We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Sharon Cancio. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Sharon below.
Sharon, so great to have you with us and we want to jump right into a really important question. In recent years, it’s become so clear that we’re living through a time where so many folks are lacking self-confidence and self-esteem. So, we’d love to hear about your journey and how you developed your self-confidence and self-esteem.
If we’re going back to the start, I think it comes from a combination of how my parents raised me and what I surrounded myself with while growing up. My parents raised me to believe that I was beautiful, I was strong, I was powerful and I could have anything I ever wanted in the world. So I did believe it and I still do! On top of that, I grew up when Disney Channel was in its prime. I’m talking about That’s So Raven, Lizzie McGuire, Hannah Montana era. At that time on Disney Channel, you had very strong, confident, and opinionated female leads on every major show. That definitely had an impact on me and I do think it shaped my personality to an extent. To take it a step further, the music I listened to (and still listen to). The Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, and Britney Spears are probably the ones that have impacted me the most. They taught me to never settle for less, I know what I want and deserve and I’m not accepting anything less. You can definitely bet I’ll be raising my future kids in a similar way! Aside from the parental and pop culture impact, I do think it was a bit challenging in my tween years. Of course when everyone is going through puberty and everything is the worst thing in the world. That’s definitely when I felt my most insecure, I just had to keep telling myself what my parents would tell me, and what Hannah Montana would say, what the Backstreet Boys would sing. I do believe what you surround yourself with has an impact on your mental health and life in general. And if all else fails for some reason, one of my favorite mottos is: “Fake it til ya make it.” If you have to fake confidence to the point where you believe it, BOOM. Mission accomplished! Hahah.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
My name is Sharon Cancio, also known to the internet as “Just Sharon.” I am a content creator, mainly known for my YouTube channel. I also post content on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. My content is a mix of my personality: an independent, confident woman with a witty sense of humor. I’m best known for reading my follower’s stories anonymously and women’s health videos (mainly discussing taboo topics). My audience refers to me as their “internet sister,” and turn to me for advice, comfort, and all-around relatable content. I strive to give my viewer a safe space and make them feel heard, inspired, and confident. That being said, if I were to choose three content pillars they would definitely be: self-love, self-care, and women empowerment.
I mentioned I make a lot of women’s health videos discussing taboo topics, the main topic being periods. I am very passionate about menstrual education because I do believe it leads to shame, embarrassment, and insecurities. For some reason, society has made something that is so natural seem like this secret we must keep, a secret we should feel bad about. I make videos such as period horror stories, where I read my audience’s embarrassing period experiences. I do this to make my viewer feel better and be able to relate. We have periods too! We’ve been embarrassed by them too! But that’s okay! I also make Girl Talk videos, where I answer questions my audience sends me that they may feel too shy or afraid to ask someone else. I’ve even made videos like how to put in a tampon (which was actually featured on HBO Max show “And Just Like That..”) or tested different reusable period products. Through making all these videos, I quickly learned about period poverty. If someone is ashamed of their period, how can they ask for help? In turn, I started hosting an annual period drive in collaboration with Florida State Representative Susan Valdes. We’ve donated around 20,000 individual products to I Support The Girls – Tampa Bay, a local nonprofit. Donations went to those in need all across Tampa Bay, such as group homes, detention centers, schools, domestic and homeless shelters, and more. As a way to promote period confidence, I’ve also designed my own Period Journals. This is a way to track your period cycle in a written journal, so one can learn more about their body and become more comfortable with it. One is able to track their moods, symptoms, days of bleeding, and more. My journals are available for purchase on Amazon, and can be found here:https://www.amazon.com/s?i=stripbooks&rh=p_27%3ASharon+Cancio&s=relevancerank&text=Sharon+Cancio&ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Perseverance, discipline, and determination are the first three that come to mind. A lot of people have the misconception that social media is easy and anyone can make a career out of it. While the latter part is true, the first part isn’t as true. Planning, creating, executing, and editing content is not as easy as one thinks. My favorite analogy to give is: think of a film set. You have a director, a producer, a writer, an editor, a camera person, an actor, and so many other people and jobs involved, right? When you’re a content creator, especially one that’s starting out or one that doesn’t have a team behind them, you are all of those roles. You do everything. You’re the one writing, directing, filming, acting. That’s a lot to take on! That’s why I think having that determination to reach your goals, having the perseverance to not give up, and the discipline to keep you working towards your goals is very important. The biggest piece of advice I can give to anyone getting into content creation is: be patient and be consistent. More than likely, you won’t “go viral” overnight and that’s okay. Do what you love, be true to yourself, and your people will find you and support you!
How can folks who want to work with you connect?
I’m always open to collaborations, or just meeting new people in general. I’m interested in speaking to those that share the same passions as me! As mentioned, I prioritize self-love, self-care, and women empowerment. I would love to speak to anyone that values those things as well, including women’s rights, body positivity, and sex ed / menstrual education. It shouldn’t be too hard to reach me, I can be found on Instagram here: https://instagram.com/sharoncancio and on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/SharonCancio
Contact Info:
- Website: https://msha.ke/justsharon
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/sharoncancio
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JustSharonCancio
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharoncancio/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/SharonCancio
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/JustSharon
Image Credits
Myself!
