Kay Lopez Creates GIFs For Latinx

2024 Author: Steven Freeman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 08:15

Kay Lopez noticed there was a gap for Latinas in the digital space and she has filled it by creating kickass GIFs for the Latinx community. “My background is in social strategy and content development. I'm a heavy user of social media,”she tells People CHICA. “I was always looking for GIFs to use that spoke specifically to our community. I would look for GIFs in Spanish, any word that was available and I didn't find a lot. The ones I found where either soccer- or alcohol-related. That's not what I wanted to use. I didn't feel they spoke to me or my experience.”

The graphic designer then set out to create the GIFs that were missing in the virtual landscape to represent one of the largest demographics in the US Lopez has created over 70 GIFs that can be used on Instagram, which have generated over 15.5 millions views to date.

“I wanted the colors to be vibrant because our culture is so vibrant. I wanted to embrace all of us and all cultures,”she says of serving the diverse Latinx community. “I wanted to focus on positive messages for Latinas, words that were empowering for us. I wanted to stay away from 'chancla,' from the word 'caliente.' I wanted to focus more on words like 'goddess' [goddess], 'powerful' [powerful], 'proud' [proud], and 'queen' [queen], not so much the stereotypes that we are categorized into.”

The reaction to the GIFs has been overwhelmingly positive, she says. “It's so important for many reasons. We as Latinas need to change the way we are portrayed in media. We come from a culture that is very heavily focused on men, very machista, and I want women to believe in the power they have. The GIFs are created for them to feel empowered and that they matter. Most of the time we've been raised to be very quiet and we should be very vocal about what we are doing and how we feel about ourselves.”

She hopes the GIFs help to change the rhetoric and promote self-love among Latinas. “If you go to social media and look up the hashtag 'Latina,' a lot of the GIFs that come up are very sexualized. We get all this negative portrayal,”she admits.

The Mexican American, born in Houston, is also the founder of the social platform Latinas Poderosas, which has over 30,000 followers on Instagram and is focused on empowering Latinas by showcasing messages of encouragement and highlighting women within our community. What helped this Boss Lady achieve her dreams? “Following my instincts,” she says, “believing in myself and not forgetting where I come from.”