Speaker 1: Welcome to Behind the Influence, a production of I Heart
Speaker 1: Radio and t DC Media. So that was definitely one
Speaker 1: of the things where I'm like, no streamer has ever
Speaker 1: done this, and I love doing that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1: Everybody has their difficult moments, and I'm sure there's people
Speaker 1: out there that relate to the things that I've gone
Speaker 1: through as well. It was something that I really wanted
Speaker 1: to get off my chest because I wanted people to
Speaker 1: understand why I may feel a certain way, but no
Speaker 1: one's ever ready for the kind of stuff that you
Speaker 1: get when you're like a public figure on the internet.
Speaker 1: She has three point four million followers on Twitch. She
Speaker 1: has over eight one million views on twitch. You have
Speaker 1: is this accurate? Almost twenty hours streamed on Twitch? I
Speaker 1: have no idea. Okay, I don't know. It's actually a
Speaker 1: stat I always wish I knew Allison. Is it's correct? Well,
Speaker 1: if Allison says that you learned something new every day
Speaker 1: about yourself, you are the most followed female streamer on Twitch,
Speaker 1: which I'm sure you already knew that, but not just
Speaker 1: most followed female. You're in the top You're in the
Speaker 1: top twenty, and that's that's I think you're number twelve.
Speaker 1: Nine might even be right now. I'm going to go
Speaker 1: for twelve. And that's really impressive considering all the people
Speaker 1: that are streaming on Twitch. You have a lot of fans,
Speaker 1: you have all these people watching you, You are doing
Speaker 1: this five days a week as your career. How does
Speaker 1: one get here? Well? Interestingly enough, when I first started,
Speaker 1: I never ever thought it would be this, and I
Speaker 1: feel like everyone says that, and I kind of think
Speaker 1: that that's a key aspect of becoming a good streamer
Speaker 1: is when you start, it's genuinely just something that you enjoy,
Speaker 1: that you would be happy to do as a hobby.
Speaker 1: I think I sometimes see people get into it and
Speaker 1: they're like, I want to make money, I want to
Speaker 1: hit these mothstones, I want to hit these goals. And
Speaker 1: if you're doing it with that in mind, as opposed
Speaker 1: to this is an activity that I like. For example,
Speaker 1: you're probably not going to find like an Olympian runner
Speaker 1: that just hates running out right right. So I think
Speaker 1: the first step is just trying it out as something
Speaker 1: that's enjoyable, in tracting with people showcasing your gameplay. That's
Speaker 1: really how I did it. I actually had like just
Speaker 1: a laptop and really bad internet, and I had to
Speaker 1: beg my parents to upgrade the internet, so it was
Speaker 1: like streamable Internet. And I saved up a bunch of
Speaker 1: money to buy a secondhand custom built PC off of Kijigi,
Speaker 1: which is like Canadian Craigslist. So yeah, I bought this PC.
Speaker 1: This was my senior year of high school, so that's
Speaker 1: six years ago now. Really didn't like Envision much for it.
Speaker 1: I just thought it was really fun to have people
Speaker 1: like come into my channel and I talked to them
Speaker 1: and they respond and create this connection. I kept streaming
Speaker 1: two years into it. Well, I ended up going to
Speaker 1: university because in my mind it was always like very
Speaker 1: ingrained in me from my parents, like you go to school,
Speaker 1: you get your degree, maybe you do put s grad
Speaker 1: or you become a doctor. I don't know very much
Speaker 1: one of those households. So I went to study chemical
Speaker 1: engineering at McMaster University, and two years into that, one
Speaker 1: month I made like a substantial amount of money. And
Speaker 1: when I say substantial, I mean like when you're a
Speaker 1: college kid and you're like at least twenty thousand dollars
Speaker 1: in debt and you make like five to ten k
Speaker 1: in a month off of like sponsorships or subscriptions or donations.
Speaker 1: You're like, holy do I store on this? Holy shit exactly.
Speaker 1: I mean especially because like college and in end of itself,
Speaker 1: costs so much. So after that month, I was like, Mom, Dad,
Speaker 1: did you guys please let me take one year off
Speaker 1: and see where this goes? Because I knew that if
Speaker 1: I went into my third year of my engineering program
Speaker 1: that the courses would just become so difficult that I
Speaker 1: would have to probably give up streaming more or less.
Speaker 1: And at that time, I had probably around a thousand concurrence,
Speaker 1: which is pretty good, or someone that's only doing it
Speaker 1: part time. And for people who don't know what a
Speaker 1: concurrent is, because I know what it is, but I
Speaker 1: want to make sure that they understand it's not just
Speaker 1: a thousand viewers. Yeah. So basically twitch live streaming is
Speaker 1: very different from something that's like YouTube. For example, when
Speaker 1: you say concurrence, it's literally someone watching you live. And
Speaker 1: these are people that the number will fluctuate throughout the
Speaker 1: live stream that you're doing, so people will come and go.
Speaker 1: I would say nowadays, if you have five hundred to
Speaker 1: a thousand live viewers, that's more than enough to make
Speaker 1: a living. So I was basically at that point back then,
Speaker 1: And keep in mind five four years ago, there weren't
Speaker 1: as many sponsorships. It wasn't as legitimate of a career
Speaker 1: path as it is now. So it really took some
Speaker 1: convincing to get my parents to let me take a
Speaker 1: year off and pursue just content creation and live streaming
Speaker 1: full time. And basically, the way I pitched it to
Speaker 1: them was like, listen, like, if I take a year off,
Speaker 1: this goes one of two ways. Either it kind of
Speaker 1: takes off from me, or it turns into more or
Speaker 1: I take a year to save up enough money so
Speaker 1: that I'm not in debt after university. So you know,
Speaker 1: with that kind of logic, they're like, alright, fine, I
Speaker 1: mean three years later, I live in California. So luckily
Speaker 1: things worked out. I'm really really grateful that they gave
Speaker 1: me that chance and really happy for how it panned out.
Speaker 1: And like you were saying, back then, there weren't household
Speaker 1: names like Ninja making millions of dollars where your parents
Speaker 1: not even close, where your parents could point to a
Speaker 1: case study and say, Okay, you know it's not completely
Speaker 1: out of the question. That Pokey could make a live
Speaker 1: or your name was not poke at that time, that
Speaker 1: that Iman could make that much money and survive and
Speaker 1: make this a way of life. Basically, so there was
Speaker 1: no case point proving that this was an actual reality.
Speaker 1: You were just kind of trying to convince some based
Speaker 1: off of nothing exactly, especially because i mean, at least
Speaker 1: there's YouTube, and most people know about YouTube, but live
Speaker 1: streaming even nowadays is still relatively new, and three or
Speaker 1: four years ago even more so, like they didn't even
Speaker 1: really understand what it was like is it a video?
Speaker 1: Is it not? Who are these people texting you? You know?
Speaker 1: So I'm very very grateful that they trusted me enough
Speaker 1: to take that chance. So yeah, okay, so talk me
Speaker 1: through that first year. You have a one year timeline.
Speaker 1: The pressure is on. Right at this point, you open
Speaker 1: a Twitch account. I'm assuming this is was it on Twitch?
Speaker 1: You're streaming somewhere else? Yeah? Yeah, I've always streamed on
Speaker 1: Twitch the last six years. So basically I started senior
Speaker 1: year of high school and then two years into that,
Speaker 1: so four years ago I decided to go full time,
Speaker 1: got it. Yeah, And that was two years into my
Speaker 1: university degree. So at that point, I was like, Okay,
Speaker 1: I need to really give this a full shot. And
Speaker 1: I come from Canada, that's where I grew up, and
Speaker 1: I basically decided to momentarily move to Los Angeles because
Speaker 1: that's basically where the sports hub is, that's where all
Speaker 1: the sports players are, that's where a lot of live
Speaker 1: streamers are, that's really where any event in relation to
Speaker 1: gaming or e sports is typically held. So I was like,
Speaker 1: I need to be here or at least try it
Speaker 1: out and see how I feel about it. So I
Speaker 1: came down here. I moved in with some streamers. Which
Speaker 1: streamers did you move in with? This guy named Scara
Speaker 1: and someone else named Una, and our manager at the
Speaker 1: time also lived in the house, and I was going
Speaker 1: to move in with someone else, but those plans fell through,
Speaker 1: so I was like, I need a place to stay
Speaker 1: and they're like, we have an extra room. So I
Speaker 1: ended up staying with them, And at first it was
Speaker 1: really just because of convenience, but people ended up loving
Speaker 1: seeing us a streamers in tract and it was something
Speaker 1: so new. There weren't many like streamer houses or content
Speaker 1: creation creation houses at all back then, so actually snow
Speaker 1: falled into something more now we live in like a
Speaker 1: way bigger house where like seven people we all make
Speaker 1: videos and create content in some way or other. So
Speaker 1: that was a really interesting thing that kind of just
Speaker 1: happened along the way. I was really lucky to end
Speaker 1: up living with people because streaming is a type of
Speaker 1: lifestyle that is very very reclusive, and if you just
Speaker 1: do that all the time and you live alone, you
Speaker 1: end up not getting a lot of social interaction, which
Speaker 1: is something that people probably don't realize. Like most typical jobs,
Speaker 1: like you work with other people and sometimes it could
Speaker 1: be frustrating, but a lot of the time like that,
Speaker 1: human interaction is huge. And once you start doing a
Speaker 1: job where you're literally at home alone all the time,
Speaker 1: you really start to miss that and it kind of
Speaker 1: makes you go crazy. So moving in with them was
Speaker 1: really great. I tried it out for two or three months,
Speaker 1: really enjoyed it. I knew I wanted to live here,
Speaker 1: but obviously I'm from Canada and I can't just post
Speaker 1: up in the US forever, so I had to go
Speaker 1: back home and get my visa. That was about a
Speaker 1: three month process where I did stream alone. That's what
Speaker 1: I realized how lonely it gets Yeah, and then I
Speaker 1: moved back to Kali and I've been here ever since. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I was always wondering because with YouTube, there are collaborations
Speaker 1: that are obvious. It's like you collab you create a video.
Speaker 1: With streaming, it's probably much different because a lot of
Speaker 1: these games that you play might be a single player
Speaker 1: or whatever you may be doing. And I always wondered
Speaker 1: how isolating that would feel for a streamer who is
Speaker 1: constantly and your hours are different. So maybe you're streaming
Speaker 1: when all your friends are out being social, and so
Speaker 1: you're on a completely different schedule than everybody else. How
Speaker 1: did you balance having a normal life. Obviously, you you
Speaker 1: moved in with other streamers, so you were able to
Speaker 1: be around actual other beings, which is great, but what
Speaker 1: about the other social elements like going out for a
Speaker 1: workout class or meeting friends for dinner. Yeah. When I
Speaker 1: was in Canada and I lived alone, I noticed that
Speaker 1: my streaming hours were basically everyone else's alive hours. When
Speaker 1: I would end was basically when most of my friends
Speaker 1: weren't really hanging out anymore. Though luckily living with Will
Speaker 1: now makes it a lot easier. We kind of plan
Speaker 1: for stuff together for me, I think getting those social
Speaker 1: hours in is something that is really really important, so
Speaker 1: I will always make time for it. I know that
Speaker 1: I can kind of shift my schedule two hours earlier,
Speaker 1: two hours later to still get those hours in. And
Speaker 1: I'm really really lucky because a lot of my friends
Speaker 1: understand that I need to stream, so they'll even be
Speaker 1: really considerate and say like, oh, if you want to
Speaker 1: like stream, get some hours in and then we'll hang
Speaker 1: out later in the evening or do this or do that.
Speaker 1: So really really really lucky for that. But I really
Speaker 1: think it's just about planning your time ahead of time
Speaker 1: so that you can say, I'm blocking off these hours
Speaker 1: to stream. I can schedule this dinner and at this
Speaker 1: time if I want to do a breakfast, I'll just
Speaker 1: push my stream back. And making sure that you're at
Speaker 1: least putting in the effort to fit those things in. Otherwise,
Speaker 1: if you just continue with your schedule and never plan
Speaker 1: for anything else or really avoid being flexible in any way,
Speaker 1: you'll miss out on a lot of like really good
Speaker 1: opportunities to build relationships. Put effort into your friendships, and
Speaker 1: that's really important. There's actually a clip recently of a
Speaker 1: live streamer talking about this, and he said something along
Speaker 1: the lines of I grinded for many, many years. I'm
Speaker 1: really glad that I kind of made it to the
Speaker 1: top of streaming, but I've had to make a lot
Speaker 1: of sacrifices. I basically don't have any friends or relationships
Speaker 1: or anything that sort. It was a very very clip. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's always something that I wanted to kind of preach
Speaker 1: to all streamers because it's very very easy to get
Speaker 1: lost in the numbers and get stuck on like when
Speaker 1: is the optimal time to stream. I have to be consistent.
Speaker 1: I have to do this, I have to do that.
Speaker 1: But at the end of the day, you have one life,
Speaker 1: and friendships and relationships are such an essential part of that.
Speaker 1: Your career can't be everything, especially on Twitch, because it's
Speaker 1: very volatile and sometimes for reasons outside of your control,
Speaker 1: so you have to make sure your happiness is tied
Speaker 1: to other things. I really hope for him and for
Speaker 1: any other people that are maybe very work in sensitive,
Speaker 1: they learned how to fit in friendships and relationships and
Speaker 1: manage their time. So for people who are not familiar
Speaker 1: with how much work actually goes into streaming, because I'm
Speaker 1: really familiar with Twitch, and I know that it's not
Speaker 1: like YouTube, where you can put together a really well
Speaker 1: produced piece of content out once a week. Every Wednesday,
Speaker 1: I upload, and you can make your entire living just
Speaker 1: uploading once once a week. The thing with Twitch that
Speaker 1: I think may not be as well known is you
Speaker 1: have to be consistent and you have to put in
Speaker 1: a certain amount of hours otherwise you are going to
Speaker 1: get lost in this big sea of streamers. So how
Speaker 1: did you come up with a schedule that worked for
Speaker 1: you but then also honors the things you were just
Speaker 1: talking about your lifestyle? So talk us through your schedule.
Speaker 1: So everyone's different. I have a roommate who quite literally
Speaker 1: streams eight to twelve hours every single day, like without fail.
Speaker 1: He's literally doing an everyday challenge this year, so he's
Speaker 1: like two hundred and eighty days in however many days
Speaker 1: are in the year and he has streamed every single day.
Speaker 1: I couldn't do that because I would probably go crazy.
Speaker 1: But also there's different things that draw different people too,
Speaker 1: different channels. So for him it's just like gameplay, so
Speaker 1: he can just sit there and chill and play the game.
Speaker 1: For me, I know, I've always preferred like four five
Speaker 1: streams a week about four to eight hours, because I
Speaker 1: know that during those four to eight hours, I can
Speaker 1: be very lively. I can respond to people, I can interact,
Speaker 1: and I can provide a love of entertainment that I
Speaker 1: deem to be good or that I'm proud of. I
Speaker 1: always could tell that that was almost just like a
Speaker 1: physical limitation to me. I literally can't be like, no,
Speaker 1: like responding to things for like twelve hours in a day,
Speaker 1: because you will be exhausted. And that's personally just how
Speaker 1: I like to more or less put on a show
Speaker 1: to my stream, and I want people to know that
Speaker 1: every time that they tune in, they can have that
Speaker 1: expectation that they're not going to show up and I'm
Speaker 1: going to be like nine hours in like a little
Speaker 1: tired or whatever. But I understand that different people provide
Speaker 1: different values. Say I could just always tell that as
Speaker 1: a person, you know, I can like be happy and
Speaker 1: do things and put on that show for that time.
Speaker 1: And it was really a lot of just trial and air.
Speaker 1: You know, sometimes I will try, okay, six by six
Speaker 1: six hours, six times a week. I could kind of
Speaker 1: do that, but also it depends if I'm expected to
Speaker 1: do shoots outside of that time, you know, I really
Speaker 1: just only have a certain amount of energy per week
Speaker 1: that I can expand or expand, so basically trial and
Speaker 1: air figuring out what works for me and not pushing
Speaker 1: myself to the point where I'm just trying to stream
Speaker 1: longer but I'm not actually enjoying it or I'm not
Speaker 1: actually making content that I am happy with. So talk
Speaker 1: us through a typical day. What are the primary games
Speaker 1: that you stream? To talk you through a typical day. Basically,
Speaker 1: I probably wake up around nine ish, do some sort
Speaker 1: of a morning routine, get ready, eight, put my makeup on,
Speaker 1: get dressed. I'll usually start stream around eleven or noon,
Speaker 1: and then I'll stream until four, six pm, maybe even
Speaker 1: eight or later if I'm really enjoying what I do.
Speaker 1: I used to play a lot of League of Legends.
Speaker 1: That was where I got my start, and then I
Speaker 1: kind of stopped over to Fortnite for a while. That
Speaker 1: really really expanding my community and helped me grow a ton.
Speaker 1: Very grateful for that, So I played Fortnite mainly for
Speaker 1: quite some time, and as of late, probably the last
Speaker 1: half a year or so, I've kind of just been
Speaker 1: doing more variety nowadays, I'll play like all sorts of
Speaker 1: different games, storyline games or even games on consoles, or
Speaker 1: just get scary games really fun to stream um, and
Speaker 1: then I'll still kind of hop on Fortnite or League
Speaker 1: or any new game that comes out. I really really
Speaker 1: enjoy having that flexibility. And I've even done things like
Speaker 1: the other day, this is what I love about streaming, Like,
Speaker 1: if you really want to, you could stream yourself doing anything.
Speaker 1: The other day, I really I just woke up and
Speaker 1: I was like, I really feel like baking a cake today.
Speaker 1: So I just grabbed my phone, put it, posted it
Speaker 1: up in the kitchen. I baked a cake in front
Speaker 1: of like fourteen thousand people, just you know, and showcased it,
Speaker 1: you know, had some icing on it, did some memes whatever,
Speaker 1: and it was a really, really enjoyable time. And it's
Speaker 1: the kind of stuff that happens. And I'm like, I
Speaker 1: am so lucky to have a profession where I can
Speaker 1: exercise as much creative control as I want, and I
Speaker 1: can wake up one day and feel like doing something
Speaker 1: and do that as long as I know how to
Speaker 1: like showcase it, package it, make it entertaining and enjoyable
Speaker 1: for people, and then put that out there, whether it
Speaker 1: be traveling or a SMR or I roll streaming literally
Speaker 1: anything you can pretty much stream. Yes, you can stream
Speaker 1: any of those things. But I think you're in a
Speaker 1: unique position where you've created a platform where people you
Speaker 1: will have fourteen thousand people baking cake. If Alison and
Speaker 1: I decided to make a fun fetty pills very not
Speaker 1: spawned cake, nobody would give a ship. So you have
Speaker 1: curated this fan base that actually cares about what you're doing.
Speaker 1: Was there a strategy prior to these days of having
Speaker 1: fourteen th people there to watch? What was the strategy
Speaker 1: to build that following? Because there's gotta be some tips
Speaker 1: you can give someone who's going to start a Twitch
Speaker 1: account today. For sure, I do recall seeing a lot
Speaker 1: of streamers who would hit really good numbers playing certain games,
Speaker 1: but then anytime they swapped off or that game wasn't
Speaker 1: doing as well, their channel was equally affected. And I
Speaker 1: could tell the importance from like a very early on
Speaker 1: of my channel. I could tell the importance of having
Speaker 1: people become attached to you as a person and your
Speaker 1: personality as opposed to just the game that you play.
Speaker 1: So I think the ways that I kind of accomplished
Speaker 1: that were definitely things like at the beginning of my stream,
Speaker 1: I would spend thirty minutes just like talking to people,
Speaker 1: asking about their day, telling them funny stories about things
Speaker 1: that happened to me, getting them to actually know me.
Speaker 1: I think the only way that an audience can build
Speaker 1: a connection to you is if they have a better
Speaker 1: understanding of who you are, and to some extent, that
Speaker 1: also involves being vulnerable, like there have been some really
Speaker 1: rough moments in my life that I decided to open
Speaker 1: up to my stream about that, and I think those
Speaker 1: kind of things are really pivotal in having a community
Speaker 1: that is so dedicated to you, because not only am
Speaker 1: I showcasing these like fun, enjoyable moments, but I'm being
Speaker 1: vulnerable and open and I think that gives people something
Speaker 1: to relate to because everybody has their difficult moments, and
Speaker 1: I'm sure there's people out there that relate to the
Speaker 1: things that I've gone through as well, and that's a
Speaker 1: different type of connection than just oh, I like the
Speaker 1: game that you play, you know what I mean. So
Speaker 1: I think that has helped a lot, as well as
Speaker 1: showing people all the different sides to me and showing
Speaker 1: that I really am like a person just like them,
Speaker 1: and that we can connect on many different things. So
Speaker 1: I love video games, but I love makeup as well
Speaker 1: and this and that. So I really think the more
Speaker 1: you put yourself out there, the more you give people
Speaker 1: to kind of latch onto or to relate to. And
Speaker 1: that's key. Yeah. So, so you said some difficult times.
Speaker 1: Can you point to a time when you were able
Speaker 1: to be really vulnerable on Twitch and you saw your
Speaker 1: community rise for you? Earlier this year, my friend passed
Speaker 1: it away, and I remember, obviously it was a very
Speaker 1: very difficult moment. Not only that, but I had this
Speaker 1: sense of like, it's not like a nine to five job,
Speaker 1: or you just like going to work and you're sad,
Speaker 1: or like you try to do what you need to
Speaker 1: do right when you're live streaming, like people can see
Speaker 1: you for like four to six plus hours, there's no
Speaker 1: way to hide things like that. And I just knew
Speaker 1: it was the kind of thing that although I took
Speaker 1: a couple of days to myself, it was something that
Speaker 1: I really wanted to get off my chest because I
Speaker 1: wanted people to understand why I may feel a certain
Speaker 1: way or take time off or not really be the
Speaker 1: same lively, happy person that I usually am. On top
Speaker 1: of that, he passed away from an overdose, which I
Speaker 1: kind of wanted to shed light on what it's like
Speaker 1: to have a friend dealing with things like that and
Speaker 1: hopefully encourage people to support their friends and try to
Speaker 1: be there for them however they can try to help
Speaker 1: them get to a point where they can actually accept
Speaker 1: that help, etcetera. So I was hoping it could be both.
Speaker 1: I hope you guys understand what I'm going through and
Speaker 1: maybe I can help shed some light on a topic
Speaker 1: that not a lot of people talk about, not a
Speaker 1: lot of people have experienced, but maybe I can help
Speaker 1: people who may have similar struggles. So that was definitely
Speaker 1: a difficult stream because even talking about it now is
Speaker 1: very hard, but especially then I was just crying. I
Speaker 1: really couldn't help it, and I think I really appreciated
Speaker 1: the kind of messages that I got in chat. And
Speaker 1: not only that, but what I found like my biggest
Speaker 1: takeaway from that was that I felt so much better
Speaker 1: after opening up about it, and although I had spoken
Speaker 1: to friends about it, at this point, my stream really
Speaker 1: is like a little family to me, and being really
Speaker 1: open and vulnerable with them and not feeling like there's
Speaker 1: anything I have to hide really made me feel good,
Speaker 1: made it a lot easier for me to cope with it,
Speaker 1: and really helped with my morning process. So that's so beautiful.
Speaker 1: And the premise of the show is about influence, right,
Speaker 1: and you clearly have influence, and you were in that
Speaker 1: moment in a dark time. You were like, I'm going
Speaker 1: to take this moment and talk and shed light on
Speaker 1: something that's really sensitive and just affected my life greatly.
Speaker 1: Another moment that for me stood out because there's obviously
Speaker 1: tons of streamers, but you were the one that we
Speaker 1: had our eyes on and we had to have you
Speaker 1: in here because I I loved the no makeup stream
Speaker 1: that you did. I thought it was really powerful, and
Speaker 1: I thought that it's important to shed light on that
Speaker 1: as well because Twitch is a male dominated community to
Speaker 1: begin with, so being a female in the space has
Speaker 1: got to be difficult. And then on top of all,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of I think there's expectation and talk
Speaker 1: to us about that no makeup movement that you that
Speaker 1: really just like kind of broke the internet for a minute.
Speaker 1: I'm so sorry for off, Get out of here. I'm
Speaker 1: just kidding. Sorry, replacement. So a couple of things for
Speaker 1: starters for anyone that doesn't know twitch, live streaming gaming
Speaker 1: in general, because it comes from really just streaming games,
Speaker 1: and gaming in general is also pretty male dominated. That
Speaker 1: entire space more or less is, and with that comes
Speaker 1: some you know, some pros and cons, but more importantly,
Speaker 1: it's just important to understand the space. And I think
Speaker 1: when I do things like the no makeup stream for starters,
Speaker 1: I also watch like a ton of beauty videos, right,
Speaker 1: and I'm a girl. I have a bunch of girlfriends,
Speaker 1: Like I know what the differences between someone who like
Speaker 1: wears makeup and doesn't and typically what that looks like.
Speaker 1: And I also, I just really don't think it's that
Speaker 1: big of a deal. But I also realized that I
Speaker 1: think people, especially on the Internet, it's so easy to
Speaker 1: just take things for what they are. You see someone
Speaker 1: looking as certain way and you think, oh, like wow,
Speaker 1: they must have popped out the womb looking like that, right,
Speaker 1: When in reality, there's so much that goes into how
Speaker 1: we look on stream, how we look on Instagram, how
Speaker 1: anything is presented online literally hours of makeup, wardrobe, ETCETERA
Speaker 1: face tune. Yes, oh god, I mean, come on, it's
Speaker 1: so obvious and it's and it makes me so sad
Speaker 1: for people who don't understand that there's such thing as
Speaker 1: face tune, because then these little girls are looking up
Speaker 1: to somebody being like, wait, I have baggy eyes? Why
Speaker 1: does that? But it's like he probably does smooth. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Not only that, but it's like you take facetune and
Speaker 1: you bring it to life. You have like crazy types
Speaker 1: of procedures that people can get nowadays. Not to speak
Speaker 1: on whether that's a good or bad thing, but the
Speaker 1: fact is, like people should be aware of that. You know,
Speaker 1: you can get fillers like make your face look super smooth.
Speaker 1: But the fact is that's like not a natural thing,
Speaker 1: and that's not a good standard for people to think
Speaker 1: is a natural thing. So whether you want to go
Speaker 1: above and beyond is up to you. I just think
Speaker 1: like I want to keep the standard like more realistic.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I was like I'll just do like get
Speaker 1: ready with me stream, And to be honest, I think
Speaker 1: I look like a girl that's not wearing makeup. When
Speaker 1: I'm not wearing makeup, you know, I don't look at
Speaker 1: myself and I'm like as shreck right, and I've done
Speaker 1: I've done plenty of no makeup stream, you're lying, but
Speaker 1: you're cute so well. I mean, like that's really how
Speaker 1: some people treated it, and to some extent, like I
Speaker 1: was surprised by the feedback, but I wasn't very hurt
Speaker 1: by people's mean comments, because you know, I have a
Speaker 1: ton of friends, boys and girls alike, and I've never
Speaker 1: really gotten a feeling that like people are ever uncomfortable
Speaker 1: about the way that I look, because I think when
Speaker 1: you hang out with people in person, you realize, like
Speaker 1: that's just how humans look, and sometimes they have makeup
Speaker 1: and sometimes they don't. Really funny comment my my guy friends,
Speaker 1: just to give a bit of context, I didn't makeup stream,
Speaker 1: and some people really gave me flak for it, and
Speaker 1: a lot of people came and like supported, They're like, no,
Speaker 1: like this is normal with the shows that people look
Speaker 1: like without makeup, blah blah blah. A lot of the
Speaker 1: guys were like, if anyone is surprised by how she looks,
Speaker 1: you're just out in yourself as a guy who's never
Speaker 1: had a girlfriend, you know what I mean, Because it's
Speaker 1: like you see people in the morning or in batt
Speaker 1: angles or this or that. I really don't want to
Speaker 1: be an influencer that is like so obsessed with looking
Speaker 1: perfect all the time, because like you just can't. So
Speaker 1: this wasn't about not loving makeup or or shaming people
Speaker 1: who wear makeup. It was more just about let's be
Speaker 1: real about this. And so, being a female on Twitch,
Speaker 1: have you felt pressure to have to dress up and
Speaker 1: maybe show clear I've seen female no shade to them.
Speaker 1: But you see certain streamers and they know exactly what
Speaker 1: they're doing, who will like angle the camera down and
Speaker 1: it's all about the boob shot and like that's really
Speaker 1: relevant on Twitch. What do you think about all of that?
Speaker 1: I really think that for starters to each their own right.
Speaker 1: I remember when I first started out that was actually
Speaker 1: way more prevalent than it is now. And I remember
Speaker 1: I really wanted to set my own standard per se,
Speaker 1: and if I were to be successful, I wanted to
Speaker 1: do it my own way. And so many people since
Speaker 1: then have come to me and said, oh, I always
Speaker 1: thought like if I could stream on Twitch, or if
Speaker 1: I wanted to stream on Twitch and be successful, I
Speaker 1: had to have cleavage out and I had to look
Speaker 1: this way and look that way, but like, because you've
Speaker 1: done it your own way, I feel like I can
Speaker 1: do it my own way. And that's exactly the type
Speaker 1: of inspiration that I want to be to people, and
Speaker 1: just to say, like, you don't have to do things
Speaker 1: that don't align with who you are in order to
Speaker 1: achieve certain goals. And if anything, I think a lot
Speaker 1: of people will respect you more for adhering to what
Speaker 1: you want to do and how you want to be perceived.
Speaker 1: I do feel like there's still like a bit of
Speaker 1: an expectation to like look a certain way or dress up,
Speaker 1: and that's mostly because in chat, you know, when there's
Speaker 1: like one little thing wrong with you, people are so
Speaker 1: quick to mention it. But I also think that instead
Speaker 1: of being bothered by things in the community, I do
Speaker 1: my best to kind of change the standard and educate
Speaker 1: people because that's the main you know, like that's where
Speaker 1: ignorance comes from, just not understanding or lack of education.
Speaker 1: So what I'll do is I'll say, Okay, well, maybe
Speaker 1: like I look this way because I'm sick or it's
Speaker 1: not really something that's nice to call out. And the
Speaker 1: more that you can kind of fix those types of behaviors.
Speaker 1: But in a kind, loving, educational manner. The less likely
Speaker 1: those things are to happen within your community, and then
Speaker 1: the less people see that stuff, the less they want
Speaker 1: to make similar comments elsewhere. So I also try to
Speaker 1: set the standard not only in a nice way, but
Speaker 1: sometimes in a funny way, like if I see a
Speaker 1: really really just dumb rude comment, I will also make
Speaker 1: a joke out of it, And I think that in
Speaker 1: that same way, it kind of teaches a lot of
Speaker 1: other people a lesson on why they shouldn't make comments
Speaker 1: like that. It's so funny you say that because our
Speaker 1: last iteration of the show, it was a radio show,
Speaker 1: so it was live and then we're also streaming it
Speaker 1: on Twitch, and it was like our first taste of chat.
Speaker 1: And let me tell you, I would I don't know
Speaker 1: how every every time the show wrapped, I would like
Speaker 1: cry to Allison, like they're so mean. And it was
Speaker 1: one mean comment, but it got under my skin, you know,
Speaker 1: because I'm a sensitive bird, and you know, like that's
Speaker 1: how humans are. It's it's like people don't realize there's
Speaker 1: an actual human on the other receiving end of this,
Speaker 1: like yes, we're entertaining you, and yes, you're watching. But
Speaker 1: the other thing that I found that was really interesting
Speaker 1: was the troll If you called them out on the
Speaker 1: live stream, all of a sudden, they're nice. Like they
Speaker 1: would be like, you're a fucking idiot, and I'd be like,
Speaker 1: you know what, Dominic two to seven to seven eight
Speaker 1: seven basement, I am an idiot, how's your day going?
Speaker 1: And then he'd be like, oh my god, I love
Speaker 1: your show, and I'd be like, wait, so all you're
Speaker 1: wanted was a shout out no, yeah, attention. They just
Speaker 1: want attention, And at the end of the day, you know,
Speaker 1: it's kind of cute. It's it's like a little kid
Speaker 1: acting out and being crazy, but at the end of
Speaker 1: the day, like they just want your attention. They just
Speaker 1: want to play with you or talk or interact. So
Speaker 1: that's so we started responding exactly. So we started responding
Speaker 1: to the trolls, and they'd be like our best friends,
Speaker 1: you know, we're sending them holiday cards now it's and
Speaker 1: then other trolls. So then other trolls would come in
Speaker 1: and the troll that bullied me last week was like, Yo,
Speaker 1: you better fucking get out of this shot. I'd be like,
Speaker 1: and they're offering to be my mod It's like a dude,
Speaker 1: last week you were calling me a fucking idiot, But
Speaker 1: we cool now that's fine. So the other thing I
Speaker 1: want to touch on is how do you kind of
Speaker 1: like block out because obviously you're a very confident woman.
Speaker 1: You're inspiring others to be confident and just be themselves,
Speaker 1: but you are human, So how do you kind of
Speaker 1: block out the noise when you do see haters or trolls,
Speaker 1: or how do you even continue to stream? Because I
Speaker 1: am sensitive. I don't know. I definitely couldn't be a streamer,
Speaker 1: but how do you cope? I am so glad that
Speaker 1: for me it was like one step at a time
Speaker 1: in the sense that I started off I was really small,
Speaker 1: got to twenty viewers, a hundred was really exciting, triple digits,
Speaker 1: and like, my growth has been like slow and steady
Speaker 1: more or less. And because of that, I've kind of
Speaker 1: learned to deal with them one step at a time
Speaker 1: when you like, because you deal with that type of
Speaker 1: attention very differently when you have a smaller community than
Speaker 1: once you become like a larger name per se. I
Speaker 1: think I kind of just limit exposure to that sort
Speaker 1: of stuff because I recognize that it is so far
Speaker 1: out of my control the kind of stuff that people
Speaker 1: will comment or think of me or say about me.
Speaker 1: So I think I kind of just if I know
Speaker 1: that there's a certain area where a lot of people
Speaker 1: will just be saying a lot of rude things about
Speaker 1: me that and my you, I think I'm specifically talking
Speaker 1: about comments that aren't criticism, just like there's a common
Speaker 1: term that's just like twitch thoughts or calling someone ugly,
Speaker 1: or commenting on things you don't like about them, you know,
Speaker 1: things that are related to like my looks that's not
Speaker 1: something that's ever going to change, or if you hate
Speaker 1: the way I sound, I can't change my vocal chords, right,
Speaker 1: So things that literally are out of my control. It
Speaker 1: only hurts me to continuously read that stuff. Whereas you know,
Speaker 1: if there's feedback like oh, I didn't really like this
Speaker 1: thing that she said or this thing that she did,
Speaker 1: even if the feedback is kind of set in a
Speaker 1: rude way, at least I know that's something that I
Speaker 1: can think about reflect on. Was I happy with the
Speaker 1: way that I expressed myself in these situations? So those
Speaker 1: are negative comments, like I'm more than happy to take
Speaker 1: and look at the ones that I can garner no
Speaker 1: value from reading, I just won't read them. Um, And
Speaker 1: it's not easy. It's definitely not easy, but you kind
Speaker 1: of try to learn to get out of those habits
Speaker 1: control yourself. Takes a lot of willpower. But yeah, definitely
Speaker 1: limiting exposure to comments that are just bad and in
Speaker 1: chat moderators incredible. Twitch Chat moderation is like a key
Speaker 1: part streaming, like if you have to have it. I
Speaker 1: did not know this in the beginning, so we had
Speaker 1: a lot of ship going on in our chat. I
Speaker 1: was like, oh my gosh, this is scary, Like, somebody
Speaker 1: get these people out of here. So yeah, that's I'm
Speaker 1: like having I'm having PTSD. I'm no, it's fine, you're crying.
Speaker 1: I gotta say. I've also kind of grown up on
Speaker 1: the internet, so I think I was a bit more
Speaker 1: ready for these kind of situations. Have you seen all
Speaker 1: the jokes about like the way kids are on like
Speaker 1: Xbox Live lobbies, right, Like when you grow up gaming
Speaker 1: online interacting with strangers, you know, sometimes like it just
Speaker 1: goes down. People are yelling at each other, insulting each
Speaker 1: other for no reason. So I had my fair share
Speaker 1: of at oh and me and my brother would banter
Speaker 1: a lot when we were younger. It a little bit, right,
Speaker 1: but no one's ever ready for the kind of stuff
Speaker 1: that you get when you're like a public figure on
Speaker 1: the internet. Getting to a point where I felt like
Speaker 1: I really felt like my community had grown, not just
Speaker 1: my community, but my name. And what I mean by
Speaker 1: that is typically when you make content online, most of
Speaker 1: the people that will interact with it are people that
Speaker 1: are interested in the content. But once you just become
Speaker 1: a name in gaming, a lot of people may know
Speaker 1: of your name, but they may not have seen much
Speaker 1: of you, or may have only seen bad things or
Speaker 1: whatever it is. Right, So, once I felt like my
Speaker 1: name kind of outgrew my community or people that really
Speaker 1: knew me and enjoyed my content, I sensed like there
Speaker 1: were a lot of people during a specific time that
Speaker 1: we're kind of going out of their way to find
Speaker 1: things to hate about me, or to sensationalize or to
Speaker 1: click bait or whatever it is. Right, that was a
Speaker 1: very difficult time in my life because I really to
Speaker 1: go through this whole thought process of like being careful
Speaker 1: about every little thing I said and did and how
Speaker 1: people could potentially twist it, and living your life in
Speaker 1: this little box is just not fun. And I had
Speaker 1: to like really teach myself just be yourself. If you
Speaker 1: do something bad, be a human about it. Learn and
Speaker 1: the people that are reasonable will reasonably understand and not
Speaker 1: hate you. The people that are vocal and do hate
Speaker 1: you a lot will always hate you. You will never
Speaker 1: be able to reason someone out of something they didn't
Speaker 1: reason themselves into, right, So I kind of stopped focusing
Speaker 1: on the sectors of the world that would just hate
Speaker 1: me regardless of anything that I did, and I tried
Speaker 1: to kind of not keep myself in that bubble of
Speaker 1: worrying how will someone maybe misinterpret what I'm saying, and
Speaker 1: instead just focus on being a person that I'm proud
Speaker 1: of continuously growing, because I mean, we're all humans. There
Speaker 1: will never be a time in my life where I'm
Speaker 1: perfect or don't make mistake akes, and I think trying
Speaker 1: to put yourself under that standard is just not healthy.
Speaker 1: And I really hope that audiences start to learn that too,
Speaker 1: and not to put content creators or influencers on that
Speaker 1: pedestal either. And if you do ever see someone that
Speaker 1: does something that you don't like, I think as a whole,
Speaker 1: like we should leave people open to apologizing and being
Speaker 1: better as opposed to just let's cancel, cancel culture. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean for sorters, it never works. Secondly, it's just
Speaker 1: not healthy because it doesn't teach someone that you can
Speaker 1: learn from your mistakes and do better and be better.
Speaker 1: And I mean, if that's not human, then what is.
Speaker 1: I'm not a sideboard. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. No, So
Speaker 1: you did answer the question because I you often see everybody,
Speaker 1: everybody talks about the highlight reel and everyone sees this
Speaker 1: really successful, beautiful female streamer who has a good hat
Speaker 1: on our shoulders. You have a huge fan base, and
Speaker 1: you have days that are not your best. You know,
Speaker 1: you have days where you questioned things. I was watching
Speaker 1: the documentary on Amazon streaming I r L featuring you,
Speaker 1: and there was a moment that I actually felt bad
Speaker 1: because you had this moment. It's towards the end of
Speaker 1: the document If you guys want to check it out,
Speaker 1: it's on Amazon. Also not spawned. You're at the Shorty Awards.
Speaker 1: You're really excited, You're stoked to be there, you're stoked
Speaker 1: to even be nominated, and then you win streamer of
Speaker 1: the year. It's a high high moment. You're excited, you
Speaker 1: give a cute speech, you're great, and then some someone
Speaker 1: comes up at the end and kind of deflates that
Speaker 1: moment for you and makes comments like, well, you should
Speaker 1: have stayed in school because now you're gonna be begging
Speaker 1: to get back in And it to me, I was like,
Speaker 1: what a dick, Like, I personally was really offended by that.
Speaker 1: I know it was all a joke and it was
Speaker 1: in clean fund and he wasn't actually coming at you.
Speaker 1: But moments like that does that kind of make you
Speaker 1: I guess I'll let you answer. I won't give you
Speaker 1: options what did what went through your head in that moment.
Speaker 1: So I'm kind of laughing at it now because I
Speaker 1: remember that moment so vividly. And the reason I remember
Speaker 1: it is because you know those moments in your life,
Speaker 1: like you remember exactly what someone said. He said, like
Speaker 1: as soon as the game that you're playing like goes
Speaker 1: out of fashion or isn't popular anymore, you're going to
Speaker 1: be begging to go back to your engineering degree, right.
Speaker 1: And the reason I find that so funny is because,
Speaker 1: like I went from the game that I was playing
Speaker 1: Legal Legends to playing Fortnite, and that's where I gained
Speaker 1: probably like the most success in my career. And then
Speaker 1: I went from that game to playing a whole bunch
Speaker 1: of different games. So that is literally the opposite of
Speaker 1: what happened for me. And I'm really glad that I
Speaker 1: don't think I got too caught up in that comment
Speaker 1: because he literally has no idea who I am. Well,
Speaker 1: I was bummed for you in that moment because it's
Speaker 1: like that he's just like raining on your parade for
Speaker 1: no reason you want to except for you to like
Speaker 1: be the butt of a joke, which yeah, it really
Speaker 1: does kind of make the moment bitter sweet. But I
Speaker 1: think you know, when you look at how things played out,
Speaker 1: I'm not so mad about it anymore. Think, well, obviously
Speaker 1: you have a good head on your shoulders and you
Speaker 1: know what you're doing. But that whole culture of knocking
Speaker 1: people down because you don't necessarily clearly he does not
Speaker 1: understand the world that you're in, because that comment wouldn't
Speaker 1: have been made right. And I don't need to psychoanalyze
Speaker 1: this situation, But what do you think is a common misconception?
Speaker 1: Because obviously there was a lot of misconceptions in all
Speaker 1: the comments he made and stereotypes were applied. What is
Speaker 1: one that you get often being a streamer as a
Speaker 1: full time profession Um. I think at first, especially when
Speaker 1: like before the whole Ninja Fortnite stuff, people are like,
Speaker 1: you're like a girl on webcam online, Like what are
Speaker 1: you doing? You're like laughing to the bank bit. No,
Speaker 1: I'm like, I'm literally playing video games like that. I
Speaker 1: think it's very complex because when you're a girl in
Speaker 1: a male dominate environment, like will people develop crushes? Sure,
Speaker 1: in the same way that like boy bands have like
Speaker 1: majority female audiences things like that, Right, And I found
Speaker 1: it very odd that like in our world people hold
Speaker 1: it against the person a lot personally. I'm I just
Speaker 1: not like a very sexual person. That's not really what
Speaker 1: I'm about. I think that like in a sense helps
Speaker 1: my case. But I just wish people didn't expect that either.
Speaker 1: So there was a point in time where you know,
Speaker 1: that was a lot more common on Twitch. Other misconceptions
Speaker 1: probably that like because people can donate to you on Twitch, right,
Speaker 1: and people always think that like girls make all their
Speaker 1: money off of donations. I think like girl or guide
Speaker 1: that can be a big part of your income when
Speaker 1: you're at a certain like community size, right, but when
Speaker 1: you actually grow, like the majority of your income comes
Speaker 1: from I mean from sponsors or activations that you do,
Speaker 1: or ad sense or things like that. I think it's
Speaker 1: gotten so much better over the years. There isn't such
Speaker 1: an intense stereotype for female streamers now, which I'm really
Speaker 1: happy to see a part in that. I hope, so,
Speaker 1: I really do, because nowadays there's like so many incredible,
Speaker 1: very different, unique female streamers. And so that's why, like
Speaker 1: it's hard for me to talk about how it was
Speaker 1: back then because it genuinely was so different. I mean,
Speaker 1: one of the terms twitch thoughts. That's kind of a stereotype.
Speaker 1: She's not saying thoughts as in deep thoughts. She's actually
Speaker 1: saying I think that word is so funny. So I
Speaker 1: try not to really be what is the thought? Can
Speaker 1: we talk about this real quick? Can somebody google thought?
Speaker 1: I really think it's just like a new word that
Speaker 1: people want to use it instead of like slut. Right,
Speaker 1: it's really but it makes no sense. What about this song?
Speaker 1: But stown it's Tatiana, right, yeah, yeah, Tatiana. My name
Speaker 1: is Tatiana. So I'm basically thought Tiana on a day
Speaker 1: to day basis. You guys just don't see it. It's
Speaker 1: really one of those things like in the past people
Speaker 1: used slut in a very derogatory way, and then people
Speaker 1: try to retake that word. Okay, here's the definition. It's
Speaker 1: actually in the dictionary, or at least according to Google. Okay,
Speaker 1: so a thought is a noun. It's a woman who
Speaker 1: has many casual sexual encounters or relationships. So basically a slut. Yeah,
Speaker 1: say it was just a new word for that twenty night.
Speaker 1: The thing that annoys me is that I hate really
Speaker 1: like if you're a girl and you stream, like immediately
Speaker 1: people will try to call you that, and it's like,
Speaker 1: what does me playing video games on the internet have
Speaker 1: to do? They were calling me a slut. I'm in
Speaker 1: a turtleneck interviewing people on Twitch and they're like this hooker.
Speaker 1: I'm like, what am I doing? They were making like
Speaker 1: dick emojis were all up in my chat, and I
Speaker 1: was like, what is going on. I'm a married woman.
Speaker 1: I don't need to see this. Those things used to
Speaker 1: bother me a lot, and then I'm like, this is
Speaker 1: probably a nine year old who's like in the basement
Speaker 1: acting out right, in which case whatever, you just moderate
Speaker 1: your channel and you realize that when you put yourself
Speaker 1: out there and allow literally anybody to come into your channel,
Speaker 1: you're gonna get some. Of course, it's funny, Yeah, it
Speaker 1: is what it is. So a year ago, Fortnite really
Speaker 1: blew up, and Ninja blew up with it. Um. I
Speaker 1: remember it was like one am and my husband was
Speaker 1: working at Twitch at the time, and he's like, oh
Speaker 1: my god, Drake is playing. He was like one of
Speaker 1: the main yeah. Much. Yeah, he was like, let's watch
Speaker 1: this right now because Drake, Travis Scott, all these people
Speaker 1: were playing Ninja. And at that time, I didn't even
Speaker 1: know who Ninja was. Like I'm not even just saying
Speaker 1: that because I'm not I don't follow this stuff. I'm
Speaker 1: sure everyone else knew who he was. But now Ninja
Speaker 1: became a household name. Fortnite came mainstream media because Drake
Speaker 1: is now playing. What were you thinking in that moment
Speaker 1: when this happened, because I'm sure prior to that people
Speaker 1: really didn't understand what you were doing. Now, all of
Speaker 1: a sudden, it's really become mainstream. I think Fortnite and
Speaker 1: Ninsha both did such an incredible job in making their game,
Speaker 1: gaming and live streaming in general far more mainstream than
Speaker 1: it was before. And I freaking love that because that
Speaker 1: is like quite a personal goal of mine too, because
Speaker 1: I love live streaming so much. I love the community
Speaker 1: that you can build, the type of feeling that you
Speaker 1: can get from really belonging somewhere, having people except you
Speaker 1: for the hobbies that you genuinely love. I've just loved
Speaker 1: my experience on it so much that I want to
Speaker 1: make it more mainstream so more people can feel that
Speaker 1: way as well, or more people can understand what it
Speaker 1: is and enjoy the platform and meet people through it.
Speaker 1: I've literally had people meet in my community and like
Speaker 1: become engaged and get married, Like it's crazy, and do
Speaker 1: they get married in the games too? But yeah, I'm
Speaker 1: so like, I'm so grateful for how much they've done
Speaker 1: for gaming in general and how many more people think
Speaker 1: that it's an acceptable thing to do or is cool
Speaker 1: or whatever, because I remember in high school, for me,
Speaker 1: online gaming was not cool. I didn't know a single
Speaker 1: other girl in my high school that enjoyed online video games.
Speaker 1: So to know that that's not really the case nowadays
Speaker 1: makes me really excited and happy for the young inns,
Speaker 1: and I really want even more of that in the
Speaker 1: future and for live streaming to just be more common overall,
Speaker 1: because I think it's something that not enough people have
Speaker 1: tapped into or looked into, you know, just going on Twitch,
Speaker 1: seeing different types of people in long form content, and
Speaker 1: interestingly enough, I think for anybody that might be feeling
Speaker 1: kind of lonely or like kind of like having something
Speaker 1: on that plays in the background, that type of company
Speaker 1: can be really helpful for people, and Twitch is like
Speaker 1: the perfect place for it. Yeah. So Kevin Lynn, who
Speaker 1: was one of the founders actually is one of my
Speaker 1: good friends, and we interviewed him for this show and
Speaker 1: he was saying, when they initially launched Justin TV, which
Speaker 1: was prior to Twitch, people were just in there because
Speaker 1: they were lonely and they just wanted interaction with other
Speaker 1: people and being and they were just watching Justin do
Speaker 1: day to day things. But ironically they were alone, but
Speaker 1: they weren't alone because they call it your community right
Speaker 1: on Twitch, it's a community. What would you say your
Speaker 1: community is made up of? So for me, interestingly enough,
Speaker 1: I think it's highly dependent on the game that I play,
Speaker 1: and I can tell by the way that my chat changes,
Speaker 1: Like if I play something like Fortnite or Minecraft, I
Speaker 1: know the audience use younger. I know if I play
Speaker 1: like League or do Ira all content like in person
Speaker 1: or walk around or travel, then it's really just about anybody.
Speaker 1: League is definitely like young adults. So like you can
Speaker 1: tell by the way your chat behaves, the kind of
Speaker 1: stuff that people are saying, typically what the demo is like.
Speaker 1: I like to think that I think I have more
Speaker 1: female viewers than most people. I think that's very normal though,
Speaker 1: because you know, when you watch content, it's a lot
Speaker 1: easier to relate to someone who's of the same gender
Speaker 1: as you. I think it's pretty wide because I can
Speaker 1: kind of tap into different demos by playing different games,
Speaker 1: which is really cool. Something else that I love about
Speaker 1: you is that you're not just focused on gaming. You
Speaker 1: you did touch on I r L and for people
Speaker 1: who don't know, I r L is basically the place
Speaker 1: that you stream when if you're not playing a game,
Speaker 1: you might be talking baking your cake. I'm sure you
Speaker 1: did on I r L. You have a makeup line
Speaker 1: that you have already launched or are going to already launched. Okay,
Speaker 1: so talk us through that because I love that you're
Speaker 1: doing that. Yeah, you're taking your platform and expanding, So
Speaker 1: talk to us about your makeup line. So that's definitely
Speaker 1: one of the things where I'm like, no streamer has
Speaker 1: ever done this, And I love doing that kind of
Speaker 1: stuff because I feel like it's the steps that you
Speaker 1: kind of need to take to make streaming more mainstream,
Speaker 1: more widely accepted. Kind of with the Amazon docuseries, I
Speaker 1: partnered up with a makeup company called Winky Lux and
Speaker 1: we made a palette super cute and a lip bomb,
Speaker 1: and we launched that and I got such an incredible
Speaker 1: reception from both girls and guys. I think because they
Speaker 1: recognized it as something that hasn't been done before that
Speaker 1: brings more eyeballs to the gaming community, and I think
Speaker 1: in general it was really really successful because of that.
Speaker 1: People really enjoyed the products. It just always makes me
Speaker 1: really happy to come out with things that people love
Speaker 1: and enjoy and use on a day to day. But
Speaker 1: more than anything, I thought it was just cool to
Speaker 1: kind of put it out there that I'm one of
Speaker 1: the top female streamers and I want to say that
Speaker 1: I can be obsessed with video games, and I can
Speaker 1: love makeup, and I can want to look cute, and
Speaker 1: I can love sports, and I feel like it was
Speaker 1: always like kind of a pressure, especially in the past,
Speaker 1: that if you wanted to be a girl and you
Speaker 1: wanted to game, you have to be exactly like this,
Speaker 1: and that was like the only way that people would
Speaker 1: accept you. But I want to say, like, we're humans,
Speaker 1: were multifaceted, we like different things, and like people may
Speaker 1: not accept it, but it is what it is. I
Speaker 1: wasn't engineering, and I was a big math nerd, but
Speaker 1: you know, I also love games and makeup and this
Speaker 1: and that, and kind of to just push that narrative
Speaker 1: forward and hopefully that can kind of, you know, motivate
Speaker 1: people to just be who they are, not feel like
Speaker 1: they have to fit into a certain mold. That was
Speaker 1: always my main goal. Yeah, nobody's putting you in a box.
Speaker 1: You won't let them. So talked me through for people
Speaker 1: who are streaming, and what is the next natural step
Speaker 1: for people because obviously you can stream for as long
Speaker 1: as you want. You can stream for the rest of
Speaker 1: your life if you wanted to. But what do you
Speaker 1: see where do you see yourself because you're not just pokey,
Speaker 1: you're also evan. You have other dreams and goals and
Speaker 1: what what do those look like? So the interesting thing
Speaker 1: is we're kind of the first generation to do this,
Speaker 1: to like be streamers as our full time job and
Speaker 1: then to kind of see where it goes. I kind
Speaker 1: of try to look at YouTube for some inspiration because
Speaker 1: a lot of people did that for a really long
Speaker 1: time and then moved on. And the lovely thing is
Speaker 1: it could literally be anything you want. If you're really
Speaker 1: into acting or singing or something else, sometimes the community
Speaker 1: or platform that you build off of streaming can help
Speaker 1: you get those kind of opportunities. Personally speaking, I think
Speaker 1: I'm just interested in probably having some type of company
Speaker 1: or creating a product for people to enjoy. I've always
Speaker 1: loved that creative process. Maybe I have a lot of ideas,
Speaker 1: and I think in the next couple of years, I
Speaker 1: want to start working with and investing in companies and
Speaker 1: brands that I personally align myself with and helping them
Speaker 1: grow and having you know, parts of it, and then
Speaker 1: in the future I can take more active parts in
Speaker 1: any of those that particularly interest me. Yeah, the you know,
Speaker 1: no concrete plans so far, but you don't I don't
Speaker 1: have I have many eggs and many baskets, lots of acts.
Speaker 1: She's the Easter Bunny, Folks. The point of the show
Speaker 1: obviously is to let people know that the families that
Speaker 1: you've built will open any door that you want. So
Speaker 1: you do have this influence and if you want to
Speaker 1: do a makeup line, one day, you're going to do
Speaker 1: a makeup line and it's going to do really well.
Speaker 1: And if you want streaming, it's it's not just streaming.
Speaker 1: I mean think of YouTubers and think of the Internet
Speaker 1: in general. It allows you to just reach such an
Speaker 1: insane amount of people and it really helps you recognize
Speaker 1: that however unique or particular you may feel, there will
Speaker 1: people that will love that about you and people that
Speaker 1: will want to be part of your community. You just
Speaker 1: you know, have to reach wider and water. What was
Speaker 1: the moment that you realize you had real influence? Oh,
Speaker 1: I went to a League of Legend finals kind of tournament.
Speaker 1: That was like the first time that I was really
Speaker 1: like overwhelmed by the amount of fans, Like there were
Speaker 1: people taking photos of the fact that it was like
Speaker 1: me And then like a bunch of fans and it
Speaker 1: became like a fire hazard level. And I think I
Speaker 1: was really touched by that, because I won't lie. The
Speaker 1: League of Legends community, excuse a bit more toxic than
Speaker 1: most other gaming communities, and sometimes that's like mostly what
Speaker 1: you hear, just like the toxicity and the rude comments.
Speaker 1: You're like, oh, like, I mustn't be like that loved
Speaker 1: or enjoyed, but like showing up to an event and
Speaker 1: having like an insane amount of people like around me
Speaker 1: or want to take photos or say hi. I guess
Speaker 1: that's when I realized, like, wow, we did a thing.
Speaker 1: When I like me, they really like me. How many
Speaker 1: years ago was this? This was maybe three years ago,
Speaker 1: two and a half, two and a half, I think,
Speaker 1: so fairly early. I mean, this happened pretty quickly for you.
Speaker 1: And so now going all and a half years into streaming,
Speaker 1: So going all the way back to parents, right, and
Speaker 1: let's rewind and they let you take your year and
Speaker 1: it's obviously worked out for everybody involved. What do the
Speaker 1: parents think now? My parents are so freaking nice. My
Speaker 1: mom's really funny because she is a teacher in an
Speaker 1: elementary school, and it's gotten to the point where like
Speaker 1: she's like, my, like, students are such big fans of you,
Speaker 1: like could you take a photo or like a video
Speaker 1: saying hi to them? And they love it. She tells
Speaker 1: me all these stories. It's really really so sweet and wholesome.
Speaker 1: I remember I visited them not long ago and one
Speaker 1: of the nights we went out to a restaurant in
Speaker 1: my hometown and the boys in the kitchen like recognized me,
Speaker 1: and the chef came out and he was like, they
Speaker 1: want to take a picture with you? Is that okay?
Speaker 1: I was like, yeah, of course, And then they were
Speaker 1: so kind they paid for a meal, and my mom
Speaker 1: was like just flabbergas that. She was like, that was
Speaker 1: like the best night of your stay, Like they made
Speaker 1: it so sweet. She was incredibly touched, and I think
Speaker 1: for her to see in person, like the type of
Speaker 1: influence that I have, the type of community that I've built,
Speaker 1: like that's when it really solidified it for her that
Speaker 1: this wasn't just like an online thing that I was
Speaker 1: doing on my own, but that I really like put
Speaker 1: in the work and made a lot of connections and
Speaker 1: a wonderful, lovely, big community. Oh that's awesome, and I
Speaker 1: love I love that your parents gave you that opportunity
Speaker 1: and now it's paid off for you and you have
Speaker 1: so much going on. We were supposed to kick off
Speaker 1: this interview with some icebreakers, but we started talking about
Speaker 1: SMR whispering at each other about life. So let's do
Speaker 1: it on the reverse. Let's break the ice now that
Speaker 1: we already talked for an hour, let's just break it.
Speaker 1: So we're gonna play a little game. I'm gonna ask
Speaker 1: you some questions and you're gonna answer them. It's really straightforward.
Speaker 1: Those are the rules of the game. Sounds okay. So
Speaker 1: which Pokemon character would you be if you could be anyone?
Speaker 1: Ev what are you dressing as for Halloween this year?
Speaker 1: I think Lux? She's a League of Legends champion. I
Speaker 1: just acted like I knew who that was. So that
Speaker 1: was my sad because there's definitely people that League of
Speaker 1: Legends is a game. Lux is a character in the game. Great,
Speaker 1: If you could have an alternate Twitch name, what would
Speaker 1: it be? Oh, actually, just my name Imon. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: stop saying great. It was that it was that okay
Speaker 1: with everyone a game you're horrible at c I played
Speaker 1: it like twice, pub g pub g I can't play
Speaker 1: pub that's my husband's favorite game. Kylie lip Kid or
Speaker 1: Jeffrey star Palette. Jeffrey star Palette favorite twitch streamer besides herself.
Speaker 1: There's so many that I like for so many different reasons.
Speaker 1: So I'll just name a few. Shroud, incredible gamer, x
Speaker 1: q c to so many crazy things, Maya such a cutie,
Speaker 1: Janet just so many hot Chubby, she's really funny. Okay,
Speaker 1: so we got lots, so many. I'm sorry there are one.
Speaker 1: And the reason that's hard is because everyone does something different.
Speaker 1: I feel you you're allowed to have a pass on
Speaker 1: that one. Last person you text messaged my agent Hannah.
Speaker 1: She's so sweet. What's up? Hannah's guilty pleasure? Just fried
Speaker 1: chicken counts? It does now. Dave's Hot Chicken? Have you
Speaker 1: had I was about to ask you what your favorite
Speaker 1: fried chicken? I haven't had it? Oh my god? Please?
Speaker 1: You can ordered on Postmates in person. The line is insane.
Speaker 1: Ordered on postmatesated somewhere in l A. I haven't gone
Speaker 1: because I know it's crazy busy. Dave's Dave's Hot Chicken. Okay,
Speaker 1: Dave's Hot Chicken. We're coming for you. If it's on Postmates.
Speaker 1: It's happened. I know what I'm eating. It's busy half
Speaker 1: the time for this good great hidden talent. I can
Speaker 1: touch my tongue to my nose, prove it. She did
Speaker 1: a guys, Wait did you did she swear you can?
Speaker 1: Did it touch? All? Right? Favorite YouTuber um Jenim what
Speaker 1: is what kind of channels? That genim is a beauty
Speaker 1: influence er. It's just fashion stuff shorties or stream e'es
Speaker 1: shorties because on one one weird flex. I know, sorry,
Speaker 1: humble bread but not humble at all. I mean really,
Speaker 1: that's the only distinction you'll You'll win some streaminges. I
Speaker 1: have a feeling something people will be surprised to know
Speaker 1: about you. The first language I learned was French, so
Speaker 1: I only became fluent in English much later in life.
Speaker 1: And I also speak dad. Yeah, so two languages and
Speaker 1: a dialect. That's awesome. Are your parents you're rocking, so
Speaker 1: they're speaking Okay? Got it. If you could be a superhero,
Speaker 1: what would your power be, um? I think like being
Speaker 1: able to move objects around would be freaking dope. You
Speaker 1: mean like, are we talking Stranger Things eleven? Are we talking? Yeah?
Speaker 1: Like just make anything levitate or move on. Yeah, basically
Speaker 1: strange alright. In an alternative universe, what would be your
Speaker 1: career if not streaming? I think either software engineer for
Speaker 1: a gaming company or chemical engineer for a makeup company.
Speaker 1: I feel like you're somehow going to do both anyway.
Speaker 1: So okay, if you could have a choice between having
Speaker 1: an amazing singing voice or sick dance moves, what would
Speaker 1: you choose? Amazing singing voice. Amazing singing voice? Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: me too great. I have the worst voice ever, so
Speaker 1: like a singing voice would just be Ninja or Shroud
Speaker 1: Ah for what? In general? I think Shroud is more
Speaker 1: my type of gamer because he plays a lot of
Speaker 1: different things and it's incredible. He becomes adept at literally
Speaker 1: any game. Nina is cool because he plays Fortnite, but
Speaker 1: you know, I'm not just Fortnite at that makes sense.
Speaker 1: That's a fair answer. Something random we would find on
Speaker 1: your gaming desk. I always have some kind of lip product,
Speaker 1: like something to moisturize these bad boys. Yea, who's your
Speaker 1: biggest fan? You know how everyone has? Okay, yeah, actually,
Speaker 1: you know she's always asking about me. She's like, I
Speaker 1: read this article about you, and the thing is she's
Speaker 1: like the biggest fan of not just like Pokey Buddyman
Speaker 1: as well. You know. So that's that's kind of I mean,
Speaker 1: it's a little unfair, but no, it's it's totally fair.
Speaker 1: Here's about me in all aspects of my life. I
Speaker 1: love that. Okay, so we all know that Drake crashing
Speaker 1: on the Fortnite game with Ninja. If you could have
Speaker 1: any celebrity crashing on one read, let's make that happen
Speaker 1: my heart. Can we make it happen? Brian? Yeah, she's
Speaker 1: she's clearly listening right now, so she just needs to
Speaker 1: sign in Twitter. I know you're watching. I want you
Speaker 1: to know I'm also interested. Love crush Brihanna. Okay read
Speaker 1: that crush stream where you'd love to clap with. I'm
Speaker 1: trying to think of one that I haven't clubbed with
Speaker 1: already that I really want to because I'm the kind
Speaker 1: of person I'm gonna just ask. I was hurrying how
Speaker 1: that happened? You just actually maybe Shroud or this girl
Speaker 1: named hot Chubby. She's a new Korean streamer. She's really cute.
Speaker 1: I think we might I were all stream together. If
Speaker 1: she's ever in l A oh, nice favorite thing to
Speaker 1: snack on while gaming. M I think protein bars because
Speaker 1: they're quick and easy and you don't get your fingers dirty.
Speaker 1: Oh strategy, there is. I've been doing this a long time.
Speaker 1: If you were a muck bog, is it muk bang bong? Yes? Okay,
Speaker 1: So if you're a muck bog YouTuber, what would be
Speaker 1: your first meal or ood on? A lot of people
Speaker 1: do the noodle? The noodles the weirdest thing you've seen
Speaker 1: in a twitch chat? Oh my girl? Oh yeah. Um.
Speaker 1: There's people that will just like confess random things. You know.
Speaker 1: It's like it's the Internet. It's anonymous, Like I like
Speaker 1: put toothpaste my toast this morning, you know, and you're
Speaker 1: just like seeing in your child, Like I think that's
Speaker 1: a good weird Yeah, totally. And I don't have this
Speaker 1: question down, but I'm curious because I'm sure you have
Speaker 1: a lot of fans. Have you ever had a weird, awkward,
Speaker 1: uncomfortable fan interaction? Oh? Yeah, they're a story we can
Speaker 1: end up. I'll yeah, I'll do a quick one. This
Speaker 1: one's one of my favorites. It's a good one. So
Speaker 1: this guy comes up to me. I think it was
Speaker 1: like one of the very first twitch cons I think
Speaker 1: there's been There's been about four, and this might have
Speaker 1: been my first or second. So he comes up to
Speaker 1: me and he's like, oh, like I'm a fan, blah
Speaker 1: blah blah. It takes a picture and then he goes,
Speaker 1: can I show you a magic trick? And like who
Speaker 1: doesn't love magic tricks? Hell? Yeah? So I'm like yeah, sure.
Speaker 1: He takes out a deck of card, opens it up
Speaker 1: and he's like, pick a card, pick card, look at it.
Speaker 1: Oh asa harts aren't and then it back in and
Speaker 1: he's like, oh wait. Before that, he's like, okay, now
Speaker 1: you have to kiss the card. So I kissed the
Speaker 1: card and he's like he put it back in the
Speaker 1: deck and I do. He shuffles it up and he's like, okay,
Speaker 1: now I'm going to find your card. And I was
Speaker 1: like nice, I'm like waiting for the trick, and he goes,
Speaker 1: but for me to find the card you kissed, you
Speaker 1: need to kiss me. I gotta give the guys, right
Speaker 1: how to give gotta creative? Yeah, creative creative. Unfortunately I
Speaker 1: didn't do it. He didn't really curious as to like,
Speaker 1: if I had done it, then what right would he
Speaker 1: have found it or would he have just like taken
Speaker 1: the kiss and gone home. That's a mystery we just
Speaker 1: have to live with. I'm kind of living with it.
Speaker 1: I think you live with that for effort, a for effort,
Speaker 1: but you failed on execution. So it was so nice
Speaker 1: having you here. I could talk to you forever. I
Speaker 1: feel like we've already gone way over and you probably
Speaker 1: have things. I'm really impressed by how much you know
Speaker 1: about the twitch scene. Serious. I kind of have to.
Speaker 1: If I didn't, my husband would be so good for you. Well,
Speaker 1: it is nice, isn't it. But but yeah, thanks for
Speaker 1: stopping in anytime you have something. I know you have
Speaker 1: lots of stuff going on. Please make sure that you
Speaker 1: keep us in the loop. Would love to keep track
Speaker 1: of what you've got going on. I'd love to come
Speaker 1: back some Yeah, come back any time. We can even
Speaker 1: like game together. I'm the worst gamer and then we
Speaker 1: can't do that. Yes, we can't know. I literally, I
Speaker 1: literally don't know how to game at all. Nobody knows
Speaker 1: when they start. That's the biggest barrier. People are like, Oh,
Speaker 1: I'm just not good at it. No one's good. I
Speaker 1: pick up something new. I'm not good. You have been
Speaker 1: gaming for you. You really think somebody who has zero
Speaker 1: gaming talent can become a streamer because I'll make it
Speaker 1: a challenge. Yes, let's take it on. What's what's the
Speaker 1: easiest beginner game that I can just the thing. There's
Speaker 1: so many games that are like storyline heavy, where it's
Speaker 1: just like clicking and doing very basic things and making sure.
Speaker 1: Oh my god. One of my favorites actually, like my
Speaker 1: top two favorite games, Detroit Become Human. It's a console game.
Speaker 1: There are some like quick time actions where it's like, okay,
Speaker 1: you need to press the A button and you have
Speaker 1: like three seconds to do it. Can do but even that,
Speaker 1: like there are a difficulty setting so you can make
Speaker 1: it easier harder. It's so good, you will love it.
Speaker 1: I'm with your husband even because basically the decisions you
Speaker 1: make give you a different ending at the end of
Speaker 1: the story, and it's just incredible plot, very interesting. You'll
Speaker 1: be sitting there at the end like thinking about different
Speaker 1: stuff you could have done for the entire promise. It's alright, guys, well,
Speaker 1: I hope you enjoyed the last ever podcast because I'm
Speaker 1: becoming a streamer. It was a nice having yet, but yeah,
Speaker 1: we will let you go. Thank you for coming. We
Speaker 1: loved having you. This was so much fun. Oh and
Speaker 1: I forgot to mention the Pokey was kind enough to
Speaker 1: sign three Twitch paraphernalia's. Yeah, so we have to Twitch
Speaker 1: t shirts and then we have a Twitch hoodie, which
Speaker 1: I feel like everyone's gonna want the hoodie. But guess what, guys,
Speaker 1: the T shirts are pretty dope as well. They're all
Speaker 1: the Twitch purple. Pokey sign it with her own two hands,
Speaker 1: but one hand because she signed with one hand. So
Speaker 1: we will be doing a giveaway same day as this airs,
Speaker 1: So you guys, as soon as you hear this, make
Speaker 1: sure you guys go follow us on our Instagram at
Speaker 1: Behind the Influence show. So make sure you guys follow
Speaker 1: us there and tag three friends that are fans of
Speaker 1: Pokey and we'll be giving away these three. So not
Speaker 1: just one winner, We're gonna have three winners. So that's
Speaker 1: really exciting. Yea, thanks again for stopping in. We had
Speaker 1: so much fun with you. Anything else, I feel like
Speaker 1: I just want to keep talking. I'll be back and
Speaker 1: we can. Okay, great, great, great, al right, guys. Bye.
Speaker 1: Behind the Influences a production of I Heart Radio and
Speaker 1: TDC media,