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