By María Fernanda Sánchez Mendoza
Youth Advisory Group (GAJ) GOYN CDMX

My name is María Fernanda, but I sign my work as “Hokku.” I’m currently in my third semester of Humanities and Multimedia Narratives at UNRC. From a very young age, I was always in contact with audiovisual creation thanks to my father, who was a video producer. By the age of 12, I was learning to edit video and audio and take photos. However, I never thought I was capable of working in this field.

In 2021, I went through a difficult emotional period that delayed my university entrance, so my only option at the time was to work, but not in my field of expertise, such as video production and illustration. I was plagued by the idea that my skills were worth less because I didn't have a degree to back them up, and that's how I ended up taking other jobs outside of those areas.

Until 2025, when I entered UNRC, that's when I truly felt I could freely apply this knowledge, and above all, that I would finally have an institutional degree to back it up. But sadly, after a year, I can say that some talents never leave the classroom; they remain as a grade or forgotten in a folder of "homework." It was then, in that search to give voice to all those ideas and talents that don't need exclusivity to be shared with the public, that I... Voices and Agents It reached me and my university friends to collaborate on content creation.

The mission was very clear: more than an advertising campaign, it aimed to reach more young people who, like me, have been caught up in a system that constantly demands degrees and certifications, requires permission to be seen, and offers few opportunities for those of us who have to adapt to the city's schedules and prices. Throughout the campaign, the work meetings weren't formal and bureaucratic; the collaborative work with my friends Ana, Mar, and Jari gave the process four different nuances and, consequently, a richer perspective.

I dare say that every meeting was my favorite part of the creative process, whether in a coffee shop, a park, the classroom, for us there was no limit, any area we chose could be our office and a place where our ideas could flow without filters.

The initial idea was to question ourselves about what we like to consume on social media and then create content that others could see reflected in our lives. That's how the section came about. Speaking from the Neighborhood, as a need to appropriate the Voices and Agents program by integrating the project's terminology (youth opportunity, periphery, impact, etc.) with definitions that young people can understand more easily by relating them to the lexicon of the environment they inhabit, because how many times have we entered calls for proposals without knowing exactly the purpose of the project due to so many incomprehensible terms?

The days of recording alongside Youth Advisory Group (GAJ) of GOYN It was also a classroom; no one was a professional in the field. We were a team that encouraged each other when someone was taking longer than usual with their shots, where new ideas were welcome, and if anyone wanted to learn how to film or take photos, we were happy to teach them. Those days I not only gained content to edit, but also new knowledge from working with such a diverse team in terms of backgrounds, personalities, and techniques.

The role I played, in addition to scriptwriting, was also video editing. That's when I realized that much of what I had learned about editing hadn't been in a classroom; it was years of trial and error, editing videos for myself to preserve my memories, not to fulfill university assignments. It was quite shocking to think that I had gone so long without doing it, waiting for a piece of paper that would give me permission to "professionally edit" content. So much so that I finally dared to record and edit the video. Join me for a day working for Voices and Agents, which is only published on the social media of our university collective Those of the Threshold.

The creation of that video, besides being an experimental project, was conceived with the intention of it being a window where the public can see that we are young people who create the narratives and enjoy the creative process, rather than a campaign that only sees numbers instead of people with very diverse and complex social contexts.

Working with the GAJ of GOYN and YouthES Platform for the campaign of Voices and AgentsThe gap between social organization and university collective dissolved, forming a single collective. Just like our brainstorming sessions when planning content, the debates were endless. We created a space where we felt heard, and creating content from a shared ideological and political perspective showed us that we are all young people with opportunities. Therefore, it wasn't difficult to feel detached from the campaign's execution. Consequently, there were no posts created according to the algorithm's demands; instead, we shared stories in those virtual spaces from young people who spoke from their own experiences.

Inhabiting digital spaces also carries an enormous responsibility, as it involves conveying a powerful narrative, such as a call to action. Unfortunately, it can be seen merely as an act for advertising purposes; however, a call to action shouldn't be limited to the pursuit of individual interests. Currently, and I dare say this, working collectively is an act of resistance, where the exchange of knowledge and creating from a sense of social awareness, empathy, and humanity has yielded a highly positive response from the public. We not only saw an increase in the number of followers on social media, but we also saw people arrive at a space where they can project themselves, where it's possible to find an environment where they and their ideas can be seen and valued.

With this campaign, I not only tested my knowledge, but also proved to myself that the demands of a social context that deprived me of experiences like working collectively had so deeply affected my thinking that I viewed video production as a business and not as a powerful voice that could help more young people in the same situation I was in before entering university.

This is a call to collaborate with friends or acquaintances, to share ideas and knowledge, and to overcome the fear of creating simply because you think you're not at a professional level due to a lack of resources or equipment. The simple act of creating for pleasure can bring an experience that a degree or certification cannot, and above all, documenting your progress is incredibly satisfying to look back on years later. Who has made us believe that all creation has to be monetized?

I can only express my infinite gratitude to my collective Those of the Threshold (Ana, Mar and Jari) and to GAJ of GOYN (Mich, Kent, Litziry, Santi, Verito and Abraham) and the team of YouthES Platform for motivating our ideas and enriching them at every meeting.