Meet Efrem Lamesta

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

Efrem, so good to have you with us today. We’ve got so much planned, so let’s jump right into it. We live in such a diverse world, and in many ways the world is getting better and more understanding but it’s far from perfect. There are so many times where folks find themselves in rooms or situations where they are the only ones that look like them – that might mean being the only woman of color in the room or the only person who grew up in a certain environment etc. Can you talk to us about how you’ve managed to thrive even in situations where you were the only one in the room?
Since I started making youtube videos, I was alone. None of my friends at the time were interested in what I had interest in. But I was so passionate about making something that could inspire others, or make their day slightly better that I didn’t care if I was alone doing it. My focus was on making the best videos I could make, and leave something to whoever will be watching, no matter if I was alone doing it. I kept making at least one video per week and after a while you start developing an eye and you start connecting with your audience and understanding better what’s your voice and who you are. So the truth is that the only way to be effective when you’re the only one in the room that looks like you, is by looking deeply inside yourself and then bring what you find to the outside, at that point you will connect with others. You can think you’re the only one that looks like you, and it’s probably true, but out there you’ll find people that are similar and with them you’ll build on the foundation you created alone to have at the end the best tower you could build.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I’m an Italian content creator (youtube, instagram, tiktok etc…). I come from a super small town in Piedmont called Niella Tanaro, only 800 people lives there, because of that growing up I only had a few friends I could share my interest with. I started developing my own interests by myself since I could really share it with many, and soon enough I encountered youtube. I was passionate, since I was a kid, with photography and film-making but not only with one part but with the whole process. It was hard to do everything tho, you either direct, or act, or edit, the Idea of a one man show it’s not really there. When I discovered youtube I was completely struck, a place where I could broadcast myself and follow the whole creative process?! I couldn’t believe it. So I started when I was 17 in 2014, ten years ago, and I posted at least one video per week since then. For the first few years I had a very small growth but at the same time I was understanding the media and language of youtube, while at the same time finishing college. I studies “multimedia and new technologies” at the academy of fine arts in Cuneo, Italy. Once I graduated I needed to make a choice: find a video making job, or dive deep into youtube. I decided for youtube, make a business plan and gave myself 6 months to make it work and make it become my full time job. In only 3 months, and a lot of work, it was working. I also in 2018 following my passion about theme parks, opened a second channel “EfremAdventure” all about theme parks, where I go around the world exploring theme parks of every region, reviewing it and exploring them for my audience. In 2020 I also made a documentary about the biggest theme park in italy, the only of it’s kind, and I since the made different kind of smaller story based documentary on different theme parks topic. I was at the time the first theme park channel in Italy to grow and since then many more developed after what I’ve started in 2018, which makes me very happy. Since then I grew across all my platforms 500.000 people that follows me and interact with me every day, only on youtube I have more than 45.000.000 growing views. Also I started making music too with a discrete success, to this day I have more than 300.000 plays of my songs on spotify. All started from the idea to inspire people, give them an escape and a solution to life problems. With my content I try to show my life and get deep on topics that might be scary for some people, like getting to know yourself even in hard moments. I travel around the world exploring cultures and places while telling stories from my point of view, and I also make tech videos about products that I’m interested in. What makes a video special is just your voice. In 2021 I started a daily vlog and I made one video every day for six months, a total of 200 videos. During this time I launched my first song.

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, when you want something no one will give it to you, you have to act, go and get it. Believe in yourself, which seems very basic I understand, but people will doubt you and every step you make. Just cancel them out or as I did, use that as fuel to power your next work!
Patience, be patient hard work it’s great but overnight success is only for a selected few, what worked for me is patience and showing up every day to make what I was crating always better.

My advice is to not take these three elements lightly, I know everyone says those three things, “it’s nothing special you might think, I already know!” but that’s the mistake, take it seriously and apply all of those, most people look at them and than turn around ignoring them thinking that they are already doing it. But are you really?

Who has been most helpful in helping you overcome challenges or build and develop the essential skills, qualities or knowledge you needed to be successful?
As mentioned before this is a one man show, true, but you’re never really alone. While going trough your journey you will meet other creators, and they will be your biggest resource. With them you can both strategize, organize and plan adventures together to share audience and help each other. The biggest help I’ve ever got was the people I met along the journey and the great long conversation we had and still have today. No-one can really make it alone, even if its sounds good, it starts from you and no-one else, that’s for sure, but after that community will for sure help.

Contact Info:

Image Credits
All pictures are taken by me, Efrem.

Suggest a Story: BoldJourney is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
Resilience
Portraits of Resilience

Sometimes just seeing resilience can change out mindset and unlock our own resilience. That’s our

Productivity
Perspectives on Staying Creative

We’re beyond fortunate to have built a community of some of the most creative artists,

Confidence
Kicking Imposter Syndrome to the Curb

This is the year to kick the pesky imposter syndrome to the curb and move