0:03

Hannah Malosh. Welcome to post On.

0:05

Hi.

0:05

Hannah and I just got back from filming a running

0:07

interview show episode for everybody

0:09

listening. Hannah is an og YouTube

0:12

content creator.

0:13

She's also an entrepreneur.

0:21

But let's start with the run. We ran about

0:23

a mile. What is your favorite form of movement right

0:26

now and how is.

0:27

The run for you.

0:28

I'm a little bit out of shape right now,

0:30

but normally working out

0:32

is a huge part of

0:34

my everyday life. I feel

0:37

like the best times, just best

0:39

mental states are when I'm

0:41

like working out once a day or walking once

0:44

a day. Ideally it would be a walk

0:46

a day and I'm feeling amazing.

0:48

But other than that, getting

0:51

in like hit workouts. I love hit

0:53

workouts, adding in weights

0:55

to my routine. We were talking about going

0:57

to workout classes because that's the easiest way.

0:59

I feel like, go into a class, get

1:01

it done.

1:02

I'm such a workout class girl.

1:04

When I was younger in college in my early

1:06

twenties, every day I was going out

1:08

running like six miles.

1:10

And now I.

1:11

Feel like in order to get a great workout, and I just

1:13

need to have somebody telling you what to do.

1:15

So helpful. Yeap, Wait, so you would go out

1:17

and run six miles.

1:18

Isn't that crazy?

1:19

My mom used to like love running like that. And

1:23

I feel like I always kind of thought I was going to get

1:25

into into it. I never have,

1:27

but like you can go through phases with it, you

1:29

know, I want to get good at it, like so badly.

1:31

Would you ever do a marathon?

1:33

Okay?

1:33

I was just thinking about this, and I feel like I've

1:35

been seeing a lot about it. Or maybe it's

1:37

just my age or what, like my algorithm,

1:40

but I feel like I see so many things about running

1:43

in marathons, and then I've seen people

1:45

post like you're either engaged.

1:47

Or you're training for a marathon one hundred

1:49

percent. Is that not true? It's so true.

1:52

Yeah, I've done marathons before, and

1:54

I feel like it was when I was younger, Like I did a couple

1:56

when I was in college, and now I'm like,

1:58

I really have no interest in doing a marathon.

2:00

Really, I don't know why. On your body.

2:02

It's so hard on your body. Yeah, And

2:05

I just feel like I've never been a competitive

2:07

runner. For me, it really was all just about

2:09

just wellness and mental well being.

2:11

And that's why I loved that you said earlier.

2:12

That working out for you is for your mental health,

2:14

because for me it's fully

2:17

that like the reward of being

2:19

in shape is amazing as well. But like

2:21

for for some people, like that's not what

2:23

happens to their bodies as a results of breaking out.

2:25

So for me, it really fully is the mental.

2:27

It always is. And like I love

2:30

my like hit workouts.

2:31

It's the same thing probably as like the high

2:33

like you get after running.

2:35

But you just feel so good and

2:37

I don't.

2:38

Know, I feel like it sets your day up for success and

2:40

it leads into everything else that you're doing. It's

2:42

like, oh, I just did a great workout, I'm taking

2:44

care of myself. Might as well do all

2:46

these other things and have a great day.

2:48

Okay, wait, I'm curious because you

2:51

grew up in Michigan, did you play sports

2:53

growing up?

2:54

Yeah, so I was gonna say. I actually flailed the cross

2:56

too.

2:56

Oh my god, Okay what and did you play

2:58

allf your high school?

2:59

So I stopped when I was I think

3:01

fifteen or sixteen, kind of same as you, but

3:04

to pursue YouTube.

3:05

Ah, so I that's so interesting.

3:07

That funny.

3:07

So I was loving lacross and then I

3:09

stopped. Yeah, I was like, oh, I want to focus all my

3:12

time into YouTube. And the funniest

3:14

thing is my mom's like, well, what are you going to do to stay

3:16

in shape? And I was like, all, go on runs.

3:18

I like didn't. I was like, I'll go on

3:20

runs. Mom, like that'll be my form of exercise,

3:22

and she was.

3:23

Like, okay, Well it's so interesting

3:25

because you, I mean, you were in school, so yeah,

3:27

it's like when you had extra time,

3:29

I'm sure you had to lean into like YouTube

3:32

had to be what you were doing, because it's like you couldn't

3:34

probably do a sport and do YouTube

3:36

at the level you were at.

3:37

Yeah, I totally could have so done

3:39

lacrosse and done YouTube, but like

3:42

at the same time, I just

3:44

was so distracted and my whole heart

3:47

was in YouTube and creating videos, and I

3:49

just that's all I wanted to do all the time. So taking

3:52

a break to get dressed for lacrosse, to go

3:54

to practice and then get home

3:56

shower, you're exhausted. It's like that's where all

3:58

my energy after school was going, instead

4:01

of like taking two or three

4:03

hours to do like prep

4:05

for YouTube, video or edit. So

4:08

I was like, I really want to put my time towards

4:10

that.

4:10

Do you remember the first video that you created when

4:12

I was thirteen?

4:13

It was how to make

4:16

diy lipstick out of crans?

4:18

That is the dising ever so funny.

4:21

Yeah, crans, No

4:23

it is.

4:23

Yeah, it's me melting crans like on our

4:26

kitchen stove. I poured it into like

4:28

this watercolor thing

4:30

and then I like took a brush and it's like

4:32

kind of gross.

4:33

It's really random.

4:35

But is it still up?

4:36

No?

4:36

No, no, I took it down.

4:37

Oh my god.

4:37

It must be wild to look back at

4:40

your videos from when you were thirteen, Like talk about

4:42

a time capsule, right.

4:43

No, it's so nice.

4:44

And that's the thing that I really do love about,

4:46

like, at least having videos through

4:49

my teens, is I

4:51

can go back at any moment. And I've

4:53

always said this, but like for my future kids

4:55

to go back and be like.

4:57

Yeah, this is what I was like, and you know, this is

4:59

what I was doing. But yeah, it's a great memory

5:01

capsule.

5:02

For sure, because you've been online

5:04

for so many years and since you were so young, you

5:06

really have lived so many lives

5:09

publicly too.

5:10

One hundred percent.

5:11

And I think that's what I've been bad at recently, is

5:14

I've been like more private. That's fine

5:16

though, for sure, but I do miss

5:18

sharing things and having it be more public

5:20

because there's that connection that comes with that of

5:23

it's more of a friendship and people know

5:25

what's going on in your life.

5:26

And again, it.

5:27

Does flow through those eras

5:29

and I don't know, it's the connection, and I

5:32

feel like people get you more.

5:34

You've been so open online for so many years

5:36

that even if you're taking a second to be a little

5:38

bit more private. I think your followers

5:40

and the people that really have grown up with you

5:42

and know you can still understand

5:45

you and what you're up to. They're like, she's just taking

5:47

time to do her thing. She's going to be back

5:49

at some point, you know.

5:50

Thank you.

5:50

I appreciate that absolutely. I feel

5:53

like people do. I think people do get

5:55

it too. But at a certain point it's like

5:58

I love keeping things to

6:00

myself, but then I also like love sharing

6:02

things.

6:02

But you're right.

6:03

I mean, it's also like a gut

6:05

feeling. It's like the intuition of what

6:07

you feel comfortable sharing, and like that

6:10

all comes with time.

6:11

Yeah, I can imagine based on what you're saying

6:13

right now, Like it is kind of hard when you feel

6:15

like Okay, well, I want to keep certain things to

6:18

myself, but at the same time, like I love

6:20

my audience and I want them to know what I'm up to. So

6:23

how do you decide what you keep private

6:25

and what you keep public.

6:26

Like lately the past two years.

6:29

Yeah, that's something that I decide do

6:31

I want to post that?

6:32

Do I not want to post that?

6:34

And to be honest, I don't like

6:36

it because it makes me overthink everything.

6:38

It makes me overthink, oh if I.

6:40

Post about that, how is that going to affect me? And

6:42

then I start caring about you

6:45

know, I I don't know. I feel like it's made

6:47

me overthink a lot.

6:48

Content to do that to you, yeah, yeah, to

6:50

everyone.

6:51

Yeah, And I've only been in it for two years, and

6:53

I feel like I go down like mental spirals

6:56

all the time of overthinking.

6:57

So I can't even imagine what you

6:59

feel like.

7:00

Yeah, No, I mean it's a lot, And I

7:02

feel like it's important to

7:04

have a line of like what you want to share and what

7:06

you don't want to share.

7:09

Because for so many years.

7:11

I think from when I started thirteen

7:14

to probably like twenty twenty

7:16

one is when I just

7:18

like shared everything. It was just like

7:21

what I was doing ja dah, like I

7:23

didn't think twice about it.

7:25

I would just share it.

7:26

Now I'm kind of like, how is this gonna affect

7:28

the people around me? How does this affect

7:30

this and that? And I

7:32

don't know for right now. I think it's

7:34

just based off of like a gut intuition

7:37

of do I feel good sharing this? Is

7:39

this gonna, you know, connect with

7:41

people? Or is this just a memory I want

7:43

to share?

7:44

Content really can make you overthink.

7:46

I'm curious, like, based off of this, what

7:48

do you feel like right now?

7:50

Is inspiring you creatively?

7:52

I think right now what's

7:54

interesting me is like fashion and

7:56

putting together cute outfits and just doing

7:59

cute little things for myself. Like that's

8:01

kind of what's making me feel good.

8:04

I feel like it's so hard, especially you've

8:06

been on you've been on social media for so long, like

8:08

we've talked about it, like you've gone through so many eras of different

8:10

faces of content. Like maybe what you're

8:12

feeling right now is just it's growth.

8:14

Honestly, It's like, Okay, well you're moving into

8:16

this new chapter, which is so it's so normal

8:19

to feel like uneasy in

8:21

those moments.

8:22

I think that comes with everything is like what

8:24

makes you feel most comfortable and what makes

8:26

you feel most confident. So I feel

8:28

like that's what I've been trying to listen to and

8:32

honestly, like, I'm about to be twenty

8:34

four, but even in the past couple of months,

8:37

I can feel myself getting more comfortable with

8:39

myself again and like out of that,

8:41

yeah, and that's amazing because you go through

8:44

I mean I went through a stage where I was just like, if

8:46

you don't like yourself or you don't really

8:48

necessarily like the things that are going on in your life,

8:51

it.

8:52

Does make it hard to share

8:54

that.

8:55

But over the past couple of months, it's

8:57

like so refreshing to start liking

8:59

yourself and understanding yourself more again,

9:01

because then it makes my job easier

9:03

too, of like sharing and connecting

9:06

with people. So I don't know,

9:08

I already feel the changes and everything too.

9:10

It's like, yeah, you go through stages.

9:12

Totally sure, so tempting to show

9:14

yourself in this like positive light all the time. I'm

9:17

curious, like when you're going through something, are you vulnerable

9:19

with your followers and you're like, listen, I'm going through this right now.

9:21

When I was younger, I

9:24

would kind of pick and choose when

9:26

I wanted to like talk about

9:28

things or open up about things. But when you do

9:30

open up about certain topics or emotional

9:35

things that are affecting you, sometimes

9:38

I feel like, I mean, it's

9:40

something you can take back. So I've posted videos

9:42

of me crying, and you know, you get very emotional

9:45

about things, which is totally fine, but

9:47

then once you share that, it's like.

9:50

It's not something you can take back.

9:51

So I try and pick and choose, like, Okay,

9:54

is this only affecting me. Is this something

9:57

that people can connect with and it's going to be relatable

10:00

and comforting, or is

10:02

this something that I need to like heal through in private,

10:05

Yeah, and then talk about when I'm more

10:07

healed.

10:07

Oh my god.

10:08

That's a hard thing to figure out,

10:10

honestly, because.

10:11

It's like some things you do just need

10:13

to take a step back and have a moment

10:16

for yourself and if it still is important to

10:18

you to like come online and be like, all right,

10:20

look, this is what I was going through, this is how I dealed

10:22

with it. I think that can be very comforting. But

10:24

then there's also those moments when you're like in the thick

10:26

of it, that like crying to the camera or

10:28

opening up that can also be super helpful.

10:31

So I think it's just like picking

10:33

and choosing what you want to

10:35

share.

10:36

Again, taking

10:43

a step back to when you were thirteen

10:45

and you start posting on YouTube for the first time, what

10:48

was it that inspired you to start posting

10:50

content.

10:50

I loved Bethanymota, like

10:53

I loved watching your videos.

10:54

I feel like I don't know who Bethanymota is now.

10:57

I'm like, I want to go on.

10:58

Yeah, you to go back and like watch her morning routines.

11:01

Okay, I will.

11:01

I will shout out yes,

11:04

Oh my gosh, how old is she now?

11:05

Like is she your age or probably twenty seven,

11:07

twenty eight?

11:08

Oh my god, Okay, I have to let her.

11:09

I watched her when she was I think seventeen

11:12

or eighteen, and I was like, eleven.

11:14

Twelve routine so cute.

11:16

I thought she was so cute, so positive.

11:18

She had her morning routines, her like monthly

11:21

favorite videos, her beauty

11:23

fashion videos, and so I

11:27

begged my mom for a camera for Christmas

11:29

and then I kind

11:31

of got used to it and then posted

11:34

my first video a couple months later, and I

11:36

mean they were pretty bad. At first,

11:39

like obviously it's like the diy La Grand

11:41

It's like, yeah, I had no idea what I was doing.

11:44

But then I don't know.

11:45

I just kind of looked up to her, like I loved the

11:47

beauty fashion lifestyle

11:49

back then was like the morning routine or

11:51

like how to have the best morning. So

11:55

I just stuck to that at first because I

11:57

loved her videos and I was like, I can do.

11:59

This in my own way.

12:00

And then I think it's when that's

12:03

when vlogging and like incorporating

12:07

more of your life came into the picture

12:09

of like oh I could actually take my

12:11

camera to school and I can actually like vlog

12:14

with my friends. So then

12:16

it turned from I want

12:18

to do like beauty fashion videos to I

12:21

want this to be like a memory capsule of my life.

12:24

I don't think I started actually vlogging till

12:26

I was maybe fifteen, but I would for

12:29

like two years. I would just do like

12:32

Easter outfit ideas and that's so random

12:34

stuff like that. I just went on

12:37

YouTube and I think like I told myself,

12:39

like, you're going to post every week, and

12:42

I loved it. I don't know what it was,

12:44

but I well, it was Bethaning about it. Obviously,

12:46

I was like, yeah, I love her. I want to take that for

12:49

myself. I just decided when I posted my first

12:51

video, I was like, you're gonna do this every week, You're

12:53

going to post, and I posted like weekly

12:56

for a really long time.

12:58

At what point did you see start really

13:00

growing an audience. Was it pretty quick that people

13:03

started following your content?

13:04

Honestly, not really.

13:05

I didn't have too much of an audience for

13:08

a year or two. I would say it was around

13:10

fifteen I started doing like

13:13

that's when I started going into like

13:16

workout videos and like concept

13:18

videos and really opening myself

13:20

up to just yeah,

13:23

different content.

13:24

I think one video that did well for me.

13:25

The first video that did well for me was like

13:28

ten things to do a sleepover when You're

13:30

bored.

13:31

And that's a great like SEO title. Also

13:33

yeah, in terms of like people want to know what's.

13:35

You to sleepover? It's cute. It's that cute.

13:37

So yeah, I like in sixth grade and

13:40

I me and my friend it was like just

13:42

a cute video.

13:43

But that was the first video I think that

13:45

did well for me. And then I did.

13:49

Like trying to be a model for a day, and

13:52

I was like oh, I'm going to train like a model

13:54

and I'm going to eat like a model. I was like fifteen or

13:56

sixteen, It's like, what the hell, you

13:58

don't know what is going on?

14:00

And then I did like a photo shoot with my friend.

14:02

When I started branching out into more

14:04

lifestyle, that's when

14:06

things started to do well, but my

14:09

channel didn't. I think it was

14:11

around fifteen is when I started

14:13

actually noticing people watching.

14:15

And I was like, oh sweet.

14:17

It was a sleepover video that took off

14:19

at first, and I it was with my friend

14:21

Page, and.

14:21

I was like, oh my gosh, love, people are actually watching.

14:24

That's crazy. I mean, it must be so wild too.

14:26

And then it's like the numbers that you started

14:28

to get were like probably so hard to even fath and at

14:30

the time to be a high schooler and a million people are watching

14:32

your content, especially in those days when YouTube

14:34

was so new, honestly, right.

14:36

Yeah, I think at first, I'm

14:38

just happy my mom kind of like

14:40

let me do my thing, because looking back, a

14:42

lot of it's like kind of cringe that I was

14:44

like putting myself out there that much. I was just I

14:47

mean I was in yeah, fifth

14:49

or sixth grade. No wait, how old are you when you're thirteen,

14:52

sixth grade, sixth seventh, eighth grade,

14:54

but middle school, it's like those are cringey years

14:56

and you're putting yourself out there. But

14:58

my mom just like, let me

15:00

do my thing, and video after

15:02

video I would just find new things I wanted

15:05

to post about, and eventually,

15:08

yeah, more people started watching. And I think

15:11

the most exciting time was still probably

15:14

in the beginning, when like people

15:16

are interacting with your content and you

15:18

feel seen and you're like, oh my gosh, finally

15:20

posting and doing

15:22

all of this is paying off and people are actually

15:25

seeing this and interacting with me.

15:26

Like, yeah, that was so cool.

15:28

What did your parents think when your channel started

15:30

taking off?

15:31

I don't even know, like anything that I ever

15:33

wanted to do, she would just support

15:35

me in. I mean it was even random stuff

15:37

like I had no subscribers, but I was like,

15:39

I want to go to the beauty con, Like I really want

15:41

to meet my favorite YouTubers and I want

15:43

to be there with my friends because I had Internet friends

15:45

and I was like I really want to go, you

15:48

know, be there. She's like, Okay, found

15:50

a way to make the New York trip happen. Found

15:52

a way for me to basically just kind

15:55

of yeah, pursue YouTube

15:57

in the way that I wanted to, and was never judgmental,

16:00

was never like oh, don't talk about that, or don't

16:02

post that or don't wear that, which

16:04

obviously, as a mom should be so supportive,

16:07

like do what you want, but just never any limits

16:09

with her, and she would help me with whatever.

16:11

It makes sense because it's like a parent would

16:13

be just as supportive with a sport. And YouTube

16:15

became your sport from what you said, right,

16:17

like that became your thing after school to focus

16:19

on.

16:20

So it's so so cool.

16:21

At the time within your school, were you one

16:23

of the only YouTubers?

16:24

Honestly, I feel like there were a couple other people

16:26

that would post videos and stuff, but

16:29

it was definitely like Hannah's

16:31

making another video.

16:33

What did people think when you started

16:35

popping off on YouTube? Like, were people accepting

16:37

of it? Did you ever get like haters

16:39

from it in your school at first?

16:40

I don't know what it was. I was so confident

16:43

when I first started my channel. I was like thirteen,

16:45

I'm like, yeah, I'm posting my

16:47

my lipstick videos and how to make

16:49

a Starbucks frappuccino video.

16:51

Like and people.

16:52

I think people probably were making fun

16:54

of me at the time.

16:55

You come across to me as like you were probably just

16:57

a really social kid in school and then that's what you start

17:00

to doing versus I feel like there's some kids

17:02

that probably started out on YouTube because they were

17:04

just like in their house is kind of like alone posting

17:07

content.

17:07

Right.

17:08

I was a little bit of an introvert,

17:10

like I have a really weird dynamic where

17:12

sometimes I was so confident,

17:15

like but also shy.

17:16

There were kids when.

17:17

I first started that were like teasing me,

17:20

which we were thirteen fourteen, so

17:22

it's like yeah, but yeah, or

17:24

if you're like, oh, nice video, Hannah, and it's like

17:27

but it didn't affect me when I was thirteen fourteen,

17:29

Like when you're a kid, I feel like you just don't

17:31

care. I love I'm awesome, Like I don't

17:34

care.

17:34

Yeah, I mean I love that energy.

17:35

Yeah.

17:36

I don't know what it was, but it must have been a big part

17:38

of it.

17:38

Must have been my mom like really

17:40

reassuring me of like, yeah, do whatever you want,

17:43

like, oh, you want to edit, you want to post?

17:45

Like I mean, she would make me work

17:48

for things to meet me halfway with

17:51

buying a new computer or whatever

17:53

else it was. But she for the most part, she was like,

17:55

whatever you want to do. As my channel started to

17:57

grow, when I was like fifteen, sixteen, it

17:59

really started to grow, and then

18:02

that's when it became a little I was a little bit

18:04

of like an outcast of like it was like, oh, weird

18:06

YouTube girl, you know, posting again.

18:08

I could see that happening.

18:10

But then it's like, I like love the confidence

18:12

factor though, because I think anytime anybody does

18:14

anything in confidence, it's like, what are you gonna say?

18:16

It was kind of like that where I loved my

18:19

videos and it was like, guys, I've been you know. I

18:21

started getting teased and

18:23

made fun of more when I was like sixteen,

18:25

when the channel started to do well, But it was like I've.

18:28

Been going to the same school. I've been doing this for three

18:30

years, Like where's the.

18:33

Like why are we making this a joke? All of a sudden,

18:35

like it's like we know that I've been loving to

18:37

do this. Like so it was

18:39

a little bit hurtful, but at the same time, it's

18:42

like I get it. It did make me

18:44

insecure, but it didn't at

18:46

the same time. I mean, I wanted to quit, like

18:48

for sure when I got

18:52

I think I was a junior and like,

18:55

I loved my life. I loved my videos,

18:57

I loved my friends. But when you're

18:59

going to school and you feel

19:01

like a little unwelcomed, that's

19:04

when I was like, Okay, I

19:07

still want my friends, I still want YouTube,

19:09

but this is like a really weird

19:11

dynamic.

19:12

Here at school.

19:14

And so I tried to let my mom

19:16

or I tried to convince my mom to let

19:19

me drop out. And it

19:21

was just a little bit awkward

19:24

because my house was so close to the school

19:26

that it's like, Okay, are you really going to drop

19:29

out of high school because people are being mean to you to

19:31

go sit in your room, make videos

19:33

in your room, do school in your room, and be isolated.

19:36

And so my mom's like, you should really try to stay.

19:39

And I ended up staying, and

19:41

thankfully it got so much better. I

19:43

think people people always

19:45

come around. Yeah, Like it sucked. It

19:47

sucked junior year, Like I really don't think

19:49

people liked me, and I didn't have that

19:51

many close friends, but I had my

19:54

siblings, I had a great

19:56

boyfriend, like, I had a great support

19:58

system. It all ended up fine, and my

20:00

senior year. I had a great year.

20:02

It's hard when you're in a situation where

20:05

you're at school and like you're kind

20:07

of like in this unique situation where you're the

20:09

only person doing what you were doing

20:11

right, like you were the only person putting yourself out there

20:13

in that way. I know, I as a content creator for

20:15

the past couple years, have made such great friends within

20:18

the industry. I'm curious, like, when you

20:20

were in high school, was it nice making

20:22

friends with other girls and guys that were in the

20:24

industry that kind of saw what

20:26

you were doing and understood it on another

20:28

level.

20:29

It was so comforting to have friends outside

20:31

of my high school that saw.

20:33

Me for me.

20:34

They weren't like judging literally anything,

20:36

and they they got it because like they were doing

20:39

their own thing with social media too,

20:41

So it was so nice to have friends in

20:43

the industry. It was like probably

20:47

my favorite part about like everything.

20:49

Did you see a lot of growth from having

20:52

close friends with the industry that you were creating content with and

20:54

all of you guys were collabing.

20:55

It was really fun because it was like on

20:58

the weekends, if I got a chance to go, is

21:00

it one of my friends?

21:00

I was like, I'm gonna go, like I'm going to

21:03

go see my friends.

21:04

And so that was my escape to go

21:07

see my friends, go have fun, make

21:09

videos, come back, go to school, edit

21:12

my videos, post them. Like I was

21:14

on a roll and being able to take those

21:16

weekend trips and like see my

21:18

friends. It filled me up so much, like

21:21

I was having so much fun. I've met

21:23

so many like amazing people through

21:25

YouTube, so many like opportunities

21:28

through YouTube, and I think it's

21:30

like those are some of the friendships

21:33

and relationships that like inspired

21:36

me and like kept me going, and.

21:38

They understand you on a level that is so like

21:41

just so different when people know you from like the root

21:43

of it all. Do you remember the first time you got recognized

21:46

in public.

21:46

I was at a.

21:47

Football game and someone

21:50

from the other school came into our

21:52

student section and like saw me, and

21:54

they were like, oh my god.

21:55

Like I watch your videos.

21:56

But I was so confused, So like,

21:59

no one's ever like watch my videos

22:01

or like come up to me and said that

22:03

in person. It was all online

22:05

like little comments, and so for someone to come up

22:07

to me and be like, oh my.

22:08

Gosh, no, I've seen your videos, I was like,

22:10

wait, really, whoa it must have felt

22:12

so rewarding.

22:13

No, it was it was cool too

22:16

to like, yeah, meet them in person.

22:18

And I don't think I wasn't growing

22:20

back then at all, So it was like I

22:22

think I met that person, and then maybe it was

22:24

a couple months and then someone else would say,

22:27

oh, I've seen your videos before and I was like, oh my gosh,

22:29

really, and then it was just kind

22:31

of slow after that, but it

22:34

was cool.

22:34

Yeah, I do remember the first time.

22:36

It's like an adrenaline rush because you're like what, And I

22:38

swear it's like it's whenever you have like a rush

22:40

of adrenaline, you remember those moments you.

22:42

Do, whether it's like a scary moment or

22:44

a happy moment.

22:45

Yeah, because I'm like, oh, is this embarrassing? Like

22:47

did you like it? Or like it is this

22:49

embarrassing stuff?

22:50

It's not embarrassing.

22:51

It's very cool.

22:51

Like I was always so impressed by you and I thought it was

22:53

so inspiring, So I think it's awesome.

22:56

You ended up graduating high school and then

22:59

I know you took a gap year and you moved to Hawaii,

23:01

right.

23:02

Yeah, so I took a gap year and I

23:05

COVID happened after that gap year,

23:07

so it was like I moved back home.

23:09

It was more of like two years.

23:12

How did you decide to do a gap year versus

23:15

going to school.

23:16

I think I just knew,

23:18

like YouTube was all I had been doing

23:21

during high school, and I've

23:24

always wanted to pursue film or marketing

23:27

something in that category.

23:29

But I was like, Okay, I've been doing this

23:31

for five years.

23:32

I can continue with it, and I can always

23:34

go back to school.

23:35

And the craziest thing, really quick, is that you were

23:37

supporting yourself by the

23:39

time you were how.

23:40

Old I would say, like seventeen, yeah, seventeen

23:43

and eighteen yeah, And I didn't really even

23:45

know, like back

23:47

then, like this could you know last

23:49

it could be a career.

23:50

I was just like, oh, this is cool that this.

23:52

Is happening right now. But I didn't know

23:54

I was going to continue to do it or if

23:56

I was going to, yeah, stop and go to college.

23:59

But I just put so much work into YouTube

24:01

that I was like, no, I don't really want to give up.

24:02

I really want to still pursue it.

24:06

And then all my friends were at school,

24:08

so it was a little bit more isolating than

24:10

I thought, because I was like a little bit.

24:12

Alone still doing YouTube.

24:14

It felt like, okay, I'm still doing

24:16

YouTube, Like what else.

24:18

Can I do?

24:19

Then? And you were still in Michigan.

24:20

I was still in Michigan. I had my apartment alone,

24:23

and I just felt like, all right.

24:25

Oh, so at eighteen, like when your friends went to college

24:27

and you decided to take the gap year, you got your

24:29

own apartment.

24:30

Yeah, that's pretty cool.

24:31

So but I was just in my apartment.

24:33

I was working out, I was

24:35

you know, I'd see my friends when I could, but like, it

24:38

kind of felt like, yeah, I was doing YouTube

24:40

still and my friends went to college.

24:42

It just felt a little weird. I

24:44

thought I was.

24:45

Going to travel more, but that didn't really end

24:47

up happening. I thought I was going to travel all

24:49

these places, but then you don't want to travel alone

24:51

because you're eighteen, and it's like how do you

24:53

find someone to travel with you and help you

24:55

with your stuff? But then COVID happened,

24:58

and so I just moved back to my mom's house

25:00

and she was like, all right, well, if you're going to be

25:02

here, you're going to take some college classes. So

25:04

I was like, okay, I'll take college classes

25:07

and yeah. Then I did some

25:09

online school for a little bit. And that's when I

25:11

was doing online school in Michigan. I

25:13

mean it was in the middle of winter, so I was like, shoot,

25:16

I kind of want to just do online.

25:17

School in Hawaii for a little bit and just see

25:19

how I like it.

25:20

Because I epic mindset,

25:23

right, it was like, let me just go to Hawaii.

25:26

It was really fun.

25:27

And then one of my best friends, Eva, like lived

25:29

on a Wahoo so I was like, Okay, one

25:31

of my best friends is there. If all

25:33

you know goes wrong, I just go I'll

25:35

go back to Michigan. But it

25:38

was kind of just like, I want to

25:40

do online school in Hawaii for

25:42

a little bit. It's nicer there. I can still

25:45

work like I can work anywhere.

25:46

And is it true that you had moved

25:48

there with the intention of like being there for one month

25:50

and then you quickly were like, let me just make this two

25:52

like a year, and then it became two right.

25:54

Yeah, oh, one hundred percent.

25:56

Like I moved there and

25:58

within the first week I

26:01

was like, I really want to look for a spot

26:03

longer than a month.

26:04

I feel like that was probably so fun for you too, because

26:07

by moving to Hawaii and being with all

26:09

kids your age You're like, that was kind of your college experience.

26:12

Right, Yeah, it was for a little bit.

26:14

I think it was such a unique

26:16

time where I didn't really even

26:18

know. I didn't

26:21

know I was going to go there and all that was going to happen.

26:24

But yeah, it was like my leaving

26:26

my hometown experience, and so that

26:29

was my first time like really meeting

26:32

people in a new community and figuring all that out

26:34

for myself.

26:35

How do you feel like you grew as a person

26:37

being in Hawaii.

26:38

I've learned so so much from

26:40

living there. Yeah.

26:41

I feel like it's one of those places that's like very

26:44

spiritual and kind of changes you and

26:46

is.

26:46

In the culture so beautiful there.

26:48

I think the biggest part about the Hawaiian

26:50

culture is to be respectful,

26:53

and everyone there

26:55

is so kind and patient that I've

26:58

learned so much just from

27:00

being there, and I love living there. I

27:02

love the lifestyle, I

27:04

love the culture, and I think

27:06

that's the biggest thing I've taken away is to just be respectful.

27:09

Because when I first moved there,

27:11

I was just like, oh, I'm just going for a couple months,

27:13

Like I didn't know what I was

27:15

doing, and I was just you know, documenting

27:18

documenting everything like I normally do, and

27:21

once you take a step back from that, it's like slow

27:24

it down, look at everything, and

27:27

now I'm much more like

27:29

intentional.

27:31

And it's such a beautiful place

27:33

too.

27:33

Hawaii is one of the places that I've never been

27:36

and I am dying to go. It's just such a far

27:38

trip from the East Coast. We're going to be in LA

27:40

for January and maybe February,

27:43

so I'm like, we're going to get in at least one or

27:45

two weekend trips to go see it because I have

27:47

some friends that are like obsessed with going. I'm like, I really

27:49

need to go, especially from LA.

27:51

It's not that bad.

27:58

Going back to uh, Hawaii when

28:00

you were eighteen, that's when you started Starlight

28:02

Village, right, your jewelry brand while you were there.

28:04

So I started Starlight when I

28:07

was eighteen. Started

28:10

Starlight did that a little bit

28:12

with partners. So my first

28:14

partner was in LA and then my

28:16

next partner was in New York and

28:19

so I basically just did

28:21

all the designing and marketing with

28:24

them virtually, and

28:27

then we took it in house.

28:29

So my partner, Makenna,

28:32

she's in Hawaii with me, so Starlight's

28:34

in Hawaii.

28:35

Now, what made you want to start a jewelry

28:37

company?

28:37

So at first it started with

28:40

like these sets. I made these five

28:42

sets of like sunsets, moonsets,

28:44

lightning, bowlt and I had different meanings

28:47

behind the necklace, like oh, when you wear the sun

28:49

necklace.

28:49

You know, I hope you radiate joy.

28:52

And I had all this like.

28:53

Positive messaging behind the

28:56

symbols, and so that's

28:59

what inspired to start the companies, as like, oh,

29:01

I want to make meaningful jewelry

29:03

that people can wear. And then

29:05

after getting into it a little bit, I

29:08

found out you could do more with recycled

29:10

jewelry and like recycled sterling silver.

29:13

And so after I figured out

29:15

that we could make jewelry sustainable

29:18

and affordable or more sustainable,

29:21

I was like, oh, I really want to go that route.

29:23

I really want to go that route.

29:24

And so it was hard though,

29:26

because the other two partners that

29:28

I was with, they were

29:30

great to work with, but they didn't really

29:33

want to go the sustainable route or we didn't

29:35

really have the options to.

29:37

So that's when we took it in house.

29:39

Now that it's in Hawaii, we have a

29:41

manufacturer that you know, it's

29:44

actual recycled sterling silver, so it's like melted

29:46

down silver and it's

29:48

sustainable and it's personal.

29:52

So it's changed a.

29:53

Little bit, but I mean that's cool.

29:55

Yeah, I like that it's sustainable.

29:57

That's like my favorite partner.

29:58

A lot of people wanted make things that are sustainable,

30:01

but it's so hard to figure it out at first. So it's

30:03

cool knowing that, like you guys eventually got to

30:05

that point where now it's a sustainable brand.

30:07

And I know you just said it your first pop up in

30:09

New York City.

30:10

That was so fun. Yeah, that was so fun.

30:12

I was with So it was Starlight

30:15

Village and then bai Zoya, which is my friend's

30:17

brand, and then we did Funny

30:19

Pretty Nice and so yeah,

30:22

it was like just a cute storefront, so fun

30:24

to decorate.

30:26

Then we had all of our stuff in there and.

30:28

Our friends were working the pop up and

30:30

yeah, people would come and say hi.

30:32

It was great after doing the pop up

30:34

experience. Would you ever want to open

30:36

your own store in a city and have a permanent

30:38

location or no?

30:39

I think that.

30:40

Could be fun. I feel like I have so much work I want

30:42

to do with the brand first,

30:45

because you need, like there

30:47

has to be so many aspects of the brand to

30:49

have like a store front, So

30:52

I think I would want to continue to work on it

30:54

and like really build Starlight.

30:56

I love pop ups, like I personally

30:58

think as a brand, like pop ups are such a good

31:00

route because it's like you don't really need a storefront.

31:03

I know, the e commerce.

31:05

Yeah, I would say, like if I

31:07

lived in New York, I think it'd be cool to like

31:09

have a store because then you go in and you can see

31:12

people and.

31:14

That you kind of like work out of.

31:15

Yeah, one hundred percent.

31:16

So if it was that situation, I think I would, But

31:19

since I I don't know, I

31:21

don't think I would unless I lived in the city.

31:23

Could you ever see yourself living in New York?

31:25

I could?

31:27

I really could, I think realistically,

31:30

I don't know if it would happen anytime soon,

31:33

But I mean I like

31:35

visiting a lot, like for.

31:36

A week or two at a time. That's perfect.

31:39

Go back to Michigan, go back to Hawaii,

31:41

like whatever it's kind of going

31:43

on.

31:43

But I don't I don't know.

31:45

Yeah, I think that's fair. Your home right now

31:47

is Michigan, So it's like it's nice to be able

31:49

to travel. I think that's the best part of our jobs

31:52

is the ability to be flexible with where you live. Yeah,

31:55

okay, going off of Starlight, what

31:57

are you excited about that you have come?

32:00

So for Starlight, I have a

32:03

pop up actually.

32:04

In New York, which is so funny. It's with Zoya

32:06

and funny. Pretty nice. That's next,

32:10

Yeah, I the pop up is next weekend,

32:12

and then at the same time, I have a

32:14

pop up in Hawaii for my friend's fashion

32:16

show. So it's the same day. There's two

32:19

pop ups going on. Oh my gosh, it's hilarious.

32:21

Yeah, that's a lot, but yeah, that's just how

32:23

the timing worked out. But that's

32:25

super fun. The fashion show in Hawaii is

32:27

incredible. It's like just there's

32:29

so many supportive women there, So that'll

32:32

be great. I'm gonna be there and

32:34

then have friends work this New York one.

32:36

Going off of that, I have my final question

32:38

for you. I like to end our

32:40

podcasts with a manifestation so

32:43

that the next time I see you, we can check

32:45

in see how the manifestation has

32:48

come into fruition.

32:49

But what are we manifesting for twenty twenty

32:52

five?

32:52

Honestly hard work

32:56

and just enjoying

32:58

life with friends and family, like

33:00

really enjoying and being present.

33:02

Is there a specific thing that you

33:05

want that's like a goal that you're like, okay, like let's

33:07

say.

33:07

It right now. What would be like an example for

33:10

you.

33:10

I really want to master

33:12

the art of conversation and get really good at my

33:14

sit down interviews.

33:16

Love that. Yeah, I'm doing a great job. Thank you.

33:18

I'm trying.

33:19

I literally forgot we were doing a podcast.

33:22

Like I'm not kidding, but like that's

33:24

a very specifical for me.

33:25

I'm changing mind.

33:26

Okay, change it.

33:29

In the next year.

33:30

I want to get really consistent. I

33:32

really just want to

33:34

put out good stuff and be consistent

33:36

with it.

33:37

That's my Yeah, that's going

33:39

to.

33:39

Get what I do. I know.

33:41

Okay, that's it. I love it.

33:43

Fanna having me. Thank you so much for

33:45

coming on.

33:45

So fun.