Why Influencers, 'Expats' and Visitors Get Culture Wrong — And How to Get It Right

Añadido: 2026-05-11

[00:00:00]He was welcomed like a superstar in the Dominican Republic.

[00:00:04]>> A day later, >> oh yeah, New York, somebody that stream.

[00:00:07]>> After one comment he made, people were painting all over his mural. That's how fast perception can turn when cultural codes are missed. And it's not just live streamers passing through. It can also happen when you've been a guest in a country or a region for a long time and you start to think that you understand it better than the people who actually come from there. If he was white, it would be like, "We don't need his opinion about our culture." Like, "Oh, you need to stop thinking that white is better."

[00:00:34]>> Very different situations, same blind spots. Everyone talks about having local experiences, but no one talks enough about how to avoid ending up on the wrong side of a cultural divide before you travel, move abroad, or create content about another country. Because the mistake is usually that you think access equals understanding. Welcome back to Tourism Lens. I'm Lily. I've spent more than 15 years as a travel journalist living in Central America, the Caribbean, and beyond. I grew up among different cultures as well, and I teach cultural heritage, narrative, and storytelling. So, one of my longtime subscribers, shout out to Tyrone, actually asked me to make a video on cultural integration a month ago. And when I saw what went down in the Dominican Republic this week, as well as in Jamaica the past month, I knew that it was time to talk about it. You see, culture, it's the operating system of a place. And when two people with completely different quote unquote operating systems try to communicate, then the system crashes. Unless someone knows how to read the code. So take Aish Speed in the Dominican Republic this week. He was hosted by Alo Foke, who is a Dominican who built a media empire from literally nothing. Alo Foke went with him to get the full Dominican experience, including a helicopter ride, access to urban communities in Santa Domingo and beyond. And his platform reach because he does have a huge platform reach himself as a local. The real crash happened when Speed announced publicly a day later that the record view counts that he got in the DR were bots that infiltrated the stream.

[00:02:04]>> Someone inv. Now, he didn't name anyone as being responsible, but the host read it as the implication that he was behind the bots infiltrating the stream. In Dominican culture, if someone hosts you and opens up spaces for you, you protect that relationship, meaning that you talk privately first if there's a misunderstanding or if there is news that the person needs to know about.

[00:02:26]Now, of course, Alfok also benefits from going around with speed, but Alfoke still provided local access for him to show him the urban culture of Sto.

[00:02:33]Domingo, which is the more real aspect of Santa Domingo. So, by broadcasting the news first that there were bots that infiltrated the DR stream, Speed essentially treated his host like a side character in his bigger story rather than a powerful local partner. Alof has his own influence in the DR, his own reputation to protect, and his own stakes, no matter what you may think of him. And both of these streamers, by the way, can be controversial. It's something that happens to hosts too when you open your doors, offer access, and then something your guest says afterwards feels like a betrayal of view of your country. But all of that got missed and it became about views, but really it's a cultural misunderstanding.

[00:03:14]Then there's the incident with Travel with Zoe, who for some reason was popular in Jamaica, had been there a lot. She's a British influencer, and she was welcomed all over the Caribbean for her budget Trump content. And then she came along and tried to narrate the host's behavior back to them, claiming that a white male creator would not have been as wellreceived as speed is during his Caribbean tour. All while she is a foreigner who'd been celebrated by Jamaica and other Caribbean countries for years.

[00:03:42]>> What do you guys think the narrative around this I show speed Caribbean tour would be if he was white? I feel like it would be so different. It would be like you don't need his opinion about our culture. You're selfhating. But the backlash was swift from locals across multiple Caribbean countries.

[00:03:58]Essentially, she made the same mistake.

[00:03:59]She didn't read her own position. As a guest, you don't get to tell the host's cultural response for them, particularly when you come from a country that formerly colonized the country that welcomed you and when their laws continue to reflect those of the colonial power. So, you especially don't do it when you're the example of someone who was wellreceived and again welcomed into the culture and cultural spaces that most people don't get access to.

[00:04:23]And you know, I was born in Adis Sababa, Ethiopia. I grew up between different cultures abroad. I traveled as a kid.

[00:04:29]And moving to America at the age of 18 for me was my biggest culture shock. The loud talking, the taking up space, it often felt off or rude compared to the more restrained conservative culture that I grew up in. Just because you don't understand a culture, it doesn't mean you get to tear it apart publicly.

[00:04:47]You're here to listen, learn, and adapt.

[00:04:50]And if you're not willing to do that, then you have to ask yourself why you're there. I came to really appreciate what America taught me, which is to take up space and to speak up and share my opinion. But I don't do it with disrespect. All of this has a really long complicated history. By the way, for centuries, foreign voices decided how places like the Caribbean, Africa, Latin America were packaged to the world and narrated. Now it's influencers often from the same countries doing it with a phone and a following, no matter how small or large. The cultural layer is understanding that not everything needs to be said, not everything needs to be posted. Some conversations stay private in those cultures. Some moments you sit with before you share them. And some things you only understand if you actually care enough to ask. As a journalist, the question that I've always asked is this. Am I representing the people and the places the way that they would recognize it themselves?

[00:05:41]That's cultural narrative. Responsible cultural narrative. It's not about being soft or careful or not telling the truth. Whether you have 10 followers, 10 million, whether you live abroad, whether you're just passing through, your platform helps to shape perception and it is a responsibility. So, how do you actually integrate in a place? For starters, you listen before you react.

[00:06:00]You ask yourself, is this really about me or is it just a local code that they're operating by? Two, you have to handle confusion privately. Build trust with the person. Learn the nuances.

[00:06:11]Humor, directness work very differently everywhere. Four, relationship over content. And I understand that this goes completely over the head of people who are now obsessed with views and sponsors, etc. I mean, I have a platform myself, but the views don't come before the responsibility of my content. So, relationship of content. If something happened that you want to share publicly, ask yourself, have I spoken to the people involved? Could this hurt them? Is this mine to share? And if the answer to any of those is no or I don't know, then you wait. Lastly, lead with humility. People forgive mistakes, but they don't forgive arrogance. Cultural communication is about recognizing that you're not the main character in someone else's country. If you want to go deeper into what it means to integrate when you live somewhere for the first time, then stay tuned for the next video and subscribe so that you don't miss it. Let me know in the comments. Have you ever totally missed a cultural situation? I would love to hear your stories and I'll see you in the next one.