The Spider: the content creator who dreams of coming to Hollywood to film horror movies

“I am a very special person and I want to get ahead. I want to make a lot of people smile and show that, despite my disability, I look for the good side of that”; is the reason that gives Herson Steven Leon Valdez, The Spider, about why you should follow their content on social media.

Not long ago, only two and a half years ago, the man from Cali started in the world of content creation after he was invited by Andrés Mauricio Alfaro (Talk to me Minor) to record a video.

“This whole idea started because a long time ago they told me why I didn’t make content. I never stopped balls about that until once I came across Habláme Menor (digital creator), we made a video with him and from there I wanted to; I created my page and started making content. There I am giving it little by little”, expresses La Araña in dialogue with Infobae Colombia.

But who is La Araña (@la_aarana) and why has it attracted so much attention from other influencers like Yeferson CossioWith whom have you also collaborated? Well, here is a little of his history.

Herson Steven León Valdez was born in Cali 29 years ago. His condition is called Arthrogryposis multiplex, the product – as he explains – of an infection that occurred in his mother’s womb due to a medicine they gave him and caused him a malformation in his bones. He was born with his legs bent towards his shoulders.

However, contrary to what one would think, La Araña claims to have had a good childhood, without being a victim of discrimination or bullying at school and always having the support of his family, especially his parents.

“When I was born I didn’t walk, I dragged myself because my feet were born well bent here at my shoulders and, then, dad and mom fought, fought, turned around until they found some doctors, they performed operations on me. Also to the effort of my father, who did a lot of things to me, therapy. Thank God I was able to walk when I was six years old”.

But beyond having managed to walk, Herson is considered a miracle, since his life expectancy did not go beyond eight years.

“What they (the doctors) did was straighten me up, take my feet off my shoulders, because they opened and closed me again. Due to therapies, one and the other, I was able to walk… the doctors had given me to live until I was eight years old”, he says for Infobae Colombia.

To provide a little more context about his condition, the American hospital, Stanford Medicine Children’s Healthdefines multiple arthrogryposis as:

“A group of unusual conditions that cause stiff joints, limitation of movement, and less than normal muscle development… There are many forms of arthrogryposis: some are associated with certain genetic differences and can be inherited, and in others, it is not known ok what is the cause. Symptoms generally include inwardly rotated shoulders, stiff elbows, and flexed wrists and fingers.

Now, being very aware of his condition from such a young age, it seems that La Araña also had an admirable early maturity to get ahead; so much so that he did not even feel shocked, traumatized – if you will – of having to go through operations and therapies when he was barely in the first years of his life in his process of being able to walk: “For me everything was normal, I did not stress”remember.

Calm and patience are, apparently, two of the virtues that the influencer from Cali has. They are noticeable in his tone when speaking, expressing himself, he goes at his time, at his own pace, gradually paving the way with a clear mind, with firm objectives. He knows that social networks are not easy, nor is content creation; but while he manages to make a name for himself and enjoy recognition, for now he “researches” his life at traffic lights in Cali.

Although he is a high school graduate, La Araña currently works at traffic lights. “I get up at 6:00 am, get ready, shower and go to the traffic lights, I arrive at 7:30 am. I stand there, so that people see me, they give me the collaboration, until 6:00 pm when I come home”.

Like everyone, the content creator also has responsibilities at home, especially ensuring the well-being of his partner and her two daughters. In addition, he also lives with his parents and some of his siblings.

“I do the traffic lights because I have a wife and I have an obligation, I have to pay rent, services, the market and all that, that is my greatest motivation. And the social networks, my first objective is that I do super well to stop going to the traffic lights because that affects me a lot in my spine, my feet, because I am standing for so long ”.

With his work in the networks, León Valdez hopes to find a sufficiently stable livelihood and he has everything to become a successful influencer: the desire to get ahead, discipline and he is clear about how far he wants to go. In this sense, in addition to drawing the attention of Habláme Menor, he also drew the attention of Yeferson Cossio, one of the most popular influencers in Colombia today. Collaborating with the man from Antioquia was a dream come true for La Araña:

When he found out that the paisa influencer was going to give a concert in Cali, La Araña did not think twice to attend. During the event, she met Cossio and was photographed with him, that was the first contact she had with one of the content creators she most admires. Later, when Yeferson uploaded a photo to his Instagram Stories, Herson commented on it and there they began to talk again, later he would be invited by the paisa to collaborate on four videos, so far Cossio has shared two of them: that the caleño he dressed up as an elf and scared his mother, and in the other he dressed up as the devil to scare his sister cintia cossio; a couple of jokes

“One of my dreams was to record with Yeferson Cossio, who I saw as far away because he is the best influencer in Colombia, I saw far away making content with him… knowing that he was in Cali, that he would give me the opportunity to go to the concert, interact with him, comment on a photo and that he answered me on time… for me it was a pleasure and a pride to record with him, that was my dream and thanks to God it came true. You don’t know the emotion I had at the moment he answered me, he screamed with happiness, he didn’t believe it.

Looking the other way, he assures that he would also like to record with other influencers such as Black is clear, La Jesuu and Andrea ValdiriSpeaking of the dancer from Barranquilla, La Araña says that he would even be willing to do a choreography with her: “Of one, I measure up to that too,” he says smiling.

No one who has social networks is free from criticism, but everyone has their own defense mechanism: whether it is ignoring, responding, deleting negative messages, limiting or preventing comments, in short. In the case of The Spider, your solution is to not pay attention.

“As Habláme Menor told me, that I had to be psychologically prepared for bad comments and that I did not have to stop balls about that, because if I did, I was going to stay there and I was not going to make content. That’s what I do, I don’t pay attention to bad comments, I keep going, I’m still doing my thing”.

There has also been no shortage of those who say that La Araña is only used by other influencers to record their content, regarding this, Cali himself responds:

“There are many people out there who criticize, who use me. The truth is, no one uses me, I do this because I like it and it’s my passion, right now it’s my passion: making jokes in disguise, and many more characters are coming, not only the goblin and the devil, but they are coming more characters suitable to my person. I do it because I want to, it comes to me and I like it and I want to get ahead with it ”.

In addition to jokes, the influencer also wants to focus his content on social work, when he achieves greater recognition and stability as a digital creator: “I would like to help people who really need it, vulnerable, children who want to study and do not have the opportunity, elderly , dog foundations, homeless people”.

The Spider dreams big, he is optimistic, he has faith, he is hungry to achieve his biggest goals one by one, one of them is to reach Hollywood, because he would love to film horror movies.

“Honestly, I aspire first to make movies. There are many people who tell me: -why don’t you look for a production company?-, -write to Hollywood that they hire you from one-, but since you don’t have any contacts… but that would be crazy, to be in Hollywood making movies. My biggest dream would be that, to get to Hollywood to make horror movies, which is what I like.”

While arriving in Hollywood, The Spider hopes to continue making his followers laugh, with his jokes, with his costumes. Setting an example that there is always a bright side to things.

Keep reading: