Since 2009 working in civil construction in the United States, Junior Pena, 37, from Minas Gerais, was "tired of going on Instagram and seeing influencers here in the region posting their houses, their cars, the yellow school bus", he says. "So I decided to show the reality."
And the reality he shows is that of immigrants who are constantly injured during heavy manual labor, who have spent weeks in a detention center after entering the country by crossing the desert on the border with Mexico, who have prospered and love the US, or those who are counting down the days to their return to Brazil.
With a series of short interviews with members of the Brazilian community in the country, Junior, who works as a hardwood floor sander in Long Branch (New Jersey), has gained over 500,000 followers on Tik Tok, over 40,000 on Instagram, and has just launched a podcast, broadcasted on YouTube.
He is part of an increasingly common phenomenon on the social networks of Brazilian expats: real-life influencers, who show what the routine is like for those who immigrated to the United States to work as a cleaner, nanny, or in construction, among other jobs.
Junior says he can already make some money from this hobby, about US$ 500 a week, less than what he earns working on floors, but still a good addition to his income.
Translated by Cassy Dias