Cameras and Crunchwraps 🌮
Plus: Did we just glow up?
blog.thirty-four // Notice anything different?
Call it a soft rollout, but this space has officially become the home of Creator Mag—a print and digital magazine on a mission to Make the Internet Feel Smaller.
Okay, there’s nothing reallllyyy that new here save for some design and URL tweaks.* If you’re reading this in your email inbox, the changes are probably pretty subtle, too.
Nonetheless, before we hard launch to the [opens curtains] outside world next week, we wanted to reshare our why.
It’s a confusing time right now, and young creative people are trying to find their place. We’re here to help: by profiling the rising Internet tastemakers impacting culture, all while welcoming you—our lovely readers—into our creative neighborhood. Story by story, gathering by gathering.
If that resonates, good. You’re in the right place. Come for original Creator Mag interviews every Thursday, plus new essays (and more) every Sunday. Stay for our beautiful print zine, which features premier longform storytelling, freshly reported by our team every quarter. And be the first to know when we’re hosting our next block party.
One last note: you’re early! And the best way to claim your “early fan” title? Follow Creator Mag on Instagram and share our work with your friends, colleagues, and maybe even your enemies.
In any event, on to today’s interview, where I sat down with the brilliant commercial director Ashley Xu (and no, I’m not just saying that because we went to the same university).**
— NGL
P.S. Last blog, we reflected on the first six months of publishing this thing—and teased what’s coming next. You can read it here.
Ashley Xu is a creator and commercial director from the Bay Area. She began gaining traction online through her short-form “thirst trap” series, filming cinematic videos of food products (like Dino Nuggets and SPAM) from her college dorm room. These days, she’s helming commercial campaigns with some of the biggest brands in the world.
The following conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Nate Graber-Lipperman: Hey Ashley! What was your biggest win of 2024?
Ashley Xu: I was thinking back on this, and honestly, I have multiple answers—which I think is very indicative of 2024 just being a really eventful, good year.
Biggest win…I would say probably landing that commercial shoot with Taco Bell. Just because with my entire career, I've always wanted to take that step into doing official “commercial work.” Especially the official, like, “directing work.” Where I'm on a set—I'm telling people what to do.
So that was such an exciting step in my career, where I could physically see, like, okay, this is my dream. This is where I'm at. And I'm slowly bridging that gap. It was very good for the ego, but it was also just very satisfying.
I also moved coast to coast from San Francisco to New York. That was huge.
NGL: You're someone who's usually filming mini commercials by yourself—in your bedroom. What was it like to actually work with a full group of professionals?
AX: I mean, I will say that it was very intimidating at first. I was like, you guys are in your mid-thirties, and you have decades of industry experience. I’m over here, and I literally just graduated college. I don't even know what I'm doing.
But they were so warm. They put a lot of trust in me. Obviously, they've seen my work before. So just having them in my corner was very calming in a way.
I didn't feel like I was out of my depth, and I didn't feel like they necessarily thought they knew more than I do. That was very important, because I realized pretty quickly that, okay, this is reminiscent of what I do basically in my studio alone, except I get to work with these super awesome creative minds.
NGL: For sure. It sounds like a real leveling up moment.
AX: Exactly. But also, it felt very natural. It wasn't all of a sudden like I was plunging into the deep end. It felt like I was building up to a moment where I realized, oh my gosh, you know what? I have come pretty far within the past couple of years.
NGL: The other big life moment here was your move to New York. Talk to me about that—what’s that experience been like?
AX: I want to say it’s a coming of age moment. Just because college is a lot of people's first experience with moving out of the house. Being away from your parents, being away from your hometown or your high school friends.
But in a way, college also feels like a free trial of being an adult, and it doesn’t feel like you’re actually completely in your own element. I felt like I had a backup plan this whole time. Then right out of college, I moved straight home to my parents’ house for a year.
And so this move to New York was the first kind of inclination that I was really on my own. Like, I have to take care of myself, on top of living my life, being on top of my work—especially being my own boss, too.
So it was a very big transition. I feel like I grew up a lot and learned about myself throughout the year. Just really, really exciting stuff.
NGL: Being your own boss…that element of just like, okay, the trial run is over now. I gotta really create my own schedule. That kinda leads into my second question. What learnings are you bringing into 2025?
AX: Oh my gosh, where even to start?
I think the number one thing is that I've learned a lot about how to kind of carry myself in the world. Especially throughout high school and college, I was very, I don't know…hesitant? Very afraid to take up space, especially with my own work. I kinda just holed up in my dorm or my childhood bedroom and did my own thing. I wasn't very inclined to get out there and meet new people who shared my creative vision. Of course, it was something I wanted to do, but I was also very, like, nervous about it.
But throughout the past year, moving to a brand new city where I didn't really have any super close friendships…I just kind of had to put myself out there, learning how to really immediately come across with opinions. With my creative vision, and, like, who I was.
The people who I attracted—obviously, I'm very close with them now. I just had to lose the fear of not being liked.
NGL: Off of that, what has you most hopeful as you look at the year ahead? Because it sounds like you have your footing now.
AX: Great question. I’ve been reflecting on that—what have I really accomplished?
I mean, throughout college, I was just minding my own business, making my own commercials by myself. But my dream for as long as I can remember is just to have a tight knit group of creator friends—or just people in general—that I could immediately turn to for life or work things.
And meeting other creators that I really look up to…first of all, just getting to say hi to people that I've watched for years and years. Yet also drawing tight connections with them.
One of the things that really just keeps me going and inspires me is having these really tight connections that I didn't have before. Because now, I can just ask, what are you doing tomorrow evening? Then we’ll grab dinner or something.
I love that, because—especially being creative in this space—there's always something to do. Having these conversations and being around these people just endlessly inspires me. And instead of working in a little black hole, I feel like I'm part of something bigger than myself.
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