I'm Stuck In America
STUCK IN AMERICA
Lifestyle, humor, Family, Events, Celebrity
My name is Carlos "iLosWork" Polk , and I recently moved to New York from Baltimore and am exploring the entertainment industry with a comedic sense.
My Pod has more of a random and comedic feel and talks about current events. The show revolves around the journey of making it in the USA While overcoming the mindsets that cause delays, and facing challenges like finding your footing in business, adjusting to new environments, and dealing with the entertainment industry.
The theme of the show focuses on the struggles and experiences of someone trying to break into the entertainment industry, with a unique blend of reality and imaginative elements.
It's a story about adaptation, ambition, and the realities of starting anew in a bustling city like New York.
In this show, I will be starting a podcast and exploring my gifts and abilities.
On the Podcast, we talk about current events, politics and working in the industry.
I'm Stuck In America
Carlos Polk - When Life Hands You a Mic, You Better Start Talking Twitch Streaming
A single decision to get dressed up and venture out instead of staying in bed has catapulted Carlos Polk into viral stardom after a chance encounter with Kai Cenat at a Met Gala after-party. What followed was a week of non-stop growth, streaming successes, and a rapidly expanding community that's changing the trajectory of his life.
"You're going to be a superstar," Kai told Carlos during their viral interaction – words that hit differently coming from someone who's achieved significant success. Since that fateful Monday night, Carlos has been streaming consistently, watching as his content spreads across Twitter, TikTok, Reddit, Facebook, and Instagram. The algorithm that so often works against creators has suddenly become his ally, bringing thousands of new followers and supporters into his world.
Behind the newfound attention lies a deeper purpose. Carlos opens up about his two sons, Malachi and Ezekiel, and his desire to create better opportunities for his brothers, sisters, and extended family. After moving back to Baltimore to be closer to family – only to discover his grandmother's cancer diagnosis and face numerous personal struggles – Carlos returned to New York with renewed determination. With no permanent place to stay, he's been surviving on graphic design work and Airbnb hopping while building his streaming presence.
The journey hasn't been without its challenges. From working at the Breakfast Club to struggling with exhaustion while maintaining high energy streams, Carlos recognizes the need to build a team to sustain this momentum. His approach reflects both pragmatism (wearing the same pants all summer to save money) and ambition (aiming for 1,000 subscribers in his first month). As he stands one day away from Twitch affiliate status, Carlos invites viewers to join him on this journey of transformation – not just for himself, but for everyone he hopes to lift up along the way. Follow @iLosWork across all platforms and catch daily streams that blend authenticity, humor, and unstoppable drive.
What's going on? It's Carlos Pope. Carlos works Stuck in America and this show is all about me chasing and going after my dreams, but I don't know that this is Stuck in America. This is like just a venting episode. I'm out and about. You can be in a place where your mindset can keep you bound and keep you down and keep you locked in. It's the perspectives that block you. Now I want to get into this week's episode because it was crazy. Already it has been a crazy one week.
Speaker 1:Last week I stumbled upon Kassanat at the Met Gala after party and ever since then I have been streaming since Tuesday, and I have been streaming since Tuesday and apparently I'm hitting some areas. The algorithm is for me and not against me. I'm glad about that. I was a little unhinged at the event and that led to you know me being shared all over the Internet Twitter, tiktok, reddit, facebook, instagram and anywhere else I don't know. But in the course of that, I started to build this community and this family by being consistent and not stopping right. I feel like a lot of people will be like yo, don't drop the ball, don't drop the ball. So I plan on not dropping the ball right and hold on one second.
Speaker 1:What's going on? This is alos work, carlos poke. This is I'm stuck in america. The podcast audio only when I'll be out and about, uh, in real life talking to people. But today I'm really not going to talk to anybody. I just wanted to start recording. Or maybe if I go out tomorrow then I'll talk to some people, but as of now, I'm walking through Brooklyn. It's a beautiful day, it's Saturday, and prior to this, I did not think about streaming, but I did think about doing in real life content. I just didn't know that that was the actual subject that people were doing. I just didn't know that that was the actual subject that people were doing. So now I'm doing it.
Speaker 1:This week has been an incredible week because not only did I go viral everywhere the Kassanot video is probably at a million plus views where people are seeing me. A lot of people are saying, yo, you carried the stream. Kassanot was bored. He was actually about to leave because I didn't watch the whole stream. I watched the whole YouTube video where he mentioned that he was about to leave and then, boom, here I come. Now that's that I didn't even know that happened, but I ain't gonna lie. I felt the energy we definitely connected on, just on a real level. I guess you could say and it wasn't something that I seen coming, neither is something that I predicted On the day that I decided to jump out there and not stay in bed.
Speaker 1:I actually had on sweatpants that day and I went in the house and I dressed up as if I was gonna be in the Met Gala. So I already had like that little bit of faith to say, yo, I'm definitely not. I don't know what might happen, but if I drift too comfortable, definitely nothing is going to happen, or at least you never know. I'm really a wild kid, I can get anything done. So now I'm there and the after is what I didn't predict.
Speaker 1:I was late to the breakfast club and while I was early to the breakfast club, but I couldn't really work, I was deliriously tired. The next day I was recovering a little bit, but I still wasn't 100% there, as well as the whole community in the world saying yo, don't fumble this, don't drop this, you can do this, you got more, you could be your superstar and your next up, which? All these things permeate my mind already. All these things live in my mind already. All these things live in my mind already, so it's not something that was super crazy to me to hear, but to hear from strangers was motivating To hear from people I didn't even know, and I'm funny, but yo, I'm drained. Now it's Saturday. I slept twice today and it's not even six, seven o'clock.
Speaker 1:But the number one thing I realized is that I'm going to need to build a team, and the team is on the way, because one consistent message I hear is that you have to get your clips up, you have to get enough content out so that you can boost up your streams. Now people already want to sub me and we got one more day. After tomorrow I'll be able to be applied for the program and I respect everybody's grind that they put in, and I don't take this for granted. So I definitely don't want this to be like a come and go or one-hit wonder. I can't do that. I can't do it. But it's very interesting when he said yo, you're going to be a superstar, and I was more so obsessed with his thinking process behind it, not the fact that he said it, because when you hear it coming from people that achieve certain levels of success, they're looking from a different point of view when they mention different things, and for him to mention that really motivated me, as well as my brothers coming in to help me and try to advise me. They know I'm hard-headed so I don't listen to a lot of stuff, but I listen to a lot. I listen more than they think I do.
Speaker 1:But this week, let's talk about it. Monday was crazy. Met Gala Monday Wasn't expecting that. Tuesday out of here. Wednesday, I don't remember Wednesday. I don't even remember what happened on Wednesday and then you got Thursday and Friday, which is the end of the week now. Friday was definitely eventful.
Speaker 1:It was crazy hearing Lizzo talk about streaming and hear DDG talk about streaming in the same week that I was on his podcast, and I just felt like God was just bringing a lot of signs to me with that. They have a ton of guests at the Rutgers Club Bringing a lot of signs to me with that. They have a ton of guests at the records club For them to be talking about streaming as much as they did, and then I was on DDG string. All that really just means something. So I might need to hurry up and get a therapist, though, so that my POV can be in the right place when it come to people, but to go from being just a regular Joe to now now a lot of people know me, randomly walking up to me screaming oh my god, it's kashree. Oh, I'm saying, definitely got my eyes wide open, I don't even know.
Speaker 1:So have I been outside this weekend? No, do I even have the energy to be outside like that? No, I barely got energy, bro, with me going to the breakfast club, I got to edit for jess and the high energy that's there. After about four or five o'clock, bro, it feels like it's 10 o'clock at night. So then I stream on tuesday, on wednesday, on thursday, on friday, on saturday, I was outside streaming, which was dope, but I need help. I need help with clips, I need help.
Speaker 1:So today is Saturday. I'm going to stream at 7, which is probably about an hour from now. I'm going to do interviews live. I'm going to let the chat check in with me, but I don't know, it's stuck in America. My perspective is big. I'm not in no box. I don't think about things in a box. I think it was like Wednesday or so.
Speaker 1:On Wednesday I was walking down the street and two dollars just blew right in front of me. The first one dollar blew in front of me and then, shortly after the one dollar, another dollar just blew in front of me. So I was like whoa that's, is this a sign? I don't know what the sign is, but I just was like whoa, is this a sign? I don't know what the sign is, but I just was like I'm ready for it. So that's cool. But I just want to open up opportunities. A lot of videographers from New York and from Brooklyn and from Queens DM me to work with me. I can't walk around with five, six videographers, but I have some ideas of what to do with the opportunity, with the people to make this thing go to the next level, even for them.
Speaker 1:The constant on stream is also playing. Last night and he was going through applications, he didn't say choose anybody, he just it wasn't accept or deny was what he. It wasn't gonna be accept or it wasn't gonna be a deny, he was just gonna see who right. Hopefully I think he's going to end up picking me, but even if he don't, again I just think that we locked in. I just think that I don't have his phone number. I don't have any of his contact information, which is fine.
Speaker 1:Friday, you know, wearing the same pants from the Met Gala. That was my whole thing. Like you're going to change these pants until I meet Kyle now, or at least for 30 days. Like I ain't that crazy. But also I like the idea. It's like a uniform. Um, I'm wearing, and this uniform is gonna be something that I'm gonna wear for the whole summer.
Speaker 1:Number one I'm gonna save money. Anybody that live in new york know that clothes and food and everything is so expensive, bro, and we gotta save that money bro. And if I ain't gotta buy no clothes, it still look good damn, and that's what I'm gonna wear for the whole summer. Now they wash I'm washing the clothes now, so I ain't gotta. I'm washing the clothes now so I don't have to wear the same dirty clothes, which is just the pants. That's what I'm gonna do. Damn this shit loud.
Speaker 1:I'm in the grocery store trying to figure out what I might eat. I need to buy food because I do gotta eat, um, but this week, man, I can't tell you. Charlotte ain't gonna say on the radio carlos is gonna wear the same clothes for the whole week. No, low-key though, it is the same money though. Like it ain't just about kai's. Like damn, tell me that my clothes is different.
Speaker 1:And if y'all still look good and I look fresh, then what does it matter? For, like, for who do I have to please out here when? When you don't got no money and you're struggling, like the thing you need to be doing is worried about pleasing somebody in real life? Like, imagine worrying about pleasing somebody that's not helping you out of your situation. I'm not worried about that. Like it don't make no sense.
Speaker 1:Now, if somebody's like yo, I'll give you $10,000 to start wearing these pants, then we might be talking about something, but until then, I'm going to rock these pants, I'm going to eat some cauliflower and I'm going to chill. That's just what we do. Think about ourselves, worry about ourselves, what we got, the goals and ambitions that we have. I might need to also purchase a juicer at this point, because I'm spending like $10 every single day on juices. You get what I'm saying. This place is expensive, dog.
Speaker 1:But to say that I want to thank Jess Hilarious just for being such an inspiration to me from the beginning. Man Like thing that y'all seen on camera is how I met Jess Hilarious. I'm going to call her Jess for the rest of this podcast, but me and Jess met a long time ago, before she became who she is today, before the comedy and before the stand-up. I remember the first time when that happened with her with Martin. I didn't go to the show, though, I just remember that it happened with Martin right. So To now see her where she is now is amazing, but also being able to stand in the background to watch her grow over the past three years has been phenomenal.
Speaker 1:Now, jess has always kept the same attitude and everything, but her life just kept advancing, and that's one of the things that I want to make sure that I walk into, like don't this shit get to your head, brother. Use it as a way to escape the downsides of life, but don't let it get to your head too much. You know, happens man, something smell good and um, yeah. So I met her the same way I met karsa, not just out and about enjoying life years ago and when I say years ago, I mean a long time ago just out enjoying life, and a lot of people tell you you gotta do this and you gotta do that. No, just be yourself. You gotta be authentic. It's important, like you know, yo just stay in your lane, remain yourself, that's just. Stay in your lane. Don't try to fit in with these people. They will try to hurt you. So I'm definitely gonna stay in my lane and stay focused and, you know, enjoy life and make sure I see the sun in the morning, right. Also, friends on like this of Twitch is amazing. I'm glad for the beginning because in the beginning I get to make these connections with people. Shout out the Cybertruck Tay. I don't know everybody's username, but I remember y'all, nia and all types of people.
Speaker 1:Man that's been checking in with me every day on the streams with me every day and I've been streaming, streaming, bro. I don't even know how many hours I've streamed yet. All I know is I'm one day from being an affiliate and I want to get as many subs as possible. Might go the first month. Like, let's get 1,000 subs. Might go the first month Like, let's hit 1,000 subs. Like, let's hit 1,000 subs, bro. Let's go big, because I want to change life, not just my life, but life. I want to see things get different for my brothers, my mother, my family, my grandmother. Like yo, I got so much to say, bro, so much to say. Should I say it now? Hold on, I got 10 minutes. Should I say it now? Hold on, I got 10 minutes. I'll say it, yo, like two months ago matter of fact, february I just decided to move back to baltimore.
Speaker 1:The reason why I decided to move back to baltimore? Because my family right. I also have two sons, malachi and ezekiel, and it's probably the first time putting it out there for everybody to know. People that's close to me know that I have sons, but the world hasn't known, right, and I do this for them. Not only do I do it for them, I do it for my brothers and my sisters, because we grew up together but our relationships have changed due to the suppression of life. So some of us have to work all the time, we don't even get to see each other, we miss holidays, we missed all these things.
Speaker 1:In the back of my mind, it always is continued. I constantly think in the back of my mind like yo, I want the best for my family. I want the best for my brothers and sisters, bro, like for. So that that of trauma, uh, they don't have to live through it anymore, and that's always been at the forefront of my brain. Now, how much? How much is this actually going to help? We don't find out, but I ain't going to stop until it happens. I'm not going to stop until I see, you know, living comfortable, my brother chasing his dream, my nephews doing music. You know things that I'm looking forward to, and you know I'll be free in it. We ain't got to agree on everything, but let's say at the end, we got to be free until we all free. That's my thought process.
Speaker 1:Um well, so a few months ago I went back. I was living in new york in january. I said this year can be the most successful year of my life. I said this but if I don't get to see my family and my sons, that's going to hurt me, so I'm just going to go back and make it work back home. Soon as I got back, all hell broke loose. It was as if I wasn't supposed to do that and I just was like, why is this so tough to do? Right, and I tried to stick it out. I try to do the photography thing. I try to, you know, do the thing, and it was working. But in the back of my mind I was like yo, you're gonna work and become like it's only, it's only comfortable. It's not courageous. And I'm a courageous person. I'm like this isn't courageous, this is not outgoing, this is not different from what you've been doing for the past couple of years. You know what I'm saying. I'm like, and then I find out I go back and me being an investigator, I was helping my grandmother out.
Speaker 1:When I moved back. I moved in with my grandmother because that's always like home in a way, and also like I cherish the time that me and my grandma got to spend together. Happy mother's day to all the mothers too. But I definitely cherish all the time we get to spend together. But now that time is being compromised uh, because we got to keep grinding to make it, you know.
Speaker 1:But grandmother actually wasn't feeling well. So I was like all right, well, I'm gonna take you to the urgent care. She fought me, she, she was me out, bro. My grandma was like yeah, you think you can run my life and meanwhile, in the back, man, I'm like, I'm just trying to help you, grandma. So eventually she like gave in and went, but we end up. We went from urgent care to the emergency room. We got to the emergency room, they like, man, we don't even know how you can walk right now because she has so much calcification in her knees as well as arthritis, and they was like we've surprised your leg didn't just snap. But then we thought it was COVID related so it's like all right, well, we're gonna check your lungs, not the knee. But she was having swollen hands and she was having a little hard time breathing, so they and she recently was exposed to covid, so they checked. But then they checked her lungs for clots and they end up finding cancer and I found that out with my grandma and that broke my heart.
Speaker 1:Um, and then just kept getting worse and worse after that, from one thing to another, with my mom, my brothers and sisters at the time pushing. My mom has a play coming up and I was pushing to make sure that that thing becomes very successful and I believe it still will be. But I just couldn't stay in Baltimore any longer Because I got to the point of depression and being curled up in a bit, because I'm fighting all these different battles In a place where I believe I'm not supposed to be, and I felt like God was just like squeezing me to death to push me out and leave. So I did. I came back to New York. When I came here, I didn't even have a place to sleep or stay. You know I do graphic design, so I kept just flipping the graphic design money and buying Airbnbs.
Speaker 1:Then, like, finally, me and Jalink back up and work. And as we're working, working, I'm just going hard. I'm like, just this time I want this content to like really resonate. Let's all the numbers up. So meanwhile, everything with jess is going to the next level. Right, it's going crazy.
Speaker 1:And I decided to go to the met gala weekend thing because I was laying in bed and I'm still thinking about my family and I'm just like getting in that date again. And I'm just like wait a minute, carlos, you can't stay like this, because you came all the way to New York to to make it again. You can't let your emotions rule you. So I was like, okay, let me get up, let me go out. I'm gonna start this podcast, the one you're listening to right now. That's the same night I'm at. And now look at things. It's just crazy, bro. It's just getting really crazy.
Speaker 1:We grew, I grew five thousand followers. Well, maybe, maybe four thousand followers. I'm at twenty five K. I put in the work on the streams. I'm learning at the same time. So that page is going crazy and I got a math 16 on there and my goal is to really like let's get affiliate, let's get a thousand. After we get a thousand, let's get 2000. It just keep growing so that I can change life. It changed other people like videographers, photographers, graphic designers, people in the creative world, singers, rappers, instrumentalists everybody that I can touch. But I also got to save me. Thank you for checking in with me and make sure you like, follow and subscribe everywhere I am it's I Los Work on Instagram, tiktok, twitch, twitter, whatever X and let's go Catch me on the streams. We're going to be updating things in real time on Sunday. Today is Well. Next time you hear from me, it'll be something new. Thank you, peace out.