Anonymous YouTuber Behind 'Spill Sesh' Reveals Her Identity
Kristi Cook is the founder of Spill Sesh, a popular online pop culture focused- Youtube channel. Previously working for TMZ, Kristi started Spill Sesh in 2018; anonymously. In November of 2023, Cook revealed herself to be the face behind the channel, garnering some shock with her reveal.
The success of Spill Sesh has given her creative freedom, but also the confidence to confirm her identity to the channel. Kristi always knew she wanted a career in media and learned so much about pop culture and celebrities via Youtube in her younger days.
Kristi Cook spills with Diane Brady on 'Forbes Talks' about her work at TMZ, what she loves about creating content, and what she plans to do in Spills Sesh's future.
The success of Spill Sesh has given her creative freedom, but also the confidence to confirm her identity to the channel. Kristi always knew she wanted a career in media and learned so much about pop culture and celebrities via Youtube in her younger days.
Kristi Cook spills with Diane Brady on 'Forbes Talks' about her work at TMZ, what she loves about creating content, and what she plans to do in Spills Sesh's future.
Transcript
00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 - Hi everybody, I'm Diane Brady.
00:04 I'm here with Christy Cook, who has revealed herself,
00:07 I think it's been a month and a half,
00:09 as the genius, the founder behind Spill Sesh,
00:13 the channel, it's a tea channel on YouTube.
00:15 - Yes.
00:16 - First of all, thanks for being in,
00:18 and you have more than 700,000 subscribers,
00:21 so let's start, I wanna talk about the reveal,
00:24 but I wanna start with what is a tea channel?
00:27 - Yeah, the tea channel is an evolving term these days.
00:32 I feel like in the beginning, when I first started,
00:34 it was a lot of playful conversations about influencers,
00:39 especially in the makeup community on YouTube,
00:42 and now we're even talking about celebrities,
00:45 and the stories aren't always just silly and fun.
00:48 We're talking about a lot of serious things as well now, so.
00:51 - I think it's journalistic, I was looking at me.
00:53 So let's talk about this reveal.
00:56 You were anonymous for several years.
01:00 What made you decide to reveal yourself,
01:03 and bring your name to the world?
01:06 - I definitely felt like it was time after five years
01:09 to do the reveal, just to expand the things
01:12 that I could do within the channel.
01:15 I felt like things were going really good,
01:17 but in order to grow, and go out
01:20 and maybe do interviews with people,
01:21 or talk to the people that I'm making videos about,
01:25 that I would probably need to reveal.
01:26 - It's hard to be anonymous.
01:28 - Yeah.
01:29 - Well, what's been the reaction so far?
01:32 'Cause I imagine with anonymity comes a certain level
01:36 of comfort and privacy.
01:37 - For sure.
01:38 - And now, of course, you must be getting
01:41 a lot of people reaching out.
01:43 Tell us about that.
01:44 - I think it's definitely a mixed feeling
01:46 of just really excited that I'm not stressed out
01:50 about people finding me, and it getting out
01:54 before I could put it out there.
01:56 So there's a relief there in a way.
01:59 Obviously now, I'm open to more criticism
02:03 because I'm showing myself,
02:04 and I'm representing the platform.
02:07 - Welcome to the internet, right?
02:10 - But overall, it's been good, it's been good.
02:12 - So I wanna step back to the genesis of how this started.
02:16 So you were at TMC.
02:17 Walk us back, first of all, a little bit about
02:20 how this became interesting to you.
02:23 Take us to the point before you got to TMC.
02:26 When you were growing up, what did you wanna be?
02:28 - When I was growing up in the sixth grade,
02:31 my middle school had a broadcast program,
02:33 and I fell in love with video production.
02:37 I wanted to be a part of it in any capacity,
02:40 whether I was in front of the camera,
02:42 behind it, editing, anything.
02:44 And I feel like at that time, YouTube was really big,
02:49 and it was, everybody in my school
02:52 was wanting to be a YouTuber.
02:53 Everyone wanted to make videos.
02:54 We were making music videos online.
02:56 And that always just stuck with me.
02:58 So when I went to high school,
03:00 the school I went to had a production program as well.
03:03 - Which high school did you go to?
03:04 - It was called American Heritage School
03:06 in Plantation, Florida.
03:08 And we went to broadcast competitions.
03:11 It was very intense, and we took it very seriously.
03:14 So I knew I wanted to work in production,
03:18 and that was like my dream.
03:21 At the time, I was making videos
03:25 that kind of gave a 60-minute type of deal.
03:28 - Like I'm doing now, basically?
03:29 - Yeah, like a human interest stories.
03:33 And then as I was just looking for jobs,
03:37 I did end up at TMZ, and then I noticed
03:41 that a lot of people that we were reporting on
03:43 are just all celebrities.
03:45 But no one was really covering influencers
03:47 or internet celebrities, and that was something
03:50 I was still really into just from even back
03:53 in middle school, I loved YouTubers.
03:55 And no one ever really paid attention to their lives,
03:58 and I felt like that was something that--
03:59 - Why not?
04:00 I mean, it's interesting.
04:01 We have a creator economy list,
04:03 but I agree with you that mainstream media
04:06 has been slow to cover YouTube celebrities.
04:09 Is it just old-style thinking?
04:12 Why would we not be covering people
04:14 who are making a lot of money
04:15 and yield a lot of influence?
04:17 - I think in the beginning, like a couple years ago
04:19 when I started my channel,
04:21 they didn't really take them seriously,
04:22 or even know what kind of money was in YouTube
04:25 or how much money those creators were making at the time
04:29 to really take them seriously.
04:31 It's like, that's a job.
04:33 And 'cause they're working independently
04:35 and they're not signed to a company or anything,
04:37 people were just not looking at it as legit as it was.
04:42 And so they weren't talking about it in that way,
04:43 but then the numbers started coming in
04:47 and people were looking and people were paying attention.
04:50 And so they started to figure out--
04:51 - And you're one of those influencers now,
04:52 so it's sort of interesting.
04:54 So talk a little bit, Christy, about the first,
04:57 what made you decide to start Spill Sesh?
05:00 You were at TMZ, am I right, at the time?
05:03 Was there something that made you think,
05:04 "I wanna have a channel"?
05:06 - Honestly, at that time I was making content on the side
05:11 that was not related to talking about news,
05:14 but I was making cooking videos
05:16 and I just liked creating content.
05:19 But then I stumbled upon the T Channel community
05:24 and was like, "I love what they're doing here.
05:26 "This is the stuff that I wish
05:28 "we were talking about at work."
05:30 And it's something that's not being covered
05:33 or being taken seriously,
05:34 so I figured I could give it a shot.
05:37 - And were you anonymous because you were still working?
05:40 Is that, what was the decision to basically, from the start,
05:44 kind of keep the channel as the brand and not yourself?
05:47 - Well, I felt like if I was in the videos,
05:51 it wouldn't really be true to me.
05:56 I felt like I could give my full personality
05:58 if nobody was looking or no one knew that it was me.
06:01 And that's even how I did my cooking videos.
06:04 I wasn't in the videos, it was anonymous as well.
06:06 So I guess that's my secret for just starting out.
06:10 - Talk about the personality.
06:11 I've seen several of your videos
06:13 and I know that, is it MannyMUA?
06:16 Was that your first one?
06:17 He was the one who did the reveal for you.
06:20 What differentiates your channel from others?
06:24 And talk about the personality that you tried to bring to it
06:27 or you have brought to it.
06:28 - Yes, there's definitely a ton of other people
06:31 that make the same videos as me,
06:33 but I think there's people
06:35 that wanna give their full opinion
06:37 and they wanna go in on people and,
06:41 this is my side, this is what I believe,
06:43 you should believe it too.
06:44 And I think in the beginning,
06:46 I was trying to find what was best for my channel.
06:50 And now I'm just trying to be in the middle
06:53 of this is what's going on,
06:55 this is what people are saying.
06:57 And what do you guys think?
06:59 What's the overall opinion?
07:00 I'm getting all the information.
07:02 - In the middle is like not sycophantic and not cruel.
07:06 Is that what you mean by in the middle?
07:08 - Kind of letting other people formulate their own opinions
07:12 and just providing people with the information.
07:14 But also insight of,
07:17 oh, remember when this happened a couple months ago
07:19 and things like that,
07:20 which I feel like maybe in mainstream media
07:23 when they're reporting on influencers,
07:25 they're like, this is a story and this is it.
07:27 But remembering something that happened 10 years ago
07:31 that they said or did,
07:33 I think people wanna maybe feel like
07:35 they're talking to their friend on FaceTime
07:36 when they're getting some news like this.
07:37 - It is more of a community, isn't it?
07:39 - Yeah.
07:40 - So how did the,
07:41 were you feeling a lot of pressures this went on
07:44 to reveal yourself?
07:46 I've read other places that you were talking about
07:49 some of the, like some people had guessed who you were,
07:52 they were guessing somebody else who I don't even know.
07:54 Morgan, is that it?
07:55 - Yeah, it's Morgan Adams.
07:57 - It was Morgan Adams.
07:58 Was there a moment where you thought,
07:59 okay, I've got to,
08:01 I'm just gonna let everybody know it's me.
08:03 - I definitely thought after some time,
08:07 it felt like it was a right time.
08:09 There was still curiosity there, which I liked.
08:12 And so I wasn't just gonna put it out there
08:15 and everyone be like, okay, that's that.
08:17 She wasn't Morgan.
08:19 So I felt like the time was right.
08:22 It wasn't too much where everyone was wondering
08:27 and maybe would have looked into way more
08:30 of like where I live and try to find me
08:33 and it wasn't scary anymore.
08:35 - I think it could be scary,
08:36 but I wanna talk,
08:38 there's a lot of people who will watch this
08:40 who would love to replicate what you've done.
08:43 And I'd like to know a bit more
08:45 about what you've learned along the way.
08:47 Let's start with TMZ.
08:49 What did that experience teach you?
08:51 'Cause I'm sure that was very formative
08:53 in the approach that you took.
08:54 - For sure.
08:55 I think that taught me a lot about work ethic
08:59 and we worked long hours
09:02 and we always wanted to be first to the story.
09:05 And that's something that I really took with me
09:07 that if I'm quick with it,
09:10 it'll probably do better for me.
09:12 - What was your role at TMZ?
09:13 - I was a photo coordinator.
09:15 So I basically looked on Instagram like all day long
09:20 and saw who was on vacation
09:23 and would collect all these things
09:25 and then basically email them out
09:28 and be like, which one do you wanna put on the website?
09:30 - Right.
09:31 So speed is of the essence.
09:32 So, and then you started,
09:35 you became so popular.
09:36 When did you quit your job?
09:37 Because the channel became so popular
09:39 that it became very much your most lucrative source
09:43 of income. - Yes.
09:44 - When did that happen?
09:45 - I quit in 2021.
09:47 - And can you tell me what you think the secret is
09:50 to the videos that have done especially well
09:53 when you go back and sort of think about
09:56 this is why this resonated with the people
09:58 that love my content?
10:01 - In talking about the college scandal,
10:04 that was one of the times that really took off for me.
10:09 But I feel like people could also relate to it.
10:12 Like I had said, USC was my dream school
10:14 and I didn't get in and--
10:16 - Because you didn't pretend to be on crew, right?
10:19 Or your mother didn't get somebody to pretend,
10:22 yeah, whatever.
10:23 - I was so upset at the time.
10:26 And I think, when I was talking about it,
10:28 people also related to that feeling
10:30 of when you're of a status,
10:34 you are open to these opportunities that are not legal,
10:38 but they're presented to you.
10:41 - And so the T channel aspect of that would be,
10:43 is it Olivia Jade?
10:44 Is that like, what is the angle?
10:46 That's the angle,
10:47 'cause she was quite a big influencer, right?
10:48 - She was.
10:49 - And became a target.
10:50 - Yeah.
10:51 - Was that the way that you told the story there
10:55 in terms of how that one resonated?
10:57 'Cause you're talking about yourself.
10:58 - Yeah.
10:59 - And yet you're anonymous at the same time.
11:00 - In the story, I had revealed things about myself,
11:03 but not revealing my name or exactly my age or anything.
11:07 But in saying that this scenario happened,
11:12 and also this YouTuber that a lot of people like,
11:15 and we've seen get a lot of opportunities,
11:17 is just so shocking.
11:19 And I think in me just reacting the way
11:22 that a lot of other people did, it resonated with people.
11:24 - Yeah, I mean, yeah, I can give you my own opinions.
11:27 I've at the time think, yeah, a little spoiled maybe,
11:29 but that's just me.
11:31 So take us through to the different channels.
11:35 You're very big on YouTube.
11:37 What do you think about TikTok?
11:39 I know you've got an Instagram presence,
11:40 but I'm curious how you're finding
11:43 all these other different ways to reach people.
11:45 - I recently really loved TikTok.
11:48 - But just recently?
11:49 - I'd say this year, I've really dedicated myself
11:52 to posting at least one TikTok a day,
11:55 'cause I've seen some, I've seen growth on TikTok.
11:59 I've seen, I found a lot of stories on TikTok,
12:03 and I feel like in ways it's good and in ways it's bad.
12:08 - So give me the good and the bad.
12:10 - I think that TikTok is very quick.
12:14 The attention span on there, you gotta hook 'em in,
12:16 or they are going to scroll right past.
12:19 So I've definitely had to get creative
12:21 with how I'm starting these videos,
12:23 and it's very different than my YouTube videos
12:26 where we're taking 10, 15 minutes
12:27 to talk about something in depth,
12:29 where I need to say it in the first five seconds on TikTok,
12:31 or no one's gonna care.
12:32 - It's like a haiku or something.
12:33 It's a different realm of influencers too, right?
12:37 Do you find, I mean, do you find you're covering
12:39 different people, covering things differently?
12:41 - Yes, for sure.
12:42 - So as you've pivoted more to TikTok,
12:44 there's only 24 hours in a day,
12:46 are you spending less time on YouTube,
12:48 or how do you balance out your time,
12:50 especially at this juncture
12:52 where now other opportunities open up?
12:55 - I've definitely had to balance it.
12:58 I try to edit a YouTube video in the morning,
13:01 and then the rest of the day, I'm looking on TikTok,
13:04 I'm looking on Instagram, I'm looking on Twitter
13:06 for other stories, and there's niche stories
13:10 that maybe don't need a whole YouTube video,
13:14 but I could talk about it for a couple seconds to a minute,
13:17 I'll make a TikTok about it, and that's fun, that's exciting.
13:20 But just as hard still,
13:23 I'm editing it on my computer still,
13:25 I'm not doing it on my phone,
13:27 but it's fun, I like TikTok.
13:29 - Talk about your relationship
13:31 with the people that you cover,
13:33 'cause I was fascinated that you mentioned,
13:35 as I keep looking at, Manny MUA.
13:38 - Yes.
13:39 - That was the first person you covered,
13:40 and here he was five years later doing your makeup
13:43 as you're doing your reveal.
13:44 Do you now get to know these people,
13:48 like now that you are Christy,
13:50 and not the anonymous founder of Spill Sash,
13:53 how has that changed the relationship
13:56 with the people you cover?
13:58 - I think nothing changes at all.
14:01 I mean, I think in the beginning
14:03 when I said I was gonna do a reveal,
14:04 people were like, "Oh my gosh, no, don't do it,
14:06 they'll sue you, or they're gonna come for you."
14:07 And I'm like, "These people don't hate me,
14:10 and if they were gonna sue me,
14:11 they were gonna sue me anyway."
14:12 - But they do, they tend to sue, don't they,
14:14 when it's a negative video?
14:16 Is there a--
14:17 - I've never been hit with a cease and desist by anyone,
14:20 so that's been good.
14:22 I definitely think, because the videos that I'm making
14:26 are very much like, this is what people online are saying,
14:29 this is what they're saying,
14:30 there's not much for them to come at me for.
14:33 - Yeah, you're not just taking their content
14:36 and running it.
14:38 - But I definitely think that I could make that video
14:43 with Manny, and he does something wrong,
14:46 I'm not gonna talk about it,
14:48 because we sat down for a video together,
14:51 which is something I said in the reveal
14:52 that I was surprised that he wanted to do it,
14:54 and I was happy that he was so game to film that video,
14:57 because it's not like the first video I ever made
15:00 that was about him was the only video I've ever made
15:03 that was about him.
15:04 - Do you think you cover things differently now
15:06 than you did five years ago, four years ago?
15:09 - For sure, I think in the beginning,
15:12 I was testing the waters of how things were gonna
15:15 even just visually look,
15:17 and in the beginning it was text on the screen,
15:19 and now I'm doing voiceovers,
15:22 and there's been graphic changes,
15:25 and I had an intro at one point with a song,
15:28 and then I'm like,
15:29 the things we're talking about are so serious,
15:31 I feel like we gotta get rid of this cheeky intro,
15:33 we can't have the teacup anymore,
15:35 it feels more like news.
15:38 - So it's more, and is that deliberate on your part,
15:41 or do you think it's just the way the world's going
15:42 that we're more serious?
15:44 - No, I mean, maybe not.
15:46 - I think maybe a little bit of both,
15:48 I think I didn't need to talk about the serious stuff
15:50 if I didn't really want to,
15:52 but it felt necessary,
15:54 it felt like I needed to cover it.
15:55 If I was gonna cover influencers,
15:57 I was gonna have to cover everything.
16:00 - Who are some of the influencers
16:01 that really stick in your mind,
16:03 either ones you admire,
16:05 or who are the gift that keep on giving to you?
16:07 I mean, I could just scroll through,
16:08 I've got some names here,
16:09 but you tell me,
16:10 what does it take to be a great influencer now
16:15 in these different channels?
16:16 - I think it really depends,
16:19 it's all over the map in terms of
16:21 maybe someone--
16:23 - I mean, I've got like Jeffree Star,
16:25 I mean, I've got a whole list of names,
16:26 and I thought, you know what,
16:28 I don't follow these people,
16:29 I'm just gonna ask, Christy,
16:31 who are the ones that stand out to you?
16:33 - I think there's definitely ones
16:35 that have made names for themselves,
16:36 whether people like it or not,
16:37 like Jeffree Star, who's very controversial,
16:40 but somehow has this big empire of makeup,
16:44 and he has a storefront now in Wyoming,
16:46 and people still come and support him,
16:50 but then there's people like Alex Cooper,
16:53 who started on Call Her Daddy,
16:55 and now she's created this empire for herself as well.
16:58 - Yeah, she spoke at one of our conferences,
17:00 it's actually kind of an inspiring story.
17:02 - It is.
17:03 - Take your brand with you and take it somewhere else.
17:05 - Yeah, and she's really grown it,
17:08 and I think done a lot of things
17:10 that not a lot of other influencers have done.
17:12 - Is that what you would like,
17:14 give me a sense of the runway that you have now,
17:17 and the different ways in which you're thinking differently,
17:20 about your own brand?
17:21 - I think in revealing myself,
17:23 it was definitely about growth,
17:25 and wanting to do more than just the YouTube videos.
17:28 I would love to expand it to doing interviews with people,
17:33 and using those interviews for YouTube videos
17:36 that I'm making, because a lot of the time,
17:38 I'm watching podcasts,
17:40 I'm watching influencers do interviews,
17:42 and then I'm breaking down what they said
17:44 on other people's shows.
17:45 - Right, right.
17:46 - I was loving--
17:47 - It's like PewDiePie playing a game,
17:48 and I go, "Oh, look at him play."
17:49 I'd like to do that myself, kind of thing.
17:51 - Yeah, it's like they're talking about their growth,
17:54 their journey on YouTube,
17:55 and I'm breaking it down in a video,
17:57 or they're addressing a controversy that they're in.
18:00 If I was doing that interview,
18:01 I would use it in a YouTube video.
18:03 - Who would be some of your top interview choices now,
18:05 if you're gonna do--
18:06 - Ooh.
18:08 - So many. - Now that we come to mine.
18:09 - So many, so many.
18:11 - I'd be remiss, if Forbes is of course about money,
18:15 and you mentioned some figures,
18:17 what kind of money were you making
18:22 at the point at which you decided to quit?
18:24 I was hearing different figures.
18:26 You know, there must be a certain amount comes in
18:28 where you're like, "My day job no longer makes sense."
18:31 - For sure.
18:32 I think something about it is that
18:36 I was very much in a saving mode.
18:39 I was like, "Anything that I'm making,
18:41 "it's absolutely going to be saved,"
18:43 which is why I stayed at that job
18:44 probably two years longer than I think most people would.
18:49 I think they would see the money come in
18:51 and be like, "I'm done.
18:52 "I don't need this anymore."
18:54 - Yeah.
18:55 - But--
18:56 - You were making, what, 20,000 a month roughly, or?
18:59 - No, is that fair to say?
19:01 I'm just, I'm going off the figures
19:03 that I've read in different articles.
19:05 - At the time, yeah, around there
19:07 was what I was making when I was leaving.
19:09 - Right.
19:10 - But I had been making that for a while prior,
19:13 and I just saved it.
19:15 I kept it, I said, "Until I can buy a house essentially."
19:20 - Which you have.
19:23 - Yes.
19:23 - Congratulations.
19:24 - Thank you so much.
19:25 - I'm not going to ask where it is
19:26 because I believe in anonymity myself in that respect.
19:29 Nobody needs the trolls coming out.
19:31 But at this juncture,
19:33 when you look at the economics of the different channels,
19:36 have they shifted at all?
19:38 Because you certainly hear sometimes people complain.
19:40 The algorithm's changed.
19:42 - 100%.
19:43 - It's less lucrative or it's more lucrative.
19:44 What's changed from where you sit
19:46 since you're living this day in, day out?
19:48 - I think there's so many people
19:50 that want to create content online.
19:52 It's definitely way more competitive
19:53 than it was a couple of years ago.
19:54 So you always have to be on it
19:56 and pay attention to the algorithm,
19:58 what people are liking, what people aren't liking.
20:01 If a certain topic isn't working,
20:03 maybe don't do it again or do it on TikTok instead.
20:07 Do it on Instagram.
20:08 Maybe a whole YouTube video,
20:09 people don't want to hear about the same subject
20:11 for like 15 minutes.
20:13 So always having to look at the analytics
20:15 and be really mindful of what other people are watching
20:18 or what people that are making the content you want to make
20:22 or are making are doing and what's succeeding for them.
20:26 - I have to ask about TikTok.
20:28 We've written a lot here about the connections
20:31 to ByteDance, to China, where I used to live.
20:33 I'm not quite as paranoid as some people are,
20:35 but does that ever give you pause
20:38 when you think about the fact that TikTok,
20:40 they're thinking of banning it in Congress?
20:42 - For sure.
20:43 I think that's exactly why I would never
20:44 just solely stick to one platform.
20:47 And that goes for any platform.
20:48 You can't put all your eggs in one basket.
20:50 - What about X?
20:51 You mentioned Twitter.
20:52 I should call it Twitter.
20:53 A lot of people have abandoned that platform
20:56 for a multiplicity of reasons.
20:57 How about you?
20:58 - I'm really not using Twitter like I used to
21:02 in the beginning of all of this.
21:04 I was very active on Twitter.
21:05 I tweeted all the time.
21:06 And then I think over time,
21:09 now it's just a place that I go to look at information
21:13 or see what people are talking about,
21:14 what's trending, and then I log off.
21:17 - It seems more political than it used to be.
21:20 I guess we'll just leave it at that and say.
21:22 In terms of, you've mentioned some of the opportunities.
21:27 Is there anything specific you want to tell us about
21:30 in terms of what's around the corner for you?
21:33 Now that you, again,
21:34 I don't want to make too big a deal of the fact that you're,
21:37 I mean, I'm sure a lot of people knew who you were
21:39 in your circle, right?
21:40 I mean, this is just more of a public thing.
21:42 But with that sort of public presence,
21:46 are you thinking of other ways like books or TV or speaking?
21:51 What's come your, or even brand endorsements, right?
21:54 That's easier to do.
21:56 - For sure.
21:57 - Is any of that in the works right now?
22:00 I saw something about a second channel.
22:02 - I do have a second channel.
22:04 Right now I'm doing YouTube shorts on there.
22:07 So like short form content on this second channel
22:09 because putting it on the first channel would be like--
22:12 - Brand confusion, yeah.
22:14 - Mess with the algorithm.
22:15 We're not trying to do that.
22:17 But I would love to do those interviews
22:19 I was talking about on there.
22:21 Go to red carpet events, movie premieres,
22:23 interview people and throw it on there.
22:25 And I think maybe being a correspondent of sorts,
22:29 that's kind of the next path.
22:31 - So you grew up a consumer of social media,
22:34 Christy, and now you're a producer.
22:36 And there's been a lot of attention too
22:37 to the impact that it has, especially on women.
22:40 What do you think about that?
22:43 What's both the impact that your own content has
22:47 and the impact it had on you?
22:49 - I think certainly looking towards other women
22:54 that are in this field and just giving women a voice
22:59 and also voicing our opinions
23:01 because not everyone wants to hear them a lot of the time.
23:04 And just staying true to that
23:06 because I think even in the videos I'm making,
23:09 a lot of people want to criticize what I'm saying.
23:12 Even when I was anonymous and people didn't know me,
23:14 people are still making comments about,
23:16 "Oh, I don't like the way you said this,"
23:17 or "the way you sound," or "the way you talked."
23:21 There's always something people are gonna say.
23:23 But I feel like women especially just really take the hit
23:26 and guys can kind of get away
23:29 with a little bit more of an opinion.
23:32 - Do you like the anonymity that's allowed on YouTube?
23:35 Like where people can go on and like,
23:37 "I'm best boy 452," like they can hide who they are.
23:40 That makes it easier to be cruel.
23:42 - For sure.
23:43 I feel like in a way though, I can't exactly judge it
23:48 because I was anonymous for a while
23:51 and I was giving my opinions.
23:53 - Do you feel your opinions are more muted now?
23:56 That you have your name attached?
23:57 - I definitely feel like I have to give my opinion
24:01 and stand by it exactly how I was.
24:03 Otherwise we'll be like, "Something is off here."
24:06 So nothing has changed on the channel in terms of my opinion
24:10 or who I'm talking about
24:13 or the way that I'm talking about people
24:16 and just standing firm in that.
24:18 - Have any of them reached out to you,
24:20 the people you've covered to say, "Oh, oh, it's you."
24:23 - At times throughout people have reached out
24:26 but not specifically because I revealed myself.
24:29 - Okay, anything else that's on your radar
24:32 you wanna put on ours, especially with regard to...
24:36 You know, I wanna respect the fact that you're an influencer
24:40 but you are a creator, you're a journalist in this realm.
24:43 What are you seeing that would make us smarter
24:46 about navigating what looks like a very complicated
24:50 and ever-changing space or spaces?
24:52 - For sure, I think that the space is always changing.
24:56 It's also in a weird place right now
24:58 where there's so much to consume
25:01 and you can get it so instantly
25:03 that people are kind of almost like,
25:05 "Where do I get my information from every day?"
25:07 And that's the place that we're in.
25:09 But I don't think that any of these platforms
25:11 are necessarily going anywhere
25:12 'cause I think also some people are like,
25:14 "YouTube is dead because TikTok is so quick and so fast."
25:18 But also there's security in YouTube.
25:20 They've been around for a really long time
25:22 and TikTok is in that conversation.
25:24 Is it gonna get banned?
25:25 And so I think-
25:27 - Do you think it should be banned?
25:29 - I don't want it to be banned.
25:31 I really hope it doesn't get banned.
25:34 The reasons why it would be are scary.
25:37 So that's a whole other conversation
25:40 but I would be sad to see it go.
25:43 But I think for people that are saying that YouTube is dead
25:47 because long-form content is going away,
25:50 I think long-form content will be here to stay.
25:53 I definitely do think that there's people
25:56 that want in-depth information
25:58 about things that they heard
26:00 like five seconds of info about.
26:02 - I wanna end by asking where you get your content.
26:05 I know that you obviously are a voracious consumer
26:09 of the platforms that you're on,
26:11 but is there anything that might surprise people
26:15 about where you find you get inspiration, news, et cetera?
26:18 - Honestly, everywhere, everywhere.
26:21 I'm on TikTok.
26:22 I'm using TikTok as a search engine sometimes.
26:24 If I can't find something on Google,
26:26 if I'm looking for a specific date
26:28 that someone posted a video or talked about a subject,
26:31 sometimes people, it'll be on TikTok or Twitter,
26:34 just typing in names on there
26:36 and using these platforms as search engines sometimes
26:40 is how I get a video made.
26:42 - Great, thank you for joining us.
26:45 - Thank you so much for having me.
26:45 - And good luck and look forward
26:46 to continuing the conversation
26:48 and seeing what you do next.
26:50 - Thank you so much.
26:51 - Thank you.
26:52 (air whooshing)
26:55 (air whooshing)
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