It’s a bright and breezy winter day at the University of California at Berkeley, and Joseph Arujo is sitting, appropriately enough, in a bed of bright orange California poppy flowers on the campus that helped give birth to the original concept of the flower child.
Arujo’s fellow students glance casually at the scene as they pass, trying to repress their curiosity at the irrepressible Arujo, who is being photographed by Marcel Pardo Ariza. Despite being a freshman and one of 45,000 students on campus, Arujo’s ubiquitous presence on social media has made him something of a celebrity.
And not just any celebrity. Arujo, 19, is a new prince of mental health and positivity, a media influencer who has built TikTok, Snapchat, and Instagram followings sharing a kind of spiritual California optimism with the nearly one million queer kids and allies who follow his every utterance.
“Poppies have been known to symbolize recovery and peace,” Arujo tells LGBTQ Nation. “Poppies also symbolize mental health awareness and the importance of taking care of ourselves.”
Arujo understands firsthand the importance of building a support network. According to The Trevor Project, LGBTQ+ youth who live in an accepting community report significantly lower rates of suicide attempts than those who do not. Still, 60 percent of youth who wanted mental health care in the past year were not able to receive it.
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Photo Essay: Queer youth are struggling — Joseph Arujo is throwing them a mental health lifeline
A visual day in the life of social media influencer Joseph Arujo, photographed by Marcel Pardo Ariza.
Arujo’s work came to the attention of executives at TikTok, who named him to its Diversity Collective, and Lady Gaga’s Born This Way Foundation, the performer’s philanthropic arm that spreads mental health awareness to youth and which named him to its advisory board.
In the decade since its founding by Gaga and her mother, Cynthia Germanotta, the Born This Way Foundation has trained more than 80,000 participants in teen mental health first aid, helped launch Hack Harassment to end online abuse and bullying and published more than 870 stories on Channel Kindness, a platform to celebrate and amplify the people and organizations taking positive actions in their communities.
“Lady Gaga has been a constant source of inspiration and empowerment in my life,” says Arujo. “But as I’ve grown older, I began to realize that I wasn’t just a fan of Gaga’s art and her creative expression, but instead, it was the way she used her platform to impact the younger generation.”
Born This Way Foundation’s positive approach to social media could not have come at a better time. With Twitter aflame with anti-queer propaganda and content moderation on the wane, queer youth are turning to their own for inspiration to combat an avalanche of “Don’t Say Gay” and anti-trans and drag bills across the country.
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Photo Essay: Queer youth are struggling — Joseph Arujo is throwing them a mental health lifeline
A visual day in the life of social media influencer Joseph Arujo, photographed by Marcel Pardo Ariza.
“I want to emphasize a message of hope and support to any kids out there who feel marginalized by legislation,” says Arujo. “It’s so important to remember that you are never alone and that there are people out there who support and love you for who you are. It’s so unfortunate that these laws exist, and we must continue to fight for equality and acceptance. Surround yourself with people who uplift and celebrate you, and seek out resources and support systems that can help you navigate any challenges you may face.”
Arujo is part of the next generation of changemakers who are taking healthcare into their own hands — people like Constance Zhou, who co-founded the Weill Cornell Medicine Wellness Qlinic, and José Romero, who advocates for people like themselves living with HIV. Across the country, leaders of all ages are advocating for greater access to health resources and sharing aspects of their lives online so others see that theirs are worth living, too.
It was Arujo’s precocious ability to channel emotional well-being that visual artist and educator Marcel Pardo Ariza (they/them) captured during their day together. With Ariza’s photography exhibited everywhere, from galleries to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Ariza uses the camera lens to explore the psychology of queer people who strive to make the world a safer, more liberating place. In all their work, Ariza collaborates closely with their subjects.
Arujo was no exception, and the two spent the afternoon photographing Arujo at his favorite campus spots that illustrate how he works to maintain his positive approach on a daily basis so he can impart mental health awareness to a generation eager to learn and share.