Last Updated on May 14, 2021
Jaytee Taquiso is a musician and YouTube influencer based in the Philippines. Jaytee loves doing tutorials, unboxings, reviews and any and all kinds of video on her YouTube channel, which boasts over 85,000 followers. Be sure to check Jaytee out on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter where you can hear her original music and covers.
So what made you pick up the ukulele and start making such beautiful music?
The first time that I witnessed a ukulele performance was in our church and I fell in love with the music that it produces. I’ve been learning piano since I was eight years old but when I look at the ukulele I really fell in love with the size it’s very cute and I am a frustrated guitarist. So it’s made me switch to ukulele and from that time on I got my first ukulele, my mom bought that for me and yeah I started doing covers and uploading it on SoundCloud at first not on YouTube. So in SoundCloud it’s like Spotify and then you can’t see the video it’s just audio but then my friends told me why don’t you upload some videos on YouTube so that everyone can you while hearing your voice and talent so I tried it and yeah it worked.
What do you look for in terms of inspiration when it comes to your songwriting?
Anything under the sun. I write music about happiness, the happiness that I felt, the pain that I felt, about my friends, anything under the sun so anything that arouses my emotions so I make music about it.
When did you branch out into influencer marketing and what were some of the first steps you took to grow your YouTube following?
So I started promoting some products, local products, local ukulele made products, nine months ago specifically September 2018 so I just kept on uploading videos tutorials about ukulele and then the company messaged me on my Facebook page and they wanted me to be an endorser of their product. And that made me really happy because I was really praying for that their going to ask me to be an endorser for their product because I really love their products.
I can see their products on an online site here called Lazada, it’s like an Ebay or Amazon, and I just watch their products there and then one day I’m hoping they’ll give me one and then endorse it for them and then yeah it came true. So from that time on they kept on sending me ukuleles and if they have new products they will send it to me for a free review and that’s all. From that time on that kept sending me ukulele – actually my mom bought me only one ukulele and then after that all the ukuleles that I have are all sponsored. So at the moment I already have twelve ukuleles.
In a recent Instagram post, you state “difficult roads often lead to beautiful destinations…” What have been some challenges you have overcome in your growth as a musician, YouTube creator and influencer?
So creating a YouTube channel is easy but gaining subscribers, gaining followers, and viewers is not so what I did was I just let the creativity flow in me and I let all my imaginations become a reality. So I just kept on uploading uploading and then making music that people also like. So if what are the music that is really in here in our country. so I make music about that so that when people will search for that song and they want to play that song also they can see me that “oh Jaytee” made a tutorial so I want to play that song too” so yeah. So I just kept uploading, uploading even though I’m still a student right now I really made sometime, yeah made some time for me to create tutorials so that I can help people want to play those songs. I just really want to inspire people through music.
We loved the production values of your videos. Do you do everything yourself or do you have team members that help you?
No I don’t have any team members I only have myself, yeah. I record myself, I edit all those videos by myself, I promote that stuff by myself, I don’t have any person to accompany me make those things so I only have myself.
Describe influencer marketing in the Philippines in terms of popularity and perception…
Yeah. Influencer marketing here in the Philippines is pretty popular. A lot of Filipino YouTubers have been encouraging people, their viewers, to buy these products and they keep on making reviews because here in the Philippines they this PR list where in this company has this list of influencers and then before they sell those products in the market they have to send this package for the influencers and then the influencers will make videos and then they will encourage those viewers to buy these products.
And yeah it’s pretty popular here in the Philippines. A lot of YouTubers have been doing that thing.
What are some of your goals as an influencer for the near future?
Hopefully after I graduated college so maybe I’ll focus on doing videos and YouTube because, yeah, it’s a good thing to influence people online. And I am really happy to see that my subscribers are growing and as the days go by I realize that the number of ukulele players here in the Philippines was increasing because of my channel and that they kept on sending messages to my Facebook page that “you influence me, you inspired me to do music” and such. I am really happy to see that and I think that I will continue doing that after I graduated college. And yeah I hope that I will also perform in some ukulele festivals here in the Philippines and keep on spreading good vibes through ukulele and music because you can’t go wrong with a ukulele player.
Note: Influencer Spotlight interviews are edited for time and clarity.
Andrew is the Head of Client Services for Intellifluence and has a background in communications. He is committed to helping brands get the most out of their campaigns and is the co-host of the Influencer Spotlight series.
