Erica Moura: Shaping Scotland's social media scene

According to the 2022 census for Scotland, the black population makes up 1.2% of the nation’s population, yet they are still grossly underrepresented in the media. This is where veterinary nurse and influencer Erica Moura comes in.   

Erica appeared on the latest season of The Agency: Unfiltered and was a breath of fresh air and demonstrated the importance of representation. Due to racial and media bias, when we picture someone with a Scottish accent, we might not necessarily picture someone who isn’t white. Erica spoke about some of the surprised reactions she gets (particularly from the older generation) when they hear her accent:  

“Yes, they’re surprised but in a good way. They never have any bad intentions, they’re just curious about it,” said Erica. 

Having a lack of representation in the media can also lead to misconceptions. Erica shared some of the most popular ones that people have about black people who live in Scotland.  

“They think that there’s no sources for hair products or that there’s no restaurants here,” she said. “They forget that we know our background. I’m also Portuguese so I’ll still buy the food and then make it at home, whereas they just think I eat haggis.” 

Erica also explained that a lot of Americans assume that Scottish black people don’t know about their own culture.  

“They think we don’t know what the dances are and I’m just like ‘we know what the dances are because we watch the movies, and we have our version of the dances from our country. I wasn’t born here (Scotland) but they assume that all we know is Scotland.” 

Erica’s online content is often very funny and positive, but unfortunately that doesn’t stop racist trolls from leaving ignorant and nasty comments. Luckily, Erica has a great way of dealing with this.  

“The best way that I deal with it is comedy,” she stated. “Because the people telling me to go back to my country and saying that I don’t belong here etc are people online that I don’t know, and they don’t know me. I don’t have to keep explaining myself. 

“If it was someone in front of me that I knew or someone in the streets, then I’ll really take offence. But if it’s trolls online, I know they’re not happy and that they’re just miserable. 

“It’s not like they’re going to come to my house or try to phone me and tell me to go back to own country and put me on a plane.  

“Obviously if it’s something really bad, I do delete that comment because it’s also affecting other people that are following me and there’s a lot of black kids that also follow me and I don’t want them to see things like that.” 

Erica explained that she used to argue back but has found that being sarcastic and poking fun at online trolls has been more effective.  

“When they say I don’t have the right to be in this country I’m like ‘okay let’s go to the government website and check.’ Or if they say I’m stealing their jobs I’m just like “Oh my god Mark, I didn’t know you wanted to be a vet nurse!’”  

While we have come a long way in terms of representation, there is still a lot of room for improvement. Erica explained that brands and agencies could be more inclusive by simply just getting more black people involved.  

“I feel like certain agencies just do it (hire black talent) to fill in that spot so that they can cover themselves,” she said. “But it’s not enough to have just oner person at the agency or an event. That person is going to feel alone. You also need people with wisdom and who can encourage other people. 

“It feels forced sometimes which is hard but I’m happy that it’s getting better, and you can definitely tell when an agency or event have actually just done it out of love and for the actual diversity and because they feel like it’s going to have a big impact on Scotland.”  

Erica is Cape Verdean, Scottish and Portuguese, meaning that she has grown up with a lot of different cultures in her life. She spoke about some of the similarities between these cultures. 

“I’d say Scottish people are very funny and that it’s the same with Cape Verde. Portuguese people are very strict. You don’t really see that in Scotland so it’s completely different when it comes to banter, but I would say Portuguese people are very nice and when they see you, they greet you and Scottish people do the same which I really like.” 

In the current political climate, not being white can be scary. But Erica shared what she loved about being a black woman in Scotland.  

“I like being different. I thought I was different in a negative way but as an adult I’ve found that I’m different in a positive way. Girls can look up to me. I don’t like being the same as other people cause then I’d just be boring Erica.”  

You can follow Erica on Instagram and on TikTok with the handle @ericamoura00.