the origin of Operation: Rising Tide
i had a rough start to 2025. everything felt out of alignment and i couldn’t figure out why. just this overwhelming sense of… overwhelm 😅
a big reason was because the space i set out to advocate for back in 2016, digital media and content creation, had become almost unrecognizable. 9 years ago, i quit my job to start a movement to educate and empower people to utilize digital media to achieve meaningful goals. i wanted to show the potential of being a content creator.
but at the start of 2025, so much of the internet felt divisive, performative, and confusing. everything felt like us vs them, or a gotcha moment, or a statement, or manufactured. am i being baited for engagement? i couldn’t tell what was genuine anymore and every time i went online, i would feel anxious, heavy, and hopeless.
except for one little corner of the internet: @heatherjustplay, my gaming youtube channel. over the past few months, it became clear that this space was different. and not just “kinda nice” different. like… magically different. here, people were feeling a sense of personal growth, belonging, camaraderie, inspiration, creativity, fun, and community. things that matter, things that translate from in-game to real life.
and not because it’s MY channel. sure, i’m the host of the party. but the magic is in the people showing up. in a time when everything online feels dark and chaotic, HJP felt like it shouldn’t exist. and yet, here it was, growing and thriving.
so in february, i came up with Operation: Rising Tide, a 6-week initiative with the mission to “create more opportunities for more magic for more people.” what if we as a community recognized this magic and intentionally cultivated it together? instead of me leading everything, i invited the community to help shape this with me.
this clip is from the first HJP Town Hall where i announced the initiative. i was so nervous and had to push through some ugly cry 😭 but i believed with all of me that this was worth a try.
Operation: Rising Tide officially ended on March 31st. how did it go? i’ll have to share it in another post. i hit the IG character limit!
