Meet Javier Servin

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Javier Servin. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Javier, thanks for sharing your insights with our community today. Part of your success, no doubt, is due to your work ethic and so we’d love if you could open up about where you got your work ethic from?

My dad was one of the biggest influences in my life. He always instilled in me that no matter what job you have, you have to strive to be the best at that job. My dad came to the US with an 8th grade education and worked various jobs before getting a good paying job as a machinist. He would leave to go to work before the sun came up and and returned home after it was dark. He would always tell that I had to work hard at school so that I could earn a living with my mind instead of with back-breaking labor like him. Seeing how hard he worked and the sacrifices that he and my mom had made for me and my brother made me want to work hard at school and I managed to be the first one from my family to graduate from college and graduate school, but unfortunately my father didn’t live long enough to see that. I like to think that he’s proud to know that his example and my hard work paid off and now I earn a living because of my expertise as an archivist.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

Apart from being an archivist, I also create California History content under the moniker “Foo Howser” on my “Californiography” social media channels. Foo Howser was a nickname that was given to me when I started posting videos and it perfectly encapsulates who I am.

I grew up in the Southeast L.A. city of Huntington Park. Growing up all my friends used a lot of Chicano slang, words like firme, chelas, vato and foo were part of our vernacular. Being called a foo was another way of being called a homie or friend. I’m very proud of growing up where I did and even though I’ve mastered code-switching at work, I still talk like that kid that grew up in HP. I also like to think that I’m a very friendly dude, so I’m everybody’s homie, so feel free to call me Foo.

And Howser, well, that is the homage to Huell Howser, I grew up watching PBS with my dad on weekends and Huell Howser’s “California’s Gold” was one of our favorite shows. He inspired my love of California and the desire to explore it all, So, Foo Howser™ it is.

Even though Huell inspired me, I keep his spirit alive in my own way. Huell used to always carry a mic and interview people at all the places he visited–be they museums, restaurants, parks, etc. He would usually let those people tell the story of the places he visited with little input on his part. The point of his show was to show the amazing things and places that make up California such a great place and let them speak for themselves.

I was a history major in college, so my content focuses on telling the history of California–its people, places, plates, and everything in between. I want to share this passion with as many people as possible and show them the history behind some really great places they can visit and experience the history themselves. Like grabbing a french dip sandwich at Philippe’s, learning the history of skateboarding at the Skateboarding Hall of Fame and Museum, or watching the Rose Parade. All these places tell chapters in the great big book of the History of California.

I like to focus on places that people can visit and have something tangible to see, hear, touch, smell, and taste. Often history is thought of as this abstract thing that happened a long time ago and has no connection to the present. But if you can connect the past to the present via something tangible, it helps bring that history to life.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

The three qualities and skills that have been the most impactful on my journey are research, networking, and staying positive.

I honed my research skills in college while working on my thesis and then again in graduate school. People tend to think that you can just Google everything or go on Wikipedia–and those are good starting points–but often times with historical research, the resources are in a database like Newspapers.com or are only available in physical formats at an archive or library. Being able to track down the information I’m looking for is vital, because I want to the information that I’m putting in my videos is accurate. I also enjoy doing research, it’s almost like a fun puzzle or scavenger hunt, where you’re trying to find the missing pieces that will fill out the timeline of events you’re creating. The vast majority of my research is done online, but I’ve often spent hours in a library going through boxes of documents and photographs and I find that much more fun than scrolling on my laptop. I would say to someone that would like to hone their own research skills to visit their local library and talk to the reference librarian, they’re the original Google and can show you how to search for resources and also guide you in the right direction.

Networking is such a big part of any job, but especially when creating online content. I used to be a little shy to reach out to people for fear of getting rejected, but I overcame that and have met so many amazing people and made some great friends creating my history videos. I have also made connections that have helped me gain access to resources that I wouldn’t otherwise have had. I’ve become friends with the great-granddaughter of one of the founders of the Van de Kamp’s Bakery, I’ve been given access to the archives and photographs of countless libraries and historical societies, and I’ve been given some pretty cool behind-the-scenes access to lots of museums. To someone wanting to improve their networking skills I would say, “don’t be afraid of rejection. The worst thing someone can say is ‘no.'” You just have to put yourself out there and at least get an answer, instead of wondering “what-if?”

Staying positive is key in many things, but especially in content creation. I honestly started making videos as a creative outlet and would’ve been happy if a few dozen people saw my videos. To my surprise, the first few videos did very well on TikTok, so when I had videos that didn’t do as well, I grew a bit frustrated and disillusioned. However, I reminded myself that I was doing this as a creative outlet first and having a few hundred people watch your videos is a good thing.–a few hundred people thought your video was good enough to watch and even like or comment. Having that mentality has helped keep me sane, because in content creation you’re always worried about numbers–followers, views, likes, etc. I’ve learned to post my videos and just be patient. I’ve had videos that I posted almost 2 years ago on YouTube that only had 100 views suddenly grow to 25,000 views. I’ve also posted some videos on TikTok and Instagram that I thought would not perform well, get over 80,000 views. Having a positive mentality helps keep you going, because content creation can be very stressful. I would encourage anyone starting out to go into content creation with a positive mindset, don’t worry about the numbers, just post your content, be yourself, and your audience will find you.

Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?

The biggest obstacle I’m currently facing is time-management. I work full-time as an archivist and do content creation as a creative outlet. I currently post videos an average of 1-2 times a month, but I would like to be more consistent and post at least once a week. The videos that I make take a lot of time to research, film, and edit, but I feel that if was a bit better at time-management, I would be able to get to this goal.

I’m currently working on a schedule for myself where I can dedicate 1-2 hours each day during the week and 3-4 hours on weekends to researching and making videos. I want to make sure that I can strike a balance between this and my personal life–I still need to clean the house, run errands, and spend quality time with my wife. I’m trying the schedule out to see how it works and if I need to make adjustments, I will.

Contact Info:

Image Credits

All pictures are mine

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