🎙️ Interesting Humans Podcast

4 Million TikTok Followers [An Influencer's AMAZING Life Story]

• Jeff Hopeck • Season 2 • Episode 42

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Meghan McCarthy turned a disadvantage into a significant ADvantage! As you will hear, her voice is truly unique and millions agree. They love her funny and engaging videos on TikTok, Youtube and Instagram where she has 8+ million followers.  Her family business (Mccarthy Taxi and Flowers) was in 3 episodes of The Office! 

Enjoy the episode! Her entire life journey is so fascinating! 

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UNKNOWN:

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay, folks, what a treat we have here today. I have Megan McCarthy. Megan, thank you for being here. Thank you for having me. 4 million, not a typo, 4 million TikTok followers. So our handyman, we live in the same neighborhood, sent me a text and said, hey, should I go ask this girl? She's one of my clients about being on the show. And as soon as he told me why, I was like, yes. Because a lot of what I've been doing is like survivor stories Nothing near this.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, I know. I watched a lot of your videos and I'm like, uh, I'm not sure what I'm going to talk about. I know like Secret Service, like a billionaire, like survivors. I'm like, I don't know. Is he sure he wants me on the podcast? The

SPEAKER_01:

answer is yes, for sure.

SPEAKER_00:

To get a totally different perspective.

SPEAKER_01:

It's... It's fascinating. Like interesting humans. When I started this, I had no clue how much fascination I would have in this world, but under the hood of what it takes, like even 10,000 followers is a lot. So you're at 4 million. We're going to dive in, but there's also some other cool stuff that you shared. So I want to make sure we get to this and I noted it. Your family owned a taxi cab company.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes.

SPEAKER_01:

Tell me a little

SPEAKER_00:

bit about it. So my dad used to joke it was always going downhill as a business, which unfortunately is true because of Uber and Lyft and all that. But we don't own it anymore. But for a long time he owned it. It was called McCarthy Flowered Cabs. Yep. And because we also own flower shops and they were actual cabs in Scranton. So when the office was on air, they reached out to us and they made it. exact replicas of our taxi cabs because they don't film in scranton they film in la and but they made exact replicas of our taxis and there's a few episodes where you can see them and it says mccarthy flowered cabs it's

SPEAKER_01:

no

SPEAKER_00:

way yeah it's so cool

SPEAKER_01:

you know an episode

SPEAKER_00:

back then so the rabies episode like the

SPEAKER_01:

michael scott fun

SPEAKER_00:

run so like i think it's like maybe kevin and stanley like they don't want to finish the run so they jump at the So that's our cab. And then also when Michael leaves the office, like one of the most emotional moments in the whole show, he drives away in one of our cabs. And

SPEAKER_01:

how can you tell what makes it... Okay, so here's the picture. So it says McCarthy on the

SPEAKER_00:

side. Oh, do you see it?

SPEAKER_01:

McCarthy flower

SPEAKER_00:

cab. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it has some flowers on the side too. Yeah. But I think there's like a moment where Jim is looking out the window and... I think it's Jim looking out the window with Michael leaving. Or it's Dwight. I forget. But, yeah, you can see it there, too. It's just, like, little clips of it. But, yeah, it's fun. You know, it's fun. Before being from Scranton, there wasn't, like, a whole lot to talk about. But now, from the office and our... And Biden.

SPEAKER_01:

The Biden Expressway we talked about getting renamed, right? Yeah. Which is no joke. They're going

SPEAKER_00:

to name it the McCarthy Flowers Expressway. Or the Megan McCarthy Expressway. I love it. Did you

SPEAKER_01:

work in the business?

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, I did. And I still do. So... I was in L.A. for a while, and then I moved back because I wanted to be close to my family and my nephews. That was the most important thing. I'm like, I don't want to miss out on their lives. When I moved back, I got more involved in the family business again. I kind of grew up in it. But now I run all of the social media. It's like 60-some accounts. And I do all of the graphics, all the marketing, any print graphics, naming the arrangements, which is one of my favorite things to do. That's actually fun and just creative. But yeah, it's a lot. I've just been involved in it my whole life, really.

SPEAKER_01:

Wow. So it's not cabs anymore. It's just flowers?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. So, no, we sold the cab company a few years ago. Okay. My family owned other businesses. There was a diaper business for a short time.

SPEAKER_01:

McCarthy? Hunter

SPEAKER_00:

McCarthy? No, I don't even know the name of it. But my dad, I won't curse on here. I don't know if I'm supposed to. He called it, it was a really poopy business. So yeah, he's an entrepreneur. He's done a few things. Random things. And now my brother, he's running it. And we're continuing to expand the flower shops. 10 states right now I think 30 some retail locations yeah it's a lot and it's always been a lot and

SPEAKER_01:

it's McCarthy

SPEAKER_00:

so the first ones are McCarthy flowers the originals that started in 1952 with my grandpa but then we would buy flower shops there's not really an exit plan for most florists so they started finding us and we're like yeah we'll buy it and we'll keep we've kept the names just to like keep the legacy of former florists Yeah. So, yeah, there are a ton of different names right now. But if you went to familyflowers.com, then you could see...

SPEAKER_01:

Familyflowers,

SPEAKER_00:

okay. Yeah, then you could see all of them because it's a family-owned business and...

SPEAKER_01:

Do I order on... Like, can I order on there for somebody in Pennsylvania?

SPEAKER_00:

You could. You'll find... You'll go to the location section and then you'll see, like... We have three locations in Pennsylvania right now.

SPEAKER_01:

Anyone by my parents will use you guys to shop at our parents. Really?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

This is, oh, this is really cool.

SPEAKER_00:

My dad and brother will love this. Yeah. Okay, cool. Where in

SPEAKER_01:

Pennsylvania-ish? We're like by the Poconos. Okay. So sell your flowers, shop our different, shop local flowers.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Okay, I see. Well, Scranton,

SPEAKER_00:

PA. There you go. Yep. This is so cool.

SPEAKER_01:

All right. You moved from there, you moved from Scranton to L.A.?

SPEAKER_00:

Scranton to Georgia.

SPEAKER_01:

To Georgia.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes. Okay. In 99, my parents moved down here. Got it. They figured that we wouldn't want to stay in Scranton as we got older, so they're like, we need to find somewhere else that maybe our kids will want to live and be near us. So then we moved here, and then I went to college. I went to Auburn. Okay. I don't know. You're probably not an Auburn fan. Did you

SPEAKER_01:

see the mascot, the Auburn mascot I had on?

SPEAKER_00:

No. I'm not

SPEAKER_01:

supposed to say

SPEAKER_00:

what school.

SPEAKER_01:

It's, um, yes. So. I literally thought that you put a uniform like a, and you go out in the field. Yeah. That's all I thought it was. Then I met this kid from, we have kids in school together and I don't know how it came up, but he doesn't like talking about it.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. I think you're supposed to be like secretive about it.

SPEAKER_01:

He told me about it and I go, you're coming on my show. There's a whole underground world. Both are the three hobbies cannot be in uniform. two of them camping uniform at the same time. Makes sense. So he told a story where the basketball team was playing in a tournament in Ireland. The football team couldn't come on the field. Well, they can come on the field, but the mascot wasn't allowed out until he came out of uniform over there. Cause they keep it exactly like a human being.

SPEAKER_00:

And they're like, I'll be got from Ireland to here in seconds. That's

SPEAKER_01:

the field they want. They don't want to

SPEAKER_00:

like. Yeah. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_01:

They had every department head from the school comes to the field to do the vote on the final day. There were a hundred applicants.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh my. That's amazing.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. And you had to do like a, you had to be out there for like two hours. Very limited ventilation. You have to be very careful when you're around groups because you can't show that you're breathing at all. So he said you had to learn breathing, how to like inhale. If you saw a group around and you knew that they were coming over to you or something, you had to like get a deep breath because you couldn't. I know. They have no ventilation. They want it that way.

SPEAKER_00:

That's painful. Like. In Alabama in August and September. I would be dying walking to class. I don't know how Aubie does it. That's amazing. It's

SPEAKER_01:

incredible. So just the whole story of it of how he would fly on the jet and they would go do commercials for Visa.

SPEAKER_00:

That's so cool. It was just

SPEAKER_01:

awesome. Great episode.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I need to watch that one.

SPEAKER_01:

You come down and you go to Auburn. So I went to Auburn

SPEAKER_00:

Theater.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, which my dad was like, okay. not sure that's the best call but i i did theater in high school and my cousin also got into auburn she's from pennsylvania so we just decided to go there together i didn't really want to go to college to be honest

SPEAKER_01:

i didn't

SPEAKER_00:

either yeah but i was like uh i guess i better and so

SPEAKER_01:

i'll just go to auburn

SPEAKER_00:

so i'll just go to auburn because my cousin got in so we'll just go together um But I do, okay, I think everything happens for a reason, obviously. So I was a theater major and I was not getting cast in the shows. I just wasn't the right fit or the teachers didn't like me. I don't know. Or my voice was too specific to, you know, I don't know, play these like Shakespearean roles. So I wasn't getting cast and that's kind of, You know, that hurts a little bit. You're like, oh, I did really well in high school. I peaked in high school.

UNKNOWN:

Right.

SPEAKER_00:

So, but I kind of lucked out. So my junior year, a friend introduced me to Vine. Do you know Vine?

SPEAKER_01:

The 10 second?

SPEAKER_00:

It was 6.4 seconds. 6.4 seconds. If you want the exact time. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Okay, yep. Well, my friend introduced me to that my junior year, and I just started posting on there for fun. I'm like, oh, well, I'm not getting cast in the shows. This is just a fun, creative outlet. Never expected anything to come from it. But I remember then my senior year, so that was the end of junior year. My senior year, I remember one day I like randomly hit a thousand followers on Vine and I thought that was so crazy. I was like, my heart was pounding. I'm like, who are these thousand people following me? What

SPEAKER_01:

were you posting?

SPEAKER_00:

How's it

SPEAKER_01:

going?

SPEAKER_00:

I just tried to be funny. In six seconds? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

What can you do in six seconds to be funny?

SPEAKER_00:

I mean, I made... Over 700 vines, so a decent amount, I guess. I think my brain works in short little bursts of comedy, and that's it, so it really worked for me. But yeah, so I hit 1,000 followers September 1st, and then when that happened, I was like, oh, maybe I better keep trying and see what can happen. I was just posting for friends initially, and then... By six months later, I had a million followers on Vine. Oh my God. No way. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

This is nine, what is

SPEAKER_00:

this year? 2013 and then 2014 is when I hit a million. Wow. Yeah. And I was like, this is crazy. Were

SPEAKER_01:

they paying anything at that time or was that?

SPEAKER_00:

No, Vine never had like ad revenue on it, but I was paid through brand deals. So I was...

SPEAKER_01:

That's what I want to understand. So a lot of people call you?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, they'd email me. I'd have my email in my bio and then they'd reach out to me. And, you know, it started off small, just charging a few hundred and then a few thousand video and then... It kept going.

SPEAKER_01:

Get out of here. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What was your favorite product and your worst product that you ever

SPEAKER_00:

got involved with? My favorite product? Oh, that's a great question. I did a lot for Coca-Cola, which was fun. Yeah. Those were fun. I did McDonald's. I did UGG. Oral-B. Oh, you know what? The coolest one was Lenovo. I was hired for Lenovo and for Tech World, and I got to be the person to introduce bendable technology for the first time. Are you

SPEAKER_01:

kidding? Yeah. What year was that?

SPEAKER_00:

That was 2016, I believe. No way. Yeah. So it was crazy. I had to go to San Francisco. You did? That's incredible. But I didn't know Cam yet at the time. Oh,

SPEAKER_01:

okay. You guys

SPEAKER_00:

didn't know him, but you know that in the story now. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, my gosh. So that was probably one of the coolest experiences. I was so nervous because you're in a room with, like, I think there was, like, I don't know how many thousands of people that room held, and then it's being streamed. like live for people all around the world it's literally called tech world and the night before we had rehearsals and i didn't particularly love what was written for me for my script and luckily the team was so awesome to work with and they were like you could change it and i was like okay so i rewrote a script and i had to memorize it that night and then perform it the next day but the scariest part was their engineer he was from China and he created this like bendable phone that you could wear on your wrist like a watch basically and then a like a folding tablet um But it was so scary because he was like, don't touch here or here or here or here because this is like a prototype. So I was like, I could mess this up live. I could break this phone. It was terrifying. But I nailed it, I think.

SPEAKER_01:

How long was the script?

SPEAKER_00:

You know, I don't know how long it was.

SPEAKER_01:

couple sentences or was

SPEAKER_00:

it like a long no it might be like a paragraph maybe like I don't know six seven sentences something like that and like a little back and forth but it was intimidating and it was awesome though and I met Ashton Kutcher there because he also was like on stage and doing some work there with I think Motorola phones

SPEAKER_01:

so a different product yeah

SPEAKER_00:

yeah

SPEAKER_01:

that's so cool

SPEAKER_00:

but that was cool so yeah that was a very cool experience and that started with um sorry i'm like going all over the place

SPEAKER_01:

and it's awesome it's actually perfect it's literally perfect

SPEAKER_00:

this

SPEAKER_01:

is what i want to do wind you up and i

SPEAKER_00:

want to hear how your brain works it's all over the place all the time so they first lenovo first hired me for a facebook brand deal and uh the amount was pretty low like in comparison to other jobs i've been getting at the time and can

SPEAKER_01:

you say

SPEAKER_00:

the number it was two thousand dollars okay for a facebook video yeah

SPEAKER_01:

okay yeah yeah

SPEAKER_00:

and that was like much lower than i had been and i was like oh man um but my manager was like no i think it's a good idea you should take it and i'm like okay i'll do it and then that's what led into me you know getting to work with them more and i Six-figure deals and stuff.

SPEAKER_01:

More deals and more. So you had a manager, you said?

SPEAKER_00:

I did, yeah, for part of the time. Like not the whole time. I started off by myself. doing everything, learning along the way. Yeah. There's a, there's so much to it. It's great. I knew nothing, you know, like I had no, it was all new. Yeah. There was no like blueprint. There was nobody, you know, now so many people want to be influencers and there's a lot of information on how to get started. And yeah, Back then, there was nothing. I'm like, I do not know what I'm doing, and I'm just going to wing it. You wanted

SPEAKER_01:

to do it? What was the... I don't know. What changed? Did you enjoy the work? Did you enjoy a piece of the work? Or maybe from a long time ago, when you put your first vine up, you're like, I'm going to do this forever.

SPEAKER_00:

How did it work? How did it all work out? I didn't grow up thinking, oh, I'm going to be an influencer. I never had that thought. I always liked making people laugh. for as long as I can remember. I've always just loved making people laugh. So when I first started making vines, like I said, it was just for me and my friends, like just making stupid videos, like just trying to make people laugh. And I did not expect other people to follow along or also really think it was funny. I think we'll laugh too. Yeah, I guess other people like laughing.

SPEAKER_01:

Gosh,

SPEAKER_00:

it's so cool. Yeah, so then it just kept growing from there. I thought I wanted to do acting. You know, that's why I was in theater. So I had some kind of entertainment background somewhat, I guess. But like influencing, being on social media, that was never a goal or in the plan. And it just... It kind of happened that way. It

SPEAKER_01:

kind of happened because you dabbled with the Vine thing.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, exactly. And

SPEAKER_01:

then what prompted California to move there?

SPEAKER_00:

So I don't know exactly how many followers I had when I graduated from Auburn, but it was maybe around 3 million or

SPEAKER_01:

something. On just Vine?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. No way.

SPEAKER_01:

That's fascinating.

SPEAKER_00:

Thank you. 3 million. Seriously, when I first saw 1,000 followers, I almost threw up. I was like, who are these people? It scared me. I don't know if I want random people watching me. But then a few months after I graduated from Auburn, I was like, you know, this is the time to try to go to California, see what happens. I moved out there, and it was definitely the right career move for sure. There was so many opportunities I got, like four brand deals and other opportunities because I was there. Wow.

SPEAKER_01:

What were those?

SPEAKER_00:

So there's a lot. I got to make Vines for The Voice, that show. I got to go there. And I was so excited because I loved that show. I was so excited. and let me think what else uh like a bunch of movie premieres things like that just just fun stuff like fun random oh the first event i ever went to this is before i moved to la it was in las vegas it was like a vine influencer meetup at mike tyson's house in las vegas so random

SPEAKER_01:

mike tyson's house you were how old i mean

SPEAKER_00:

you i was 22 22 Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

I didn't feel like to go to Mike Tyson's house at age 22. I would

SPEAKER_00:

be like so nervous. I was nervous. I was so nervous. And that was like my first time meeting all these other influencers. Logan Paul. Do you know Logan Paul? He, I think, was it Jake Paul that fought Mike Tyson recently? Oh. So he was there. So it's so funny to me thinking back. Like that's when I first met Logan Paul and Jake Paul. And then 10 years later, like. Jake Paul's fighting Mike Tyson. Oh,

SPEAKER_01:

my goodness.

SPEAKER_00:

It's so weird. But Logan was like, oh, so that is your real voice. I'm like, oh, nice to meet you, too. But so that was wild. There was a lot of pretty interesting, wild experiences in L.A. Did they pay

SPEAKER_01:

you per reel? Or per, what are they called on Vine?

SPEAKER_00:

Just a Vine, yeah. Per episode or just? Per Vine, yeah. So I would, I will say I'm a pretty shrewd negotiator, believe it or not. I know I might not come across that way.

SPEAKER_01:

Great. I want some negotiating tips before this is over then.

SPEAKER_00:

All right, great. But, you know, companies would reach out to me. Coca-Cola, Milky Way, Burger King. I've worked with a lot of different companies and they would make me an offer and I would... You know, make it a better offer for myself. That's right. Because I could do that. One of the things I think that really helped me in getting brand deals was that I was always very family friendly. A lot of people on the internet are not super family friendly. Oh,

SPEAKER_01:

that language you mean.

SPEAKER_00:

Language and just as far as like... being an influence. I knew I had a lot of young people watching me, so I didn't want to be a bad influence. That was always important to me. That's so cool. So that helped with big companies. I'm like, yeah, you can hire these people, but I don't think you want to be associated with some of that. So that helped me a lot. Where'd you learn

SPEAKER_01:

that? Where'd you learn negotiating? Just by doing it or did somebody teach you? Manager?

SPEAKER_00:

No, just... Just by doing it. I mean, I think my dad, he's good at negotiating, too. But he would, like, I'd be in the car, like, on the phone, like, trying to make a deal. And he'd be like, take that, take that. And I'm like, no, I'm not.

UNKNOWN:

I could do better.

SPEAKER_00:

And he'd be, like, dying. He's like, you know how many flowers I have to sell to get? I'm like, stop. You don't

SPEAKER_01:

have to say the company name, but what was the biggest... percentage increase like they offered you two and you

SPEAKER_00:

got 20 that's a great question after

SPEAKER_01:

negotiating because most kids would take what they were offered

SPEAKER_00:

yes oh great speaking of that that destroyed the the like rates for social media by the way those like kids that were like oh i have five million followers five hundred dollars that sounds great that destroyed it yeah um i honestly i don't know the company that i'm like got the biggest jump from but i i don't think i ever took the first offer on anything moved it up yeah always moved yeah along the way yeah and i'm like i'm gonna i i you know i'll have it done for you when you want it done i'll make multiple um videos if you need them like i'll redo things i was i was always super responsible super on time super responsive you know they there was a because they knew that I would get the job done.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Now in those, was there a specific kind of editing or was it more about being raw and authentic?

SPEAKER_00:

So in the very beginning of Vine, there was no editing at all. It was very hard to film. Even though it's only 6.4 seconds, there would be times that I would be filming for hours to get the 6.4. Because you couldn't delete. Like if you deleted it, it would delete the whole thing. So if you wanted to film for two seconds, you have to have that perfect two seconds. And then if you have your next shot and it's just one second and it's not perfect, you have to start all over. Yeah, I know. It's such a short amount of time. But when there was no editing, no uploading, you could only film in the app. It was really challenging. Yeah, in the beginning for a while, you had to film in the app. Yeah. That was challenging. I remember trying to do some brand deals when I was at Auburn and having friends try to film them for me. And they're like, you can hear them like, three. And I'm like, no. It was so bad. There were so many times where I'm like, oh my gosh, I got to find somebody else to film. Yeah, because you couldn't even... Initially, you couldn't even set a timer to film yourself. Yeah, it was way harder in

SPEAKER_01:

the beginning. Take any one of those companies, Coca-Cola, Mars, Milky Way. You set a bunch of great companies. What's one example of a Vine? What would they do in six seconds? Eat my candy bar? What else can you say or whatever? I...

SPEAKER_00:

I'm trying to think. I made so many. I think there was one I made for Coke that I was pulled over by a cop. Okay. And I gave him a Coke, like, with his name on it or something like that. Or it was, like, a share a Coke brand deal. Like, they were doing, like, a share a Coke campaign. So I was, like, I, like, shared it with the cop.

UNKNOWN:

Okay.

SPEAKER_00:

I don't know. That was one. There was one that was when they did those machines that have, you know, all the different sodas you can get. Yeah, yeah. I remember I made one for that where I would like pick a drink and I would like change my outfit into something else. Like it was like a different vibe for every drink. Yeah. But I tried to make them funny too. There was one YouTube video I did for Listerine, but it was... I don't know exactly how we made this work, but it did somehow. Yeah. I went to like a person's home that was haunted and we did like a ghost tour thing. Yeah. I don't know. So they're kind of all over the place.

SPEAKER_01:

Wow. That's so cool.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Who else do I add to that? So you got Coca-Cola, Mars, Milky Way, Listerine. What

SPEAKER_00:

other ones?

UNKNOWN:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Lenovo. Oh, that's right. Lenovo, yeah. Ugg, like Ugg boots. So cool. That one, I did a video with a Husky, I remember. You did? Yes. I was living with a Husky at the time, and they sent me a pair of fake Uggs and a pair of real Uggs for the video, so it was like you had to make some idea around that. Yeah. And... So I had the dog destroy the fake ones, and then I had him, he wouldn't touch the real ones because he knew better. He's like, these are quality. I'm not going to chew on these. I'm trying to think. Can you think of any other brands?

UNKNOWN:

That is...

SPEAKER_01:

Awesome.

SPEAKER_00:

There

SPEAKER_01:

was, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Are you okay?

SPEAKER_00:

I'm good.

SPEAKER_01:

Wow. All right, so Mike Tyson, you're California, then what happens?

SPEAKER_00:

So, sorry, I feel like I have a runny nose. Okay.

SPEAKER_01:

Let me ask that question just in case. Oh, yeah. Cut this out if I have to, but I doubt it. All right, so you go, so Mike Tyson, you have this incredible, you're 22 years old.

SPEAKER_00:

Yep.

SPEAKER_01:

Auburn, California. How much longer do you do in California? Until you come back to Georgia.

SPEAKER_00:

I was in California for four years.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. What part of California? Like West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Glendale. I moved around.

SPEAKER_01:

Places that all got burned down by the fire, right?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. There were times where I was living there that I packed a suitcase because there was fire so close. Yeah. I'm like, I don't know if I'm going to have to leave immediately. Yeah. It's so sad. Yeah. It's really terrible. It's a whole

SPEAKER_01:

different way to live yeah have a suitcase ready to go yeah exactly fires

SPEAKER_00:

and i barely packed anything i was like i don't know i put like dog pads in it for my dog like that's the

SPEAKER_01:

most important thing i love

SPEAKER_00:

it oh that's awesome so

SPEAKER_01:

four years california

SPEAKER_00:

yes

SPEAKER_01:

are you having the time of your life In California?

SPEAKER_00:

You're

SPEAKER_01:

doing vines, you're working

SPEAKER_00:

with cool companies. Yes, there was so much fun stuff. I had a lot of great experiences. One of my favorite experiences was flying to New York for the Suicide Squad premiere. I don't know if you're a Batman guy. For

SPEAKER_01:

sure. You worked on it?

SPEAKER_00:

I didn't work on it, but I got to promote it. I was hired to go, and I got to walk on... It was a black carpet, not a red carpet. But that was cool. And my brother has always loved Batman, too, so I took him with me. And so that was just such a fun experience for us. And then the after party was pretty crazy. Margot Robbie was there, Will Smith... Cara Delevingne, Jared Leto, probably the craziest. And this was back in... I think 2016 when this happened too, Elon Musk was there. Did

SPEAKER_01:

anybody know you?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. I mean, not, well, I don't know. Hey,

SPEAKER_01:

I saw your vines. That

SPEAKER_00:

has happened to me from people that I looked up to. Do you know the band Panic at the Disco? They've been one of my favorite bands since middle school. And it was actually during that trip I saw the lead singer at my hotel and I ran up to him and I was like, I'm sorry to bother you. I love you. And he's like, oh, hey, I know who you are. Like, I watch your vines. And I'm like, I almost died right then. But at the Suicide Squad premiere after party, like, my brother, I feel like, was the only person who knew who Elon Musk was at the time. Like, in 2016, his face was not, like, recognizable like it is now. So my brother introduced himself, and he was so, like– focused on you when he talks to you it's like there's no one else in the world it was intimidating and impressive

SPEAKER_01:

yeah tesla 16 i don't even know tesla was out

SPEAKER_00:

yeah yeah yeah

SPEAKER_01:

is it the brother that i know

SPEAKER_00:

yeah

SPEAKER_01:

yeah get out he goes right up to him yeah yeah hey i'm

SPEAKER_00:

kevin you know everybody else there it wasn't it wasn't a big party i think you know they because of the cast being there they didn't want a ton of random people but most people that I saw were going up to some of the actors. I didn't see anybody else be like, Oh, I need to meet Elon Musk. Oh

SPEAKER_01:

yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

It would be different now. But, um, so that was a very fun experience. Um, I know we're talking about living in L.A., but some of the work I would go to New York for. Oh,

SPEAKER_01:

interesting.

SPEAKER_00:

But there was a thing called the Shorty Awards, which were like internet awards. Not

SPEAKER_01:

like the Dundies.

SPEAKER_00:

Not quite like the Dundies. Kind of close.

SPEAKER_01:

Nothing

SPEAKER_00:

as good as the Dundies. Michael Scott. I never won a Dundie, sadly. I think I deserve one. But I was nominated for Best Vine Comedian, and I was the only girl that I was nominated, so I was excited about that. Wow. I didn't win, but that's okay. That's okay. It was still a very cool experience, and I was still honored that anyone thinks I'm funny at all. Yeah. That was really cool.

SPEAKER_01:

You're at the time now. Are you growing? Are your followers just going up with all this exposure?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. So on Vine, I reached three and a half million before it shut down in 2017.

UNKNOWN:

Oh.

SPEAKER_00:

Uh,

SPEAKER_01:

yeah. Did it convert or just shut down?

SPEAKER_00:

It shut down. So Twitter bought it. Um, I was already doing YouTube at the time. So I, I feel like I, this was, I have to thank my brother for this actually. I have to thank him for a lot. Um, so when I, I'm sorry, I'm jumping all over the place. It's just, it's just the only way I can do it. Um, so when i first started getting followers on vine um like everyone was really nice at first when i had those first like a thousand followers and then within a couple months i started getting all of the terrible mean comments like horrific things that I would never say to anyone. I don't know. Can I say it on here? I

SPEAKER_01:

would love

SPEAKER_00:

to hear it. People tell me to kill myself. I get that one a lot. People say that they want to kill me. I get that a lot. People say that they hope I get raped and then killed. Why? I'm like, is someone forcing you to watch this? I know. It's not like

SPEAKER_01:

you're saying political. I know.

SPEAKER_00:

I'm just trying to make people laugh. I'm like, this is... Yes, but there's so much of that on the internet.

SPEAKER_01:

Is anything real? Did anything turn out to be like a real threat? Did somebody ever show up where you're at?

SPEAKER_00:

No, but I had people that I was concerned about. So there were things called VidCon and Playlist Live where you would go and meet a bunch of fans and do like meet and greets and I would talk on panels and I put a couple people on a list of for, like, the VidCon security to look out for. And it wasn't the people that were saying mean things. It was the people that were saying very creepy, like, I want to marry you, but, like, way creepier than that. Like, yeah, there was people that would message me, you know, basically 24 hours a day for years. Like, and I'd block them on something, and then they would just make a new account or, you know, it was... Yeah, there's a lot of crazy stuff out there. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

At the end of the day. Yeah. Is that what it comes down to?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, because people don't say that stuff to my face. I mean, I have people have weird reactions to my voice all the time, but no one's ever like, kill yourself. Like, that doesn't happen in person. What

SPEAKER_01:

kind of person is

SPEAKER_00:

that? There's shockingly a lot of them. I know. It's just, they're the loudest, you know. That's the thing. Those type of people are the loudest ones. And there's so many good people and so many nice people. And there's so many great comments too. And so many things that have meant so much to me to hear from people. But it's just like the jerks, they're the loudest ones always. But wait, where was I going with this? Oh, my brother. So I owe him for this. I called him one night my senior year at Auburn. And I was crying because I... wasn't prepared for these comments like i didn't expect complete strangers to want to murder me you know like for trying to make people laugh um so i called him crying and he was like you need to make a video like those mean tweets videos that like celebrities make and so then i that was my first Big YouTube video. I wasn't doing YouTube yet at the time. But that was my first one. And that was the first one that hit a million views. And it just went over super well. And it was just me reading all the mean comments. So I... I turned the negativity into positivity and profit. Is

SPEAKER_01:

that still out there?

SPEAKER_00:

It is. But the editing is so bad. I had no idea what I was doing. I had literally no education in editing. I filmed it on my iPhone. I set it up on some books. I edited it in iMovie, but I didn't know what I was doing with the audio. It's a mess, but it's still out there. It works,

SPEAKER_01:

though, because it was real.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, it was. It was all real. That's where

SPEAKER_01:

I'm struggling now with everything going on with AI and

SPEAKER_00:

all this

SPEAKER_01:

fancy, polished reading from teleprompters. There's a time and place for that, but I don't see a real person knowing... that they had 17 takes

SPEAKER_00:

to

SPEAKER_01:

do something and it's just polished and edited. And I'm struggling, there's a time and place for

SPEAKER_00:

it.

SPEAKER_01:

But I think it's way overused, especially in this environment. Like, if I keep hitting start and stop and edit and not edit and get a perfectly smooth polished show, I don't know. It's not real. Anyway.

SPEAKER_00:

No, I agree. I do think people liked that about my videos. I was just real. You know, I'm not perfect. I never pretended to be perfect because I'm so far from it. Yeah, I think people enjoy that. I didn't mind making fun of myself, embarrassing myself. Yeah,

SPEAKER_01:

that's so

SPEAKER_00:

cool. Just doing anything I could to try and make people laugh was... the most important thing to me. But yeah, so from Vine, then I started my YouTube channel. I got up to like, I don't know, two million some subscribers on there. I haven't posted in a long time on there. But I was doing that for a while too. And then I also- Was that paying? Yeah. At the

SPEAKER_01:

time they were a paid platform. Yes, so that was nice. Were you getting paid through that? Other paid endorsements or what did

SPEAKER_00:

you call them? Yeah, I always say brand deals. Okay, brand deals. Did you get some? Yes, I did brand deals. And then I also, like, you get paid per view as well on there. And the, you know, the revenue changes. But it was good for a while with, you know, you just get paid however many views you get. And that was nice.

SPEAKER_01:

That was awesome.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. But yeah, I was also doing brand deals on there too. And then I started doing Musical.ly, which was TikTok before it was. tiktok so it was originally musically and then eventually they changed it to tiktok because they didn't want to be known as just like a lip-syncing yeah video app um and so i still post on there and that's where i have four million still and

SPEAKER_01:

on tiktok

SPEAKER_00:

yeah yeah

SPEAKER_01:

and they pay from my understanding the best of anybody

SPEAKER_00:

um at

SPEAKER_01:

least recent

SPEAKER_00:

yeah maybe probably yeah like

SPEAKER_01:

for post-accurate

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, for the views probably compared to YouTube. I mean, I haven't posted much on YouTube, so I guess I don't have that real comparison now. But they do pay. They found a way to monetize the app. That was the problem with Vine is they never monetized the app. Never? No, so Twitter... Twitter bought it from the original creators of Vine, and then they were losing like a million dollars a month because they didn't monetize it. And I'm like, there are so many ways. Like every other app does it now. Yeah. And I'm not sure why they didn't. You know, they could have just thrown in an ad every... Right. They just didn't. Yeah. Literally billions, yeah. And it

SPEAKER_01:

was all through that platform. You didn't never link out anywhere else.

SPEAKER_00:

No, it was just the views on there, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

So Vine was that big. I didn't realize Vine was that big.

SPEAKER_00:

It was a good time. It was very fun. Sometimes I hear people talk about it maybe coming back. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01:

It's supposed to come back. I know I heard that a couple days ago. It's supposed to come back under some platform.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

And I forget. I don't know which one, but I want

SPEAKER_00:

to say. I don't know if it'll come back under X because, like, I think... I don't know. Maybe Elon Musk still has the rights to it because Twitter owned it when he bought Twitter. I don't totally know.

SPEAKER_01:

Will you get back on if it does?

SPEAKER_00:

I definitely would. I definitely would, yeah. Really? Yeah. I don't like to get my hopes up about it, but it was definitely my favorite platform. It was the most fun to me. It was more about comedy. It was... I don't know. I just... It was just very funny and fun. It fits you well. Yeah, yeah. It just fits your

SPEAKER_01:

feel.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Like your

SPEAKER_00:

DNA

SPEAKER_01:

or whatever.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, definitely.

SPEAKER_01:

That's really cool. All right. Then so you're back to Georgia and what happened? What year are we in when you come back? Pre-COVID?

SPEAKER_00:

It was pre-COVID. Yeah. The very end of 2018 is when I moved back here. Yeah. And I met my husband actually in California. So we were just... Dating at the time. But I brought him back here with me. And we moved in with my parents. When we first came back here. Yeah. And he survived that. And I'm like. This guy. So. He's

SPEAKER_01:

impressive. You can do that. You're in. No. They're here.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

At the time.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Yeah. My parents are amazing. So. Mostly joking, but, you know, it's still hard to live with someone else's parents.

SPEAKER_01:

Absolutely. Especially when you're coming from used to being

SPEAKER_00:

on your own. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So that was quite the transition. But, yeah, I moved back here because I have nephews now and I have a niece coming soon, which I'm very excited about. I love it. Good. I know career-wise, it... It didn't make the most sense, but I know that I'll never regret the time with family. You know, I had a great career. I still have plans for the future. I'm working on other things. Yeah, so I'm not worried about it. And especially with social media, it changes so fast. It's so up and down. It's so unpredictable. So, yeah, I'm working on other things now, but... I sometimes think about how moving back here wasn't the best career move. But like I said, I'll never regret having that time with family and getting to know my nephews. Good

SPEAKER_01:

priorities. Yeah. Great priorities. I love it. When you came back to Georgia, were you... Already like weaning off of doing social or what

SPEAKER_00:

were you seeing? I was still filming YouTube videos weekly. But for

SPEAKER_01:

you or for brands

SPEAKER_00:

too? For both. Okay. Yeah, yeah. Okay. So a lot of times the videos I would do for brands, they'd be posted on my account. Like sometimes they'd be on their accounts, but most of the time it'd be to my account because they wanted to get the viewers and like my audience.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh. Yeah. Okay. So that's like what I think of like an influencer. Yeah, yeah. They're on their own

SPEAKER_00:

channel.

UNKNOWN:

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01:

and doing stuff. So that's what you were doing all throughout.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. And sometimes it'd be on their accounts,

SPEAKER_01:

but

SPEAKER_00:

yeah, it was mostly on my own because they want to get.

SPEAKER_01:

So pitching, you're like pitching deal, like you're more or less pitching it. Okay, cool. But you would do a little bit of on their channel as well.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, sometimes, but it was mostly on my own accounts

SPEAKER_01:

for you.

SPEAKER_00:

Um,

SPEAKER_01:

financially,

SPEAKER_00:

financially, it's better for me to post it on my account. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Then you name your price.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01:

I would think, right.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. And like I was mentioning, um, So then, basically, kids, like, young teenagers started getting famous on Musical.ly and taking these brand deals that were so low. Like, the companies were totally taking advantage of, like, 12-, 13-year-olds. It was really messed up, so that kind of hurt the rates a lot. Like, I was still, you know, charging my prices, but a lot of people could have– They deserved more than a lot of companies gave them. And now it's so oversaturated with... Is it? Yeah, it's all ads. It's all promoting some product. It's... Yeah, there's just not... Not as much of that just fun, creative... I don't know. It's just not what it used to be. The

SPEAKER_01:

authentic stuff. Yeah. And it's so hard to decipher, too. Like...

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

The polished, incredible reels that you see. And it's like... There's so much... sizzle and no steak. It's hard to even differentiate if somebody's being paid to pitch a product.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Is it good? You're supposed to be very upfront with that. Any time I had a brand deal, I'd have to put sponsored or ad or something like that. But not everyone does that, and that is technically illegal. Really? Yeah. If you're promoting something, if you're being paid to promote something, you are supposed to disclose that to your viewers. In the

SPEAKER_01:

description?

SPEAKER_00:

You could say it in the description or in a pop-up, like a text on the screen. It just has to be... like obvious that you're actually promoting something and you're not just doing this because you like the product.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Even if you do like it, but you have to show that you're, if you're being paid, you're supposed to tell people. I noticed that.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. I wondered what that was. I hear it in Chick-fil-A deals. Yeah. Or commercials. Uh-huh. Chick-fil-A commercials now and I never heard it before.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, yeah. But I

SPEAKER_01:

hear it in there where they disclose that. Yeah. And

SPEAKER_00:

it's, again. I mean, it should be disclosed. It's.

SPEAKER_01:

You feel better.

SPEAKER_00:

It's disappointing when it's not. I can't remember. Well, I probably shouldn't even. You know, try to talk about... There were, like, massive celebrities that would get paid years ago. Like, when this, like, first kind of influencing came around. And they wouldn't disclose it. And it's so wrong. It's just...

SPEAKER_01:

Misleading.

SPEAKER_00:

And you know that those celebrities weren't using some of those things. Like, I actually, like... Do drink Coke or go to McDonald's or wear Uggs. I tried to always post things and work with brands that I actually did believe in. If it was something... I turned things down that were not aligned with... Me or, like, my audience. Wow.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Anything come to mind? Remember one? Or

SPEAKER_00:

you don't want to say it? No, like, yeah, there's some inappropriate ones that, you know, certain influencers would promote those kind of things because there's a whole...

SPEAKER_01:

For the money.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, for the money. I mean, it's money. It's a financial deal. It's all about money.

SPEAKER_01:

But you stuck, you navigated and kept your morals. Yeah. That's incredible.

SPEAKER_00:

Thank you. That's

SPEAKER_01:

cool.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I think... It wasn't challenging for me, but sometimes it was frustrating seeing the people that didn't care about morals or values or having a young audience and not caring what they're showing them. That's frightening. I had a hard time with that. It was a lot of people that I was surrounded by. I met some of my favorite people ever in L.A. and also some of... you know, not the best people ever.

SPEAKER_01:

You gotta make sure you still have your wallet. Yeah. Like double check your billfold.

SPEAKER_00:

It was so creepy. There's a lot of people that, um, like I thought I had all of these great friends out there and then it turns out, oh, they were just using me. Like that was a, pretty common theme out there they're

SPEAKER_01:

trying to advance their own

SPEAKER_00:

yeah some people just really don't care who they step on to get to the next level and once they've used you as much as they can then they go to the next so yeah so I learned that the hard way probably over and over again but I did meet my husband out there and one of my best friends ever so you know it was all worth it and I still miss things about LA the weather the food shopping there was there's just so much to do all the time.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. I want to go behind the scenes on one of these. Pick any one. Okay. And we'll stay focused on Vine.

SPEAKER_00:

We'll try. I'm so

SPEAKER_01:

fascinated that you said, I can't get it out of my mind, that you said it would take hours sometimes to produce six seconds.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

So let's start with like thought process. So Coke wants to do the machine. Let's use that machine. Okay.

UNKNOWN:

Okay.

SPEAKER_01:

Take over from there. What do you do? You have six seconds to promote the machine. Are you coming up with the creative or are they?

SPEAKER_00:

I preferred when I was able to come up with a creative entirely, but there was some brands like Coke, major brands like that, they would have somewhat of an outline and stricter rules and policies for what you could say, what you could post. And they just had some ideas for what they wanted the videos to be like, like share a Coke or the ones where they had the names on it, like I did ones with that. So there were some themed ones, and then there'd be other brands that were just... More like, we just want you to promote Milky Way however you feel like promoting Milky Way, you know? Really? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Free?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, so those ones were fun because I could... Wow. just like had free reign I could think of any random creative thought um for me it usually would be at night when I'm trying to fall asleep is when I think of all my ideas like I don't know why but that's always how it is I've always been more nocturnal I just I'm better at night and I'd be trying to fall asleep and I'm like oh I gotta get my phone and write that idea down and you know some yeah I would then I'd have to go back and forth with the brands I would like write out my cons give them like an outline and sometimes they'd approve it sometimes they want to tweak certain things then I'd film it and usually like I would be like a one take wonder I say but that's not the case it was like one video from me it was frustrating when brands would be like oh no we want you to re-film the whole video and I'm like but you approved the outline and so that rarely happened luckily but there were times that did happen and I'm like No, we're not going to do that because we went through this. Yeah, so that was annoying. But yeah, most of the time it was just me looking over the concept and trying to think of some way that I can promote a product that can somehow be entertaining. Yeah,

SPEAKER_01:

yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

It's so common now. In the beginning, people would comment like, oh, sell out, blah, blah, blah, like all this stuff. I'm like, I'm posting hundreds, like actually thousands of videos for you guys for free. Like, none of the viewers have to pay me anything, so... You know, I got to get paid somehow. Right,

SPEAKER_01:

so you put one up for Milky Way and everyone you sell

SPEAKER_00:

out. Yeah. Really? And so now it's just funny. But

SPEAKER_01:

not a lot of people.

SPEAKER_00:

No, but in the beginning it was a lot more because people just weren't used to, like, the whole influencer thing, I guess. And now it's just so common. Like, everybody's promoting something. But, yeah, in the beginning it was a little tougher. And people would be like, oh, I'm going to unfollow you because... I'm like, I'm sorry. I'm making all this content for

SPEAKER_01:

free. Some money. Oh, my goodness. It's not like you're filling up your feed with

SPEAKER_00:

sponsored stuff. I know. I'm like, one in every 50 or 100 videos. She

SPEAKER_01:

tells me they were a little envious that they couldn't get a deal like that themselves.

SPEAKER_00:

I do think there is a lot of that. A lot of the mean comments out there, it's just jealousy. Yeah, it's sad. People should just be nice.

SPEAKER_01:

So there was a guy, episode three, who's the vice president. Coca-Cola brought him in and made a position for him because he was so creative. Vice president of ideas.

SPEAKER_00:

Keith

SPEAKER_01:

Wilmot. He, so his fame, his claim, one of his many claims to fame at Coke was in a board meeting in order to get, uh, uh, deal like done he had to get like permission from the board to do something he brought in it's an unbelievable story he tells it on the podcast a 600 pound white Siberian tiger from Dahlonega the guy pulls up in front of World of Coke downtown opens the back of his trailer and Keith Wilmot and the guy who owns the tiger had to walk it in, got in the elevator. Uh, yeah. Pictures and videos. It's unbelievable.

SPEAKER_00:

This is so, that

SPEAKER_01:

is so awesome. All this is at the time. Like you were talking about the machine and stuff like that. He was there through all that. Recently retired, started his own, his own consulting kind of business.

SPEAKER_00:

How did the tiger affect everyone? Like what happened or what was his concept that he needed that one tiger?

SPEAKER_01:

So if you go all the way back to the days of Disney, when they opened animal kingdom. So he tells the story animal kingdom, they wanted to shut it down because it was failing.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, right.

SPEAKER_01:

And, um, actually they didn't want to, they shut the idea down. They didn't want to build it. They didn't want to build it. Right. It was, this is the story and this is what's out on the internet. It was the base from like Michael Eisner, the CEO. So board declines it. You never go back and ask a board for something they declined, but. first like he got through he got he was able to do it and pitch it again

SPEAKER_00:

that's awesome he said

SPEAKER_01:

this time we want to bring in now this wasn't the coke guy but this is the story of at disney the consulting group said look we'll get the board to give us one more shot the ceo said okay i'll let you present to the board one more time they brought in a white siberian tiger

SPEAKER_00:

That's so

SPEAKER_01:

awesome. And the reason they did it, it's fascinating. The reason they did it is because they felt the only thing they couldn't get past the first time in the presentation with the board was if they just had an animal there for the, and that was the concept. So they come in, they pitch it again, right? They win it. They build animal kingdom and animal kingdom. Don't quote this exactly, but very close to has been their major profit center

SPEAKER_00:

year over year over

SPEAKER_01:

year over year over year.

SPEAKER_00:

And it was rejected initially. It was rejected at first.

SPEAKER_01:

So Keith, the Coke guy, took a page out of that book.

SPEAKER_00:

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_01:

Because it worked, and here it worked at Coke again. I don't know what it was pitching

SPEAKER_00:

exactly at Coke. Yeah, but it worked, and I love that. I think that's a great, you know, lesson to live by I was I guess rejected by all the casting at Auburn you know I wasn't getting cast in anything most I don't know if most people but a lot of people have been like okay I don't have a shot in this entertainment world like I'm not making it in theater and luckily I didn't let them discourage me there was one professor at Auburn who he actually said to me he was like they'll regret not using your talents here. And that meant a lot to me. I was like, thank you. Like, yeah, that really meant a lot to me. Um, But I don't know if they regret it or not. But it worked out fine for me because if I had been cast in those shows, I would have been very busy. I might not have started making vines all the time. You wouldn't have a

SPEAKER_01:

million followers. Exactly. Two million and three million and three and a half million. Yeah. Two over on YouTube and four. We didn't even talk about TikTok

SPEAKER_00:

yet. Yeah, that's true. If I had let all the mean comments stop me, you know, it... I wouldn't be where I am. That

SPEAKER_01:

stopped me a long time. Like when I first started doing a long time ago, the beginning of my first business, I started putting content out. I couldn't get past the comments.

SPEAKER_00:

It's hard. It's really hard.

SPEAKER_01:

I shut down. I was like, I'm not putting anything else out. And then a book that I read is just sort of part of my story that helped me get past that. I wouldn't have this if I didn't read that book.

SPEAKER_00:

That's awesome. So

SPEAKER_01:

then of course I got that guy on the...

SPEAKER_00:

Was it Chad?

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, I didn't watch. It's a book called The Big Leap.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, I didn't watch that one yet.

SPEAKER_01:

One of the great stories that happened out in California. The guy had a small business, very small business. He had three people, three couples that would meet. He was like a consultant, like a life coach. And then he goes from being a life coach, having people meet in his living room, to Oprah heard about what he was teaching, had him on Oprah.

SPEAKER_00:

Wow.

SPEAKER_01:

Once, twice, three times, and then he became Oprah Winfrey's next-door neighbor. So he goes from there's no better zero

SPEAKER_00:

to Oprah's

SPEAKER_01:

neighbor.

SPEAKER_00:

That's

SPEAKER_01:

awesome. Now, at the time when he came on, and it was a year ago, he has 46 best-selling books.

SPEAKER_00:

That's awesome. I need to start reading his books. That's amazing. But the one that got

SPEAKER_01:

me over the hurdle was called The Big Leap. And I share it with everybody.

SPEAKER_00:

I definitely want to read that. One of my New Year's resolutions is to read more. And I've been trying to read at least one book a month. So I'll add that to the list. It's a good

SPEAKER_01:

one. But yeah, Gay Hendricks, his name is. He was on the show. So, all right. There's so much going on in your life now. And you're still in your 20s. You're back in Georgia. When? So musically.

SPEAKER_00:

Yep, it was. It was Musically. Were you on

SPEAKER_01:

Musically?

SPEAKER_00:

Mm-hmm,

SPEAKER_01:

yeah. And did that start TikTok or how did it all work?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, so Musically became TikTok. So I knew Vine was shutting down. I'd already tried to move a lot of my audience to YouTube and then I tried to gain a following on Musically too because I'm like, well, Vine's not going to be here forever. Yeah, right. So I started making more content on YouTube and Musically. And then I don't remember what year it was that TikTok became Yeah. That's awesome. Yeah. in life at home, trying to make my husband laugh, trying to make my mom laugh. My mom does think I'm hilarious. That's

SPEAKER_01:

probably all that matters in life. You got mom's approval. That's

SPEAKER_00:

awesome. Yeah, she always tells me how funny I am. I actually used to put her in some vines, and she didn't want to be in them. But some of the vines she did, I'm like, she killed it. I had to convince her to be in them. She was like, I don't want to. That's so cool. Yeah, she's the best. She's the sweetest. I

SPEAKER_01:

love it. But is TikTok exactly like what Musical.ly was? I never

SPEAKER_00:

used Musical.ly. It's basically, I mean, they're changing features on the apps all the time. You can post longer videos now. When it was Musical.ly, it was a lot of lip syncing. And some people got famous for that. And I'm like, people are getting famous for lip syncing. And I'm over here trying to make content. Like they would be lip syncing even to my videos. like videos to my voice they'd be whoa yeah I remember Carrie Underwood did one with like one of my like videos no way yeah I'm like this is so random really

SPEAKER_01:

yeah which one do you remember it

SPEAKER_00:

do you remember what it was no I don't even remember which one it was it was a while ago

SPEAKER_01:

but yeah was it a timed platform that musically under 60 seconds under

SPEAKER_00:

30 yeah I forget what it started as but now I think you could post videos up to 10 minutes or something So, yeah, it just changes all the time. And, like, I want Vine back where it's just, like, this simple, fun, quick, happy, creative content. There were influencers in the beginning of Vine that would do stop motion. And, you know, that's so many frames just for 6.4 seconds to do, like, a stop motion. But it was so creative. And it was so cool.

SPEAKER_01:

What is stop

SPEAKER_00:

motion?

UNKNOWN:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, okay, do you know the Nightmare Before Christmas? So that's claymation. Four kids upstairs. Yeah, yeah. I know very well. So that's claymation, but it's claymation stop motion. So every millisecond, they have to move the little clay and film it and move it and film it. So people would do that on Vine. There was a lot of creative stuff. fun stuff on there. Yeah. I mean, there's a lot of great stuff on the internet still. I still, I learned a lot. Sewing things. I like, there's a lot I learned. And from your videos. Yeah. I was very inspired by Chad Foster. Oh,

SPEAKER_01:

how about that story?

SPEAKER_00:

Insane.

SPEAKER_01:

Like he's coming back on

SPEAKER_00:

too. Oh, that's awesome.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

He seemed amazing.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Yeah. Starting a whole new concept of having people. continually come on and do second third fourth fifth iterations because people will say can you get them back on and talk about this

SPEAKER_00:

yeah can

SPEAKER_01:

you tell about skiing yeah about this so yeah

SPEAKER_00:

i i just loved the um diversity in thought like that that's such a great concept it's like it's not about looks or what someone sounds like it's diversity in thought like i thought that was Just brilliant. So I love that one. Yeah. It's

SPEAKER_01:

incredible.

SPEAKER_00:

I hope eventually someday you'll have me back on and I'll be able to talk about

SPEAKER_01:

other

SPEAKER_00:

things I've been working on. Do

SPEAKER_01:

we want to talk about any of those today? I

SPEAKER_00:

could talk about some. Because I want to get TikTok. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

But I don't want to let the cat, because I don't even know. Yeah. So it's hard to hold back. But let's talk about like you got Musical.ly, you opened up TikTok. How many on the very first day?

SPEAKER_00:

Oh,

SPEAKER_01:

wow. Yeah,

SPEAKER_00:

they did. I'm sorry I don't know the exact numbers. Yeah,

SPEAKER_01:

if you had to guess, like, was it just, like, did it feel like a flop or was it a success day one? Let's start there.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I don't think it felt like a flop. It definitely was like a success from the start. Cool. I remember in the beginning, especially, you know, when there weren't as many influencers or creators on there, mostly just like viewers, I'd get hundreds of thousands of likes per video. And I'm like, I don't even think this one's very good. Were they

SPEAKER_01:

paying on the platform day one when you started?

SPEAKER_00:

No. They weren't? No.

SPEAKER_01:

When did it start?

SPEAKER_00:

A few years ago. I don't know exactly. Yeah. I didn't realize that. Yeah. It was not always monetized. YouTube, like since I've been on YouTube, that was always monetized. But yeah, not Musical.ly or TikTok or Vine.

SPEAKER_01:

Crazy.

SPEAKER_00:

It's crazy.

SPEAKER_01:

So you went through the whole cycle and you went on a platform that was not paid.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

But YouTube's paying you. Mm-hmm. And then TikTok.

SPEAKER_00:

And then I would get brand deals on Musical.ly and TikTok as well. Brand deals. Yeah. So, I mean, it was a very full-time job even though... It's 6.4 seconds or 30-second video or a YouTube video for a couple minutes. It was a full-time job. I'd wake up, film or get ready, then film something for TikTok, film something for YouTube, try writing a script for the next brand deal, film another YouTube video. Wow. But it was fun, and I loved it. I really loved doing all of that. It was creative and fun. Yeah, I have so much joy from all of that. I got to do other cool things, too, because of social media. I was the lead in this show called Flunky's Upset. It's on YouTube.

SPEAKER_01:

What's the first

SPEAKER_00:

word? Flunky. Flunky's Upset. I was Flunky. So I got to do acting for that. I played a high schooler when I was 23. six or 27. So that was fun. Um, I've also done some voiceover work. That's, that's kind of originally what I wanted to do. It's a really hard industry to get into because people do it for their whole lives, you know, on like live action, they move on to the next person. If you like start looking old, but, uh, and voiceovers, you can do it forever. So it's challenging, but yeah, Do you know Blippi? Have you heard of Blippi?

SPEAKER_01:

Do we know

SPEAKER_00:

Blippi? I thought because you have kids. Of

SPEAKER_01:

his 10 billion views, I think 9 billion came out of our house at some time. It feels like that, but he's incredible. Yeah. Our kids have learned so much from that. yes

SPEAKER_00:

I don't know so we

SPEAKER_01:

love him we have a great

SPEAKER_00:

there's an episode with a penguin I don't know if you've seen it absolutely I'm Pepper the penguin I'm the voice of Pepper no way yeah so if you talk to Blippi tell him they need more Pepper episodes I would love to get Blippi on oh my goodness oh my

SPEAKER_01:

gosh

SPEAKER_00:

I'm

SPEAKER_01:

texting

SPEAKER_00:

my

SPEAKER_01:

wife right now

SPEAKER_00:

she's

SPEAKER_01:

going to flip when she hears this

SPEAKER_00:

but yeah Pepper is not like a recurring character he should be in more episodes There was this other web series I did called Miss 2059, and I was the only voiceover character in it. Someone was a puppet bear, and I did the voice for the bear, and my name was Tiggle, and that was so fun.

SPEAKER_01:

How did Blippi find you, or did you find them? How did that

SPEAKER_00:

work? No, I did not find them. I was reached out to by the director. He was directing some of the Blippi episodes, and he actually was was the director for Flunky's Upset. And we worked together a lot. And he was so awesome. And on set, he was so fun. I always enjoyed doing improv. So on set, I would kind of just make up my own lines. And then I'd check with him. I'm like, is that OK if I do that? And he's like, you don't have to ask.

SPEAKER_01:

No

SPEAKER_00:

way. Basically, he'd do whatever you want to do. And I was like, this is the best. Yeah, he actually found me for the Pepper the Penguin job, and I would love to do more voiceovers. So like I said, I'm working on other things, but that's one of them. So

SPEAKER_01:

voiceover, why? Are you starting a business?

SPEAKER_00:

No, I... Okay, well, one thing, I don't know if I can say. Okay, I did a job for Google, a very cool job, but it has not come out. And I don't know if it's going to or not. So that's the frustrating thing. But of all the things I've done, that was definitely one of the coolest. That was back in 2019, actually. They were looking for a voice. And I auditioned and I had to go through at least three rounds of auditions. And the final round was... in san francisco in person and i ended up booking a job and it was such an amazing experience i had to record i don't know 20 or 30 000 some lines i was staying in palo alto for a few weeks and it was so cool uh so long story short i love doing voiceovers um i think You know, a lot of people think my voice is like a curse, but it's also a blessing. You know, I've dealt with a lot of crap because of my voice, but I've also, you know, I've... gotten to do cool things because of it too and I've made an impact on other people I had a PO box for a while and I would get letters from like all over the world with people telling me just how I've inspired them and helped them you know if they're insecure about something even their voice or anything they like appreciate that I'm myself and don't let the mean comments stop me so yeah so It's cool, but... Yeah, I don't know. I can't talk about what exactly I'm doing yet, but hopefully next time I'm on the show, we'll be able to discuss that.

SPEAKER_01:

But the point, you got something going. That's the point, right? You got something cool going. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

And... You're here. And I'm here. And you get to be. And you got a niece coming soon.

SPEAKER_00:

I have a niece, which is like, I'm so excited. I've already bought her so many outfits.

SPEAKER_01:

Did you?

SPEAKER_00:

Oh my

SPEAKER_01:

gosh. Blippi or? Oh

SPEAKER_00:

no, I don't have any Blippi

SPEAKER_01:

outfits yet. Can

SPEAKER_00:

I borrow

SPEAKER_01:

some of that? Tons of it. This has been awesome.

SPEAKER_00:

I'm very excited about having a niece, though. It's going to be so fun.

SPEAKER_01:

Let's end on the... You mentioned in the beginning the John Pardis

SPEAKER_00:

story. I know. I have so many things I could... talk about, but I don't want to forget to talk about John Barta since you know him and love him

SPEAKER_01:

three. I believe he's unbelievable. He's truly, truly one of the most fascinating in so many ways. Like when I started interesting humans, I have a different respect of interesting from when I started it. It's like I was shooting for more like well-known, uh, in the, in the public eye kind of stuff. But then as I started talking more and to more and more people learn that every person has like something incredible.

SPEAKER_00:

That's so true. You don't

SPEAKER_01:

have to be this big famous. We have pivotal points that if I can listen to it and interview a person and get it on camera and get it out there, it can help. Like you said, all these people.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. I think you really can learn something from everyone. Like I think everyone has something to teach you. It's something new, some new perspective. It doesn't matter who they are. You can really learn anything from them. And that's

SPEAKER_01:

what this is. Yeah. It's talking and getting the story.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. I like the concept of the podcast overall because, I mean, you have unlimited content because everybody's interested in some way, you know? So you're good.

SPEAKER_01:

So what happened? How do you know John? He's on episode, yeah, episode three.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. So when I saw that you interviewed him, I was very excited. I had to listen to that. So back in... Like middle school and high school, that's when I started doing theater, doing improv. I really enjoyed it. And I was thinking about getting into like screen acting. And Robert Downey Jr. was my favorite actor at the time. I was obsessed with him. And I found out that he was filming the movie Due Date. I don't know if you saw that. Him and Zach Galifianakis. It's like a comedy. But I found out they were filming it here. and I was a sophomore in high school at the time and I I don't know, somehow found the casting director, emailed him. He got back to me. He was like, can you be at the Georgia World Congress Center at 4.30 tomorrow morning? Like on Thursday. And I was like, yep, I'll be there. Oh yeah,

SPEAKER_01:

cancel everything.

SPEAKER_00:

I had school. I didn't even tell my parents until after I booked it. I ran downstairs. I was like, I can't go to school tomorrow. We have to be at the Georgia World Congress Center at 4.30 a.m. tomorrow because I'm going to be in a movie with Robert Downey Jr. And I was just an extra And it was such a cool experience. But the reason that I want to talk about John Bardis is because I think I was 15 when I did this, 15 or 16. And it was just such an exciting time for me, getting to... Be on set. I was on set for 14 hours just doing the same takes over and over again. Yeah. But like loving every second of it. And then eventually I see Robert Downey Jr. And he ends up talking to me. And it was so cool. But anyways, my parents had a charity guild party at their house. And there was tons of people there. And Mr. Bardus was there. And he... ended up asking me just like what was going on like about my life and i told him the whole story about due date in the movie and he made such a huge impact on me i never had an adult outside of my family you know i'm a i'm a teenager he was so interested in my story he made me feel so heard and So, like, he genuinely cared, and there was no– I mean, it was full of distractions, and he made me feel like, you know, I was the most important person in the world. It's incredible. Like, I'm just a kid, and he's a successful, amazing person, and he just made me feel so, like– special it was just inspiring like i want to i want to be like him he's just so awesome so wow i loved his episode and yeah i just had to bring that up i don't even know if he knows you know what impact it made on me oh yeah yeah yeah

SPEAKER_01:

probably doesn't

SPEAKER_00:

i don't think so it was just a regular day for him but for me having this adult just be so interested in in my story and

SPEAKER_01:

a 15 right yeah like that's just him

SPEAKER_00:

yeah

SPEAKER_01:

he's a he's one of one he's one Well, I say this. I think he's one of one.

SPEAKER_00:

I agree,

SPEAKER_01:

yeah. I put this phrase in front of leader. Yes, he's a leader. Yes, he's an incredible leader. Yes, yes, yes. He's an authentic leader.

SPEAKER_00:

He's so genuine.

SPEAKER_01:

Just incredible. Yeah, it's

SPEAKER_00:

just, you know, it was probably a, I don't know, 10-minute conversation that happened once. 16 or so years 16 or 17 years ago and it's still like I still think about it because of how much it meant to me and it just you know it just shows what an impact you can make on people just by like giving them your attention and I don't know, he's so inspiring.

SPEAKER_01:

And I guarantee you it wasn't attention that looked like this. Oh yeah, go ahead,

SPEAKER_00:

tell me. Exactly. Right? No. No, it was like... The

SPEAKER_01:

only human being on the

SPEAKER_00:

planet. Yes. I remember that moment so well because I feel like that was the first time I ever had someone give me that undivided attention that wasn't like my mom or something, you know? Right. And it was someone that was so successful and I didn't even know that. But... Yeah, for him to just take that time meant the world to me, so everyone should be more like John Bargis.

SPEAKER_01:

Did you know him? Did you know who you were

SPEAKER_00:

talking to? Yeah, I knew who he was because my best friend growing up in the neighborhood, her mom is best friends with his wife. Judy. Okay. So, I don't know if you know Mrs. Connelly. Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Okay. Oh, yes. So, I was best friends with their daughter, Megan. Okay. So, I didn't know, like, who the Bartises were, but I was just a kid. That's so cool. Yeah. Oh, my gosh. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Wow. All right. You're coming on again. I'm just... I would love to. I'm going to nicely... Ask. Will you come on again?

SPEAKER_00:

I

SPEAKER_01:

absolutely will. You're coming on again no matter what. This is just so incredible.

SPEAKER_00:

I know I have so many other things I could tell you. Should we end on a funny story? I don't know. This is your show.

SPEAKER_01:

You

SPEAKER_00:

do. You tell me.

SPEAKER_01:

That's a great idea. Let's

SPEAKER_00:

do it on a funny story. Okay. I'll tell you, I'll tell this one because it kind of brings us back to the beginning and how we got connected. It's all coming back. So our handyman that we both have, he was coming into work on my house and I got a call from the service gate, and they call me, and they're like, hey, we have so-and-so at the gate. We just want to make sure that they can come in. I'm like, oh, yeah, that's fine. And then the guard at the gate is like, is your mom home? Oh, no. I love it. This was last year. So I'm 32 years old, own my own house. Like I've lived a life and I'm still like answering the phone. I'm like, I promise I'm an adult. Like I know it doesn't sound like it. And you can ask Casey. He heard the whole thing.

SPEAKER_01:

He was at, oh, he was at your house?

SPEAKER_00:

He was at the gate when the guard was calling. And so he heard the whole thing and he's like, I promise she's an adult.

SPEAKER_01:

That's incredible.

SPEAKER_00:

So things like that happen literally on a daily basis. But yeah, I just want to tell you that one especially since it related to

SPEAKER_01:

how

SPEAKER_00:

we ended up meeting each other you

SPEAKER_01:

can laugh about it or you can you know

SPEAKER_00:

I could cry about it but instead I laugh about it and I laugh about things like this regularly because it It happens literally all the time. Before you could order pizza on an app, it was a struggle for me. Let me tell you. Oh! Right? They're like, did you steal your mom's credit card? Oh my gosh. I'm an adult, I swear. So... That's, you know, it's just what I deal with, but it's fun. Yeah. And I so appreciate you having me here today. I had so much fun. I can't wait to watch more of your episodes. Yeah. I've loved all the ones I've watched so far. Thank you. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

And thank you for being part of this one. Yeah. Oh my gosh, this is such a cool story.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, thank you. And unique. It's

SPEAKER_01:

so unique to like, and I have a lot of unique stories out there. Yeah. Oh my goodness, this is a,

SPEAKER_00:

you know, a standalone. I'm something.

SPEAKER_01:

So thank you for sharing everything.

SPEAKER_00:

Thank you. Thank you. for your

SPEAKER_01:

willingness, transparency, and just thank you for making the time to come over and join. That's my man. That's my man. And being part of this. A special day. So,

SPEAKER_00:

yeah, thank you again. Awesome. Thank you.

People on this episode

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Jeff Hopeck

Host