By Polly O’Neal

Fascination with human existence is a universal commonality. We watch each other on TV, we listen to strangers talk, we photograph one another in snapshots. People we know, people we don’t. Mostly people we find winsome and deem better than ourselves. We devote time to admire those who are living the lives that we envy. However, we do not give much time to the kind of lives that stir up uncomfortable emotions. Individuals who hold the potential of challenging our stereotypes or maybe even needing our help. These lives require mental effort on our part, and who has the time or energy for that these days? It is much easier to sit and scroll our curated timelines. 

Former commercial photographer, Mark Laita, took action to bring these less than glamorous lives to the surface. Laita started a beautiful YouTube channel called “Soft White Underbelly” in 2016. This channel has defied odds and captured the hearts of millions. It has also stolen countless hours of sleep from me. Laita uses this platform to interview underrepresented people in the media with the aesthetic skills he learned as a photographer. He speaks with sex workers, chronic drug users, and those without a home to shed light on who they are past their stereotypes. These videos will suck you in. The raw emotion and distinct relatability of each life’s story is enough to make you boycott The Kardashians forevermore. Laita gives each individual time and space to disrupt the narrative that precedes them. Drug addict, sex addict, gang member. Labels that are forced upon real people with real stories. Stories that are more than a two word tagline that makes you take one look at a person standing at a stoplight, decide “not today”, roll up your window, and drive away. As you watch these videos you can visualize the chronicle of these lives slowly unraveling. Guards that are laden thick with shame and guilt are gradually taken down. Laita asks his interviewees to start from the beginning and work their way up to the present. However long that takes. To give them back the context that their labels have stripped from them.

Laita found a gap in the YouTube industry and ran with it. He has opened my mind to countless new perspectives and is shifting the way I process first impressions. If you haven’t already, take thirty minutes of your time today to challenge yourself by watching one of his videos. You have the power to change someone’s narrative simply by giving them a chance to speak and intentionally listening.