Bobby Solez, content creator for Luminosity Gaming, sat down with Esports Heaven to discuss about his love for sneakers, TikTok and other social media platforms as a way of being a successful content creator, being an entrepreneur and hosting tournaments in his own gaming truck, creating music and more.
Hey Bobby. First thing’s first, I’m amazed by your crazy love towards sneakers as you probably own hundreds of them. What started it and how does that fit into the area of being a global fashion influencer, more so, segwaying that into the virtual world of games as well? How does your passion for streetwear and sneakers correlate to the niche follower-base of the video games industry?
Awesome question, I for sure own hundreds of them at this point & actually got into sneaker collecting when I was in the 5th grade. I wasn't the best student in school, so I always used how I dressed to express myself and stand out.
As far as how it correlates to my follower base while I'm streaming, people see who I am on the internet, notice how I put outfits together or have the newest sneakers on my feet. So when they tune into my streams a lot of the time they ask about the pieces that they see me wearing in my pictures / videos.
As a streamer and content creator, what goes down in your day to day? What games do you focus on and how do you interact with your audience?
My day to day is literally content, content and more content. Whether it is making a TikTok, planning a YouTube video or Instagram post or even streaming. At this point everything in my life that I do, I ask myself how I can turn that into a piece of content. To someone who doesn't understand content creation it probably seems crazy, but I wouldn't change it for a second.
It seems as if your life-long passion for sports, fashion and video games have all come together as you create unique and engaging content on Facebook, TikTok, YouTube and Instagram. While I’m quite familiar with FB, YT and Insta as platforms for social media promotion, it is TikTok that I’m not really familiar with. How is TikTok, as a platform, of any value when it comes to creating content or rather consumption of the said content?
Tiktok has changed my life. At first I didn't really understand it, but once I noticed the amount of discoverability on there, I went full force and never looked back. As far as the value when it comes to creating content, I would encourage everyone to just create and don't overthink it. If I listened to everyone who told me I was crazy for posting on TikTok, I wouldn't be living in a content house, creating for one of the biggest gaming organizations in the world!
You’ve worked with some of the biggest lifestyle brands such as HINT, Foot Locker, Logitech, Kraken Keyboards, Puma, etc. over the course of your career. What value do you provide to these companies and what kind of return on investment do these companies look for? More so, in which ways do you engage your fan-base for the same?
The value I provide to the brands I work with is more than just the “views or likes''. When I'm creating, I stay true to my brand & who I am. The people who support me know that anything I am involved in is because I truly believe in it. You know what you're getting when you work with me; my whole heart & energy!
In 2019, Ninja hosted your stream for 24 hours and as a result you gained over 20,000 new followers. How did you make use of this opportunity to grow to a new level? Have you collaborated in other ways since then?
That day was crazy and I'm still thankful for Ninja and his wife Jess for spreading the love with me like that. Honestly, I didn't plan on streaming for 24 hours, but something in my head clicked when I was streaming like, “Wait bobby you might never get an opportunity like this again, you have to do something crazy to make the best of it”.
So I went on to stream for the entire day haha. Since then, I've tweeted back and forth with Ninja about a couple of things and his wife Jess still follows me. As far as collaborating since then, sadly no, but that's more on me being who I am. I wouldn't ever want to seem like I was looking for a handout from the most successful streamer on the planet. One day our paths will cross again, I'm sure of it!
You also own and operate a gaming truck, “Rolling Video Games” in the tristate area that provides local gamers with the opportunity to compete in live tournaments hosted at the truck. It’s an interesting concept to say the least. How did you come up with the idea of running events at a gaming truck, and how do you manage to take care of hosting and organizing the event? In which ways does it help local gamers to establish themselves?
It's funny how the world works, the idea came from my partner and founder of the business Walter King. His nephew had a birthday party on a similar truck. We always knew we would do some type of business together. He called me the next day wanting to buy a gaming truck. I knew with me and him behind the business we would be able to kill it.
You should see these kids' faces when they find out i have 400K followers on TikTok and YouTube. Their parents ask me “how can my kids do what you do or be a video-gamer” (haha). I tell them all the time, your kids can really do this as long as you encourage them, they believe in themselves and don't have them focus too much on the views. Views don't make a content creator good, their passion does.
Do you ever experience fatigue in streaming and making content around games for a living? Do you have some other side hobbies since gaming is your “job”? You are also a musician as part of your amalgamation of talent. Could you share with us what some of your favorite personal work is? Any influencers in that space?
Fatigue? Absolutely, your mental strength is such a huge part of content creation. People think this is easy, it's not. Side hobby of mine is for sure playing basketball. I've been hooping since I was a little kid and haven't stopped since. I also enjoy spending time with my girlfriend, she really keeps my head level in this whole content thing.
She really is my #1 fan and makes me believe i can do anything. As far as music it's crazy because that came about as almost like a joke. I was at my friend’s place who produces music and I went up to the mic messing around and he was like, “hold up you can actually kind of sing you wanna make a song? And I was like sure”. I looked at it as another way of creating.
Now I have songs on Spotify, Apple Music and all major platforms with almost 1M overall listens. My favorite song that I've made is probably “On & On”, you should go listen to that. And Influences in that space are for sure Justin Bieber, Chris Brown & Drake. That might be my top 3 of all time to be honest.
This may be a vague or unorthodox question, but what makes a good shoe? To the layman, a “running shoe is a running shoe” and so on, so I’m curious to hear you elaborate on intricacies that you favor, be it design or function.
For me, I love all different kinds of sneakers. I'm not your average “sneaker head” where they go for all the hyped up or rare / expensive types. But for me i love being able to put together dope outfits with sneakers you wouldn't think are “good”. I like standing out in things that are different.
You’re in a bit of a unique position that’s not for everyone, being a fashionista that creates video game content and also has a musical background, but do you have any advice for those that might want to follow in your footsteps?
The biggest thing I always tell people is to believe in yourself. I wasn't supposed to be doing any of the things I do today. I was told my whole life I wasn't gonna be able to do this. I always knew since I was young that I was meant to do something different. So my advice to people would be just believe in yourself and don't listen to people who doubt you. Keep going, Keep pushing & Keep creating!!!
You can follow me @Karyb4u.
Kindly support us by following Esports Heaven on Twitter and keep tabs on our website for more interesting content.
Image credits: Luminosity Gaming 
KarY
2021-04-11 05:38:00