In this Behind the Feed interview, we speak to Jamie Beaglehole a family blogger and influencer.

 

You can keep up with his adventures on Instagram,  and his website.

 

We spoke about content creation process as part of our Behind the Feed interview series where we get to know your favourite influencers better and ask the questions you really want to know.

 

What’s your favourite piece of content you’ve created? Whether that’s with a brand or just a photo you’ve taken and what about it is
special to you?

 

We have a couple of family photos that we particularly love. In 2019 we were invited to report from Disney’s first official Pride event – Magical Pride, via our blog, Daddy & Dad. The whole weekend was incredible; our first proper VIP experience as an influencer family and our first trip to Disney with our sons.

During the Magical Pride party, while mingling with the guests and acts, a Disney journalist took a beautiful family photo of us (with Tom and I sneaking a kiss) which we’ve framed and shared all over social media. Several international news outlets used our picture to illustrate the whole event – it was wonderful and really captured the magical, family-friendly spirit of Disney Pride.

 

Our second favourite photo isn’t blog related. Seven years ago we were introduced to our sons for the very first time and that morning Tom took a photo of me with Lyall and Rich, sitting at the dining table. They were so tiny! It’s our very first family photograph. We have it framed on the wall in our kitchen. It still makes me feel emotional, seven years on.

 

Is there a dream brand you’d love to collaborate with?

 

We’re lucky to have already worked with hundreds of global brands, but we’ve always wanted to work with the Florida theme parks. As a family we’ve visited almost all the big UK and Western European theme park attractions but so far we haven’t travelled over to America.

 

We’re huge theme park and travel fans and we love producing travel content. If we received an enquiry from Disney USA, Universal or one of the big Six Flags parks over there we’d have their arm off in an instant!

 

 

Three influencers that inspire you/ you love and why?

 

As an LGBTQ parent I look for inspiration from other diverse families and parents who represent reality with no filters. My favourites are Howey – single, black dad from Scotland. Over the last few years Howey and I have become great friends, depending on each other for tips and advice.

 

Mat from The Life Of Riley family and his wife Alex are unique because they focus on the mayhem – totally lovely, everyday family chaos.

 

I love Jen and Al from It’s The Furgusons, too. They do a lot of work to raise awareness of parents’ mental health, miscarriage and blended families and they help micro influencer-dads get on the ladder with brands.

 

 

Weirdest request you’ve had from a brand?

 

While filming our Christmas TV commercial with eBay, there was a lot of TV fakery, including an inedible Christmas dinner we were asked to pretend to eat. That sounds simple, although Lyall and Rich were only seven at the time and couldn’t understand why only the carrots were edible. The turkey was smothered in some kind of war-paint and the sprouts were varnished so I had to keep grabbing food out of the kids’ hands as they were about to eat it. Also, my parents were unavailable for the filming so we were provided with a ‘pretend’ Grandma right at the last minute which completely baffled our sons. Totally surreal!

 

You’re in an alternate universe, what would you be doing job wise?

 

If I wasn’t a blogger/influencer, I’d be a radio presenter. I used to have an enormous fear of public speaking, but as a parenting blogger with quite a niche expertise (same-sex, adoptive parenting) I was expected to face my fear head-on and represent diverse parents at PR events, live panels on stage, on TV and the radio. I grab every single opportunity but it was frightening to begin with. With experience, public speaking has become far more enjoyable for me. I particularly enjoy being a guest on the radio and podcasts. My dream would be a Daddy & Dad radio show.