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Hey everyone, so welcome back to another episode of the Hello Spring Podcast. I hope you're all doing well because in today's episode is going to get a little bit magical because I'll be interviewing my good friend Clare Or you may know her as ClareWitchBaby on Twitch, but if you don't know who she is, Clare is a content creator who makes a variety of content on Twitch.That happens to have one of the most magical an inclusive communities on the Internet. She has a passion for creating content that will inspire other people from her captivating content of The Sims, Stardew Valley, and spreading awareness for causes that she believes in and so much more. And honestly, I think you all would definitely love clear which baby she's one of the most nicest, kind hearted people that I know on the Internet that makes a variety of content that I know for sure. You all will definitely enjoy, especially she's a little bit of a witch. She has magical powers, an.Trust me, when you're when you're in her streams, you're going to have a very magical time. But anyway, all of our links will be down in the show notes below, but let's go ahead and hop into today's interview well, Clare thank you so much for being on my podcast. I'm so happy that you're on here because I've been literally waiting for the longest time to ask you. But as you know, I have a very hard time asking for help, so I'm like it's like I'm just so happy that you're on my podcast and I'm glad you said yes, and I hope your week is going great.Thus far or.My God, thank you so much for having me I'm I'm so excited. Literally when that day you asked me, I think it was in my stream chat. Yeah I I thought it was a joke. First of all, I was like there's no way these spring sims wants to.Have me on his butt.So I was and then when I got the email I was like this is real. This is a real thing that's happening, so thank you for having me. My week has been truly crazy. It has. It's just been one of those completely wackadoo like roller coaster weeks. But I can't think of a better way to kick in the weekend then by hanging out with you for a couple.Of hours time. Yeah, definitely. I'm just so happy that I'm able to like record podcast as friends and chit chat with them. Because, you know the Panorama. The pastrami. We can't see each other in person so might as well.Do a little podcast.Yeah, I keep thinking like when is when am I gonna get to hug a friend right when it? When am I going to hug my friends again? I like I love my family and they are great but I'm like I need of some variety in my human touch. You know I just need some variety.Right, I need some variety in my life and I see another person besides my parents or you know a screen is like I need to get out and go somewhere else.Literally, you'll get a kick out of this right before I.Came to sit down at my computer because before we start recording this I had I was streaming on Twitch and I realized like, oh, I'm going to be sitting in front of my computer for like 7 hours. I need to get some human touch so I walked into my sister-in-law's room. She was like busy doing something else but I was like hey can I just hug you right now? I just need some human touch before I go and sit in front of my computer for seven hours and she was like yeah, sure. So I just had like a two minute hug with her and then I said OK.Goodbye.Well, that's nice, you know it.Was it was cute?Well, would you like to tell the listeners a little bit about yourself? You know this is this is your time to shine.So Oh my gosh.Self promo time no self promo in this.Trap no no.Nothing would bring me more pleasure. Well, my name is Claire, you can find me online basically everywhere at Claire_which baby I am by Daya social media professional. I work in influencer management but by night.I am a streamer content creator online. I primarily play The Sims, but you know you can also find me like posting nonsense on Twitter. I have been known to post a selfie on the Instagram. Oh yeah, primarily. I'm I know, I have been known, but yeah, I'm primarily just like a Simmons lover on Twitch.Nice well I wanted to know because I I've been I've been following for a very long time, but I was always wondering why did you? Why did you go with? You know clear which baby like do you like hocus pocus? Do you just love?Magic like.Well OK, so the short answer is I've just always been clear which baby online, like from the days. I guess you're American, so maybe you didn't use MSN. You were like an AOL Messenger guy. I was.Where were the of the MSN generation? So I was I was on MSN kid and I'm honestly like I think I just read which baby and honestly like some crappy young adult novel. I just read it somewhere and then every screen name just became clear which baby concurrently I always had a fascination with the occult. Kind of in my spiritual journey there was a long period when I was a teenager. I think you know, between the ages of like 13 to 20 I practiced Wicca actively.My mom was she. My mom is a, you know, staunch Catholic, but weirdly has a perspective of all rivers lead to the ocean in terms of her spare her own spirituality. So she was like, yeah like do it. As long as you're not like in her mind she was like as long as you don't like worshipping the devil down for you to do whatever and so she was very open to letting me practice that way. And so it just became a part of my identity. And of course I do love hocus pocus, but actually my favorite witchy movie is practical magic. Have you ever seen it?No, I've actually never seen it. What is it?About Oh my God, it's so good. OK so it's a movie it's Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman play these sisters who are witches and they come from this long line of witches who are both sister, you know, sets of sisters who are witches and they have this curse on them. Basically we're like anytime they find their one true love he is doomed to die and so the whole movie is about all of them going through these hijinks and ultimately like breaking the curse. I promise that's not a spoiler 'cause so much more happens in the movie.But it's a great movie you have. You have to like sit down, find it on Amazon an watch it like this weekend. It's so good.OK, good thing I have Amazon Prime so I can watch it while you know, chill and edit some videos. Oh yeah.Highly recommend well.That's good, I always look at movie recommendation 'cause I need some more stuff after no catching up with Grey's Anatomy. I gotta get something new are.You just, you're just now getting into Grey's Anatomy? Or have you always been into Grey's Anatomy?Oh, I've been into Grey's Anatomy.But I've never like watched it fully like it took me and my parents 5 ish months to watch all of 16 seasons on Netflix to watch macro. New episodes of Season 17 on Hulu. So we're all cut up now, but it's like I need someone else to sustain my in like entertainment.Oh yeah, I feel that yeah, Grey's Anatomy is a great show to just binge. There's so much of it. It's like the never.Ending so yeah, I hear that it's going to end at Season 17.Oh no rip.So sad you know. Funny you know. Funny thing is that the showrunner LM the showrunner, Accel and Pompeo is like so you know we're going to. We're going to run this course. Yeah, long we can go. But basically she said, if Ellen Pompeo's done where I'm done till like if she quits like wow.Yeah, I mean I guess the show can't really function without Meredith. No, I can't function without Meredith Grey. It's.Literally about her life. Like I know, no spoilers, but I mean like it's a constant drama sadness.Disappointment, hating everybody. It's a rollercoaster. Emotions I've learned not to trust anybody in that show.No 100% I I'm not caught up but I do love the show and you just you can't get too attached to any of the characters. Don't know the flip side of it. What I'm really like invested by my TV show right now is The Walking Dead and I know I'm also like I'm also a decade late to that show, but I'm obsessed with it and it's the same thing. But obviously it's a very different show. I'm sure your listeners know it's about zombies.You just can't get too attached to any of the characters, because as soon as you fall in love with someone, they're like you know what we're getting rid.Of him it's like well, thanks for that I guess, so probably not wanting to leave the show now.Thanks for the heartbreak.I stopped watching the show after like Negan came on, but I might give and give it another go. I don't.Know, yeah, so I'm actually like I guess a season and a half after Negan came on and Negan's not my favorite, but he does change his like villainy. I find him as a villain like a little bit 2 dimensional personally, but it gets better, I promise.Yeah, I you know I'll give another go. I'm replaying The Walking Dead video game right now.'cause why not? But I should probably get into the show again. Just because this culture.I've been so dying to try that video game. It looks so fun it.Is the best game I've ever played. It's you know it makes your emotions to skulls skyrocketing and it's so good storylines, amazing Telltale Games makes amazing games an even though they're like no longer a business anymore, I highly recommend you go check out The Walking Dead. It's so good you'll get attach a very easily.And then cry.Oh no, yeah, I would literally you can't see me, but when you said it was the best video game, my mouth was literally a gate, but I was shocked that you were saying that The Walking Dead was the best video game 'cause I've heard. It's really good, but you know, it's just I have to try it. I have to try.It I know I own them all and I've played every single last one of them at least four times.Or times holy crap well.Yeah, 'cause like this different like pathways of like you know endings and like I want to see what all.The outcomes will be.Like oh, it's one of those video games. Yeah, sick.It's a story driven at venture narrative game. So were the choices that you make alter as you progress on to the game. So OK.OK, that's very exciting. I have to give.That ago it's definitely worth it. So what is just Zodiac sign?What is my Zodiac sign? I am a Taurus Gemini, rising Scorpio moon and I would say that it's an extreme. That's a very accurate for me.See, I don't even know what like my moon rising or sun rising or whatever. I don't know what that is. I just know that I'm a Pisces.Yeah, see, I I didn't know what any of that was until honestly like a couple of years ago I you can find it online like what them rising and the moon and the blade burp. You can find all that stuff like what it means online, but basically the conglomerate of those three things for me means that like, OK, my baseline is I'm a tourist. I'm super stubborn but very loyal. But the Gemini part of it. It means that I come up I can come across potentially a little like 2 faced.Which I think for me means that I'm I can see that manifesting in my life and that I always try to put on like a positive face, even if I am personally like if I'm talking to somebody I don't like. For example, I'm always just still trying to be positive, like I'm someone who very rarely likes to have conflict. So anytime I'm in a situation where like conflict is arising or maybe an uncomfortable conversation is do I can very rarely just be like, hey, I need to have this conversation. I have to like that person. That sandwich is criticism between two compliments, you know? Yeah, so I think I think that's how the Gemini Porsche.In manifest and then the Scorpio portion means that like underneath all of this, like positive veneer I do. I can hold a grudge like I'm that person where like I can be. If something happens I'll still be super nice to you. I would help anyone but I forgive. But don't forget, I think that's what the Scorpio is is like. OK, like we can be cool but watch out I don't forget anything I'm like an elephant.But yeah, I think that's why I'm really suited for PR because I'm just like a cheerful person.Yeah, I can see it. It's like I was reading that it was like Taurus like there are positive and negative traits like they don't shy away from hard work. They value honesty above all else. They love their sustainability and find comfort and consistency.Yeah, yeah 100%. I'm a I'm a creature of habit. I hate change I hate.Change even good change any kind of change. I get really panicky, but yeah, that all sounds very accurate.Change is scary, but also scary. The other negative one is like they Taurus can take their pleasure seeking ways too far and they're not fond of authority and might challenge a teacher or professor who believe is wrong about something or just wasting their time honestly, oh.Oh yeah, that that rings very true, like.I I dislike authority in a very serious way. I, I think I've always had trouble working in environments where I have more on being like micro managed. I really push back against any kind of micromanagement, but we'll see how that was. The other one, you said that you take the pleasure seeking too seriously. That is 100% also true. I I'm. I feel it coming to life a lot when I have to exercise. I don't know what your workout routines are like, but I hate you. I hate working out. I hate it.And I know I need to do it because I don't know if you know.I'm about to turn 30 the.Big 30 and you know that's an age where, like you really gotta start.Like like pick up eating healthy, yeah.You have to start being like a healthy person and looking after your body and I just can't stand it. I'm just like no why I could play star do I could pretend to farm.I'm too lazy to workout, haven't gone to him in like 3 years so not the only person. It's a lot of work, not worth it. I'll just watch my Sims workout that's good enough for me.Me too, I'll send my Sims on a cheeky run they can. They can work hard for me. I don't need to.Do it. You know you're working your fingers. That's that's exercise enough. You know clicking and yelling at your Sims, that's like a lot of effort so agreed.I'm exercising my mind, you know, the brain. The brain is a muscle, you know, thinking constantly.Exactly exactly, I'm also I'm not good at. Basically I'm not good at watching my food like I'm someone who I've never. I've never been on a diet in my life because I do like food. Is pleasure. Like if your food isn't giving you pleasure like what's the point in eating? I'd rather starve.Over here we got it when all this Panorama is over, we'll meet up and we can go and have a lovely meal.Together, yes, I agree I'm ready to like I'm getting my second vaccine and like soon and like a couple of weeks so I can start traveling to places again.Muscle toff that's so exciting.I'm so excited. Honestly, make sure.You take the next day off though, because I've heard after the second one, that's when you start.To feel a.Bit poorly, Oh yeah, the first one I don't. I don't know what it is I I'm constantly.Tired and not eating and so or like eating very little and some like I'm just cancelling stream after string can look I'm so tired I can't keep up I can't keep awake 'cause literally the first day was April 1st was the kickoff of the charity stream and the next day I went to the chiropractor and then got my first dose and then it was a 13 hour stream that Thursday so my body was catching up with me and I didn't get much rest 'cause I had to get up. At least I think.838 nine o'clock.Oh God and I.Didn't go to bed until like 2 so.Yeah, you deserve a little rest. I'm constantly tired, I know I feel like that's like the streamer mantra. How are you tired? I'm tired I don't get enough vitamin D. I'm spending all my time at staring at a screen. I'm tired same.So I did want to ask you since we're on the topic, how has your 2021 gone thus far? Because honestly 2021 where artery in April and by the time this episode airs is going to be the end of April. So I'm like where has the time gone? How has it been?Widely, Oh my God, I honestly can't believe we're already in April of.2021I like I can't believe at the time goes so quickly, which makes it hard to answer that question like How's my 2021 going like if I know like.I haven't got anywhere so.I haven't got anywhere, that's the thing it's like. Well, what what's different about my life? Like in a lot of ways everything right? Like yeah.I don't know if you're at listeners or where. I've only been streaming for about a year or so, and so, like streaming has become this huge part of my life. In a way I never thought so. In that sense, like it's been completely different, because if you'd asked me like in January of 2020, where I thought I would be in January of 2021, you know this would where I am right now would never be never crossed my mind. So in that sense it's really different, but in the sense of like the day today, it just feels a little bit like Groundhog Day, doesn't it? Because all of us in the states were still living in this.OK, we're basically still stuck at home. You know the Panorama still in full swing even with people going and getting their vaccines now, which is amazing. Yeah, but it's it's. It's been a little bit the same. You know I I basically work seven days a week so I don't really get a chance to take a break because I have two jobs so it's just putting 1 foot in front of the other. So 2021 has everything is changed, but in a way nothing has changed.Yeah, pretty much. I don't know things have changed a lot for me as well.Well, it's changed but not changed like from last year. It like this time last year April I was getting ready to graduate the next month. So I was like oh and it was a contemplating life I wouldn't have. I had my. I almost had a quarter life crisis. I was 24 back then but I was thinking like where I'm going to go, what I'm going to do. I'm going to job where I'm going to live like I was thinking all these different things 'cause once you graduate college I'm like.I need a job. I need insurance. I need all these different things but like back then I didn't really have any money. I had money but it's like not a substantial amount of money where I could rely on to live an I was so nervous of what to expect and I thought I was going to have a heart attack of being overwhelmed and applying for jobs and get my resume done and get all My Portfolio done. 'cause I went to school for it. UI and UX design so I could get any job ever wanted.But it's just so hard to.I used to work at a UX UI design agency. Oh.Yeah no. I mean that is hard that phase of your life is a really tough one. Like when you finish get out of college and you haven't got that first job yet. I would say like that's the hardest phase and I totally get where you're coming from. I earlier this time last year 2020 I had actually just left a job so I had left a job in November of 2019 with the idea of taking three months or four months sabbatical because I was like I wanted to. I had been in like a create the creative agency world for a long time and that's a real hard slog.And I was like, OK, I just need to reset and figure out what I want to do with my life. I'll take four months off. I was Luckily in a position where I could do that, you know, without being a huge suck on my finances and I thought you know, well, I'll just I'll just live on savings for awhile. But it's OK 'cause I'll be. I'll just get another job in a few months 'cause I'm very lucky that I'm there's always agencies looking for my kind of work. True, then then the pandemic hit and it sent me into that same tailspin that you were describing. It was like holy moly when wet.Am I going to be able to get a job like I ended up being unemployed for much longer than I thought because of the pandemic and it sent me into a huge tailspin. I was very lucky that I ended up getting a job that was also very lucky that I found streaming in that time as well, because I don't think I would have survived without streaming honestly.I wouldn't think you know. Streaming has definitely been the best thing I've ever done, 'cause like at the end of when I graduated, I'm like you know what I think it was around.Maybe June probably may, I don't know, probably June. I'm going to June was the time then like you know what I'm done I'm tired, I'm overwhelmed. I'm just going to stop shop searching an quit at all and just work for myself an go hard in the paint of YouTube Twitch podcasts store everything an make my own money because I don't have the time or the effort nor the energy to I can help other people, but it's like I don't want to, you know, yeah.And you've been crushing. It aren't how amazing that you took that leap, because look at you now you, little media mogul, powerhouse.The funny thing The funny thing is I made more money I I did this year than last year.Already yeah, look at you.Get that coin, it's crazy.I mean, ever since the show The Sims Spark, that was life changing and now my goodness me great. Now I can work for myself. I have my own LLC and everything.Look at you fully fledged business owner that's so exciting. You should be so pretty you should be so proud of yourself. It's a very like. I think we're so used to being around content creators who do this. You know, for a living. And so it feels very normal. But let me be the one to tell you that it is very brave to go out on your own and take that leap of faith and put all that faith in yourself. That's a very brave thing to do and you should be really proud of yourself. I hope you are well.I I am 'cause. Honestly, I've always wanted to work for myself.OK, I'm a goal setter and I don't know if you are, but I've always set goals for myself where I wanted to achieve these things at a certain age, like I wanted to be debt free before I graduated college. Did that. I wanted you know, or for myself doing that now I wanted to go to Carnegie Hall. I did that when I was 18. Wow and like now I'm like I already have all my goals already met and now I just want to have a house before I'm 30 and then I'm good to go. I'm.Set for life that's so exciting.Look at you, yeah, I'm I'm also a goal setter. I'm someone who's like extremely goal oriented. If there's no clear, I know this is such like a boring business term, but if there is no clear ROI for me, it gave return on investment. Like yeah, I don't do it. Like if there is not ever clear return on my time or money that I'm spending. I'm not interested. So I'm like a big goal setter. I'm right.There with you.Yeah, 'cause I'm like I need to have like some time some ROI on my end like this is going to be.Beneficial for me in the long term like how's it going to play out so?100% I'm right there with you. If I I'm very big on setting clear benchmark goals and then going back and saying OK, did I hit that goal? Why didn't I hit it? What can I do next time? I'm right there with you.Yeah, So what was like I always ask my guess this all the time. What was your first impression of me?Oh my goodness, my first impression of you.Is that you are such a sweetheart? You're just so clearly.Someone who's so motivated by joy and by not just spreading joy but doing something that brings you joy and that is inherently joyful. And I think I relate to that because I'm kind of the same like I'm someone who is very rooted in play and it's so clear that, at least to me, that you're motivated by that same thing. You just want to pursue joy, and I find that so infectious. And then I think the second thing is just like the quality of your voice is so.Soothing, it's like this soft pur it's so calming and I just love having whether it's your stream up or a YouTube video. I love having like listening to your voice in the background of my day because it's just so calming. That's why it's perfect you yes, you've got such a lovely voice so.Thank you people, tell me that all the time like I think my voice is actually very annoying sometimes, yeah?Now you've got a lovely voice at this.Lovely, but I'm on my YouTube videos and like oh gosh, I don't want to listen this back.Ever again.Well, no one likes listening to the sound of their own voice. Truthfully, everybody hates it.That's true, I sound like I feel like I'm a child going through puberty half of the time.Gosh, somebody send help. Let me just change my voice.Send help right?Now, no, you have a great voice. It's great.Thank you, I've done a lot of vocal training over the years of doing choir and show choir, so I feel like I've I've stopped that now, 'cause I've realized it's a lot of work and I don't have time, no more, no more singing for me. I'll just scream my lungs out on my own time, but I think that is just like vocal. Rest, I gotta calm down and I guess it's also.Over the years of like doing YouTube and Twitch, I've learned to like be more calm and chill just like this to relax more. But you choose a whole other thing I I don't know what it is. It's just like I get this burst of energy to talk really really fast for no reason.Yeah, and I mean, it definitely takes a toll just on your voice in general. Like just speaking for that long I I'm not a singer by any stretch of the imagination, but I was an actor in a past life and so I did all those same vocal warmups and the vocal training like it's, I think a lot of it's rooted in the same thing for singing and acting, and so I'm not a novice in terms of like understanding how to take care of your voice, but I remember when I first started streaming an I was talking for, you know, like 4 hours straight or five hours straight.I would finish my stream be like wow. My throat really hurts. Like if you really have to train your voice to be able to talk for that long, it's definitely a skill it.Is definitely very much a skill, especially for doing like 24 hour. 12 hours streams is definitely a lot less.Have you ever done a 24 hour stream?I actually have never done it. I don't plan to. No one can force me to do it. I will not I.Don't dude me either. That's craziness that's foolery.I couldn't do it. I mean, I've seen people who have done it before in the past, like Doctor Gluon. He's more pro than I am. I don't know how he does it, but he does it every year like he does.Every year, holy.Yeah, towards like the countdown to midnight to the new year he goes he does. He does like a celebratory midnight New Year's celebration for every single time zone. So it's crazy. So it's like 2425 hours the entire time. So I'm like you, my friend, are.Bro, I cannot do that. My body can't handle that. I'm too much of a we.Clean yeah, no you could. You could never not know no milestone or subgoal or anything could force me to do 24 hour stream. I'd rather cut my own arm off and eat.It Oh my God, I'm just too nervous 'cause I'm like I can't do it too much.My body just it.It's not good for you. It's not good for you. I mean honestly, props to the streamers that do it and glue on is like truly doc is just.I mean he's an icon, right? Like he's just an icon in this community. I have so much respect for him.But I like, yeah, that's I don't. I don't have. I'm not that strong.Not that strong.Could never.I haven't gone to the point of my swimming career to even get to a 24 hour stream. The most I've done is 13 hours that's.A lot though yeah lot. I mean long time we.Tend to go over time anyway, just because one time my stream community made me cry. 'cause reading letters and then.You know 12 hour stream. You get very delirious after, like torching, just lose track of time. You just don't even know what's happening.Yeah, I've done a couple of 12 hours. I think I've done. I've done three at this point and it's always around the eight hour mark that I start to get tired. It's like I don't run marathons clearly, but I think they say like mile 20 or mile 19 or whatever is when you start to get really tired on a marathon. Yeah, I feel like that. That's what it's like for streaming like that's when I get really tired like 8 hours. I'm like, Oh my God.And then I start to pick up Steam again at like that hour 10.Yeah, take breaks every hour 2 hours and then I just like OK, I'm good. I can go for another 610 hours, see how far it can go, but it's like it's key to always take breaks because honestly if you don't take breaks your gonna lose your mind.Oh 100%.It's crazy when did you start streaming? Like you said, you like you starting like last year for like when exactly?So I started.I think the exact date is February 27th.And yeah, that's.Actually, a couple of days after my birthday.My gosh I just missed your birthday but yeah, I started streaming February 27th and it it was. I think I mentioned or alluded to it a little bit earlier. I had left a job and was in a real state of distress. Honestly I was scared about how long I was going to be unemployed and was.Spending a lot of time alone because it was the beginning of the Panorama and every. I don't know if you can remember this, but when it was all first starting to kick off in like February, May there was a lot of fear, right? Everyone was so scared because we didn't know how it transmitted. We didn't really know what all the symptoms were. I live in New York in a very busy neighborhood, so I was scared to leave my house. And so I was just spending all my time inside by myself and one of my friends actually had just started streaming like the week or two before.And they were loving it. And I had heard people talking about which I had been on Twitch as a viewer for a few years already. I had joined Twitch a few years before to follow Jenna Marbles on Twitch and now she's off the Internet. But and it's just her boyfriend who's on Twitch now and I still watch them. I think at my last count I'm a 29 month subscriber to that.Channel Oh my God yes.So I had been on Twitch as a viewer and honestly it was like truly a moment of despair like.They said that day that I started streaming. I had a complete meltdown like on the floor completely in tears like scream crying 'cause I was like what am I going to do like if this pandemic goes on and if I don't find a job, am I just going to spend all my time alone in the house with no money like what am I going to do and then truly just out of desperation as like you know what? I'm already playing the same As for like 5 hours a day. Anyway I I'm gonna I might as well just start streaming and then that same day I just opened my laptop like within 20 minutes had like.Oh BS download it. I was like I don't know what I'm doing but like let's do it and was live like 20 minutes later. Like is this thing on. There was no thought it was like empty head. No thoughts. I was just like I just need something to put my energy into because the other option is despair like I know that's a sad story.But it's true.I don't know, it's not. It's like it's it's real and it's honest and like I like that. Honestly. 'cause like last year I was, I still had no. I had two jobs like I was still in school.I had two jobs I was in YouTube and I was streaming so like I had five jobs only God and all I knew. It was like that February. Nothing was happening. The show I just wrapped up filming the show like late 2019 and everything and all I know is that I get an email saying oh we're going to where I have to close down for a little bit and I'm like for what I checked the news like Oh well then it seems like we're on lockdown great.But like it was, so it was so weird like we didn't know what to expect, what was going to happen. I was so scared 'cause I don't. I I still don't have health insurance, so I thought I was going to literally die, gosh.Yeah, yeah, neither did I. I didn't have health insurance. If I get sick I could be screwed like.Yeah, we're paying out of pocket, yeah, even worse.Yeah, it was a scary time that that was a really scary time.Yeah, at least now things are more under control than they were last year, and it feels more, I guess, stable.Yeah, in a way so I don't have like that sudden like anxiety like I did before, so it feels good to know that like I also like having people look around you that care for you and are like minded and streaming and YouTube. It feels good to know that you can rely on those people to talk to about literally anything where they could relate to each other. So yeah, havinga community is so important, not just obviously like a community of people who watch your stream, but having peers that you can turn to and ask for help.Kind of like colleagues, you know that you can just turn to be like, hey, let me just ask you something right quick? Or can I run something by you right quick? I think we're very lucky that I would say for the most part our community is extremely supportive and you know we're happy to help each other. That I think that's.Very unique, yeah. I agree 'cause I feel like it's it's much better to have that than some horrible thing in the world happening. Or somebody with some horrible person always talking you down one.100 percent 100%.I'm so grateful for like The Sims community, my community. It just feels good to know that they are there.You know 100% like if I feel the same way about like The Sims community. Like I pinch myself that I now get to be friends with people who I've looked up to for so long 'cause even though I only started streaming last year like I'm so I feel so grateful that all the people that I've looked up to for so long are now my friends like I can't believe that I'm now get to just like be in Group chats with some people that I have.That I've been admiring and been like true fans of for years. I and I think that speaks to the generosity of this community, right? Like there, there's of course, I'm sure like friendly competition between people. Which is fine. I mean. Luckily I'm I don't. I'm not a competitive person so that I just ignore that, but for the most part, people are welcoming an open an want to help you. And if people hadn't helped me I would not have a community. You know if people hadn't said like yes, we will give you this space.Well, well, you know you can have a small space of this. I wouldn't have anything, so we were very, very lucky.Yeah, I feel like it's definitely grown over the years. Like for streaming wise like I think before it was just this regular YouTube. Of course we were stringing Sims up. Not a lot of people knew about it streaming wise just more like pre recorded but I feel like it's grown so much in the last year year and a half on Twitch so much.And it's nice to know that there are like many people who stream The Sims or other like a similar game like Stardew or Minecraft or whatever, and we're all like friends now or like acquaintances. Yes, part, and it's nice to have, like the sense of like you said, Community, yeah?And the camaraderie you know it's it's nice to have that camaraderie, especially in this Panorama. You know, just having like minded people to to hang out with honestly is huge.It is so like what let you down the path for like streaming just The Sims.Honestly, it's I've just been a lifelong summer. I've been playing the same since The Sims one and played every franchise. I didn't always have every expansion, but I've played every franchise of The Sims. It is a game that I've always turned to. Of course I've played other games like just in my periphery. I have. I've had, you know most of the consoles.I'm a big crash bandicoot kid.Oh my gosh.I love Crash Bandicoot, but The Sims was just always my go to I think I discovered it at a really young age. I think the first time I played The Sims I was nine or eight. I'm aging myself, but I was nine in single digits and I just immediately fell in love with this. This platform that allows you to create either like complete fantasy world like I remember making magic was my favorite pack I remember.The impact making Magic had on just my imagination and how fun the gameplay was, but it was also, you know, one of the first games where I was able to create myself. So you know, I'm mixed and half Indian and half white and you know, back when we were, kids like diversity wasn't the priority that it is now in media. And so there were just so few games where I could create a main character that looked like me or did things I wanted to do. And so I just.Fell deep into that because that was huge. That was huge and I know that the original question was why did you decide to stream the same as? But honestly it's just a lifelong love affair with the game, yeah?Same, I'm the same way. I started back in like 2000. I was only four years old. So like I had no idea what I was doing at all. Like like no clue. I just play just for fun and then seems to happen then. I actually was going on 'cause I was looking 989 yeah?So it was much easier to understand the the life simulation part where babies come from and children. Yeah, it was a whirlwind of events back then. Honestly let's.Be real here. Let's be real. No. It's it's this game has been the backbone. I feel like if so many of our childhoods, honestly, yeah.I use it to escape reality 'cause reality is crazy. I've been going through some stuff a lot in my past, so Sims is like the one game that made me feel like happy where I could create myself or create other people.Or make houses or like to explore new like genres of plain style that I couldn't do before and make my own reality right in a video game.I agree I couldn't agree more and you know, I think the my favorite thing about The Sims is that I've been playing this game for like 20 years now and I still learn things about the game every day. I just feel like it's one of these games that feels so expensive because there's so much you can do.Like before I started streaming, I was not a builder. I only did gameplay. I only did story driven gameplay and would just download builds like from the Gallery or use the EA builds which we all know are like pretty pretty. They leave a lot to be desired, will say and and it wasn't until I started streaming and saw other amazing builders and saw what was possible with building that I was like wait you can do that. You can do that and that's what got me now I would call myself primarily a builder but that didn't start until I started streaming it because.You learn so much from other people and you just get so inspired by other people, so it's just it's so expensive. I feel like I'm never going to.Get bored of this game. No. I also think that with The Sims is that people say it's a boring game, mainly The Sims 4. I don't agree with that. Honestly, you know agree to disagree, but I feel like with The Sims it has definitely changed a lot. Where we've gotten things from like the past in the new recent ones or we just haven't done at all. But I think that with The Sims it's.You're like once you buy the game, it's your game. You've designed it, you create however you want. Make it fun for you, because ultimately, if you are not having fun, then it's like what's the point. But I think if you don't see something within the game, create it yourself. I agree, the only way like there are so many people out there, like for example like ex. Mirror mirror, she couldn't see herself within the game, so she created skin tones to see herself within the game that she loved for so long to help her inspired not her.Not like herself, but other people and it's become a worldwide thing where now we have skin tones ranging from like literally to the widest of light, to the darkest of dark. And it's so nice to see the true representation of people within a game that's been around for so long. I don't know. It's just so good to see like what the realness of The Sims one.100% and you know, even like obviously Mira is such a powerhouse, an really a thought leader in our gaming space. Ann has just by being.So innovative in wanting to make true representation in the game has brought the game leaps and bounds forward and it just you know to make that step of trying. You know I can think of so many people that would have that experience of like oh I don't see myself and just accept it. But I think the fact that mirror really took that step shows her true love affair for this game. You know that it? She would then take all that extra effort to make sure that not only she could see herself, but so many others could see themselves. I think that speaks.Of course yes. It intrinsically speaks to like a gap in a white space in the game, but it speaks to her love for the game that she wanted to fill that, and that she wanted to create, that I think.That's huge, I think it is very huge and I'm just like yes. Finally I'm so happy I'm. I'm honestly very happy that the game has definitely improved over the years because 2000 with the time 2004 was also an interesting time for fashion Sims 3. We don't talk about that because I feel like that's just more of a current thing.Where it makes sense, but Sims 2 Sims one was a trip fashion, the personalities the turn on. Turn off the stuff back then we don't talk about now because that stuff would have been very offensive to a lot of people.Oh yeah, 100% like you can't get away with this stuff that they were putting in the game before now. And you know a lot of that's for.The better, yeah, but we think will write for making paving the way for the people, yeah.One of these days I want to have him on my podcast 'cause we so good.Oh my gosh, you have to. You have to set a goal. Your goal. Cetera set a.Goal Stephen oh, I have that I I'm I'm writing out the plan as we speak because I'm prepared to send along list all the stats of my podcasts analytics like here you go. Here's your agent. They can look at all this stuff to see that my podcast is actually worth being on an I'm a simmer. My job is a Sims. You gave me a job basically.So you know should be on my.Podcast I love that.I did want to say that was like was Twitch. There have been in streaming Sims. There has been a lot of ups and downs and everything and I know that.Back then, like a like a ladder few months ago, I would say that you are partner pushing and this is the one thing that I don't necessarily hate. Is just like a weird term now like I did it and I feel I feel weird saying it. I know it's it's very. It's a very weird term, but I think when you stream Sims for so long and it's like your main thing and your partner pushing it, it can be very mentally draining overtime.Because you're focusing a lot on like the numbers, and you know what's good, what's not. What's more engaging? What should I do during this stream? When I stream Sims? Or do I just dream some solely and nothing else? For the sake of the numbers? Or should I like do what I want and just have fun with it? Like what we're like you are struggles like during all of that, because I mean, we've all been going through it in some similar way.Absolutely. And you know, yeah, I think here.You hit the nail on the head like partner. Pushing is a very weird phase to go through as a creator because it feels so transactional, right? And I think anyone who does any kind of content creation over a long period of time knows that it's it's not. If you're someone who's just focusing on your view count, you're not going to get any views like if. If you're someone who is dream one day, maybe you get 100 views the next time you get 50. If that can certainly be demoralizing, but if it's all you're thinking about, like.It's not going to help you, and when I was partner pushing, I think first of all I've just always been continuously surprised that anyone wants to watch my stream right. Like if I go there and I know this is like such a cliche, it's going to sound like a cliche, but I promise I don't mean it too, but every time I go live when one person comes into my street, it's still a surprise. I'm always like, oh crap.There's somebody here what?There's people in the chat. What the heck?So, and I think when I started partner pushing that was always kind of the backbone. Like hey, if people come sick if they don't like there's no end to this quote, unquote push, and I would say that the first time I did it was really just trying it on for size. Like trying on a new pair of jeans. I was like, OK, I my numbers are almost there. Let's just see if when you give people the option to know the goal you're trying to get for, like hey, I want to be able to get a certain amount of.Average viewership so that I can apply for partner or whatever it is I I just it was like an experiment to see, like hey, if I let people in on this goal is not going to make a difference. And of course it did right because it comes back to something we were talking about earlier about asking for help, right? If you don't ask for help, no one is going to know that you needed and no one is going to know that you want something. And so I think there's a lot of value in partner pushing because it lets your community know that you're all fighting for a collective goal, right? Which is very valuable in terms of galvanizing a group of people to come together for something.And you know, in social media land you know I'm a social media professional. That's always we call that a call. The call to action, right? Like what everything you post online is going to have a call to action. So by giving people a strong call to action, of course it helps you. But as anyone who's done a partner push knows those first few times you don't, you likely don't get partner, right? There are some amazing creators who get it the first time around, and that's great. I was not one of them I had.To apply, so was I right?And I had to apply three times before I got it, and so obviously.That rejection is certainly draining, but I think if you can get in the mindset of like when you're looking at your metrics. For example, 'cause I think a lot of people find it very demoralizing. If they are pushing for partner or they're trying to get partner and they have a stream that's below the requirements which you know the 75 viewer average that can feel really demoralizing, because because we as creators sometimes put our own personal value into that number, right? Like, oh, if I don't get those views, it's a reflection on me. I'm a bad streamer. I didn't make content that was good enough.And I think I'm lucky that I started this, having already had six years experience in the industry. On the other side, yeah, and I think of metrics is a diagnostic. So OK, it's just it's just a diagnostic for me, they're just a gut check, so I'm someone who I check my metrics relatively often. Even now I know a lot of streamers don't, but I do because to me I'm like this is a diagnostic is just a gut check to see where I'm at. It's got nothing to do with me. There's nothing to do with my personal value. It's completely separate from who I am creatively.And I think if you can make that separation, a partner push becomes easier. Stop thinking about the numbers as a reflection reflection of the value of your content, 'cause it's not, you know they have nothing to.Do with you very true. Yeah, I've learned that over the years as well and I think a lot of people are still in that stage is like is my content good enough and I think what you said is very very important to like. Take in with a grain of salt because people need to understand that numbers do not define who you are. Numbers are just simply numbers, exactly you.Like you have to make the content that you mostly enjoy and if people are are there, awesome don't really focus on on the idea of like oh I'm going all these years. All this money all these Subs all like recognition just for doing one simple thing. Don't go into the go into the the idea of that. Go into the idea of like I'm going to stream or I'm going to make videos. I want to have fun because I enjoy it and if something comes along awesome. But I it's not my main goal.I want to be able to inspire an create content that is fun and that's what I like about like your streams and like when I first like came across like your stream. I think it was through Kayla and or somebody. I have no idea. It's been a long time.But I think the one thing that that's so cool about your your streams in our communities that you're very inclusive. You're very honest and you have so much knowledge 'cause you have someone's like history about like social media and influencing. And you know just what you do is very very just like nice to understand and then so good till it be apart of like that sense of experience. So I mean we just have so much to offer and it's nice to know that you can relate an I am a social media like.Person as well. I don't know. I think when you're like going to like content creation, you're automatically like you know videographer, photographer, editor, voice actor, social media, like community, like doing all these different roles at once. And it's crazy.And that that's all true. The one thing I'll add to that list is that you have to be a marketer. And yes, being and I almost believe that kind of like first and foremost, not while you're streaming like while you're streaming your streaming. You're just focusing on making great content.And you know, just having fun and being you're letting your personality shine right, letting your craft shine. But I think the most important skill that content creators need to learn and that I always drives me crazy. Which is why I spend so much time like trying to help people and consult with you. If you don't know like I am a social media consultant as well, and it's because so many amazing content creators, even though we're on these platforms everyday, don't know how to like appropriately.Market themselves because it to them to so many people. Understandably, it feels kind of icky, right? Like I don't want to like self promo or whatever. And it's like if no one if you aren't going to market yourself like no one is going to like. If you want to work with a certain brand like you gotta reach out to them, you gotta tell them while you're amazing if you don't have like a media kit, for example, that shows everything that you're doing and that introduces yourself like no one's gonna know how great you are.Like you wouldn't walk into a job interview without a resume, right? Andrew, and you want your resume to speak as high to show you to show an employer the highlights of who you are. So my hope is that we, as content creators especially marginalized creators, can get better about championing ourselves by being a good marketer for yourself. That's really all you're doing when you're when you put on your marketer hat. It's like how my championing myself. How am I letting other people who could helpfully hopefully help me? Like tell a more rich story?Or bring more opportunities to my community? How can I show them the best part of who I am and I feel like that's something that I wish our content creator community could like do more and I hopefully hopefully I can be helpful in that somehow.Yeah, 'cause I mean honestly, what I've always wanted to do is like help other people because we have so much knowledge because we've been in space for so long, but I think with our help in our knowledge and our expertise we could help other people like write a book or have a dedicated podcast like I don't really know like.Yeah, there's so many things that we could do, like a panel. Well, I know I want to organize something like that.One day, but I mean to your point like that's something that I'm I'm trying to work on as well. Like I, I would love to create like a series of course materials for social media for creators like us, but basically just like teach you how to get those skills because it's not magic right? The same way that making a stream isn't magic. It's like there are certain steps you do. You own a craft, you learn a certain skill set and becoming a great streamer is just.Harnessing that skill set an honestly becoming a good marketer is the same thing. It's just hard to sing a.Skill set, yeah? I mean like for example, Doctor Lupo or Pokémon data and get to where they are just for, you know, sort of luck. They worked, they didn't. They put in the hard work to get where they are today. So like people think I'm gonna stream millions of views like no man, it's gotta work for that.You go to work and it's also investing your time really smartly, right? Like yeah, you have. You probably know this, but you know.The best streamers don't stream 24/7. They stream like maybe four days a week, five days a week, maybe six or seven. You know they maybe they do stream every day, but maybe they stream for like 3 hours and the rest of the time during their quote, unquote work day. And I'm sure you do the same thing. You're still working, you're just not streaming. You're marketing yourself or you're working on some other assets or you're working on another project like it's it's so constant and there are so many other skill sets that I think can contribute to success outside of just like turning your live on.I'm just rambling now, but as.You can see in our.Passionate about this.No, I love that because I think what's so good about the society. It's it's very helpful. But also the other thing too is that if you want to go into this quote unquote like social media influencer space that you can't put your eggs all in one basket. Hope.You got a diversified.It's like if you want like I was learning. What was it? I think it was Charlie D'amelia or somebody I don't know. I was.I watch a lot of content. I like studying people, but I think that what she said is that you can't put your eggs all in one basket. Where if you want to be successful or you want to reach a wider audience, you just can't be on one single platform like she's on Tick Tock but she's on Tick Tock YouTube, Instagram. Snapchat like every single platform that's out there. She is on an she's got to where she is today because the team that she has her parents or sister her relationship she had with brands and like no Dunkin it's it's just like.A worldwide thing where you have to put you have to invest in yourself first before other people invest in you.Oh, absolutely, 100% and diversifying is huge. But also you tapped into something very smart there, so even which is she has a team of people that she is delegating work to that have the skills that, like other skill sets to help you know, improve the content that she makes and improve her branding. So for example like I just did a big rebrand recently on my own Twitch, right?I didn't say I didn't do that myself. I I'd like three or four people help me with that over the course of six months because I was like, you know, what? If I tried to do this, it would look like total trash like why not work with other people who can do a much better job. You, for example, you know you have an editor that helps you edit stuff so that you can use your time more smartly, like we don't have to do this all our own just because it's only our face on the stream or in your YouTube video doesn't mean you have to do.It by yourself, exactly.Delegation is huge, yes.Delegate, collaborate, understand these things.I did want to say that with like social media, it can be very mentally draining, but like what apps are you actively on?So I'm I'm obviously on Twitch, love, Twitch the most active on Twitch before I started streaming. I was most active on Instagram, so I mean if you Scroll down into my Instagram you'll see more like lifestyle content on there and I actually had a bigger audience on Instagram 1st and then started streaming on Twitch and I actually started posting less on Instagram.Now basically out of time, but I'm also active. I'm active on Twitter. I love Twitter. You'll see me like sorry for the swear, but you'll see me posting on Twitter all the time. Yeah, I had a YouTube channel for awhile that was very short lived. I used to post like blogging content like 6-7 years ago.If you want to go back and watch that it's it's it's. It's tragic, but it was fun. You know that that was really where I started falling in love with content creation was with video and shooting and editing videos. I still love editing videos to this day, but I no longer post on YouTube. I'm I would love to start it back up again, but I just need to find the right time. It needs to be the right moment. But yeah, those those are my most active so Twitch, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube from the old days.Yeah, I feel the same way I'm gonna come on I'm acting like Twitch Twitter.And You Tube Instagram. I really don't post on there as much as I thought I would. 'cause I mean I have. I'm running three Instagram accounts at once. I have like my main Sims one. That's like this more lifestyle type of way and then I have my art one and then I have my podcast one so yeah.And then, like you full by the.Way I love your art. Thank you. I gotta get back into. I haven't been making art a lot lately. I've gotta go hard in the paint. One summer market myself out there.Once yes, but also like You Tube, I'm managing three yeah, three channels at once too. Oh.My goodness may that's so much.Yeah, I have like my vlog slash podcast channel then I have my VOD channel where I re upload my streams which is really not that hard.I meant to make the description and thumbnail, but that's also the hard work. But then I have my main like gaming channel, so like that's a whole other thing, so I'm like doing so much 'cause I don't want to put my eggs all in one basket. And like diversify my content Moran like reach a new audience that I haven't reached before, you know? So it's definitely a lot but but it's like social media sites definitely advanced so much in like the past decade or so that like you know, Twitter and Instagram and Snapchat like, I feel like Snapchats.Dead now or something? Yeah, I feel like it.Is I'm not on Snapchat, I I never. I never cared about Snapchat, but that's just me.It drains my phone, so I deleted the app. Yeah, I don't have it anymore, but it's like it's weird because now clubhouse is a thing fully as basis. I'm like almost every single social media app out there. Has a story. LinkedIn has a story soon. Tick tock. I heard somewhere down the line is going to have stories. Monetization is now going to's happening on clubhouse. So it's so interesting on how evolve social media is and how effective it can be for so many different people that.It's kind of hard to be on every single app at once, and I don't think you need to be.No, no you 100% don't and like it from. From my point of view I I have always looked at these social media apps. It's just tools for telling stories, right? It's just they're just different ways for you to tell a story, and it doesn't matter if that's a brand story or you is like if you're trying to be an influencer like a personality story, or if you're someone who like makes like cartoons or animations or comics you know and you're using.You're those platforms to tell a story through comics and arts or some kind of visual storytelling, and it's just about like which platforms are going to be the most useful for the story that you want to tell an which ones are going to give you the highest ROI. So for me, for me, that's Twitch and Twitter right now. Give me the highest ROI in terms of my efficacy of storytelling. That's how I think about the metrics like which which platforms are the most effective for me to tell my story right now. That's Twitch and Twitter because my storytelling is very intimate. It's very.Personality based is really about me just putting myself out there and The Sims is kind of like the backdrop for just us having a good time. And that's why Instagram is sort of dropped off for me because Instagram my Instagram audience was much more interested in like what I was wearing and how it is looking in the pose. And like if you scroll through my lifestyle content you'll see it's very about the aesthetic and at that time that's what I was the most interested in. I was interested in creating an aesthetic that people would enjoy, but my story has changed, right? I'm in a different chapter now.That's how you can like easily pivot between app to app is like once you find an app that is better helping you tell a story more effectively. You can put more energy into that you know and try things out and experiment and I think it speaks to the conversation we were having about diversifying. You shouldn't put yourself out there everywhere just because someone else. There's some new app to be on. It's about like, well, what's going to help me tell my story effectively, and what am I going to have the most fun on? What's going to be the most dynamic for me and that should in my opinion, serve lead where you put your energy into the apps. 'cause it's it's.Crazy as you said, it's changing every day. There's a lot of.Stuff a lot to choose from.It's very overwhelming. That's why I deleted the Twitter app off my phone, 'cause I would constantly be tweeting whatever on my mind. And that's not a.Good no, it's so.I would spend my days kind of stepping away from from Twitter and I was looking at my analytics and I'm like oh wow, I don't post as much like on average my tweets per month is like 232 like 350.Like I don't tweet that much honestly. Yeah, it's like that's probably a good thing for me because I think that the idea is that with social media, when you're on it for so long, you don't really know what's happening like in the world around you like you kind of lose a sense of.Self Oh yeah 100%. It's so easy to just get get sucked into the dopamine kick that you get from a like or from a retweet. Or you know that that really triggers a response in your brain that's addictive.That's why it's so easy to spend so much time scrolling on Twitter, an liking other peoples stuff, even the the haptics of when I don't know if you know this, a Twitter added, I think a year or so ago, a feature where when you like a tweet, a little like sparkle comes out of the heart.And all that, yeah and.That like triggers a pleasure response in your brain. It's literally like addictive just to scroll through these apps and they design it that way because they want to keep your attention so that they can feed you advertising.Exactly, I think getting getting the app off your phone is super smart.Yeah, I've realized I've been on Twitter since 2014 of November and I've tweeted at least 53,000 times.I don't know how many times I've tweeted I have to like find this out. I'm going to text you after this and tell you how many times up we did.It's it's crazy like I I tweet way too much is mainly about The Sims or like whatever is on my mind. But then like I look when I've gotten more into the space of like streaming and like You Tube a little bit more like but like the year or two ago, I've become more serious like I want him to grow myself and I'm looking at my analytics and like Oh my gosh, what does this mean? And then do all this research make oh that makes sense. Like in the past like month or so like last month since you're a social media person, I don't think anyone else who's listening this pockets.Interested into what I'm saying, but literally I've learned that tweeting like this podcast has been a true delight. And also, like you know, just posting my Sims like I've realized that when I post a screenshot of any of my sins that I do.It does so well, yeah.Because people like seeing The Sims at what I like, who I make, and it's nice to know, like, oh, people like that stuff. Like last month I had one point, 1,000,000 one point 1111 million.Tweet impression wow my God look at you, that's amazing.Funny, it's crazy like I don't understand it 'cause I'm like oh cool, but like on average is like 500,000 to like above. I never it's never below 'cause I don't know.I mean, that's amazing. That's just that's I.Guess the amount of light we can interact with people, yeah?That's that's a lot of impressions. You should be. You should be well chuffed.I'm like I like it. I even asked somebody like what's a good like, you know, engagement rate on Twitter they say like.So like 2 to like 2% or 3% like oh I have that yeah.Yeah, that's a solid.It's pretty great. I also like I just gauge see how it goes. Depends on what I'm tweeting like. Sometimes it's like 14 or sometimes two or like 1.7. It's yeah it's and that's it's normal it's.Totally normal an like. Luckily Twitter is an app where you can post post a lot of volume. It's a it's a volume centric app so you could post you could tweet like 6 times a day and it wouldn't matter. You know like the half life of a tweet is so short.Like that you could tweet. It's like Tik T.O.K, the half life of a tik T.O.K. If it doesn't kick off and like go viral is really short so you can post a lot of content on apps like Twitter and Tik T.O.K. Because if it's dead, it's dead. It's doesn't matter. And I'm just talking about this from like a marketing point of view. Like if the content dies like no one's going to see it doesn't matter. You can just try again.Exactly, it's like some of the like those memes that you see, like one post like somebody posts like a random person who only has like. I don't know, 10 followers on Twitter posted something, it immediately goes viral, is like 2 pictures. No worries, just two pictures goes.Totally borrow an, you know. I think that's that's the thing I like about a lot of the new, the new social media app. Sorry this is now just in case your listeners didn't know we're no longer talking about the same as we.Are now social.Media Podcast We're talking about social media, but my favorite thing about apps like TwitchTik T.O.K on Twitter, right, less so Twitch. But I think if we can make the switch as a culture of from moving away from the importance of followers like it doesn't matter how many followers you have it truly.Doesn't matter if.Your content is resonant in your contrast. Your content is interesting. People will find it and that is like to me like a huge godsend. Like I wouldn't have been able to build an audience on Twitch because like nobody like I have a. I have a relatively small following if you're looking in the scheme of.Twitch overall, like honestly like my following is small, but it's doesn't mean it's not resonant right? And it's the same right? Take talks the same like you can go from having like 30 followers and if your content is resonant and fun and interesting, people will find it like Leeana banana is my favorite example. I have been. Do you follow her on Twitch or Tick Tock?Which I do. I just saw all are on Tick tock when you mentioned her on stream today.I'm like Oh well dude.Because I've seen her on like my for you page and look at this person.She's OK, she's amazing. So I followed her on. Ticked on Twitch first all last year I've just been following her 'cause she posts a lot of stardew, and you know, I love cozy games and she started posting her content onto Tik T.O.K and blew up last year like in the last like 8 months. Just completely blew up on Tik T.O.K and her audience on Twitch has like ballooned because of it because she was creating content that was funny and interesting. And and it's been my favorite thing to watch. Just watching her completely blew up. Everyone. Who's listening? Please go follow Leanna banana. She's so.Buddy love her.I love her like I've been in our streams a few times I've been lurking, but like her energy is so nice so like welcoming so.Cozy and she's really smart about taking those most memorable moments and syndicating it elsewhere like she's really good at doing that, yeah?Like even like posted on Tik T.O.K posted on like you know Instagram reels like these things aren't even like OK YouTube shorts. That's a new thing. That's a new thing. Yeah it's like.Posted on there that could go viral like this is so many different things that could happen. Like I posted a YouTube short of an episode. It was Kayla. This is like experiment to see what it was like and then I just blew up.So I'm like, oh, that's.So I should do this more. Yeah, it was like a little like preview of the episode.But that's so smart, yeah, just like trying things out. You know it's so fun, like getting playful on these apps. I think it's like a huge thing. Like if you're afraid to play then you're not going to know. What could you know? Kick it off or be something successful for you?It's fun.Exactly, yeah, it's fine. Like honestly, impact over numbers go into the pain of like how much impact can this tweet or like this?Yeah, and this is like again, it's going to sound cliche, but as long as you're posting content that you yourself think is funny or that you'll laugh at or that you resonate with, not everything has to be funny. It doesn't, but you if you're posting content you enjoy that. If it came across your feed, you would enjoy it like that's just a great Northstar like. Hey, do I like this?Would I like this content? If your answer is no like don't post it.If you're not interested in.It then nobody else will be.Exactly, and that's what I tell people all the time. Make stuff that you enjoy and not what you expect people will enjoy and I.Yeah, and I think honestly when people hear that they think it's they brush it off 'cause it sounds very cumbia like oh follow your joy. Follow your heart, that's not what that means it means. Would you like this if it came across your feed? Would you come into your own stream and watch yourself? If your answer is no like why is it? Why is anybody else going to watch you?Yeah, so it's like I don't know. I I'm very honest on swim like you gotta do what you like, not what you think is popular or trending. If you want to stream Sims 'cause you like Sims, go for it. Don't go into the pain of like oh there's all these like bunch of SIM streamers. Who's going to like raid me or like who are like? You know it's a very popular you know gaming tag now somehow they think that they're going to be very like get all these viewers like no. Maybe there's a slight chance that there might be a chance someone could trade you or you might get these viewers.Because here in certain category, but think about why you're in that category, why you're seeing that pretty.Sure, and I think it's also clear how transparent that kind of a strategy is, right? Like it's so transparent. And I'm not saying this is someone who is like like guilt free of it too, right? Like I think everyone should try anything right? Like if something is trending you want to try here. Go give it a try like try things on for size but like I'm guilty of those mistakes too. Like oh making certain kind of content because I think it's going to be.Like big, but then it's clear while I'm streaming that I'm not having any fun and then the content doesn't do well, and so that's not to say like don't experiment. Don't try things that are trending because they're trending. Like of course try things out, but if that's all you're doing then it's transparent. People get bored of it really fast. It's it's. It's easy to see when you're not invested in your own content or your own game or what it is you're doing. And people are smart, you know, like audiences and viewers are smart and they don't want to stick around for something. If you're bored, then why should anybody else?Come and watch you.Exactly so very very very, very true.I'm getting very like impassioned about this.I love it so good.So moving on from social media.So charity, like what decided you to like 'cause a lot of people go into this like thinking. I'm going to get all this recognition or whatever. Sometimes they do but like what made you decide to start raising money for charity like? Especially like chairs that you like, believe in or you think that needs like some brand awareness on a larger platform or whatever.Yeah, so I think I started doing charity streams relatively early, mainly because.This mean I guess you in some way. I've always been some kind of like keyboard social justice warrior, which I know is like a bad a bad. What's the word like flavor now like nobody likes to be branded a social justice warrior, but I've just always been interested in using these kinds of tools to do some sort of good, right? I think that's why I work in social. It's why I've made an entire career out of working in this platform. Is 'cause you can make a difference through these platforms and twitch makes it so easy for you to raise money for charity in a way that's fun.Immediately actionable, and I think a lot of the reasons why people don't donate to charities is because you don't get that like instant gratification as a donator of seeing either what you're good can good, you're doing, or just getting that like that dopamine kick like when you like something on Instagram, right that we were talking about earlier? When you're when you're donating something to charity, you don't. You don't get that. But with Twitch, I'm able to facilitate that reaction by creating incentives, right? Like creating like fun, silly incentives. Why like?Eat a hot sauce or do a silly dance or whatever. I'm able to give donators something fun to do, so like, why not put that to a good cause? You know, why not use the tooling to my advantage and in terms of charities, I care about supporting, I just always been looking for organizations that are personal to me. I know that. So like you know so cliche and cringe, but like the first fundraiser I ever did was for breast Cancer Research because my mother-in-law is a two time breast cancer survivor. Most recently we were raising money for stop AAPI hate.I'm South Asian and we know that there's been this huge rise of hate crimes in America in over the last year with kobid and wine. It's so immediate and it's so easy to raise money like ultimately, it's like, why wouldn't you? You know, yeah, why wouldn't you? It's so easy, and you know, even with hope for Haiti. What we've been doing recently, but which, by the way, is such a privilege to be on the team with you? Thank you so much for asking me to.Fundraise I'm your so honestly it's.Such a privilege. It's such a privilege to raise money for such a great cause.And Twitch makes it easy. So like if even though I only have a small platform like, why wouldn't I use it to make a very small but meaningful difference?Exactly like use your platform for good and make a long lasting impact, not just for you but for the organization or of the people who are associated with that. Or they can relate to it or somehow, because honestly charity is good. Helping people is good. Raising awareness for things that you believe in is.Good for sure and you know there are.We Luckily we've been given for myself a small platform, but using that as an opportunity to educate is such a gift honestly and like I'm I'm not trying to be all high and mighty here. OK, I'm still at I don't know. Sorry for this way I don't know.About it, but the.Few times that I have been able to raise money, there's always been a moment where I'm talking about an issue like for example when I was raising money for stop AAPI hate and I was explaining about the rise of hate crimes against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.In this country there were so many people there like, well, I didn't know that and suddenly they become invested in a 'cause, you know that is important and that education makes a difference in just that. Raising awareness to your point is so huge and you just never know the impact you're going to make by just giving voice to a call. So why wouldn't we do it?Right, like I usually always raise money for Saint Jude, where I tell people that people like parents to have kids in Saint Jude. They don't have to pay a single cent for their kid being.At all you know, so I don't know that for it I don't know.That the parents won't be a single dime because Saint Jude raise so much money like streaming investors and so many people around the world who continuously donate monthly or yearly or weekly or whatever they have so much money that the parents don't have to have that burden of having a $10,000 bill because they were kid. Was, you know, sick with cancer or something? Because 'cause having the fact that your kids in the hospital for something that they have no control over.And then also a bill that's like that's too much going on. So that was one thing, and taking care of their kids the best possible way that they can an you know, saying she just is so good and then like hope for Haiti like what that organization does that they help people with like infant structure and schooling and medical supplies and kovit testing and covid vaccines eventually. And what resonated with me so much like back in 2010 when the earthquake happened. I was so like sad about it 'cause people lost their homes families.Their lives, yeah, and it's good to know that there are good people out there that are helping Haiti an I reached out to hopefully back in like September. Like asking like can we do like a back to school event 'cause they weren't present on like Twitch or like tiltify or anything. So I help them gain their presence on something that they weren't familiar with because they're more like used to like the traditional fundraising, compression and stuff like that. And like they were just recently like they like the virtual hike for high frame that we're doing right now is start annual one but like last year was like their first virtual one.And thus far, they've raised so much money. Their goal is 250,000, and what we've raised as a team together like right now as we're recording this, and we have raised over $53,000.Wow, that's amazing.I know almost almost $54,000 is crazy that in Reasi 10 days, so it's very nice to know that we've done so much in so little time with such making a huge lasting impact.On people in Haiti an what we could do for them for some that we enjoy doing every day, yeah.And it just goes to show. Well, first of all, good for you for making such a huge effort to raise money for this amazing cause. And you know bringing so many of us together to do it. But it just goes to show you know how much difference you can make with just like a little bit of effort. You know, like how many people as a part of that $50,000 plus plus plus donation pool, how many of those people just donated $1.00?Like I venture to say a lot, a lot of people probably donated a dollar or $2.00 or $3. And you know, most of us could probably donate a dollar, but it's when you when you pull it all together as a collective, it makes such a difference. And if that can just inspire anyone that you know, even if you're you think your footprint is small, your impact can be huge. Just by, you know, putting resources together. And you did that. You did that.Honestly, like I, I went into this thinking that you know I want to reach out to my friends.Because people sometimes we got to people based on their numbers. I don't do that. I go to asking like hey you wanna you know you want to collaborate with me on like a charity event and you know hang out and play games together like I never go into thinking oh they have like 1,000,000 subscribers or like you know 500,000 or whatever like no. They're just people. Numbers don't define who they are. People chose the fallen because they like their content and their personality and that's why I like the peopleThat I reached out people for this event based on their personality, what they're like, and you know, I like what they're doing. And there are great people like like yourself. So I mean, that's all that I did ask.Like I mean, it doesn't matter how many people raise money for the charity, whether they raise $1.00. Awesome, you use your platform for good to raise awareness. You raised $1.00. That is cool. Like no amount is ever small.No, yeah, absolutely I agree. I mean and and it can surprise you, right? Like if you can galvanized behind A cause an again come coming back to social media strategy, have a clear call to action which this is, you know, like raising money for Haiti is so clear what we're doing.I surprised myself by how much, like our community, was able to do an. I want to preface by saying I think I have a relatively small footprint online. I don't think I'm I have a any huge community or you know, I'm not like an influencer. I'm just like someone who loves to play The Sims and loves to do cool stuff.I'd say you're an influencer. Well, you influence people.OK yeah sure sure. Well, I will leave that on the table for now, but all of this to say like I didn't. I was so floored and overwhelmed by how much our community raised in one stream like my goal for the whole month was $2000 for the month and we raised that in a day and I was like that's insane and it's just it comes back to the idea of like, your footprint has nothing to do with how what an impact you can make. You know you can still make an impact and.Every little helps you know, every small step makes a difference, you know.I agree 100%. That is very very true.So do you have like any future charities that you want to do like next year this year?I have some stuff taken around. I've always wanted to do something for Doctors Without Borders. I love the work that they do. I think that a global effort to support better public health care everywhere, especially with you know, coming out of Covid is huge. So I would love to do something with Doctors Without Borders. I always always supporting Black Lives matter. I have a constant it that's just constant on my stream.Every I think every like 10 minutes links my Black Lives matter links come up because I'm never ever going to stop supporting Black Lives Matter but I have. I want to do something big for Doctors Without Borders and yeah I'm still I'm still noodling. I think those those are the two big ones.For me right now, yeah.I do want to definitely do like Saint Jude again in May and then I don't know. So if something else comes up that I want to do, I'll do it and.Paying me to you hit me.Up if you ever need you ever you ever need someone else. If you're doing another team, thank you, let me.Know I do have something in September I'm going to reach out to the group. See who's interested? Get that renting but that's like in September so we got time you.Got time to figure. Have a summer? I go on vacation Steven going on vacation.I need a vacation.So I'm going on vacation and April. Oh, I'm so excited. I'm so excited, my dude.I can't wait. Yeah, I'm taking a week off. I'm going to South Carolina is going to be fun. Oh yeah, sounds fun. I've never been to the South, you know. I just.Want to go to the.South, it's fun down there, I've.Been there, yeah, I'm excited. Yeah well. Anyway we have come towards.The end of the podcast to say episode I've.Been having so much fun.I know, but I have some rapid fire questions for you with the answer.Will spicy hit me but.They might not be rapid fire 'cause I'm an over explainer and they just tend to just talk.Anyway, first one. What is your favorite game you played thus far?Can I answer a question with a question? Yeah, is it outside of The Sims?It can be OK.So the same this is. Obviously this is my number one game, right or die forever. I'm really loving Stardew Valley right now. I love starting so much. I'm so bad at it, but I'm obsessed with starting Valley. Let's make this top three the same as number one starting Valley. #2 my other favorite game to play off stream right now is honestly fortnight. I'm loving Fortnite right now. It's so fun. I love playing with my friends. It's such a good time.I have Fortnite, but I have not played in so long. I have to.Updated so we gotta play. Well, we'll play together it's so fun we will get some duo's together I.Let me tell you, it's wild, it's why I.Was and I'm terrible. By the way, I'm terrible at fortnight, but I don't care. I love it so.Much it's so fun. Yeah, I stopped playing playing the game after I realized I spent over $300 in. Like I don't know. A couple of months of that game got it, so 'cause I have this. I have saved the world, which is like a game that people can play an get V bucks and passes for having it. And then I've got a bunch of skins and more V bucks and battle passes.It's oh, it's just they just stacked up. But you know, yeah.I mean, the way I spend money on Fortnite is shameful, it's shameful.Creator code so people can use my credit card to support me, but.I need to get one of.Those, it's just spring Sims.Second one up, what recommendations do you would you give to someone like a book, podcast, TV show, etc. OK.Podcast outside of your lovely podcasts. OK, this one is for 18 plus listeners only, but my favorite podcast in the whole world is called my dad wrote a porno.It's basically these three hosts. They're like BBC Radio personality hosts. They already had, you know, a presence on media, but one of them, their real dad, started writing erotic fiction, and so every episode they basically just like read a chapter of his crappy erotic fiction. It's terrible, it's the worst. It's so bad, but that's why it's funny because it's terrible. So that's my favorite podcast. But keep it. Keep in mind it's not safe for work and it's so you have to be. 18 plus.To watch it TV show The Walking Dead 100% book there my I list. I read Harry Potter on repeat all the time and my other favorite book. The title just flew out of my mind. I'm trying to open up my audible so that I can very quickly. It's definitely in my audible library. It's called my brilliant friend. Have you ever read it?I actually have it. No, I need to get my audible subscription renewed.OK, my brilliant friend is so good. It's part of a trilogy called and a Polotan trilogy.And it's originally in Italian by an author called Elana Ferrante. I think is her name, and it's a trilogy about friendship in Post War Italy and you will not be able to put it down. It's such a.Brilliant series, well that sounds cool. I am down for that. Definitely third question when you're not working, how do you like to spend?Your time I work alot. I work like seven days a week so when I'm not working you can probably find me curled up in my hoodie.Playing Stardew or having a bath, I'm a big I love it. I love a bubble bath, I think I have a bubble bath, probably like four times a week or engaging in some skin care. I'm like an absolute sucker for skin care. I am that person with like a ten step skin care routine, so you'll probably see me in the bath doing some skin care.Nice and the last question, what does success mean to you? I.The last ones a loaded question, I know what's a success mean to me? I have to think on that one. Success to me is about being better every day than I was the day before I try to finish every day trying like trying to assess every day. Like can I put my signature on this day and be proud of the work I've done and that doesn't happen every day, right sometimes?You can't put 100% into every day. Some some days are a 60% day, right? That's just how we are, but I want my overall trend for my life. If I were to graph it to say like hey, I can say that I got better at something every day. There was some improvement every day and I just believe that if you're just looking to improve yourself every single day, be a little bit better than you were before. Whether it's like today, I'm looking after my fitness or today I'm honing my craft with streaming. Today I'm getting a being a better writer. Or maybe it's today I learned a new foundation application technique.Makes my foundation look nicer, but it applies to everything, but as long as you're looking to improve everyday, I don't think you'll ever not be successful. I.Like that I really do. That's good, that's that was very deep deep.So thank you again for being on my podcast. I really appreciate this talk. Honestly, it's a breath of fresh air. It was so relaxing, just a chill an just talk about, literally.Anything you too?It's been such a tonic just sitting on the phone with you having a wee chinwag just having a we chit chat. This has been really fun. Thank you so much for having me. I really appreciated. Thank you.Yeah, so where can the listeners find you?Listeners here you can find me.On Twitch at /claire_which baby you can find me on Instagram and Twitter under the same handle Claire_which baby? Anna yeah come hang out on my streams. I stream every Friday and Monday at 7:30 PM Eastern Standard Time Saturday, Sunday at 10:30 AM Eastern Standard Time and you know it's just our little witchy corner of the Internet. We love to sprinkle a little bit of magic so stop on.By I like that. Well, thank you so much.Thank you for having me this way so fine.Goodbye.So I hope you all enjoy today's episode was Claire. I definitely sure did. It was very refreshing to know who she is. The person, but also who Claire which baby is and especially her time on Twitch about her partner pushing her Upson Downs. The benefits of it. Especially kind of learning by trial and error of what she's experienced from her very start. But also where she is at today. Being able to kind of relate on a topic of Sims streaming social media, mental health, PR and charity fund raising. It's very reassuring to.Have that person that you can relate to and talk about these things, because sometimes you can't really talk about. You know, stream for living or a social media and how I make my money on the Internet too like regular people who do not know the Internet industry or the gaming industry. But anyway, I hope you guys definitely learned a lot from the both of us from Sims, Twitch, streaming, YouTube, PR, social media, how to get into the space and especially charity fund raising. Like I said, I hope you guys definitely enjoyed but make sure you go ahead and check her out. All of your links will be down below in the show notes.But make sure go ahead and follow and subscribe to me on Spotify, Apple podcast, Google Podcasts or wherever you listen your podcasts and I will hear from you all in next week goodbye. ................
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