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His joyful attitude, his philosophy of life, his perseverance, and his innate talent are some of the qualities that make Jonan Wiergo one of the most loved influencers on social media. His personality, his honesty, and his warm heart touches everyone, and he is the face of change and progress. We had the lovely opportunity of having a conversation with this beautiful human who spreads love and joy in everything he does. In this interview, we talk about topics like his origins, his current projects as an entertainer and content creator, his vegan restaurant, how to live a vegan and sustainable life, fashion and gender and identity matters. This is surely one of the most complete interviews you will ever read.

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As I’ve been following you for quite some time, I know that you started in social media when you were more or less sixteen years old, mainly using Twitter. Could you tell me a little bit more about what drove you to begin using social media in the first place, how was that process and how did you decide to make it your job? 

Talking about social media, what made me work hard to make it my job was that I loved anything related to marketing and everything that goes with it, and I guess that would have been what I would have studied given the case I had studied anything, because the main force behind that core motivation was that I didn’t like to study. I always saw social media as an amazing opportunity to make a living out of it and earn big money while working in what I loved. It was like I was able to foresee what would happen now. Instagram didn’t even exist when I started, it was only YouTube and not that many other platforms. 

You participated in 2016 in a Spanish TV program named Pekín Express, which gave you visibility and I guess that that’s what gave way to you being a public personality, besides being a very rewarding experience. How was that experience for you? 

Evidently, Pekín Express was the experience of my life. It is the best experience I’ve ever lived without a doubt because it was thrilling in every possible way. It’s impossible to live that type of experience if you don’t go to a TV show because the amount of planning and organization behind that show is incredible. There were more than 120 professionals working in India to make sure that everything went smoothly and according to plan, so it was really remarkable seeing what was the production process like and how everything worked. Forward-looking, and in connection with this experience, I would really love to go to Supervivientes (survivors), a very popular survival show here in Spain in which a group of famous personalities are sent to a remote island in Honduras to try to survive, playing extreme games to win food and so many more exciting things. It would be my dream to be part of this show this year as I would love to relive an experience that is similar to Pekín Express. I feel ready to live that experience and I would love to be part of it because it also has a great audience and it is really popular, so it would allow me to show a different point of view  of life and promote my philosophy and the way I live life in terms of free love, polyamory relationships, veganism and so many other things. I think it would be really cool!

Social media can be superficial sometimes because people there only show the great side of life and how marvelous their lives are, but you have a very personal style when it comes to connecting with your community being real and honest, one of the qualities that differentiate you from the rest of the influencers. How do you build a community like yours?

I think that when it comes to creating a community it’s a matter of being as natural and real as possible and the strongest point, which I think I have that differentiates me from the rest of influencers, is that I began my career on Twitter. I think that all the influencers that started on Twitter have grown the same way, because it is a platform in which you are in direct contact with the community. You share your whole life there through written twits, and that makes you connect with people. I believe that all these personalities that have been born with Twitter all share the same loyalty with our followers and our community, and you can really tell the difference between the influencers from Twitter and those of other platforms like YouTube.

TOTAL LOOK VICTOR VON SCHWARZ JEWELRY APREELS

Besides this job, I would love to know more about Jonan as a person in real life. Could you tell me who is Jonan, your personality, how is your daily life, your likes, hobbies and ambitions? 

My only hobby nowadays is mainly focusing on Guakame, my vegan restaurant, and that’s one of the reasons why I might visit a psychologist soon because I can’t stop thinking about Guakame, I can’t stop thinking about the restaurant, the marketing campaigns I could do with it, how to attract more clients, how to open restaurants in more cities and so on. The 24 hours of my day, except one hour that I use to work out in order to feel better mentally, more than the physical change, is dedicated to the restaurant, so all my ambitions, my likes and hobbies are now centered on Guakame. 

You have been filming a new dating show for Netflix recently. How is it like to work for a giant like Netflix and how have you lived this experience? What can you tell us about this new show? 

My experience with Netflix has been incredible. I did two castings to be part of this show and I remember there were a lot of influencers there too, and when I was told I was chosen it was like I couldn’t believe it. In fact, I can’t even believe that we have already filmed the entire show, I feel like I’m in a bubble, like it is not real. It is like—“ok, I’ve filmed it and that’s it”— but I don’t think —“oh my freaking God, I’ve filmed for Netflix and it’s going to release in no time.”

I think the show will be released around March or April and the public doesn’t expect how cool it is in every way. I’ve cried, I’ve laughed uncontrollably, I was really nervous during some scenes, and I was literally shaking when I was about to film because I thought “I am filming for Netflix and this is going to be seen by everyone on the whole planet” and it was a very overwhelming feeling. 

I really can’t tell you much about the show because I signed a non-disclosure agreement, but it’s already known that it’s going to be a dating show. Obviously, I can tell you from my point of view that you can imagine that my role in this program is really important as I am really open-minded and I think that what I talk about on the show can open other people’s minds because I talk a lot about open relationships, liberal relationships, relationships with friends, separating sex from love and all of this, so I think this is going to be a stepping stone in what has been talked about homosexual relationships on TV which have been mostly used to make fun of us and not having like a cool reference but rather quite the opposite. I think this Netflix show is going to be really cool because we also have Jedet, a transexual actress, singer, activist and social media star, who plays her role really well, telling what is love for her and other topics and I think that’s super cool.  

Your lifestyle is really mesmerizing, especially because your philosophy of life is incredible, and you share it with the world, promoting healthy lifestyles, ecology and sustainability, exercise, animal welfare and much more. How do you begin having this type of lifestyle? Could you tell me how and when your mind clicked and what made you change your life in every way? 

My mind clicked thanks to my boyfriend Christian. We have been together for five years now and I have been vegan for four years. I started being vegetarian during the first months of my relationship, watching documentaries that he recommended to me, following his advice, and so on. All of that made me think about why I was eating meat if it wasn’t really necessary, because it wasn’t something that fascinated me having an entrecôte or cheese, so I told myself that I would feel better without eating animals. And to this day, having been vegan for so many years, you feel like you are not harming anybody. You realize that when you go to a restaurant and you see a steak, you are not aware of the underlying process of production of that meat: separating an animal from its mother, slaughtering them, eating them without it being necessary, knowing that it is not super healthy food compared with vegetables. Understanding all of that makes you take a quantic jump in the way you think, and that also makes you become more conscious of your own life, other people’s lives and everything that surrounds you.

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It is undeniable that you have an amazing talent for the media and entertainment, but as you mentioned, you launched your own vegan restaurant named Guakame in your hometown, Valencia, which is being an absolute success. When did your interest in cuisine begin? When did you decide to open your restaurant and how was that process? 

The cuisine wasn’t something that was on my mind. When I was a child I wanted to be a lot of things and I had a lot of ideas on my mind. I wanted to study something related to restaurant businesses and hospitality here in Valencia, but I didn’t do it in the end. Then I went to Madrid to study something related to tattoos because that world fascinates me, as you can tell, and various other things. My interest in restaurants comes from my grandmother because she has been a cook her whole life. She was a cook at my school when I was a kid, she served the food for me every day and she cooked every day, so that’s why everything related to food always draws my attention. That interest increased when I started being vegan as I noticed I had to cook tastier dishes in order not to feel like I was eating broccoli because I didn’t like it. I didn’t like broccoli or lettuce so I had to invent various creations to not feel that I was actually eating a vegetable. And from that moment on, everything started going smoothly, and now Guakame is top tier in vegan food. 

If I remember well, Guakame started as a platform in which your shared vegan recipes to make this type of diet much more accessible for everyone, with impressive and outstanding aesthetics. What made you start this project? And more importantly, how do you create such appetizing and rare recipes with 100% plant-based products? How is that creative process?

The story of Guakame is really cool because we started like a year ago with a seedy food truck as we didn’t have the money to invest in anything. Of course we had some savings from my side, but my boyfriend Christian doesn’t work on social media so he only has a regular salary from Guakame. He doesn’t work with brands, so his money comes entirely from his salary from Guakame. Talking about numbers, we began with 3.000€ to found the company and this year we closed with 700.000€ of invoicing. All that money is 100% reinvested into the company, we didn’t get a single euro from that amount because that’s not the goal of Guakame. Our goal is to make it grow and improve. Everything was reinvested in the establishment, the remodeling we did and so many other things we’ve invested in. Now, our next goal is to open in Barcelona this year and we would love to open in Madrid too. 

What made me start this project was that I saw Christian working for a company. I was freelance for so many years and we had very different schedules so we didn’t see each other that much. I saw the incredible potential and talent that he had as a graphic designer and I told him that he could achieve anything as an independent graphic designer, I told him he could create any business he wanted because he had the skills. He can create any type of brand with its logo and branding and launch it. So I reflected on this idea and I thought of creating something that was related to us and that could also crush it on social media. I did a little market research, I analyzed every single gastronomy profile in Spain and studied them, I compared the visual aesthetics of each one of them and I came to the conclusion that we could create an account with vegan recipes, something that interested us. We started cooking and showing people that we cook everything at home but we give it a more visual approach by creating really pleasant images. One month after having started this project, we partnered up with other brands and we started being ambassadors of FoodSpring, Carrefour, we started working with ColaCao and many many other brands that were interested in our project, mainly because of our visuals and aesthetics.

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Talking about fashion and your aesthetics, let me tell you that you have an incredible style, with really cool outfits, gorgeous tattoos, the many varied haircuts and colors you’ve worn, and your breathtaking photos. How important is fashion for you?

I completely adore fashion but I think it is a double-edged sword. I am vegan and I try to be as sustainable as possible but fast fashion is always there and it is a strong part of this industry. However, I always try to buy products that do not contain any material that comes from animals obviously. The vast majority of brands like Nike with the Air Force or Vans use leather so it’s quite tricky too, but I always try to recommend products that don’t use any type of fabric or element that comes from animals. For example, Adidas recently presented a new pair of shoes that didn’t use leather, so I believe it is important to promote these types of products to let the brands know that it is no longer necessary to use leather or other animal-derived materials, that there are marvelous synthetic materials to make a sustainable fashion industry, and of course to let them know that fashion can also be sustainable.  

You also love cosmetics, having used really colorful hair dyes and using makeup to embrace your feminine side. Which is your position towards the definition of gender, the stereotypes and prejudices towards the LGBTQ+ community and identity? How important is it for you gender fluidity and being conscious of your own identity? 

Every time I feel a little bit more liberated in that aspect. Each day I feel less identified with the masculine gender, I feel like I'm in limbo. I don’t really mind if people call me he, she, or they, and I always try to use more inclusive language, more neutral vocabulary because I feel like that way people feel more comfortable at the time of speaking. I believe that we should normalize feeling different every day and be able to express that. For example, I don’t put on makeup and a wig every day but in my daily life I do wear eyeshadow, and I don’t wear more makeup because I don’t know how to put it on. Believe me that if I did I would totally wear more things because I feel like that it is an activist act, just for the fact that a person goes out in public wearing lipstick, eyeshadows, or a crop top. We have to break all these canons and enable people to realize that they can go out wearing whatever they want, always expressing what they feel and being themselves. For example, when I go clubbing I always put more effort into looking better. It’s not that I dress up as a woman, it’s because that night I feel more powerful to wear high heels. I love going to a restaurant and seeing people stunned by how I arrive. That really fascinates me.   

I am fully convinced that you have a lot of projects in the works. I know that you would not be able to reveal that much information, but what will we see from Jonan this year? And more specifically, what do you look forward to the most this year, both personally and professionally? Which dreams would you love to see coming true this year? 

Well, first of all, and as commented before, I would love and I would literally freak out if I could take part in the reality show Supervivientes because that experience would fascinate me. Another things that you will be seeing from me is of course the Netflix dating show, which is really cool and I hope it becomes a blockbuster. Without a doubt, I believe it is going to be one of the most seen shows in Spain this year on Netflix, and as it’s international it will also be seen in other parts of the world. Of course, we will keep working on Guakame to keep creating great stuff. I don’t want to put aside my main account but I will be more focused on our next openings and on progressing with the restaurant. We will keep doing cool stuff with the vegan cuisine and the Guakame experience to break all those stereotypes and bad vibes because we also address all the social matters besides the food industry. We want to create an amazing 360 experience and show all the work that we put into this project.