#84 - LIFE OF RIZA - The Pursuit of Creative Balance

24:56And especially with YouTube, because it's long form, people are, it's like people are hanging out with you when you watch, like, I definitely feel like that when I watch my favorite YouTubers. And I think that when things start to click, when I start to truly be myself, you know, I feel like when you start making videos, you always have this YouTube personality. It's just a classic. Everyone goes through that phase. But once you get past that and you actually just talk to the camera, like how you talk to a friend, that's when it's actually vulnerable because you're only yourself really when you're with your friends or your family or closest ones and doing YouTube is kind of like that.

25:36Kariza Santos:Was there a moment where it felt like it clicked a little bit? Like you, you feel like, okay, this, I need to do something else. I need to change the way I'm doing. Like, was there a moment where you, if you can remember where it kind of clicked? Oh, a hundred percent. I remember the moment actually. Yes, I do. Yes. Well, I was doing, I was, so during the pandemic, I would say was the turning point where I started to make better quality videos, but the, there was still something missing through those videos. And I was, very interested in the productivity space at that time. It was very popular at that time as well.

26:18And two years into making productivity videos, I was one, getting a bit bored of it because the best videos in that niche were already out there.

26:30Kariza Santos:You know, I was never going to - Ali Abdaal. Yeah, exactly. Ali and Nathaniel, Matt D 'Avelle, like they did it and they did it well. I was never going to beat that. And at the same time I was feeling like, okay, I really want to switch it up. Like, I don't really feel inspired by making these myself anymore. And I was like, you know what? I really want to vlog. It's so fun. I was watching a lot of vloggers at that time. Casey Neistat just moved back to New York. And I was like, you know what? Like, I really want to try this but what are my 2 000 subscribers gonna think um but then and and it was that first vlog where i'm like you know what let me just act the way i want to act when i'm with my friends and you know be a little bit more looser and not care so much about you know what i'm saying or how i sound or how i look and it was that point and i remember writing that script and i'm like oh my God, wait, did I just crack the code on something right now?

27:32I go to film it. The video, it took, I think the video is like six minutes long, but it took me two months to make.

27:39Kariza Santos:Wow. Why did it take so long? It was, that was like, I felt like I was just a painter in a studio and just like had a little canvas and kept, kept working on it every day. It was just like a work in progress. Cause I didn't, I never made something like that before. I didn't know how things would go. And I just really wanted to play. That was the first time in a long time where I was like, you know what? Let me just, what do I want to make for fun? And that became the first vlog. I thought it was great, but I uploaded it. And I mean, the rest is history. Organization is very important to me. Google Sheets are great.

28:20Kariza Santos:but for someone who likes to see things visually, I switched over to Milanote. It has become the absolute only way I'm able to organize my podcast and film projects. I needed a platform that was designed with that in mind. With Milanote, you are able to freely design your boards that best aligns with your taste and creative workflow. There are literally no limitations to how you can create your own Milanote board. They even offer really great templates to get you started. I'm currently recording five podcast episodes in two days, and the only way I was able to make that happen was with the right organizational tools and workflow through my Millinote board.

28:54Kariza Santos:By easily dragging and dropping each board, role, link, or images, I was able to clearly organize crew information, questions, forms, and scheduling for my guests, as well as keep track of my expenses and delivery schedule for each podcast. You can even use Millinote on the go from your phone. Just open the app and use it like you would on your computer. Millinote is available for free with no time limit. sign up and create your account using the link in the description you feel like you you strive for play in your work because i know sometimes youtube or you know writing scripts it it can start to feel like a job at a certain point but if you let it only feel like a job i feel like you lose the fun in it the actual joy in creating it and i think what you said like letting it feel like play is really a really valuable part of it for sure no honestly like i think in every job It's you're going to have those moments where you just kind of get into a routine or you get too caught up in it.

29:50And it really starts to feel like a job. And even something as fun as YouTube, it will feel like that. You know, there's going to be days where you just don't want to work on things and you're tired. More times than not for me. Exactly.

30:05But I do the ways that I can the ways that I still try to strive to incorporate play in it was that especially for this past season, of videos, I'm like, what do I want to do? Like, what is relevant in my life right now? What excites me? I always just start with those questions because that's going to be the most genuine videos I can make. And usually that those have the best results in terms of, not in terms of views or anything, but in terms of how proud I am to make a video like that. Because I know that making a video is such a grueling process sometimes, no matter if it's fun or not. But if I'm proud at the end of it, then that's what matters.

30:47Kariza Santos:Do you feel like you're able to get past the idea of it needing to be perfect before you share something? How do you find the point where you're working on it for two months and you're painting, as you said, when do you get to the point where you're like, okay, this is it, this is done? I think I have a pretty good sense of when I know a video is done. most of the time it's because I just wanted I'm just like this is past the point if I if I keep working on it I'm gonna be sick of this video it gets to that point and I know that it's time it's time to put it out there um because I like to enjoy putting something together but I also know when it's time to move on and I think that when it starts to really drag, then I know, okay, like it's done or it needs to be done in two days.

31:38Kariza Santos:I love your thoughts on this. Cause this is something I struggle with a lot when posting videos is, or even just work that I do as a DP, I could shoot the thing and I see it and I'm really proud of it. Like I really put a lot of effort. I love the way it looks. I love the story behind it. It goes out in the world and maybe it doesn't receive the, the, what I, my expectation of maybe what I thought it would. Maybe I thought it would do better, better feedback. And if it doesn't, it almost, I hate to say, it almost changes my view of the video now. Maybe I don't love it as much. And I don't know if that's a common feeling, but if you make a video and you really love it and maybe it doesn't do that well, does that change your perception of the video itself?

32:20Sometimes I do feel like, oh man, I thought this would do really good. But I think that if I know that I really made it good, then that's enough for me sometimes. However, there have been times in the past, especially when my channel first blew up, for example, I had a lot of videos on there already that I was really proud of, that I put a lot of effort into. And it wasn't until my channel blew up that they suddenly jumped 200 ,000 views in a couple of weeks. And I was like, was I good all along? Like truly that's how I feel about it. Like you think that it's a measure of how good something is, how many views you get, but that's not necessarily true.

33:08And so I always just try to think of that whenever something doesn't perform well. But I think that as long as you, as long as you're, you're, you're proud of the final product, you never know when something will hit the right people. So, yeah.

33:25Kariza Santos:This question is kind of going into that direction. Maybe you could find another avenue into it, but where do you find that you're able to like realign with yourself when you feel like you're really maybe doubting yourself?

33:41When I'm really doubting myself, I will call up one of my creator friends who really knows me. I'm really lucky to have worked with my friend Evie Yannikidis and on writing for this past season she was a great like we became fast friends we've been friends for the past three years now and I was really lucky to work with her on season two on my channel and whenever I'm feeling doubt whenever I'm feeling like, oh man, this writing sucks, I'll call her up and we'll talk it out. I think a lot of the doubt comes from like, I'm internal. I'm just so in my head about it. But as soon as I can talk to somebody about it, I feel like that's when I'm like, oh, okay, maybe it's not as bad as I thought.

34:32And it just needed to be workshopped. So then that's kind of how I start to align back and not really hate myself. And I think it's really down to that.

34:43Kariza Santos:Do you put a lot of pressure on yourself? I do. Tons. Like an unhealthy amount. But not for outside validation. I feel like I just know what I want to do. And that's okay if you have high ambitions. I think that's fine. It pushes you. But yeah, I do put a lot of pressure on myself. Do you also find that you're kind to yourself? You give yourself grace as well? I do. I do. I know I didn't used to as much. It's gotten better. It's gotten better for sure. Um, yeah. Yeah. So I'm curious about why you don't think your writing is very good. Cause I think it's fantastic. I think the way that you, the way that you are able to convey a message in a story, in a video is to be honest, it's unlike anyone that I really, I really watch on YouTube.

35:37Kariza Santos:Thank you. What do you, why do you feel that your, your writing maybe isn't your strongest suit? I think filmmaking, I think the visual part of it just comes so easy. So then in comparison, the writing is hard. If I put them, you know, side by side with each other, that's why. The writing, it takes a long time and it's just a grueling process at times of, does it make sense? Have I said this before? Does it loop back to the beginning or does it feel satisfying enough? stuff doesn't make sense am i just talking gibberish you know so i think that's why it makes it the hardest part of it um but i just try to improve and that's a it's a skill that you can improve how are you how do you find that you're improving it i read a lot helps novels or yes i read everything and i think that when i that i i when i'm not reading i can tell through my writing do you have any favorite do you read fiction non-fiction what is your sort of go-to sort of reading i read everything yeah everything yeah i like to read you know fantasy and adventure when i'm just like winding down but i'll also read memoirs i'll read you know the self-help book sometimes more so in my earlier 20s not so much now um but i try to read a variety of things.

37:03Kariza Santos:Yeah. Do you feel like you're more confident in yourself when you're struggling to put, like you're struggling to figure something out, you have more confidence in your ability to get through that? Definitely. Yeah. I feel like it's all about mindset. You know, I was talking about this with my partner the other day and how it's so important to just feel like you're a problem solver or be a problem solver. A lot of people like think that they can't do things, but honestly, it, a lot of it is mindset. If you think, yeah, I could probably figure this out. You will probably figure it out. Honestly.

37:37I think it comes down to that.

37:39Kariza Santos:So season one came out. How long did season one came out last year? September, 2025. Right. Yeah. Why did you decide now's the right time to start your season? Honestly, I was feeling the pressure of uploading. If I could have another year of of waiting before uploading, I would have been really happy with that. Alas, social media doesn't work that way, which is okay too, because sometimes you just have to push yourself and you'll be like, oh, okay, maybe I was okay. Um, but I thought that I wanted to start putting out season two before, um, before I reached the milestone, which is my birthday.

38:20Um, and I felt like it was just the right time. I was like, okay, I've been thinking on this for the past eight months. I think it's time to put something out in the world again and just get the momentum going.

38:32Kariza Santos:What was the biggest differentiator for you between both seasons? I would say season one was so fluid. It was such an experiment. I was really trying different kinds of formats during my vlog season. I experimented with more casual videos, more really like thought out, heavily storytelling type of videos. And that was good to collect data to see what I like to do, what my audience responds to, what I want to do, what I don't want to do going forward. Season two, I wanted it to be a bit more refined. Going back to maybe like my earlier videos where I put in a little bit more effort with the production, not so much running gun, but more intentional.

39:25I really felt like this was my, I felt like I wanted to be more intentional with my filmmaking this time around because it would be so different from the vlog season. Vlogging is like so fluid. Sometimes you're in situations you can't control and you just kind of have to adapt, which is fun, but that wasn't how I was feeling for this time. I felt like I was in a very introspective time of my life, a lot of reflecting, and I felt like I wanted the visuals to reflect that. Yeah.

39:58Kariza Santos:When it comes to the videos that you're making, because a lot of it has to, like I said, sort of your life and the things that are going on in your life, how do you find that you aren't forcing things in your life to fit a video, but you're allowing the video to live within your life? Does that make sense? Yeah, completely. I think that when I go into planning something like a season, I'll really take a look at the whole year and be like, what are some things that I know I'll be doing already? And how have I also felt in the past? What can I try to predict? Best case scenario, worst case scenario, and try to prepare for something like that.

40:44I think that the most, I always try to make sure that a video fits within my life versus the other way around. I think that that's just the easiest way to do things. and so when when I was planning season two it was around this 20s bucket list right everything that was on this list are genuinely things that I wanted to do I wasn't going to put like skydiving on the list how am I going to go skydiving in November you know so I wanted to be genuine and true to the things that were relevant to me in my life at that time because that's just like the most natural way I can make something of that nature.

41:30Kariza Santos:Going into season two, were you nervous stepping out of maybe your comfort zone a little bit of coming off of that vlog style to now a bit more of a structured setting and maybe even introducing more people to your workflow? It was definitely intimidating. When you're a solo creator, you know, anything you say goes and And you kind of, if you mess up on something, as in like you miss a deadline, it's just you, you know, not as much pressure. When you start having a team and support on that end, you kind of are held accountable to your actions. If something is delayed, you got to communicate it.

42:10You got to communicate why. And not that you'll be in trouble, but just like, it's just more accountability, which was a really, a really great process for me to start introducing into, you know, my workflow. I was lucky to find a lot of people who I align with, great personalities to work with, especially with my producer on this season, Jodi-Ann Beckford and Nicole, who I know that you interviewed her and she's amazing. So I was really lucky to find people who I felt like were in my corner who got me and who understood what I was trying to do.

42:52Kariza Santos:What are some good characteristics of a good teammate, a good collaborator? When it comes to a DP, let's say, I really wanted to work with Nicole. One, we knew each other for like, since we were both freelancing. So I saw the evolution of her going into cinematography from being a videographer. And she knew me from when I was doing like videography into social media, which was so funny that we met each other at that, that period of time. And for me, I was looking for someone who understood both the traditional film industry and social media. It was really important for me for someone to know both.

43:31Kariza Santos:Right. Let me, let me go deeper. Why is that important to know both? when it comes to YouTube, sometimes I like to be scrappy. You know, there's, we're not going to have a Netflix budget all the time. And, um, I feel like I wanted someone who understood, okay, there's ways that we can do this a little bit more scrappy. Okay. When do we bring in people and have a bigger set? And I think Nicole, she understood that about me. I didn't want someone to come on and have an ego and, oh, we got to do things the right way. And I just wanted someone who was down, down for the vision, down to make things work.

44:11And she was that girl for me, you know, and still is obviously, but I love working with people like that.

44:19Kariza Santos:Yeah. Did you have to pitch this idea to people for, for you to, to bring people on? Did you have any sort of, you know, message them like, Hey, this is, this is what I'm looking to do. I think I'm just a very enthusiastic person. I'm like, Hey, I got this idea. This is what we're doing. Are you down for it? It's pretty easy pitch. Honestly, I just like to have fun. So yeah. Going from a solo creator to having complete control of everything and ownership of everything to now almost releasing some control over certain areas. What did you learn about yourself that maybe you didn't know that you had in you or things that maybe you struggled with when releasing some control?

45:03Honestly, it was such a nice learning process. So I don't work on a site a lot of the time for my YouTube videos. Most of the time, it's still just me or me and one other person. But the past year and a half, I was more interested in, okay, like, let me see, what if I brought on someone like Nicole to help me film a project. So we did one project together, just a smaller one for a brand. And that went really well. And it was, it was like a test pilot almost of like how it would be for me to work with a very, very small crew. But even something like that is more, is vulnerable as well, because it's not a client project.

45:47It's like your personal project. And so to, for people to share that with your teammates, you're allowing them to see, you know, all the weeds that go into it. I think it's, it's, um, it was an, it was a good process though. I enjoyed it actually, surprisingly. I thought it would be a little bit more intimidating, but I actually enjoyed it so much. It was honestly not as different as it would be if I was working on, like, if I was like a director working on a, like a client project, I think it would be sort of the same process.

46:22Kariza Santos:Were there any things that you looked at yourself during this process, like, okay, maybe this is something I could work on for next time when working with a team. Were there any like weaknesses maybe that you saw in yourself that could be strengthened in the next time? Honestly, it's always down to time. You're always wanting more time to work on things. Yeah. I feel like everybody can relate to that. 100%. 100%. Ideally, I would have enough time to just work on things, to feel super prepared for a shoot, to feel confident going into it.

46:59I've gotten lucky that I have the support of an amazing team so that I did feel confident during those times. But, I mean, you can't argue with more time.

47:09Kariza Santos:Never. Yeah. are you with season two the outcome of it the the videos that are posted the the final product how does that compare with your expectation going into it again I think it comes down to time if I had like an extra year to work on things things might have been actually probably it would have been a little bit more different but I feel like I just try to make it as good as it can be at that time with the things that I have, with the resources that I have. And I always think this is not really, this isn't it, you know, this isn't the last season that I'll ever chew, knock on wood. But I think that you have to sort of be flexible during that time as well.

48:00You can't always be married to an original vision of something. You have to know that things will evolve, things will change and you're going to be so miserable if you can't let go of things. So I think it's better to remain fluid with it.

48:17Kariza Santos:You find that you've always been fluid? Were there moments where you were very rigid about your ideas at a certain point? I'm super type A, so yes. I always strive to get as close as possible to the original vision. However, there are obviously some things where I'll have to change and I'll change them if I know it will benefit everything else. So, but I do still strive to maintain the original vision in some way or another. Yeah. What part of your process is the favorite? Pre-production, writing, conceptualizing, shooting, editing, posting? No, it's definitely shooting. Yeah. Editing would be last.

49:03Really? I don't like editing. I love seeing the final product. There's times where there's magic moments in every part of the process. When I write a really good line, I'm like, oh, they're going to love this one. And in editing too, when you find the perfect song or a scene just comes together, again, magic moment. But for me, the funnest part is shooting.

49:31Kariza Santos:if you had to pick shooting your videos from here on out would it be by yourself with people always both i think i can't pick one or the other yeah i can't pick one or the other especially after the last season it was so fun to do a few bigger shoots uh granted like i didn't want to go too, too big, too fast. Right. I always just try to take the steps forward, but not like in a way where it'll overwhelm me. So for this season, we just chose a couple of key points where I'm like, okay, let me bring in Nicole. Let me bring in my producer and we'll step up the production in some ways. But I didn't want that to be like a complete change.

50:18You know, I still wanted to maintain the things I love about YouTube originally, filming things on my own or, you know, with the help of a friend. Because there's something special about that too. That's like in the DNA of YouTube. So I wouldn't really want to change that either.

50:35Kariza Santos:The Fourth Project Spark is an international initiative created by NanLux and NanLight to help creators transform early concepts into fully realized short films, supporting bold ideas and emerging creative voices. This year, six outstanding teams will be selected and awarded up to$20 ,000 in total production support. Each selected global team will receive a$15 ,000 production budget along with up to$5 ,000 in equipment rental support, fully provided by NANLUX and NANLIGHT, ensuring access to professional-grade lighting solutions while allowing teams to stay focused on storytelling and creative execution.

51:14Kariza Santos:Submissions are open February 28th, 2026 and close on April 18th, 2026. For full details and submission guidelines, visit the Nanlite website. I have friends that are interested in starting YouTube and, but feel that they, they don't have anything to say. Right. They, they feel that the industry in this space is too, there's too many people. There's too many people talking about the same thing. You know, their voices, it doesn't matter. What do you, do you have any advice to those people that feel like there isn't room for them on YouTube? I would say if you want to start YouTube, you have to know what you want to talk about.

52:01You have to know your story and you have to know why. Your why is so important for me. And it can be simple. It doesn't have to be this all-extential concept that you have. When I started my vlog series, the concept was, I want to document my life for one year. So simple. One line. And that's enough to anchor yourself and your audience. You have a clear goal that you want to do. And that's what you talk about. So I think that you really need to know why you want to do it, what you're talking about.

52:38Kariza Santos:That's how YouTube works, I think, is when you start getting clear on what you want to do. They know who to serve it to. They know who you're talking to. And you know who you're talking to most importantly. And that's like where you have to start. Yeah. So start with that. what do you what was your process in trying to find your voice more i know we talked about it a little bit but like when i watch your videos i know what i'm expecting in terms of a sense of calm like i know that i could watch your videos and feel calm like in anything that you're talking about what was the sort of development of finding that curation of this is like when you watch a Life of Risa video?

53:25Kariza Santos:This is what you might expect.

53:30So much trial and error, I think. I made so many bad videos early on.

53:36Kariza Santos:But that's really important too. For sure. No, 100%. I think it's just your initiation into doing YouTube. But I think that it really comes down to, it really comes down to just repetition. And then you will know when something clicks, like you will definitely know, okay, this is, this is what I'm meant to be doing. This is what people like. And all of those things will kind of align. And that's when you know, you kind of found your voice. And if you kind of have to question it, then maybe that click moment just hasn't happened just yet, but you're getting close, but you will definitely know for sure.

54:22Kariza Santos:How important to you is things other than just like lighting a camera? Because when you watch your video, I mean, the walls are green. Your wardrobe is a specific color. Like everything seems very particular. Do you think about all of these things and how they relate to sort of the visual experience? A hundred percent. I mean, I really love art direction. I love art direction. I love wardrobe. And I think that I love learning about those things from movies. I used to, I watched so much behind the scenes. I love just watching interviews and press junkets on how they made something. And set design is really important to me.

55:01I feel like it adds so much character. I love watching, you know, rom-coms or like coming of age movies. You see how they decorate people's bedrooms and how it says so much about them without saying it. I love that stuff. I really do. And so I tried to incorporate that in my videos a lot. And I put a lot of attention behind things as well. Even the lighting, like everything's lit most of the time, even if it looks natural, but. Yeah.

55:31Kariza Santos:I saw on the Maddie doc, the haze is your secret. Oh my God. I was looking back at those. I'm like, oh my God. I can't believe how, um, how different things are two years later as well. I feel like I learned a lot more, a little bit more professional looking, um, compared to that back then. But yeah, just a lot goes into it, but I enjoy it. Like those are things that I genuinely like about making something, the magic behind it. You think your love for YouTube has increased from when you started? Your passion for it has sustained, but even maybe got stronger? Yes, actually. I know a lot of people like, you know, they get tired of doing the same thing.

56:12I know people take like big hiatuses. Yeah, they do. And I get why, you know, it is tiring, vulnerable, all those things, but it's like every job. And I have love, I love YouTube. I still do. I always will. I want to make videos till I'm old and gray. But yeah, I get both sides. I do. I think as long as you're taking the right breaks and fulfilling your creativity in other ways, then you'll be okay on the other side.

56:41Kariza Santos:What are some other areas you find that you're able to fulfill that creative urge? Maybe if you don't want to make a video, what are some other passions and hobbies that you really enjoy doing? I try to have hobbies now, but honestly, it's so hard. I'm so upset. I feel like I always am thinking about making videos, filming and doing that on my free time, doing that while I'm working. But I try now to really have hobbies, especially reading. I think reading is probably the biggest hobby I have when I'm tight on time for everything else. And then on my off season, then I'll just try to do a bunch of different things, go outside, live my life.

57:18Right. Yeah.

57:20Kariza Santos:The video that the last one you put out about feeling like you were behind and you had your family involved. Yes. What was that experience like? Was that your first time really sort of involving your family into a video, especially, you know, at a newer scale too? Yes. Oh my God. I, I think that's my favorite scene of the whole season. There's still two more episodes to go from when we're recording this, but the barbecue family scene. I thought it was amazing. Thank you. That was such a fun day. Honestly, my favorite scene. So I, I, I wanted to film something with my family for so long and there was a perfect place in the script for it.

58:04I was like, okay, this is the time for me to do it. Um, the timing aligned, everyone was free. It was around Thanksgiving, which was perfect. It was funny because I was like, I told my family, I'm like, okay, this will be like our, our Thanksgiving celebration, but I'll do it the weekend after Thanksgiving. So I won't hijack the actual Thanksgiving weekend. And then nobody ended up making plans anyway for the Thanksgiving week, the actual Thanksgiving weekend. And we all just got together on the day of that shoot. I'm like, what? So I could have actually done it on the real Thanksgiving. But anyways, it was really fun to involve my whole, like literally my whole family in that shoot.

58:49I was like, okay, people show up at this time on time. Right. That's huge. Filipino time is so real. And I told them what to wear, a general sense of what to wear. And other than that, I'm just like, just show up. Don't worry about anything else.

59:07Kariza Santos:It felt so real. Yes. And honestly, like it was though, because we didn't have an actual Thanksgiving. That was our actual Thanksgiving celebration technically. And it was the first time where I got even more relatives to come than usual. So it felt like a family reunion and everyone was just laughing the whole day, smiling the whole day. Everyone cooperated. Even the kids when we were doing like the main hero shot, like that push in. um everyone was fantastic honestly it was it was fun to direct them and for that shot particularly so I told Nicole I wanted a push-in and I wanted it to be a match cut and so we set up some lights on the side and I did the whole art direction for the backyard we put up the gazebo and we I hung the lanterns and everything it was like a one day trans or one morning transformation formation.

1:00:06And the whole morning, the day before, including the morning, was rainy. And I was like, oh my God, I'm supposed to have like 20 people at my house in a few hours. Once people started showing up, miraculously, the sun just broke through the clouds as they do. And it was a fantastic day.

1:00:30Kariza Santos:Amazing. Yeah, it was. And it was everything that I wanted to be for that scene particularly as well. I wanted to kind of emulate how it felt during my childhood. Like this was like what I had in my memories, those like golden days of having barbecues with my family in someone's backyard. I wanted to recreate that and actually put it in my video. And so that's what we did and it came out better than I could have ever imagined. So it was really fun to kind of have these life experiences and I can actually translate that into a scene that I'm filming. What was your family's reaction to just seeing you in action?

1:01:09Oh, they were like, they were like, oh my God, you're legit. I just, I don't know if they knew what to expect, but their reactions were so funny and they were just so great. Yeah.

1:01:22Kariza Santos:What do you think you're going to take into your next season or future videos that you learned from this past season? I think the biggest thing is to not rush into things. Not to give in to the pressure of needing to upload. Like deadlines. Yeah, with deadlines and everything. Just work on it. Make it great. Make it what you want it to be. And don't rush into uploading just for the sake of uploading. I think that's the biggest thing. Yeah, because everything else was like, it felt right. It was like everything was supposed to be the way it should be, except for the timing. But again, that's just like everyone's bane of existence, I think.

1:02:13Yeah.

1:02:15Kariza Santos:do you think that there's um sort of a misconception about how easy it is to make youtube videos like what is it for people that maybe don't really understand what it takes like what is what are some misconceptions about really what it takes to make a great video but also just to grow a channel to where you have? I think you need some level of obsession to, to be successful in anything, but for YouTube specifically, it's a grind. Like it is such a grind. And if it feels difficult, you're probably, you're probably on the right path. You know, YouTube is like there's so much that goes into it but it's worth it the grind is worth it but you really have to just be diligent in wanting it you have to know what you want from it first of all you if you want it to be a hobby if you want it to be your career you kind of have to decide what you want from YouTube first and then go for it like just keep the reps in that's all it really is nothing more complicated than that.

1:03:35Kariza Santos:Are there moments where you felt like you were going to give up on YouTube? A hundred percent. Literally every, all the time, all the time. I think that, uh, yeah, I don't know. You'll have like mental breakdowns. Honestly, every video I feel like I'm like, Oh my God. But yeah, you just got to show up the next day. same thing in this season of your life right now what do you feel like you're most excited to learn about in general with the craft yeah in craft and life i am excited to just learn more actually like just to improve the craft even more like there's always more you can learn color grading with lighting how to you know do things how to write things better how to how to uh tell better stories.

1:04:25There's always ways. So I think that it's just more, it's more just being very intentional with my time and with what I consume really important and just keep learning. Yeah. Keep improving.

1:04:42Kariza Santos:Do you feel like you consume a lot? Yes. I, it's so bad though. I have to just like, I just have to lock my phone. I have to brick my phone and not scroll. I love brick. I don't know if you've heard of it. Honestly, if I don't do that, I'm literally scrolling on my phone. It's so bad. I feel like I need to... I'm always trying to just be offline as much as possible now. So does that help sort of just your presence and just being in the moment? I think so. And it goes back to like, you know, when I take downtime, I want to just be living my life and experiencing my life. So I have things to talk about.

1:05:34But if I'm spending most of that time on my phone, it's like the same thing as, you know, not doing anything at all. So I try to just stay offline. Yeah.

1:05:47Kariza Santos:And it's sort of similar to the first question about fulfillment, but in a different way, where do you find the most joy in your life? I think that it's when I am feeling like I'm present and being able to just hang out with my friends and my loved ones and I feel like, okay, I'm steady in this and I'm steady in my career and I'm steady in my craft. And I think that I used to really live my life in blocks of time, especially like even earlier this year, I thought, you know, going into it, I'd be like, okay, X amount of time for downtime. And then this block of time I'm working on the season, but I've come to realize I just want steadiness in my life instead.

1:06:37So maybe that's the next thing I'm working on. Instead of always feeling like there's only a finite amount of time to work on this one thing, I want the consistency and steadiness instead.

1:06:50Kariza Santos:Do you think the steadiness and consistency will, do you think that provides you with peace? Yes, 100%. I think that at the end of the day, you just want like peace, you know? Yeah, that's the key, I think. That is the key. So I think that the more I reflect, it goes back to that steadiness, consistency, not stress and deadlines. And I know in that video about feeling like you were, you know, the idea of falling behind, you talked about the definition of success and what it means and what it maybe had meant. And I'd love to just go a little bit deeper into what you view as success today in this moment and maybe what you viewed it in last year.

1:07:31Kariza Santos:Or even is there a difference in change and success before you even started season two? I mean, on the YouTube front, it's still, you know, the same kind of goals where you have these milestones you want to hit. And career wise, I feel like you just kind of have to keep on making bigger goals. when you reach one goal you have to already have your bigger goal so then you can still feel like you're going somewhere so on that front it's sort of still the same that's what I had the idea for YouTube in my personal life that's that is an interest like that's a whole different thing honestly a lot of my hometown friends then and the friends I grew up with they chose more traditional paths or maybe not just not as like um they're not in the creative industry and so it was really hard for me to not have creator friends when I was first starting out but now um as I started to do more YouTube I met creator friends and I felt like okay so maybe I'm not as behind as I thought so reframing in that sense in my personal life has been really helpful because it's more affirming when I'm pursuing my creative career amazing yeah Carissa thank you so much for being here thank you for having me it was a lovely conversation.

1:08:48Kariza Santos:This is so much fun. I know that you came here from Toronto, but luckily you have a boyfriend that's here as well. Shout out to Colt. Shout out to Colt. Thank you for, you know, opening yourself up, being honest and just sharing this conversation with me. I really, it really means a lot. Of course. I'm happy to be here. Where can people find you? Where can people check out season two? You can see season two now on Life of Reason on YouTube. Amazing. hopefully you enjoyed today's episode everyone have a great day peace out