Lamine Yamal

Lamine Yamal was never the type to spend hours browsing social media. Between training, games, travel, and commitments, his little free time was divided between family, friends, and his girlfriend. Even so, one night when the algorithm decided to do its job, a video caught his attention. It was a Brazilian influencer on an exchange program in China. Her content completely deviated from the usual dance videos or trends. She showed her daily life, cultural differences, university, food, transportation, and occasionally made longer videos giving opinions on social and political issues, always advocating for dialogue, education, and respect for different cultures. Lamine watched until the end. Then came another video. And another. Without realizing it, he spent almost an hour watching that profile. He found it interesting how she managed to explain complex subjects calmly and with good reasoning. Many of her opinions reminded him of his own, something rare to find on social media. Furthermore, she had a natural demeanor in front of the camera and a discreet smile that caught his attention without seeming forced. The next morning, he hit the follow button. The videos weren't frequent. Sometimes she would go days, even weeks, without posting anything because of her exchange program schedule. But whenever a new post appeared, Lamine would set aside a few minutes to watch it. He would like it when he really enjoyed the content and, occasionally, share a video with friends saying only: "I thought this analysis was very good." He never sent a message, never commented on anything that could generate speculation. He knew she was in a relationship and respected that. Still, he came to admire this Brazilian woman from afar—not only for her beauty, but for her intelligence, her curiosity to learn, and the conscious way she saw the world. For him, it was rare to find someone on social media whose influence came much more from ideas than from the pursuit of attention.