👋 Tell us a bit about yourself: how did you get started?
Hi, I’m Gael! Born in Mexico, I immigrated to the USA when I was 6 years old and spoke zero English. However, thanks to a supportive community, I learned the language pretty quickly and did well in school. My professional journey begins at 13 years old. Out of a need to help my family, I began researching ways to make money. Knowing how powerful social media was, I made a fan account for my favorite band as a way to grow an organic audience I could later use to advertise. I grew that account to around 35k followers and then used that audience to build up a new account for a clothing shop I made. At its peak, the clothing shop Instagram had 100k followers and had done over 100k in revenue. Then, when I was 15, I created the podcast Teenager Therapy. A coming of age story told in real time. A culmination of mistakes and growth and a reminder you’re not alone. Now, it’s the biggest teen mental health podcast in the world. We’ve been featured on the New York Times, Teen Vogue, and have had guests like Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
👋 Our community is curious about all that you do: what do you do in your current role? What’s it like working at Teenager Therapy? Walk us through a day in your life!
Since Teenager Therapy is like my baby, I take care of almost everything. My day-to-day mostly involves answering emails from possible sponsors or partnership opportunities. When I’m not answering emails, I’m working on future campaigns, content shoots, and episode plans. However, I often take time to think about the long terms goals of the podcast and small steps I can take that same day to reach them. I won’t lie, for the most part, It’s a very calm job — which works great for my personality. I love having the freedom of using TT to explore different creative ideas I have.
👋 How does your brand connect with their audience?
The nature of our show is very intimate which naturally creates an incredible close bond with our audience. They know our deepest fears, secrets, and flaws. Due to the nature and values of our show, we’ve created an amazing community of teens that care about mental health and the power of vulnerability. We have our own TT Discord where we interact with our listeners and give them a space to interact with each other. We have mental health check-ins, DJ nights, movie nights, and days where we just ramble and vent about our week.
👋 What is something you love about what you do? Any favorite projects you’ve worked on?
I love the freedom to execute as many ideas as I like. There’s something new every week and that is super exciting for me, it’s what enables me to keep going. My favorite project was the Pride month campaign we did in 2021 that was all about grooming in the LGBQT+ community. It’s an issue that I feel super passionate about so being able to base an entire month around it was amazing. The reaction from the community made all the hard work worth it.
👋 If you could tell gen z one thing about making career moves, what would it be?
Network in the spirit of making friends. Be authentic and be yourself in the most relentless way possible. Being on both sides of employment and employer, I can’t overstate how important it is to be a kind person that people enjoy being around. Talk to everyone like they’re a possible friend. To me, being genuinely friendly with someone is much more interesting than trying to simply get the Linkedin connection.
👋 Here at Pineapple, we’re firm believers that we’re more than our work: we’d love to know one fun thing that gets you through the week?
Getting a pump. The gym and tennis get me through each week, I absolutely hate when I go too long without getting some sort of physical activity. A walk a day keeps me sane.
👋 Is there anything you’re manifesting this year?
A netflix show.
👋 Where can others find you?
Pineapple: pnpl.io/gael
Instagram: gaelaitor
TikTok: gaelaitor_
Twitter: okaygael
