Lou Jacques, better known on social media as JLou, may look like an expat. But the influencer has lived in Hong Kong her whole life, speaks native Cantonese and proclaims her love for rice by calling herself a rice addict.
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Though she was a shy child, Jacques always enjoyed performing as it gave her the chance to explore a different version of herself. She would join drama classes and performance competitions, but never did she imagine she would be a public figure in the online space one day, sharing her experiences as a mixed-race person in Hong Kong.
Having a Chinese mother and a French father meant that Jacques grew up in a multicultural environment. She went to a local primary school and an international secondary school and speaks Cantonese, French (which she uses with her parents), English, Putonghua (which she learned in school) and Spanish.
"Having gone to local school for half my life and international school for the other half, I feel like I am in the middle of both cultures," she said. "I can blend in just the same in both - which makes me feel very lucky. It is almost like wearing a special pair of glasses to view different cultures and it makes me more empathetic toward different people."
One of her first Youtube videos was of her comparing her experience in local and international schools. Her Youtube videos reflected her humble beginnings - she taped her iPhone onto her bedroom wall and shot her first videos in her pajamas.
"At first when I had this desire to share cultural content, I thought it would not resonate with enough people," said Jacques.
But she was proven wrong when her videos struck a chord with those who felt alienated in terms of their ethnicity or backgrounds. Within a day of posting a video of her boyfriend repeating Cantonese phrases after her, it had garnered a million views.
"It was so surreal. When it was happening, we had just gone to Vietnam for a short holiday. When you are in another world, you already feel like everything is surreal.
"I opened my phone and my Facebook app notifications would be 99+ and I was like, 'What is happening?' I just couldn't believe my eyes. It was definitely an exhilarating feeling and that propelled me to keep creating."
She has now amassed more than 400,000 subscribers on Instagram and her most popular upload on Youtube, which features her mother reacting to her Instagram pictures, has 6.2 million views.
Her social media content often focuses on her multicultural experience.
"When you have a multicultural background anywhere in the world, you sometimes encounter a bit of confusion as to who you are and where you belong because people look at you and have an opinion of who you are," she said.
"It doesn't have to be a malicious opinion but, when you absorb all these different ideas, you start being confused as to who you really are. Why is the way they are describing me different from how I feel?"
The important thing, she said, is to embrace who you are. "We are all in some way different from each other, and if we keep picking out the differences, there will always be something. You have to embrace and be confident of who you are and stop caring about what other people think."
Her favorite part of being a content creator is that she gets the opportunity to connect with a community with similar experiences and learn about her videos' impact. "It is important for people like us to feel like we are not alone in this world. We are so lucky to have multiple backgrounds and privileges with languages and it is okay to be confused about your identity. It was not well talked about before, but I am glad it is now talked about."
Jacques has also been expanding her repertoire and is in the process of filming her movie debut. She has also been hosting and taking part in television shows.
"I recently relaunched #ricefam, my clothing apparel brand, and hope to expand the cartoon aspect of it. That is very exciting and I have many plans for it in the works."
The name of the brand stems from her love for rice and also reflects how her fans started referring to themselves. Having expanded her career into entrepreneurship and acting, it begged the question, would we still get see her online content?
"For now I definitely see myself going on. That is how I connect with my audiences and that is what feels right for me," said Jacques. "There is still so much more that I want to share."
