Interview #5 with Ocean Ronquillo-Morgan

A YOUNG GAMER GIRL

Just like most young girls, Ocean filled most of her spare time playing the first person shooter game, Call of Duty. What started as just a passion project quickly grew into a success as she streamlined herself gaming on youtube and grew an audience of 66,000 subscribers. ‍

How did she do it?! And at such a young age?!

She had hit a niche market of young female gamers. She taught herself how to transform her personal passion project into a revenue generating business as well as a place to build her professional brand. She researched SEO strategies, kept up with online trends, and disciplined herself to post the right content at the right time. ‍

How she did this at 14 is still undetermined at this time…

FROM ISLAND LIFE TO THE BIG CITY

As you could have guessed by her name, Ocean grew up right on… the ocean. More specifically, in Hawaii. She grew up in a small town and learned independence from a young age. She didn’t have mentors or teachers to help nurture the entrepreneurial pursuits that she had. So she learned to do that for herself instead. 

The ability to be your own mentor and your own teacher is incredibly invaluable for Ocean and for anyone looking to start something new.

Hungry for a change, Ocean is accepted to University of Southern California (USC) and moves to a completely new atmosphere for her: a chaotic and bustling city.

IMPOSTER SYNDROME

Not only did Ocean move to a completely new environment that was drastically different to the place she grew up, but she also was experiencing major imposter syndrome as one of the few females studying Computer Science and Business Administration.

Even when she went on to land an internship within software engineering, she often felt out of place and truly all on her own. But this never stopped her from achieving high feats.

ON HER WAY WITH GESITWEAR

To stand out as an ambitious individual (as if she doesn’t already) Ocean explained to me how she sought after certifications that are looked highly upon within her industry. She would go online and find what’s relevant and advantageous to have, then study her ass off and get them. ‍

On her time and not to anyone’s authority but her own.

“Just keep persevering through it all.”

Ocean and I talked about community building within school and how important it is to seek out like-minded individuals to share your passions with. Most recently, Ocean has co-founded a startup, Geistwear, with her peer and good friend, Clara Diogo. Ocean and Clara saw a problem with the offered selection of school spirit apparel at their school. In response, they created Gesitwear, a superior collegiate apparel brand that caters to the “Gen-Z” desires.

FROM 100 TO 100,000

Something I recently discovered has great power in growing our audiences and our businesses is LinkedIn. Ocean is an excellent example of how to use it efficiently and effectively.

Ocean has gained thousands upon thousands of impressions by using discipline and consistency with content creating and engagement.

“Posting consistently gains traction.”

Catering your posts to a particular audience is extremely effective in reaching the right people who can be early adopters of your business or service. In addition to posting, Ocean is diligent with her engagement. By liking and commenting on the content made by others, she is opening doors to entire new networks who can add value back to her whether it be engagement, shopping at Geistwear, or mentorship and support. ‍

You may even, like Ocean did, come across someone who wants to interview you, write an article about you, and share it with their entire network.

I’m incredibly grateful to have met Ocean and treasure our relationship built upon the grounds of #womensupportingwomen where we share books, advice, and mistakes we’ve made in hopes of championing each other’s ambitions and dreams.
Seriously go follow this woman - she’s going places. 

• Kaivent Media (Digital Marketing Agency)
• Geistwear (E-commerce Brand)
• Ocean Morgan (Blog)
• Ocean Maria (Vlog/YouTube)

‍