Open Tabs w/Justina (Jeanie) Thompson
Open Tabs w/Justina (Jeanie) ThompsonA peek into the feed of a Gen Z content + creative marketer figuring out her personal brand in public.
Open Tabs is a series under The Weekly Scroll where we peek into what a creator or social media pro has open on their browser, saved in their bookmarks, and stuck in their head right now. Each issue, someone new shows us what they’re paying attention to.
Justina (Jeanie) Thompson is an Associate Marketer (Content + Creative) balancing big-tech work with contract projects, and someone figuring out personal brand in public honestly, and a little reluctantly. You’ll find her on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Tumblr. So, what’s in your tabs?Share 3-5 things that are in your tabs, bookmarks, or saved folder right now.
Is there a creator or account you’ve been obsessed with lately? Toni Bravo. Toni is an LA-based, California-born writer, creator, and creative, and she is SO in her own lane — which is exactly why I cite her as someone who knows herself and her audience really well. She went from being dubbed “the Queen of Blush” for her beauty content to “the Tinned Fish Princess” by the internet (all thanks to her viral videos of trying out Fishwife’s vibrantly colored canned fish). Toni doesn’t amplify anything that isn’t already embedded in her everyday life. Whenever I come across her work, long- or short-form, her honesty and elegance are a breath of fresh air. What’s one thing that’s been shaping your thinking lately that has nothing to do with social media? The conversations I’ve been having with my recently graduated friends. So many of our everyday chit-chats come back to finding comfort in this period of redirection and ambiguity. As young people in today’s climate, Gen Z is up against way more than people who entered the workforce even a year before us; the timing just hasn’t been favorable for us. Nevertheless, where our perspectives and experiences always merge within these discussions — despite working different jobs and having disparate schedules — is our shared commitment to growth, to getting through the hard parts, and to finding community in/showing up for the moments that matter. It’s never weird to talk about getting rejected from a role, or feeling like we’re missing out on visibility because we’re working so much. We find peace in knowing we’re all grinding and that we’re there for each other through it. What’s one thing you’re working through or figuring out in your creator journey right now? Embracing inconsistency and growing privately. As a Gen Z, Black, femme marketer working at a big tech company while balancing contract work, I’ve found it hard to fully commit to showing up as a creator and personal brand across platforms, especially LinkedIn and Instagram. Algorithms, trends, and creator representation change rapidly. (Like… where did Instants come from? Hello? 🥲) It’s even harder when my feeds are full of other young people who look like me going to brand events, landing influencer management… all of it, really. It makes me feel like I’m not doing enough to stand out. What I’m learning is that my circumstances are uniquely my own. I can’t use anyone I see on social media as a benchmark for success. So I’m trying to show up as best I can for myself, even if it’s one post a day,saying “yes” to opportunities even when I don’t feel ready for them, and working on projects privately, for my own gratification. Is there a piece of social media news or a platform update that caught your attention recently? What was it, and why did it stand out to you? Instagram letting you change the image order in carousels — so you can actually can actually control how a carousel looks in-feed after it goes live. Everything hallelujah for that. 😭 What’s in the scroll?Hi, Tami popping in 👋🏾 I committed to sprinting to 5,000 followers on Instagram for the month of June, so I’ve been rallying my creativity to publish daily. Thankfully, the creative well seems to be overflowing, but I know that won’t last forever. So in a bid to stay ahead of…myself, I’ve been aggressively documenting all my ideas, big, small, never-going-to-see-the-light-of-day. I’ve also been exploring big sessions of content batching (this is hard for me as someone whose approach to content is very spontaneous). The hope is that if or when the well runs dry, I can tap into my past self’s creative mindset. My feed right now is full of fellow creators with advice and inspiration for this journey, especially @bylaurendudley and @nanadelrey on Instagram. I’ve also picked up templates from @xantheappleyard for carousels. Keep an eye on the newsletter to see if I’ll hit my goal! Either way, there’ll be a story to tell at the end of my journey. Speaking of Instagram (that’s all I’ve been doing lately tbh), there’ve been a few fun updates to the Edits app. I’ve also just seen this exciting update teasing connected ‘series reels’ and I’m eager to try that as I grow my presence. Hopefully they release it to the general audience soon! That’s it from me. Until next time, Tami Sr. Content Creator
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