We are pleased to announce that social media influencer Mark Quiroz is joining our Support Black Business Campaign as a content creator. 

Mark is best known for his popular Instagram and YouTube accounts, where he creates short-form video content on Seattle lifestyle, travel, restaurants, and businesses. On the surface, Mark’s videos are light-hearted samples of everything the city has to offer, from interviews with Seattle Supersonic legends to Icelandic food reviews. But on a deeper level, they demonstrate his love and commitment to the community that raised him.

A Commitment to the Community

One of Mark’s biggest goals for 2025 was achieved when he was featured in a segment on KIRO7 last week in light of the recent TikTok ban. He explained on air that short-form video content has the power to uplift local entrepreneurs and could potentially save struggling businesses from closing their doors. 

“I'm getting recognized at work, from my nine to five,” Mark said. “People are like, ‘Yo, are you that guy with the dope Instagram?’” 

Serving the community with gratitude and respect is Mark’s priority as a creator, working hard to give back to the people that pushed him out of his comfort zone and gave him increasingly more opportunities to create, he said. 

“I was always a little brother to the community. And now it feels like, okay, little brother, you're grown up. Now let us support you and see you blossom,” he said. 

With help from a media crew of friends and family, Mark started creating content 10 months ago by walking into restaurants and businesses to ask if he could film them a video. As his online following grew, so did his community outreach, using his platform to highlight businesses and voices that might otherwise go unheard. 

“The community everywhere I grew up always showed love. They always supported me, families, friends…I'm always wanting to support everyone else,” Mark said. 

From Inspiration to Influencer

Before launching his social media career, Mark found the confidence to put himself out there while solo travelling for two weeks in Hawaii. The trip pushed him out of his comfort zone by forcing him to connect with strangers at bars and clubs, where he eventually set aside his anxiety around attending events alone and initiating connections with people. 

“If you want to be helpful, you're gonna have to be uncomfortable,” Mark said, while continuing to reiterate the sentiment many more times. 

Mark also credits his boldness and discipline to his formative years growing up all over Washington, including Kirkland, Bellevue, Woodinville, and Redmond. 

“I'm using the skills of customer service from my first job at Safeway. I'm using that to approach business owners or talk to people,” Mark said. “I played basketball. I'm using teamwork with my team, knowing that I can't score without you.” 

Alongside his self-fulfilled social media career, Mark works full time as an associate banker, filming and editing content in his spare time. Long days of work are followed by long nights of editing until 3 a.m. and sacrificing his social life for the extra video. 

“Sometimes I will edit till I'm dizzy and I'm like, alright, maybe…go to sleep a little early and start tomorrow morning being patient,” Mark said before reminding himself to breathe, meditate, indulge in self-care, go to therapy, and work at a healthy pace. 

Breaking Into Seattle

Growing up, Mark was taught to avoid Seattle at all costs because of the perpetual violence shown on the news. But from his perspective, Seattle was the only place he could be taken seriously as a creator. 

“In Seattle, you could have zero followers, and people are going to be like, ‘Are you good at it? Okay, let's go, let's work.’ So Seattle approached me with open arms,” Mark said. 

Mark said his motivation to create content was immediately recognized by Seattle’s foodie community. With just a handful of videos on his Instagram page, Mark was receiving an overflow of supportive comments celebrating his content and expressing excitement to eat at the restaurants he visited. 

“I think they just see someone consistent and, you know, trying to do good, and giving people exposure,” Mark said. “And that's what Seattle is about.”

Looking Toward the Future

Partnering with Converge on the Support Black Business campaign is the first time Mark has worked with a whole production team at his disposal. He can’t wait to learn from the Converge team and eventually leave his day job to take on social media or digital marketing full time, he said. 

“The community has pushed me, and I'm a product of the community. They gave me feedback too, and I'm so thankful.”

Be on the lookout for Mark’s reels as well as a special segment on Back2Besa coming soon.

Follow Mark @marktellsya on Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok, and join us in congratulating Mark on this exciting new chapter!