Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Jonathan Sower and you're listening to Outspoken. I'd
Speaker 1: go anywhere and it was always your so and those
Speaker 1: ex not you're Jonathan. So just being known for your
Speaker 1: own person, I guess was probably the most frustrating thing.
Speaker 1: I feel like most of my friends don't even know that,
Speaker 1: and most of my following especially don't know that.
Speaker 2: Wow, we're just going to be dropping bombs in this
Speaker 2: interview today.
Speaker 1: One day that it was like a weekend and Maddie
Speaker 1: was out drinking with a few friends and she just
Speaker 1: replied to one of my stories lit in the DMS.
Speaker 3: She's in the DM.
Speaker 2: Hello, and welcome to a very special episode of Outspoken.
Speaker 2: This is our first Under the Influence episode, and today
Speaker 2: we're joined by influencer Jonathan Souer. We were first introduced
Speaker 2: to Jonathan, of course, through his highly publicized relationship with
Speaker 2: YouTuber Shannie Grimmond. Now, the former accountant turned social media
Speaker 2: sensation is making a name for himself for all the
Speaker 2: right reasons. With over one hundred and fifty thousand followers
Speaker 2: on Instagram, Jonathan's one of the most talked about influencers
Speaker 2: in the country, and his latest relationship with fellow influencer
Speaker 2: Madison Woolly has proven he truly is Australia's best boyfriend
Speaker 2: of Instagram. So, hi, Jonathan, thank you so much for
Speaker 2: joining us on Outspoken. We're very excited that this is
Speaker 2: your first podcast that you've been on.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's correct, I haven't been on you, but it's
Speaker 3: super excited.
Speaker 2: Well, thank you. Now, a lot of people will know
Speaker 2: you from Instagram and YouTube, but a lot of us
Speaker 2: don't know the real Jonathan. Can you tell us a
Speaker 2: little bit about what it was like growing up in Queensland.
Speaker 1: So I originally grew up in Rockcanton, which is like
Speaker 1: a small town about seven hundred kilometers north of Brisbane,
Speaker 1: And so I grew up there.
Speaker 3: Playing sport and then also I did a lot of
Speaker 3: study in and came in Accountain that way. So I
Speaker 3: was never obviously I never.
Speaker 1: Started off during the social media side until I moved
Speaker 1: to Brisbane when I was about nineteen or twenty.
Speaker 2: And what were you like at school? Were you a
Speaker 2: pretty good student? I suppose getting into accounting.
Speaker 1: I was one of those kids that kind of just
Speaker 1: as soon as I was shown once with everything, I
Speaker 1: was just kind of clicked. I was really good with
Speaker 1: like mass wasn't really good. It wasn't the best with
Speaker 1: the English and stuff like that. But I was also
Speaker 1: wondering that just pick things up really quickly and just
Speaker 1: learned really quickly. So I was one of those probably
Speaker 1: kind of kids that kind of just distracted everyone because
Speaker 1: I'd picked things up really quickly.
Speaker 2: When you were younger, was there something that you always
Speaker 2: wanted to be growing up?
Speaker 1: Yeah, So basically I just wanted to I always wanted
Speaker 1: like an office job because I saw my dad work
Speaker 1: in an office at some stage, and it was just
Speaker 1: something to do with the whole business and running my
Speaker 1: own business, and it's just kind of one of the
Speaker 1: things that I kind of grew.
Speaker 3: Up with my whole family just working with other people,
Speaker 3: and so I'm.
Speaker 1: Not sure where I got it from, but I always
Speaker 1: just wanted to own my own business and work for myself,
Speaker 1: and that was always like a big goal for me,
Speaker 1: and so I guess that's a big reason why I
Speaker 1: kind of got out of the accounting as well and
Speaker 1: started working for myself.
Speaker 2: And so, can you tell us what it was like
Speaker 2: before you became insta famous? So obviously you had this
Speaker 2: job in accounting, So were you not enjoying the job
Speaker 2: very much.
Speaker 3: No, so I worked.
Speaker 1: So when I came out of high school, I did
Speaker 1: full time unique straight away and I did it for
Speaker 1: about six months, and then I got referred onto from
Speaker 1: my one of my lecturers that an accounting firm was
Speaker 1: like taking in like basically like an internship, but I
Speaker 1: was getting paid. It was basically just working as an
Speaker 1: accountant and just studying full time.
Speaker 3: So I did that for about seven years.
Speaker 1: I worked for an accounting accounting firm between three different months,
Speaker 1: and I loved what I did. I loved my job,
Speaker 1: and then I moved to Brisbane. I was working for
Speaker 1: that accounting firm for about five and a half years
Speaker 1: and I loved it. I had no intentions of believing it,
Speaker 1: so I was. I was doing my influencer kind of
Speaker 1: job as well with that for about for about a
Speaker 1: year and a half two years, and I could have
Speaker 1: taken it and gone full time with that like a
Speaker 1: lot earlier than I did, but I was just really
Speaker 1: happy with where I was and my friend that I
Speaker 1: was working for, I was really happy.
Speaker 3: I love working that. And then it just got to
Speaker 3: a stage where I was missing.
Speaker 1: Out on a lot and I started and I started
Speaker 1: my own business from there.
Speaker 2: Now a lot of people who listened to us would
Speaker 2: know you, of course from your ex and her YouTube channel.
Speaker 2: Of course, that's how I suppose everyone was introduced to you.
Speaker 2: Was that a very strange world to be introduced into,
Speaker 2: because I suppose you're going from you know, normal life,
Speaker 2: going to UNI working and then to suddenly be taken
Speaker 2: into this influence a world. What was it like?
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was weird.
Speaker 1: I guess at the start it was it wasn't too
Speaker 1: bad because obviously the following wasn't too big, and we
Speaker 1: kind of like grew as we grew together kind of thing.
Speaker 3: And then from there, you.
Speaker 1: Know, go into the shops and getting I guess, like
Speaker 1: people recognizing you everywhere, and you know, sometimes it'll get
Speaker 1: to the point where people would be just in like
Speaker 1: tears and shaking. And that was something that I still
Speaker 1: never you can never get used to, I guess, like
Speaker 1: having that much of an influence.
Speaker 2: So do someone do you get that on a daily basis?
Speaker 2: Say you're work walking down the street with of course
Speaker 2: your lovely new girlfriend Madison Well and she's obviously got
Speaker 2: a following as well. Will you guys just get stopped
Speaker 2: on a daily basis, probably.
Speaker 1: Not too much on a daily Like, it depends where
Speaker 1: you are. I guess, like it's a lot about followers.
Speaker 1: I guess, like the younger younger demographic as well, So
Speaker 1: it depends where you are.
Speaker 3: If you go to like certain.
Speaker 1: Shopping centers or those kind of areas where that they
Speaker 1: kind of like hang out, you do get stopped a
Speaker 1: lot more. I know, on like nights out, it's a lot.
Speaker 1: I guess it's a lot worse people like drinking and
Speaker 1: influence of like alcohol and stuff are just it's easier
Speaker 1: for them to come up to you and like speak
Speaker 1: to you because I've had like a few drinks and
Speaker 1: that kind of thing as well.
Speaker 2: Yeah, what about your family? So, for example, if you're
Speaker 2: at Christmas Day and you're talking to your relatives about
Speaker 2: what you do, do they understand what it is to
Speaker 2: be an influencer? Are they sort of surprised by the
Speaker 2: whole thing?
Speaker 1: They were super surprised and like kind of weird and
Speaker 1: about it for the first couple of years. But now
Speaker 1: I think my immediate family are kind of like used
Speaker 1: to it. But once my cousins and other people outside
Speaker 1: of that would see it for the first time. They
Speaker 1: just wouldn't believe it until they really skinned And so
Speaker 1: my family would tell my extended family, and I couldn't
Speaker 1: understand it really until they kind of like sawt it
Speaker 1: for themselves. But there's been weird things that have happened
Speaker 1: to my My mum's actually a primary school teacher. Oh
Speaker 1: and she's actually had like students that have said, like,
Speaker 1: you know, that knew that she was my mum and
Speaker 1: they kind of got hit, got kind of got weirded
Speaker 1: out about that, or that would be that would.
Speaker 2: Be weird as a parent, because I suppose it's still
Speaker 2: a very new job an influencer. And I mean even
Speaker 2: for you being an accountant, did you used to have
Speaker 2: influences come to you and you're kind of like, oh,
Speaker 2: what do I put this down.
Speaker 3: As a job or yeah, no, it was.
Speaker 1: It was something I was super new, especially with my
Speaker 1: accounting firm and my boss, because I guess they're a
Speaker 1: bit like the older generation and they kind of don't
Speaker 1: understand it either, And they were very like at the start,
Speaker 1: they were very concerned that it wasn't going to be
Speaker 1: something else going to be around.
Speaker 3: For a while. They didn't really take it seriously.
Speaker 1: And it wasn't until they realized that people are taking
Speaker 1: it on as a full time job that they really
Speaker 1: take took it seriously as well.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and what you touched on before, it is a business.
Speaker 2: These days, you run your own business. So to someone
Speaker 2: who might not understand, how do influencers make money.
Speaker 1: I guess influencers these days there's all there's kind of
Speaker 1: all different ones. But really what happens is they have
Speaker 1: their own platform and I guess their own niche, and
Speaker 1: people follow them because they like them for a certain
Speaker 1: I guess style, for their own or for their own
Speaker 1: niche as well. So mine's kind of like fashion fitness
Speaker 1: kind of feels. So people would follow me for that.
Speaker 3: Kind of stuff. A brand would come.
Speaker 1: To me and say, we like your style, it fits
Speaker 1: in with our brand. Would you like to work with us?
Speaker 1: And if so, we'll do a deal together. And so
Speaker 1: from there, I will promote their clothing or something that
Speaker 1: I like. Obviously, then the brand would would want my
Speaker 1: followers to buy stuff, so they would.
Speaker 3: Only kind of promote in a way.
Speaker 1: That they know that they're going to make a return
Speaker 1: and it's going to be relevant from my kind of following.
Speaker 1: But then again, like I always think that obviously, doing
Speaker 1: the influencer kind of thing is a massive thing that
Speaker 1: that's going to start off the rest of your life.
Speaker 1: So you have to be smart enough to really create
Speaker 1: something else on top of that, and that's where like
Speaker 1: your real business really starts because you have that platform.
Speaker 2: That's really cool. And obviously there's a lot of positives
Speaker 2: that come from being an influencer, but I would assume
Speaker 2: there's lots of negatives. And you know, you see people
Speaker 2: who are being trolled online and that kind of thing.
Speaker 2: What would be the most negative thing about being an influencer?
Speaker 1: I guess there's a lot of There is a lot
Speaker 1: of that negative troll and you know, people just sitting
Speaker 1: behind their keyboards and stuff like that. But there's also
Speaker 1: like a massive stigma around influencers and them doing no
Speaker 1: work and everything taking it easily. And there's a lot
Speaker 1: of influencers out there that really take advantage of a
Speaker 1: lot of people and they get told they're stuck up
Speaker 1: and things like that. So people really as soon as
Speaker 1: you say you're in that kind of field, that will
Speaker 1: automatically think you're that kind of person. So there's a
Speaker 1: big stigma around that and you really get classed as
Speaker 1: if one influencer does something bad, it affects everyone and.
Speaker 3: What makes sense?
Speaker 2: Yeah, and what ways do you go about trying to
Speaker 2: break that stigma with the brands and people that you
Speaker 2: work with.
Speaker 1: I always just make sure that I try and just
Speaker 1: stay real and authentic. I never try and promote anything
Speaker 1: that I haven't used or anything like that.
Speaker 3: And I guess just with the anything I post.
Speaker 1: I just try to be real about it and not
Speaker 1: trying and put a fake For saner On, I think
Speaker 1: that's a big reason why I guess a lot of
Speaker 1: my followers have taken a good liking to me as well.
Speaker 2: And do you think it's also about perhaps not aligning
Speaker 2: with yourself with those people who could be perceived in
Speaker 2: that negative light as well? I suppose there's an influencer
Speaker 2: you must go to these events where there's perhaps people
Speaker 2: that are putting a bad light on other influence. Is
Speaker 2: it important to you who you align yourself with as well?
Speaker 1: Yeah, that is a big thing as well. Like I
Speaker 1: know people in the past have had that kind of issue.
Speaker 1: I guess for me, I've never really had your many
Speaker 1: problem with it, even though, like I've been too events
Speaker 1: with people that have been like very controversial and stuff
Speaker 1: like that, and I think they just as long as
Speaker 1: you're staying real to your like to your followers and
Speaker 1: basically posting posting things that are very real about your
Speaker 1: whole life, and you don't change for anyone else, then
Speaker 1: your followers are really they know that you're not going
Speaker 1: to take their side or go into that other you know,
Speaker 1: change your personality.
Speaker 2: And what is it actually like being at one of
Speaker 2: those influencer events, because we obviously see the videos and
Speaker 2: the Insta stories and it looks like most of the
Speaker 2: time people are just on their phones or I don't know,
Speaker 2: Can you sort of give us an insight into the
Speaker 2: reality of being at one of those events.
Speaker 1: I think for myself, it's actually one of my favorite
Speaker 1: events to go to other ones that are influent events
Speaker 1: because you really are a lot of the time you
Speaker 1: don't get to catch up with a lot of the influencers.
Speaker 1: So I know myself, I catch myself all the time
Speaker 1: just having too much fun and catching up with a
Speaker 1: lot of people that I actually don't see for a
Speaker 1: long time instead of being on my phone.
Speaker 3: But that's just me.
Speaker 1: You do see a lot of the people that are
Speaker 1: just constantly taken a lot of photos and are they're
Speaker 1: just basically get some content.
Speaker 3: And then leave. So I think you really kind of
Speaker 3: have a couple of different kind of people that are there.
Speaker 1: But it is it's one of those things that where
Speaker 1: everything goes, everything's over the top.
Speaker 3: The brands are really trying.
Speaker 1: To get over the top design and styling and stuff
Speaker 1: like that.
Speaker 3: Just so people do post a lot more as well.
Speaker 2: Sof and I we run our own business. We run
Speaker 2: a public relations business, so we actually work from home
Speaker 2: and often sometimes we feel of a little bit of guilt.
Speaker 2: You know, you always have to feel like you're doing
Speaker 2: something constantly. Do you feel like that sometimes because you've
Speaker 2: gone from the nine to five job and obviously you
Speaker 2: can work from the comfort of your own house, do
Speaker 2: you often feel guilty.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's a massive thing.
Speaker 1: I know, Money and myself were because we're at home
Speaker 1: most of the time together.
Speaker 3: Doing our work.
Speaker 1: And it's especially with our kind of personality, like we
Speaker 1: love to be busy and we hate when we're not busy.
Speaker 3: So that's a massive thing. Like it's the guilt.
Speaker 1: And then also just I get bored a lot and
Speaker 1: I get I guess like stressed as well. When I
Speaker 1: don't have a lot of work like that, I like
Speaker 1: to keep myself busy all the time. And then I
Speaker 1: guess the other side of that where people don't really
Speaker 1: notice as well, is especially when you're by yourself and
Speaker 1: you don't have like other influences around you, and does
Speaker 1: kind of get like lonely if that makes sense, at
Speaker 1: home because you go a whole day and you don't
Speaker 1: speak with another human.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's such a strange concept because your whole life
Speaker 2: is based around I suppose, filming yourself taking photos. But
Speaker 2: then do you find that you kind of just become
Speaker 2: in your own little world because you're just focusing on you,
Speaker 2: And I know I always find that would be this,
Speaker 2: I think the strangest part of it because you're on
Speaker 2: social media, so you're being social, but then, as you say,
Speaker 2: you're at home by yourself, So it's kind of quite
Speaker 2: contradictory the lifestyle, isn't it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, definitely I noticed that a lot when I was
Speaker 1: in Brisbane, like probably the last year, and I kind
Speaker 1: of got myself away from that. I'm having Most of
Speaker 1: my best friends were all like Trady's and people that
Speaker 1: really didn't use social media, and I kind of like,
Speaker 1: I like that because then I could separate myself from
Speaker 1: what I was doing as well, because you're always, I guess,
Speaker 1: like expected to post most days, post a lot of
Speaker 1: stories and that kind of thing.
Speaker 3: So I kind of us that that was my way
Speaker 3: of escaping it.
Speaker 1: But now being down in I guess in Sydney and
Speaker 1: being around a lot more people that did a similar thing,
Speaker 1: and I guess when you're just really happy with how
Speaker 1: your life is, it's a lot easier for you just
Speaker 1: to get a lot of content as well. And it's
Speaker 1: it just comes like second nature to us now, so
Speaker 1: we just do our own thing at home, but then
Speaker 1: when we go out and actually do things, it's easy
Speaker 1: just to just I guess, like natural now for us
Speaker 1: to get that kind of content.
Speaker 2: And you've obviously been into quite high profile relationships which
Speaker 2: have both played out online. What is it like having
Speaker 2: a relationship so public.
Speaker 3: I don't think it's it's had any issues.
Speaker 1: Maddie and I are just basically just too normal people
Speaker 1: that we just live our own lives every now and
Speaker 1: then we have to like answer a few questions about
Speaker 1: certain things.
Speaker 3: But both of us haven't been in the same industry.
Speaker 1: I think it's been like the best thing that's happened
Speaker 1: to us, I know myself anyway, just having someone there
Speaker 1: that you can just like speak to about anything, like
Speaker 1: ask for their opinion, and we just motivate each other
Speaker 1: all the time with everything that we do. So for me,
Speaker 1: it's like, I don't have any issues with it because
Speaker 1: we are just two normal people that we go and
Speaker 1: just do our whole lives together, just completely normal.
Speaker 3: It's just that I guess people think of you a little.
Speaker 1: Bit differently, and every now and then you have to
Speaker 1: answer a few questions about that.
Speaker 3: And people will talk about it.
Speaker 1: But yeah, it's really just motivating. We just motivate each
Speaker 1: other and it's actually really helpful.
Speaker 2: And I'm so sorry because I know x's are a
Speaker 2: bit of a touchy topic. But was it quite difficult
Speaker 2: having your breakup played out online? Because I know it
Speaker 2: was one of Shiny Kruman's most viewed videos, and I know,
Speaker 2: like it would be quite difficult having that information out
Speaker 2: there also on the other person, you know, the other
Speaker 2: person bringing out those breakups hard enough without it being
Speaker 2: over social Mediaah, No.
Speaker 3: It was.
Speaker 1: I guess it was difficult in certain certain ways. More
Speaker 1: just the fact of trying to be myself and trying
Speaker 1: to be myself in public. So a lot of people
Speaker 1: would just constantly just they know me through her, and
Speaker 1: it was just I'd go anywhere and it was always
Speaker 1: your so and so those ex not You're.
Speaker 3: Jonathan, Yeah, if that makes sense.
Speaker 1: So just being known for your own person, I guess
Speaker 1: was probably the most frustrating thing, and that was the
Speaker 1: hard part about it, But the rest of it was
Speaker 1: it was quite easy.
Speaker 3: Like you do have people that talk about it.
Speaker 1: But I feel like in any kind of thing these
Speaker 1: days in the world, you always kind of you're going
Speaker 1: to have people that talk about you in different ways,
Speaker 1: and it's just how you deal with it, I guess.
Speaker 2: And obviously you're with an extremely You're in a fantastic
Speaker 2: relationship now with Madison, And we've had a little bit
Speaker 2: about how the two of you met, but you you've
Speaker 2: sort of spoken a bit about on YouTube, But are
Speaker 2: you able to explain to our listeners how you guys.
Speaker 1: Met MADDI lived in Brisbane for a while and we
Speaker 1: knew each other's like basically I knew every single one
Speaker 1: of her friends before I met her. She was the
Speaker 1: last one of the whole friendship group, and we have
Speaker 1: a lot of mutual friends and we've been at events
Speaker 1: and just lots of different things together, but we didn't
Speaker 1: even know.
Speaker 3: And I guess it's been in like the influencer world.
Speaker 3: Do you speak to a lot of other.
Speaker 1: Influences just through social media a lot easier than you
Speaker 1: do with everyone else.
Speaker 3: And one day that it.
Speaker 1: Was like a weekend and Maddie was out drinking with
Speaker 1: a few friends and she just replied to one of
Speaker 1: my stories.
Speaker 2: And she split in the DMS.
Speaker 1: She the DM.
Speaker 3: Is that one of those things I'll always have over
Speaker 3: now exactly.
Speaker 2: Oh, that's a cool story. Do you kind of you've
Speaker 2: got those first little first little message as well?
Speaker 1: Yeah, from from there, she because she was living in
Speaker 1: Sydney at the time and I was living in Brisbane,
Speaker 1: and then from then on she was basically coming back
Speaker 1: to Brisbane like uh.
Speaker 3: Five days later.
Speaker 1: And then we end up meeting out our friendship groups
Speaker 1: met out at a bar and we kind of had
Speaker 1: drinks together from then and then caught up again a
Speaker 1: couple of weeks later, a couple of days later.
Speaker 3: And then we just yeah, I was down in Sydney a.
Speaker 1: Lot for work, and I had shoots and stuff down here,
Speaker 1: so we just kept kept catching up after that and
Speaker 1: it kind of went from there.
Speaker 2: That's cool. I mean, I've my boyfriend used to live
Speaker 2: in Sydney and we did long distance three years, so
Speaker 2: I know how difficult it is. But was it made
Speaker 2: a little bit easier for you having that flexible lifestyle,
Speaker 2: being able to go back, you know, to and from
Speaker 2: Brisbane and Sydney.
Speaker 1: No, it was, it was, It was actually really easy.
Speaker 1: We basically only spent before I moved down here. I
Speaker 1: think we spent two weeks away from each other in
Speaker 1: one block, which when Matt was when Maddie went overseas.
Speaker 3: Other than that, I think we spent maybe.
Speaker 1: I think it was under a week where we hadn't
Speaker 1: spent like a week together, and that was that was
Speaker 1: the moment we hadn't spent together. So obviously with our job,
Speaker 1: we can work anywhere from what with Wi Fi and
Speaker 1: our laptops. And it was actually good because I was
Speaker 1: getting a lot more work done when I was around
Speaker 1: her because she was kind of motivating me in that sense,
Speaker 1: which was also another really good thing.
Speaker 3: So it worked out really well.
Speaker 2: That's heaps good and from what we've seen of the
Speaker 2: videos that you guys have done together, you seem to
Speaker 2: be I'm going to put it out there the best
Speaker 2: boyfriend of Instagram, and I'm pretty sure that he's a
Speaker 2: pretty good girlfriend of Instagram too. What would be your tips?
Speaker 2: Because my boyfriend hates taking photographs, we went on a
Speaker 2: European holiday and it was not good. What would be
Speaker 2: your advice to boyfriends out there on how to be
Speaker 2: a good boyfriend of Instagram.
Speaker 3: Oh, that's a hard one.
Speaker 1: I feel like you just got to be very very
Speaker 1: patient and supportives, and basically you just got to ask
Speaker 1: a lot of questions. You just gotta if you do
Speaker 1: round one when you're taking photos, you do round one
Speaker 1: and basically just asking what's wrong with it?
Speaker 3: What is you?
Speaker 2: James?
Speaker 3: And then just go from there.
Speaker 2: That's some very good advice. And what about and what
Speaker 2: about for men wanting to take their own photos as well?
Speaker 2: Your Instagram feed obviously is very impressive. Do you have
Speaker 2: any tips about for men about how to take good
Speaker 2: photos of themselves as well and getting a bit more
Speaker 2: creative in their content.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's a good one as well. I just kind
Speaker 3: of like being different.
Speaker 1: I try and I follow a few people from overseas
Speaker 1: like that. I like them for inspiration, but I'm one
Speaker 1: of those people that have always kind of just like,
Speaker 1: if Maddie says that she likes it photo, I would
Speaker 1: have been like, Okay, I might not like it that much,
Speaker 1: but she's gonna be honest with me, and if she
Speaker 1: likes it.
Speaker 3: I feel like everyone else is gonna like it.
Speaker 1: So I always ask for advice and if someone if
Speaker 1: she says she does like it, I just it.
Speaker 2: And we've seen in the past, you've been creating a
Speaker 2: lot of videos about you know, fashion, which are great
Speaker 2: for men because there's really not that much stuff out
Speaker 2: there for them. Is that something you're looking at creating
Speaker 2: more of.
Speaker 3: Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 1: I think it's a bit harder for like maybe the
Speaker 1: last month I haven't been able to do it, but
Speaker 1: I am looking to do it as soon as possible again,
Speaker 1: especially with like the festival season coming up.
Speaker 3: But I just felt like the exact same.
Speaker 1: I saw a guy do it overseas about six months ago,
Speaker 1: and I've been looking at it for a long time
Speaker 1: and I was like, this is really cool. I would
Speaker 1: love to do it, and it's something that I feel
Speaker 1: like styling. There's something I've always loved to try and
Speaker 1: I would love to get into as a job. But
Speaker 1: I wanted to try, and yeah, because I always had
Speaker 1: a lot of girls that were commented on my on
Speaker 1: my photos and say and tag their boyfriends and say like,
Speaker 1: you should get this outfit, you should get this outfit,
Speaker 1: And I thought that was an easy way for me
Speaker 1: to try and get new ideas out there and help
Speaker 1: out people like that as well, and then obviously also
Speaker 1: to boost my male following as well and get my
Speaker 1: name out of there in that way.
Speaker 2: That's really cool. You mentioned obviously you get a lot
Speaker 2: of messages from girls on there, and we always hear
Speaker 2: these horror stories about female influencers getting sent I suppose,
Speaker 2: like you know, unsolicited photos. As a male influencer, do
Speaker 2: you ever get sent anything you feel a bit uncomfortable about?
Speaker 3: Oh, yeah, there's definitely. So.
Speaker 1: I feel like there's a big stigma around guys, mean,
Speaker 1: like really really bad and girls doing nothing. Yeah.
Speaker 3: I feel like when you really see it, it's i'd say,
Speaker 3: it's just as bad really.
Speaker 1: Ah. Yeah, you get some and it's always at the
Speaker 1: worst time as well, when you're not expecting something like.
Speaker 2: That we were talking to you.
Speaker 3: You look at it and you're like, oh.
Speaker 2: Well, that's yeah, we were talking to an influencer we know.
Speaker 2: And she was saying that it's hard because the photos
Speaker 2: will show up as little tiles and you have to
Speaker 2: sort of click on it to see what it is.
Speaker 3: You're like, oh, my god, exactly.
Speaker 1: And I try, and over the last couple of months,
Speaker 1: I've really tried to get back to everyone on my
Speaker 1: social media and like try and reply as much as
Speaker 1: I can. And it's hard because, like you, you really
Speaker 1: aren't expecting it, and you'll get someone with like you'll
Speaker 1: get like a young person send your message and they'll
Speaker 1: be just like being really nice and being so innocent,
Speaker 1: and then you really don't expect it.
Speaker 3: And the next one it is do something just super graphic, and.
Speaker 2: We're talking about obviously, well, I suppose these an't really
Speaker 2: nice messages, but these are from people who admire you.
Speaker 2: But just back to the issue of trolling, what would
Speaker 2: you say to people out there who do troll influencers.
Speaker 1: I actually reply to some people sometimes when they do
Speaker 1: send those kind of messages to me, and I just
Speaker 1: replied to them and say, like they really need to
Speaker 1: just think before they send those messages.
Speaker 3: I'm lucky where I can just let it go.
Speaker 1: But I said, there's so many people out there that,
Speaker 1: you know, have mental issues, and it's because of people
Speaker 1: like them that they and they need to really like
Speaker 1: think twice before they send something. I always grew up
Speaker 1: with my parents always saying, you don't have anything nice
Speaker 1: to say, don't say it at all.
Speaker 3: But you know, there's so many people, like, the.
Speaker 1: Suicide thing is just such a big, such a big
Speaker 1: problem at the moment, and and there's so many, so
Speaker 1: many boyses out there that are trying to help it
Speaker 1: and trying to improve everything. And then there's there's still
Speaker 1: these guys that are still sending those trolling messages.
Speaker 2: And what do you think the worst thing you've had
Speaker 2: someone say to you?
Speaker 1: Ah, there's been some really bad but you know, just
Speaker 1: telling yourself that you need to kill yourself and all
Speaker 1: those kind of things, they're just, yeah, there's some really
Speaker 1: bad things.
Speaker 3: I don't think it gets any worse than that.
Speaker 2: It's disgusting. It's so shocking that people have this need
Speaker 2: to go and tell people that, Like, I'm sure if
Speaker 2: they saw you face to face, they wouldn't have the
Speaker 2: guts to say any of it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly right.
Speaker 1: And I think there's a lot of people that just
Speaker 1: you know, they create these fake accounts and then just
Speaker 1: send out these messages. I'm guessing they send the same
Speaker 1: message out to a lot of people. But if they
Speaker 1: don't have an issue with me, why watch my videos?
Speaker 1: Why watch my follow me for a start, which I
Speaker 1: guess is helping me. Yeah, in a way, I'm fine.
Speaker 1: You keep following me if you want, but your messages
Speaker 1: aren't going to affect me.
Speaker 2: And it must be tough as well in that situation
Speaker 2: as a boyfriend of an influencer as well, because I mean,
Speaker 2: you know, if I was copying abuse, my boyfriend want
Speaker 2: to step in and say something, but then you know,
Speaker 2: it's a difficult territory.
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly, it's just super protective. But I'm burried exactly
Speaker 1: the same. Like if I got a message about Mattie,
Speaker 1: I would say something like I find it hard to
Speaker 1: say not say something back to it to that person
Speaker 1: as well.
Speaker 2: What I find so surprising though, is someone like you, you
Speaker 2: only put out sort of really positive content, both yourself
Speaker 2: and madisone, and for somebody to say that to you,
Speaker 2: you know, go kill yourself. You just think what is
Speaker 2: going on in that person's life for them to be
Speaker 2: so hateful, And it's I'm assuming it's coming from a
Speaker 2: place of of jealousy, but still it's awful that you
Speaker 2: have to put up with that kind of stuff.
Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly right.
Speaker 1: And to be honest, I think there's a lot of
Speaker 1: people that are jealous that even don't say anything, and
Speaker 1: they they want to. They want to try and hold
Speaker 1: you back as much as possible, so they're the ones
Speaker 1: that create the fake accounts and do it. I just
Speaker 1: feel like people just need to be more relaxed in life,
Speaker 1: Like you don't have to follow people that you don't like.
Speaker 3: Why waste your time and your whole life to follow.
Speaker 1: People that you don't like and to and to waste
Speaker 1: your energy and comment on them. Everyone needs to follow
Speaker 1: people and you know all that kind of stuff to
Speaker 1: people that are going to listen up and make your
Speaker 1: life better, not take you know, take their own life down.
Speaker 2: That's so true. And I think that a lot of
Speaker 2: the content, as Amy were saying, that you put out
Speaker 2: is so positive. Watching your YouTube is a guilty pleasure
Speaker 2: of Amy and I so we really enjoy your content. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and so what I mean obviously as a viewer, what
Speaker 2: are there a few things like if you could say
Speaker 2: three things that would surprise your viewers to learn about you,
Speaker 2: Is there some stuff that you know that you haven't
Speaker 2: put out online that we might be shocked to know.
Speaker 1: Probably the big one would be for everyone just thinks
Speaker 1: you're an extrovert straight away and can go up and
Speaker 1: can talk to anyone, and.
Speaker 3: Super out going and that kind of thing.
Speaker 1: But I think I'd probably class myself as an introvert
Speaker 1: for most most cases unless.
Speaker 3: I was with my friends. I can't. I can't.
Speaker 1: I find myself not being able to go and I
Speaker 1: go up to a random and start talking to them.
Speaker 1: I find that really hard and always kind of have.
Speaker 1: But to my friends and people that I'm comfortable with,
Speaker 1: I'm the complete opposite. And that's one thing that I
Speaker 1: think everyone kind of expects straight away you to be
Speaker 1: super out going and that kind of thing.
Speaker 3: I don't know with the other ones. I'm very hard.
Speaker 3: Was getting put on the spot, Nah, that.
Speaker 2: Was a good I think that's a good response because
Speaker 2: mostly most of the time you would think that someone
Speaker 2: was an extrovert who was putting out so much at
Speaker 2: their life, but I suppose because you're talking to a camera,
Speaker 2: it's not like there's someone actually there. Just lastly, where
Speaker 2: do you see your again? This might be a hard question,
Speaker 2: but where do you see yourself in five years?
Speaker 3: Well that's a good question as well.
Speaker 1: I feel I get that question a lot, especially through
Speaker 1: my DMS and stuff. But I think my main thing
Speaker 1: I would love to again own my own business. I've
Speaker 1: done it in the past and I would love to
Speaker 1: do it again with the fashion industry, so trying to
Speaker 1: bring out something that's especially for the male following this
Speaker 1: time would be the best thing. So having my own
Speaker 1: business in male fashion would be exact like obviously where
Speaker 1: I want to be, having something that's sustainable and successful
Speaker 1: at the time and being able to continually grow it.
Speaker 1: So that's where I want to be in five years,
Speaker 1: having something that's kind of well known in Australia because
Speaker 1: there's not too many brands outside of the ones that
Speaker 1: are in the shopping centers, and especially for your male following,
Speaker 1: so I really wanted to try and make a change
Speaker 1: in that.
Speaker 2: And how would you describe your style?
Speaker 3: Oh, that's a good one.
Speaker 1: I feel like it's really changed in the last couple
Speaker 1: of years. It used to be a lot of the
Speaker 1: street style. But I love seeing you know, like the
Speaker 1: indie plus all those kind of things. So I try
Speaker 1: and incorporate as much as I can from each different
Speaker 1: style and try and make it my own. If that
Speaker 1: makes sense, I'd say, just completed a lot, a lot
Speaker 1: of street style.
Speaker 2: Like that's heap because I reckon you should bring out
Speaker 2: a hoodie line. I feel like that would go off.
Speaker 2: I feel that Jonathan is known for his white shoes,
Speaker 2: so maybe his shoe line as well.
Speaker 1: I would love for the shoes. I've always had a big,
Speaker 1: true collection. It's something that I've always loved and that's
Speaker 1: probably my one I guess, what is it?
Speaker 3: Like one thing?
Speaker 1: I always buy too many of shoes, So that's one
Speaker 1: thing that I would love to do.
Speaker 2: Actually, Well, thank you so much for joining us. We
Speaker 2: really appreciate you giving up your time.
Speaker 3: No ways, thanks for having me on