Daily Inspiration: Meet Cristal Pena

Today we’d like to introduce you to Cristal Pena.

Hi Cristal, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I like to believe that I became a creator in 2024. It was the year that I started making more videos more consistently and started going to pop ups. I was also being invited to events more often. My story began with a dream of being a “YouTuber” like Bethany Mota when I was 13. She was truly my inspiration growing up. I would watch all her videos and learned how to do my makeup and how to dutch and French braid. I learned how to be confident by asking myself what would Bethany do? Now as I grew older I always wanted to see someone in the social media platforms that looked like me, plus size and Latina, I always wished I could do it. Thanks to TikTok and instagram it became a more approachable goal for me. I love being able to show all the things I like to do like hair, makeup, styling clothes and so much more!

I think it was when I got invited to my first event which was with Rare beauty that I took this more seriously. You may ask how did that happen? Honestly sometimes I ask myself the same thing. I think it was luck but I always tell my friends and supporters that my biggest tip is to tag brands, put yourself out there, and share what you love online. I had previously gone to a Sephora x Rare Beauty pop up event in celebration of Selena’s birthday in 2023 and I posted it in my stories. I am a big fan of Selena Gomez and Rare Beauty so majority of my video are pertaining to those two topics. Rare beauty is one of my favorite makeup brands. I love how it doesn’t break me out and it is long lasting, good quality, and helps embrace your natural features. Naturally, no pun intended, I gravitated to make videos about rare beauty products and became involved within the rare beauty community by going to their pop ups and meeting community members and team members. Being an active community member and showing my support I began being invited to community events.

When I first started, I loved visiting pop ups and making videos of my experiences there or even getting to try the samples of the products. It would give me a chance to make follow up videos like a review of the product. I also liked making videos of products I already owned that I loved. Today, I get the chance to review and try new upcoming launches from brands looking for honest reviews and to be featured on my page.

One of my biggest highlights of my content creator journey has been meeting my childhood idol Selena Gomez. I truly believe that through my videos and showing my love for both Selena and Rare Beauty it helped me qualify to meet Selena. I have been a fan for so many years and it was a dream come true meeting her at the Allure video shoot. I was in complete shock when she surprised me that day. It was truly one of the best days of my life and I will forever be thankful to the Allure team and Sydney for that amazing opportunity.

I am truly so excited to see what the future holds for me as a content creator. I have so much to explore and dive into the fashion world and makeup world.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It can sometimes get hard juggling a full time job and content creation but I love it so much that I do it anyway. I oftentimes come home tried of my “9-5” and all I want to do is sleep but I remember I have a deadline. It becomes hard to find the motivation to film when you are working long hours and come home tired and still have responsibilities before filming. I like being able to batch my content by filming mostly in the weekend so I get to rest throughout the week. I like to film at least two-three videos at once and post them throughout the week to stay consistent.

What do you like and dislike about the city?
I love that Los Angeles has so many beautiful places to visit. It’s not far from a beach and it has many iconic sight scenes. It’s a place where you can take a bus or a train to navigate the city. I also love that LA is always busy with pop ups during the weekends. There is always something to do at either the Grove, Americana Glendale galleria, or Melrose. I love being able to take a train to Santa Monica to visit the beach or 3rd street promenade for $1.75 during the weekend. Los Angeles also has a beautiful trails at Griffith park. My least favorite thing about Los Angeles is the traffic. I hate that it takes us an hour+ to get to Disneyland when it could take 30-45 minutes.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cristaljpena/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@CristalJazmine
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@cristalpena99