Ainura: Media is something that allowed me to
find myself in such a big big world and
making my own little difference in my community.
I was born in Kazakhstan but
ever since I was young I've been moving
with my family from one country to
another so whenever I get asked where
I'm from, I prefer to say that I'm an
international citizen and through all
the transitions including schools, friends,
I really needed something that would stay with me.
And I guess my desire
to be heard connected me to social media,
to YouTube and the creative world.
My media journey began back when I was 13 I
would say, or even younger actually I
Uh, I started playing around with cameras, uh
experimenting with different, um, angles,
filming techniques, and I got so
fascinated by it that I just turned it
on and started speaking to it and that's
when I discovered, uh, my voice.
Back in the days I would, uh, start off
with morning routines, night routines,
DIY, crafts, so as I got into the hustle
of creating content, thinking of ideas,
brainstorming, and with my audience
increasing day by day,
I realized the kind of responsibility that I had to my
viewers to send meaningful messages that
would actually make a positive impact.
Whether it's covering topics around
social change or something that's more
personal to me, uh, being able to have this
influence really put me in a position of
wanting to spread and raise awareness on
things that I deeply stand for.
So last year when I decided to open up about
more sensitive topics that I really
wasn't comfortable sharing at first,
but knowing that I could have an influence
on someone's life is what really pushed
me to speak up about it. Uh, and that's body image.
And I tried to tell people that
working out is not about, uh, hating yourself
and doing this by force, but because you
love yourself so much that you want to
improve day by day taking small steps at a time.
I don't know if you can tell by
what I'm wearing but I'm actually a body
builder as well so I lift
every single day.
And if you would have told me this two years ago,
I wouldn't believe you.
but now as I'm working back my fitness journey,
what drives me is the the progress that I see.
The kind of feedback
that I received from that video was
really heartwarming to me because I didn't
know that it would resonate with so many.
So my channel now, uh, it's mostly
dominated by NYU content.
On an everyday basis, I receive questions, emails about a
lot of aspiring MCC students, uh, asking
about the program, what it's like.
So I often walk around campus with my camera
on the tripod, talking to it,
vlogging my days, and showing really the
insider perspective of what it's like to be here.
MCC is really all and everything
that I've wanted for myself, uh, when
thinking about my professional career.
So being in a position to help others now
it's really something that I take seriously.
you
