’s not much diversity there, so moving to London was a big culture shock – in a great way! I was closeted until twenty-one\u00a0and had only dated girls until that point. I studied advertising and branding at university, and I am now working within the industry at an agency in London.<\/p>\n

Ben:<\/strong> I\u2019m a Londoner, born and raised, although my parents are from Guyana and Jamaica. I studied Neuroscience at a university in Malaysia, on a full scholarship, and dabbled in broadcast journalism whilst I was there, before moving back to the UK and starting a job at Google, as a Strategic Partner Manager. I dated girls until I was eighteen but when I came out as gay, I never looked back!<\/p>\n

How did you come up with your brand name, Our Swirl Life?<\/span>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jack:<\/strong> We wanted to name our blog something fun, unique, and visual. For a few weeks we really struggled to come up with anything that we both loved. We kept having what we thought were brilliant ideas, then consulted our friends on them, and soon found ourselves back at square one.<\/p>\n

Ben:<\/strong> Until we started watching Orange Is The New Black, and heard the character ‘Crazy Eyes’ describe her potential interracial relationship as a \u201cchocolate and vanilla swirl\u201d, we heard the line, paused Netflix because we were laughing so hard, and then set about checking social media for potential usage.<\/p>\n

What is it like to be a part of the vlogging community?\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Ben:<\/strong> It sounds clich\u00e9, but even after only three months of\u00a0vlogging, it has been life changing. Last weekend, YouTube invited us to Summer In The City, an annual weekend expo celebrating their online content creators. Through attending the event\u2019s numerous meet-ups, panels, and after-parties, we have now made amazing friends within the vlogging community, and seen how tight-knit the online LGBT community is.<\/p>\n

Jack:<\/strong> Our fellow creators were eager to share so many tips with us, from recommending recording equipment, to suggesting content, to pitching collaborations, and we loved it. To be so new to the game, yet be accepted so warmly by some of the most influential online stars within the UK and the world, it\u2019s wonderful.<\/p>\n

Your YouTube vlogging channel has received over 575,403 views in the space of four months. Why do you think it has been so successful in such a short space of time?<\/span>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ben:<\/strong> Well, I think we\u2019re quite different to the norm, and this has worked in our favour. Being completely honest, neither of us really watched YouTube before beginning our own channel, especially not for LGBT related content, so we entered the ring blindly, not totally sure what we were doing, and I guess people liked how we did things differently.<\/p>\n

Jack:<\/strong> A good example of this would be how we engage with our viewers. Since we started our Instagram and YouTube channel, we have responded to every comment, direct message, and email, just because we thought that\u2019s what we were supposed to do!<\/p>\n