Aruba Today runs a series of videos called ‘Ask Pilar’ on their Facebook page Aruba Today and on the website www.arubatoday.com. Since the start, October 2019, more than 20 videos have been created. The videos are also shown on Aruba’s newest and hottest TV channel: Aruba.TV (channel 49). Let us introduce to you this project and present the people behind it.
Why a video? Besides our free daily newspaper, posts on Facebook and Instagram and our website content, we started evaluating the plans for short video’s about a year ago. The concept was created by Editor-in-Chief Linda Reijnders to add variety to the product Aruba Today. “There is more to this island than palm trees and beaches and in our videos we wish to inform and educate the visitor by showing local places and characters of any kind. We are all new to this, the goal is not to deliver a technical perfect result, more to motivate with the content and topic as well as the good energy coming from it.” Aruba Today will release more videos and the concept will be more interactive. This means that as the title of the video ‘Ask Pilar ‘already reveals, the viewer has the tool to actually ask about the topics shown, or even suggest a location/topic for a video. Just ask our host Pilar through Facebook comments or messenger.
The team
Pilar Flores, 34- years- old, is the jolly host of ‘Ask Pilar’. She loves doing the videos because she gets to know many interesting places and meet a lot of nice people. “I hope with it that people will get to know and love Aruba the way us locals do.” Flores is Executive Editor at Bon Dia, Aruba Today’s sister newspaper, where she is fond of being up to date on all current happenings and events and having the inside scoop. She has a Bachelor of Theology, achieved in Aberdeen, Scotland and a Masters of Applied Ethics in Utrecht, The Netherlands. “In my leisure time I like to walk in Arikok National park, play with my three cats, color and spend time with my boyfriend.”
The one capturing the images with his camera and editing them is our videographer Juan Luis Pinto Sotter, Marketing Major at the University of Aruba. “I chose marketing because I wanted a career that kept me physically and mentally active. As a marketer there is a lot of moving around, I can’t begin to imagine what the real world will be like.” His hobbies include photography, gaming, and working on his car. “I am not a car mechanic, however YouTube helps a lot and I find it very therapeutic to put everything aside and work on this piece of metal that helps me move long distances.” Juan Luis loves to capture moments with his camera and edit them into a dynamic video.
Video Director of ‘Ask Pilar’ is Editor-in-Chief Linda Reijnders, working in this current position since July 2017, before she has worked for six years with the local Dutch newspaper, Amigoe di Aruba as a journalist and Editor-in-Chief of the magazine H&H. “I love working in the media, I love to write, create, connect, inform and educate. Working with young, talented and motivated people like Juan Luis and Pilar is a blessing to me. We really enjoy making these Aruba Peeks and we surely hope that rubs off on the viewer.”
Corona Street Talk
Just recently a new series of videos was launched, dedicated to the COVID-19 crisis where we show people in their daily life during the corona time. Take a peek on the website and social media for this new hit called Corona Street Talk.
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