Speaker 1: Welcome to stuff Mob Never told you From how support
Speaker 1: dot com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Kristen
Speaker 1: and I'm Caroline and Caroline. Today we're talking about beauty
Speaker 1: gurus on YouTube. The YouTube's you beaut You beaut I
Speaker 1: Shag You Beaute? Do we sound hit listeners? It's awkward, world,
Speaker 1: It's fine. Um. Somewhat in honor of this podcast, Caroline,
Speaker 1: I decided to really immerse myself in YouTube beauty beauty videos,
Speaker 1: and there are so many beauty videos out there on contouring,
Speaker 1: something that I've still not really mastered. It's video magic.
Speaker 1: I don't understand what it really is, but I started
Speaker 1: to give it a world, partially because as a YouTube
Speaker 1: host myself, I mean, my makeup game is uh not
Speaker 1: where it should be on camera, I'll put it that way.
Speaker 1: So I went to a makeup store and I bought
Speaker 1: a contouring stick, had one of the clerks show me
Speaker 1: how to do it again voodoo magic. I walked out.
Speaker 1: She was very confident I would know exactly what to do.
Speaker 1: I was clueless, but my face looked flawless, thankfully. UM.
Speaker 1: And I sat down yesterday with my contour stick in
Speaker 1: YouTube and tried to watch all of these videos and
Speaker 1: clown painted my face, and um, I don't. I think
Speaker 1: I've gotten a little bit better, but I'm still a
Speaker 1: little intimidated almost seeing how good so many of these
Speaker 1: gurus are it just transforming their face. I look in
Speaker 1: the mirror and I'm like, but mine doesn't look like that?
Speaker 1: What am I doing wrong? I can't even say that
Speaker 1: I'm intimidated by them. It's the same kind of thing
Speaker 1: if I were to say, like I'm intimidated by Cindy
Speaker 1: Crawford or just Cell, It's like, well, I'm just never
Speaker 1: gonna It's like I'm not playing in the same leagues.
Speaker 1: So like with these beauty bloggers who just in front
Speaker 1: of your eyes can transform their faces, it's just like
Speaker 1: I just sit there with my mouth agape watching I've
Speaker 1: watched a couple of beauty videos in the past, nothing
Speaker 1: to like necessarily try to imitate, but just watching the
Speaker 1: transformational magic as it happens. I have gone in search
Speaker 1: of hair how choose because I have my hair is
Speaker 1: pretty fine and straight naturally, and so I'm always looking
Speaker 1: for tips on like how do they just do X
Speaker 1: y Z style and make it look effortless and easy?
Speaker 1: Is that what you google? Do they do x y
Speaker 1: Z stuff? Yeah? How do they do x y Z stuff?
Speaker 1: You'd be amazed at the results that you come up with,
Speaker 1: and your hair is looking x y Z fabulous. It's
Speaker 1: totally working. But we wanted to talk about beauty on YouTube,
Speaker 1: the whole beauty guru beauty vlogging phenomen on today, because
Speaker 1: it's huge, to put it in LA terms, huge, it's huge,
Speaker 1: and it's also redefining the beauty industry. It's also given
Speaker 1: all of these young girls in particular, an entrepreneurial platform.
Speaker 1: And I was really curious from a stuff mom never
Speaker 1: told you perspective to look at the space online and
Speaker 1: see whether and how it is redefining and expanding our
Speaker 1: concepts of beauty, and whether it's democratizing beauty and making
Speaker 1: it more accessible to people who have all sorts of
Speaker 1: different faces and bodies. And then once it's more acceptable,
Speaker 1: are we still, though, just putting so much focus on
Speaker 1: the outside rather than the inside? Oh yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: because for a lot of these beauty bloggers, as we'll
Speaker 1: talk about in just a second, it's not just about
Speaker 1: how to put on your concealer, how to buff yours
Speaker 1: it's away if oh my god, what's that tool? A buffer?
Speaker 1: I just picture like a car buffer like that, they're
Speaker 1: actually getting the scratches out. You got the right idea,
Speaker 1: I yes, but it's not only that, it's entire lifestyle branding.
Speaker 1: Because well, now I'm getting ahead of myself. Now I
Speaker 1: want to talk about all the different kinds of beauty videos.
Speaker 1: But first let's just lay out how much the beauty
Speaker 1: vlogger space is booming. And that's booming with a capital
Speaker 1: beak airline. Yeah, capital be for Bethany Mota. Apparently she's
Speaker 1: the one to beat with about nine point six million subscribers,
Speaker 1: and that's coming from a pretty in depth survey by
Speaker 1: pix Ability that had some really incredible info graphics in it.
Speaker 1: If I do say so myself, you know we love
Speaker 1: a good infographic here at stuff mom never told you.
Speaker 1: But Bethany Mota is not only a YouTube star, she's
Speaker 1: a celebrate at this point in her own right because Caroline,
Speaker 1: She's got her own clothing line. I believe she's got perfumes.
Speaker 1: She was even on Dancing with the Stars. That that
Speaker 1: means my mom knows who she is, and that means
Speaker 1: my mom is more familiar with that Bethany Moota than
Speaker 1: I was. But I mean speaking of lifestyle brands and
Speaker 1: how these beauty bloggers have blown up and gone above
Speaker 1: and beyond just makeup. Like when I searched for Bethanymoda
Speaker 1: this morning, it was looking at some of her videos.
Speaker 1: It was actually easier to find her lifestyle and decor
Speaker 1: and food stuff than it was even to find her
Speaker 1: makeup stuff. Yeah. I did watch her Fall Treats video
Speaker 1: a couple of days ago and learned how to make
Speaker 1: some muffins where I noticed she substituted a lot of
Speaker 1: butter for apple sauce. And while I realized that makes
Speaker 1: it lower fat, the texture is just not the same.
Speaker 1: They come out chewy, no offense. Bethanymoda stuff my mom
Speaker 1: never told me. It's the stuff I learned as a
Speaker 1: child because I cooked all the time. But she launched
Speaker 1: her channel in two thousand nine, and she initially focused
Speaker 1: on what are called hall videos and hall as an
Speaker 1: h A U L like you not decking the hall,
Speaker 1: although I bet she has those videos too. She probably
Speaker 1: has deck some halls in her videos. But hall videos,
Speaker 1: for those who haven't seen them, are when you just
Speaker 1: go out and you buy a bunch of stuff and
Speaker 1: then you show all the stuff that you bought. So
Speaker 1: you mean every time that I spend like three paychecks
Speaker 1: worth of money at Sephora and bring home my stuff
Speaker 1: in a bag and dump it all out, and I
Speaker 1: get all excited and my seal clap because I'm so
Speaker 1: excited about all the makeup I just got. You mean,
Speaker 1: I could have been filming that. You could have been
Speaker 1: filming it, And listeners, it is adorable because Caroline just
Speaker 1: seal clap to demonstrate in front of me, and it's
Speaker 1: very cute, I hope, is it It's not distracting? Is
Speaker 1: it that I have a ball on my nose? That
Speaker 1: I'm balancing a ball on my nose? Is that weird? No,
Speaker 1: not at all. I think it adds to it. Yeah, Listeners,
Speaker 1: I mean viewers would come back for more um and
Speaker 1: a shameless self promotion. Here. There is a stuff I've
Speaker 1: never told you period Hall video with a Kila Hughes
Speaker 1: and me over on our YouTube and all next Step
Speaker 1: Sminty a s mr videos where we're unwrapping the tampons
Speaker 1: and the crinkly and the crinkly rapper. That's kind of genius. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I know, I know because you've seen just because I'm
Speaker 1: a genius. But of course Bethany Mooda isn't the only
Speaker 1: YouTube beauty celeb She has other YouTube A listeners. That's hilarious.
Speaker 1: They're are A listeners on YouTube. I'm more like a
Speaker 1: Q listener. Step the people they love you. It's a
Speaker 1: little bit more like maybe a G list. But there's
Speaker 1: Michelle Fan, Ingrid Nilson An Tanya Burr yu Ya, who
Speaker 1: is a Mexican beauty blogger who actually has more subscribers
Speaker 1: than Bethany Mooda. But of course we know more about
Speaker 1: Bethany because she's in the US and she like looks
Speaker 1: about American is a slice of apple pie. And then
Speaker 1: in the UK you have Zoela, who was one of
Speaker 1: the most famous, and the Pixie Woo sisters Salm and
Speaker 1: Nick Chapman. Oh yes, and these people are legit celebrities
Speaker 1: to a bunch of girls out there. When Kristen and
Speaker 1: I went and spoke at the oldest girls camp in
Speaker 1: the country this past summer, we did a little YouTube class,
Speaker 1: a little YouTube exercise, and all of these young girls
Speaker 1: were obsessed with Zoela And I'm such an old I
Speaker 1: was just like, yeah, yeah, Zoela. Of course what's going on?
Speaker 1: Zoela is very charming. I gotta say good for her. Well.
Speaker 1: The interesting thing too about not to go off on
Speaker 1: too much of a tangent though, but I think that
Speaker 1: one big reason why she and Bethany Moda and others
Speaker 1: like that have attracted such a large audience for girls,
Speaker 1: it's not only because they're really good at doing their
Speaker 1: makeup and beauty and all that stuff, but they're also
Speaker 1: really open about things like anxiety and bullying and issues
Speaker 1: that they encounter as well. So it's kind of interesting
Speaker 1: to see what all is drawing these girls in. Well,
Speaker 1: they're they're like not that are more popular than say
Speaker 1: a an A list celebrity who's in movies and winning Oscars,
Speaker 1: but they're almost more well, they are more accessible to
Speaker 1: these young girls who are following them in droves and
Speaker 1: describing things in their personal lives and opening up to
Speaker 1: their viewers is part of that. Yeah, I mean, I
Speaker 1: think that if you ask one of those girls at
Speaker 1: the summer camp whether they'd rather meet Zoela or Taylor Swift,
Speaker 1: it would be a tough decision. At this point. That
Speaker 1: is tough yeah, but if we get back into fix
Speaker 1: ability and some more statistics. We love statistics, We love
Speaker 1: the statistics. It is mostly girls and women who are
Speaker 1: watching beauty videos. Not surprising of subscribers to beauty channels
Speaker 1: are the ladies, but guys, as we'll talk about, are
Speaker 1: also getting in on the action. And just for an
Speaker 1: idea of how quickly this space is growing from alone,
Speaker 1: it grew on YouTube by fifty per scent, and I
Speaker 1: also appreciated that as fix Ability noted mature beauty in quotes,
Speaker 1: which I think applies to you and me, Caroline, Oh god.
Speaker 1: The mature beauty segment is also rapidly growing, but it's
Speaker 1: more focused on things like skincare and aging. Now I'm
Speaker 1: I'm in that beautiful, adorable space that you and I
Speaker 1: are going to have to do an episode on here soon, Kristen,
Speaker 1: just for selfish purposes, where I am having to combat
Speaker 1: signs of aging and also signs of adult hormonal acne.
Speaker 1: Oh me too. My dermatologist has dropped the B word
Speaker 1: in the office. I'm talking about botox, not that she's
Speaker 1: not calling you to be where it's not the meanest
Speaker 1: dermatologist of the world. I mean it wasn't a thing
Speaker 1: of you should get botox, but it was like, why
Speaker 1: don't we you know we can do these things now,
Speaker 1: we don't have to do botox yet, dot dot dot
Speaker 1: What really I have? You know, I'm not gonna lie,
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna get off on a tangent, but I've
Speaker 1: I've thought about it. But then I wouldn't be able
Speaker 1: to do my eyebrows in my normal eyebrow fashion. Oh
Speaker 1: and then what then? What face would you make? Then?
Speaker 1: Who am I does an expressionless ball balancing seal clapper? Well,
Speaker 1: then I'm just I would constantly just have the face
Speaker 1: that I wear during meetings, and nobody wants that arresting face.
Speaker 1: By arresting meeting face, you're resting botox face. But back
Speaker 1: to YouTube, it's so hard to not just talk about
Speaker 1: our own beauty issues. Um, but there are more than
Speaker 1: one point seven million beauty videos on YouTube, racking up
Speaker 1: forty bill yon views. It's that's so much. I love it,
Speaker 1: and and they're even selling. Now you can get like
Speaker 1: a makeup kit or makeup organizer kit that has a
Speaker 1: flot for you to put your iPad or your iPhone
Speaker 1: so that you can do your makeup and watch the
Speaker 1: video and not and have your hands free all at
Speaker 1: the same time. That's kind of genius. It is kind
Speaker 1: of genius. But there's a million different types of videos
Speaker 1: out there, and in this fix Ability survey from this
Speaker 1: past year, they include makeup, hair, nail, skincare, and perfume.
Speaker 1: It's all under that beauty umbrella. And you know, Kristen,
Speaker 1: you mentioned that guys are growing segment of these beauty
Speaker 1: video viewers and when you look over at the male
Speaker 1: specific beauty videos, of them are on hair, which I
Speaker 1: was I was actually, I mean, I guess I shouldn't
Speaker 1: be surprised because it's not like a bunch of guys
Speaker 1: who are seeking out makeup advice, but I was still
Speaker 1: a little surprised, like, oh, guys are looking up hair advice, Okay,
Speaker 1: oh yeah, how are they going to do their man buns? Caroline? Oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: you're right. And also, I bet beard grooming, mustache grooming,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of hair fellows have to tame. Yeah. Well,
Speaker 1: the top ten men's grooming channels out there have five
Speaker 1: point four million subscribers, which is nothing to sneeze up. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but it's also just a drop in the bucket compared
Speaker 1: to ladies beauty stuff. So it's no surprising considering how
Speaker 1: massive this space is and how many people are tuning
Speaker 1: in and the variety of the kind of videos that
Speaker 1: are being used, and the number of products that are
Speaker 1: constantly being tested and reviewed and shown on camera, that
Speaker 1: the beauty industry has taken note more than ever before.
Speaker 1: And in a lot of ways, you could argue that
Speaker 1: YouTube and young women especially are reshaping how big beauty
Speaker 1: brands things like loreal Pantine, Mac etcetera, are reaching their audiences. Well,
Speaker 1: to use one of those hackneyed like social media marketing terms, Um,
Speaker 1: those big beauty brands just aren't as nimble, if you will,
Speaker 1: as are the younger, hipper, more popular beauty content creators
Speaker 1: on YouTube. You know. It's it's these big beauty brands
Speaker 1: like a Loureal or like a Deer, who are looking
Speaker 1: at people like Bethany Motor or Michelle Fanna being like,
Speaker 1: oh man, look at them. They're like they're so successful,
Speaker 1: they have so many viewers, They're able to make so
Speaker 1: much money, and people will flock in droves to buy
Speaker 1: whatever it is they recommend because these big beauty brands
Speaker 1: are able to look at these girls and be like,
Speaker 1: look at this connection they're forming with their audience. How
Speaker 1: can we form that connection? Because obviously a fourteen year
Speaker 1: old girl who's connecting with a Bethany Mota just as
Speaker 1: an example, is not going to connect with you know,
Speaker 1: Dior or Loreal in the same way, just based on
Speaker 1: their typical commercials that they run. And those young girls though,
Speaker 1: are also paying attention to the celebrity factor that is
Speaker 1: now um a part of this whole beauty guru game
Speaker 1: and the kind of money that brands are shelling out
Speaker 1: to them. And so one of the reasons why this
Speaker 1: space is growing so much is that more and more
Speaker 1: younger and also older women as well are getting started
Speaker 1: beauty vlogging, and some of the motivations, the primary motivations
Speaker 1: for them do doing this is sort of that YouTube
Speaker 1: promise that Hey, you could be the next Bethany Motive. Yeah,
Speaker 1: all you need are some twinkle lights and a camera
Speaker 1: and just go, Yeah, just be yourself, put on makeup,
Speaker 1: be yourself, and the rest will follow. Bump bump bump,
Speaker 1: And to some degree that is is true a little bit,
Speaker 1: but there's also that entrepreneurialism that's extremely appealing to millennials
Speaker 1: to sound like a total marketing manager. Well, it's true.
Speaker 1: I mean we you and I were legitimately having a
Speaker 1: conversation about this the other day outside of the realm
Speaker 1: of talking about beauty bloggers and stuff that it does
Speaker 1: seem like our generation is so driven by that refrain
Speaker 1: if you can do anything, and you can be anyone
Speaker 1: and be anything and do whatever you want and make
Speaker 1: a lot of money doing it, and it's like, well,
Speaker 1: we also have to keep him on the hard work
Speaker 1: that goes into it, and not everybody will be an
Speaker 1: a list YouTube, beauty vlogger celebrity. That's true. And the
Speaker 1: thing is too. According to this University of text a
Speaker 1: study that was referenced in a Racked article we read
Speaker 1: about this whole delicious topic, they were saying that we
Speaker 1: millennials only trust ourselves and our peers as salespeople and
Speaker 1: bosses that were so familiar with the big advertising and
Speaker 1: marketing and PR machine were so aware of the fact
Speaker 1: that we're being sold to, we're being force fed photoshopped
Speaker 1: images things like that. Uh so when we see a
Speaker 1: girl who's in her you know, early twenties or whatever,
Speaker 1: putting on makeup and saying here's why this works for me,
Speaker 1: or here's why it doesn't, and here's how you can
Speaker 1: use it. It's like, oh, honesty, how refreshing. Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: and I think that authenticity and relatability is part of
Speaker 1: a selling factory for people getting into beauty vlogging and
Speaker 1: because you don't have to look like Cindy Crawford to
Speaker 1: get into this and be really good at this. Um.
Speaker 1: As Karen Rabinowitz, who's chief creative officer of Digital Brand Architects,
Speaker 1: said to Women's Wear Daily, she said, this whole business
Speaker 1: right now, it's just about quote, galvanizing an audience and
Speaker 1: connecting with them in a very authentic and truthful way.
Speaker 1: Just literally just being yourself. You can be really successful
Speaker 1: by just being who you are. And this was also
Speaker 1: something echoed in a piece in Ragged magazine by Patricia
Speaker 1: toward Lonnie, who I want to call toward Lani, but
Speaker 1: it's not her last name. It's tore Lonnie. Um. She's
Speaker 1: a Lore Magazines beauty director, and she said, quote, there's
Speaker 1: a relatable quality to beauty bloggers that's incredibly appealing, especially
Speaker 1: to younger girls, because she distinguishes this from the aspirational
Speaker 1: beauty that you would see in traditional magazine spreads and
Speaker 1: commercials and runways, but this is in their bedroom. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean it's It's just it's not too different from
Speaker 1: what we talked about way back when in our Pinterest
Speaker 1: episode that you know, Pinterest exists with all of this
Speaker 1: aspirational content, like, Oh, here's my like three thousand square
Speaker 1: foot New York pent house loft. It's so airy and
Speaker 1: breezy and bright, and it's like, or I'm also going
Speaker 1: to gravitate towards the pins that like show me how
Speaker 1: to live in like a tiny apartment and what to
Speaker 1: do with all my kitchen stuff when I have like
Speaker 1: a single cabinet. It's it's the same kind of concept
Speaker 1: of like, of course you're still going to to gravitate
Speaker 1: towards those beautiful magazine spreads that are in fashion mags.
Speaker 1: But there is something so attractive and so wonderfully comfortably
Speaker 1: authentic about watching a girl who looks like you, or
Speaker 1: is at least close to your own age telling you
Speaker 1: what's what about makeup? Yeah, because at some point you're
Speaker 1: going to see all of those people without any makeup
Speaker 1: and their hair undone because they're showing you from start
Speaker 1: to finish how to cover up as it's they have
Speaker 1: how to get rid of their under eye circles and
Speaker 1: came their hair. Yes, I was just watching. So I
Speaker 1: have patchy eyebrows um, which may or may not be
Speaker 1: related to my thyroid condition, but it could also just
Speaker 1: be I'm really unlucky and I'm going bald on my eyebrows.
Speaker 1: But Michelle fan in one of her videos had like
Speaker 1: a little thing of like, now here's how you do eyebrows,
Speaker 1: and I remember, like, don't pencil them into thick because
Speaker 1: then they'll look unnatural. You've got to do a little
Speaker 1: of this and that and whatever, whatever, And I was
Speaker 1: just like, oh my god, I'm learning so much in
Speaker 1: like ten seconds, learning so much, Caroline, and also subtly
Speaker 1: being sold something. Oh sure, Yeah, apparently the little brushes
Speaker 1: are called spool ees that you brush your eyebrows with.
Speaker 1: And now you know that you need a spool e.
Speaker 1: Now I know what, yes, what to look for. Thank you,
Speaker 1: Michelle Fan Well, and that whole subtle sales relationship is
Speaker 1: what it's starting to build, this like uncomfortable ish dynamic
Speaker 1: between these really successful girls and the audience. Because it's like,
Speaker 1: wait a minute, are you doing Are you showing me
Speaker 1: this branded Spooley because you really really love it? Or
Speaker 1: because Spooley Inc. Is giving you a paycheck and so
Speaker 1: and I really trust you. Are we losing this authenticity
Speaker 1: of beauty gurus and really doesn't matter anyway, because is
Speaker 1: makeup just one big sales pitch to begin with? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean I've thought about that too, but I've also
Speaker 1: thought about how, um, I will try anything that seems
Speaker 1: to work for whatever my issue is, whether it's like
Speaker 1: oily skin or acne or like covering my under circles.
Speaker 1: And so I do think there's a degree of media
Speaker 1: literacy and media awareness that this generation has. So even
Speaker 1: if like oh, well this this video is sponsored by
Speaker 1: Sephora or this was sponsored by Makeup Forever or whatever, um,
Speaker 1: there's still that degree awareness of like, Okay, I'm being
Speaker 1: sold to or at least they're paying for this video,
Speaker 1: but at least I'm choosing to consume this particular type
Speaker 1: of information. I don't know. It can be kind of
Speaker 1: a slippery slope though, well, and you still get the
Speaker 1: benefit maybe, I mean, yes, you still have movie magic
Speaker 1: that can tweak the results. A little bit on screen,
Speaker 1: but you're at least still seeing the products in action.
Speaker 1: And and I totally agree that younger girls today are
Speaker 1: way more media literate and savvy in those ways than
Speaker 1: we were simply due to exposure. Yeah, And honestly, like
Speaker 1: if I'm I guess it just depends on what you're
Speaker 1: searching for and why. Like, if I'm searching for a
Speaker 1: cat eye tutorial, I'm not necessarily going to care what
Speaker 1: eyeliners she's using, although if she tells me like, oh, well,
Speaker 1: this one doesn't run or something smudge like, that'll be
Speaker 1: great information. But if I'm literally getting ready to go
Speaker 1: out for the evening and I have the pencil already
Speaker 1: in my hand that I use, you know, I'm just
Speaker 1: going there for the information of how to do it
Speaker 1: and not stab my eye out. So it's not I guess,
Speaker 1: it's just the motivation. How to not stab your eye
Speaker 1: out is also one of my popular searches, not to
Speaker 1: shoot your eye out. It's almost Christmas times, it's almost
Speaker 1: time to watch Christmas Story. Never mind tangent, but I
Speaker 1: feel like in some ways this whole money conversation is
Speaker 1: also a tangent to this bigger issue of well, what
Speaker 1: does all of this beauty vlaw ging mean? There's so
Speaker 1: much emphasis on it because the money stuff is just
Speaker 1: gonna happen at some point, Like brands are gonna want
Speaker 1: to monetize anything that they can monetize. This is digital media.
Speaker 1: I mean, we make a podcast for crying out loud,
Speaker 1: so we know this whole monetizing uh initiative very well.
Speaker 1: But what I'm even more interested in. I have a
Speaker 1: feeling our audiences too, is like what does what does
Speaker 1: beauty really look like? What are we really seeing? And
Speaker 1: we're going to talk about that a little bit more
Speaker 1: when we come right back from a quick break. Well,
Speaker 1: I think what's great about YouTube? I mean, there are
Speaker 1: a lot of terrible things that are on YouTube, including
Speaker 1: many of the commenters, But I think one thing that's
Speaker 1: great about YouTube is that, you know, you use the
Speaker 1: word democratization earlier, that it seems like there's something for
Speaker 1: everyone on there, especially with the rise of these girls
Speaker 1: who are basically like the girl next door. Here's how
Speaker 1: you do your hair, here's how you put on your makeup. Um,
Speaker 1: But one thing that's come up is the issue of diversity,
Speaker 1: because while you might be a black woman, or a
Speaker 1: white woman or an Asian woman or a Native American woman,
Speaker 1: and you might be able to find a woman who
Speaker 1: looks like you putting makeup on or doing her hair.
Speaker 1: That doesn't necessarily mean that you have the same access
Speaker 1: to her because there are issues of YouTube promotion and
Speaker 1: who gets promoted and who is propped up is like
Speaker 1: the beauty of Lagar goddess of the week. Yeah, definitely
Speaker 1: in terms of the top tier beauty gurus that YouTube
Speaker 1: directly promotes, that gets the most love from YouTube. If
Speaker 1: they're going to do some kind of massive ad campaign
Speaker 1: like they've done in the past, you're gonna see Beth
Speaker 1: and Emotive's face out there. You'll also see Michelle Fans.
Speaker 1: So you're like, oh, well, then that's that's diversity too.
Speaker 1: But um, there's been criticism of there not being enough
Speaker 1: women of color who are being promoted as well. And
Speaker 1: just like create ER's in general, whether they're like in
Speaker 1: the beauty space or not, YouTube has been pretty white
Speaker 1: in the um the creators as they call them, and
Speaker 1: hosts that they've put their corporate backing behind. Because yeah,
Speaker 1: if you go into YouTube, regardless of whatever you're looking for,
Speaker 1: whether it is a natural hair vlog or Hijabi beauty
Speaker 1: is like a new recent vertical that's gotten really big. Um,
Speaker 1: there's Indian wedding, makeup, all sorts of beauty tips. Regardless
Speaker 1: of what you're looking for, it's there. It's just a
Speaker 1: question of you know, how how much everyone else is
Speaker 1: going to be exposed to it? Right? And then there's
Speaker 1: the question of Okay, so there is there is a
Speaker 1: diverse offering of women and beauty on YouTube, but how
Speaker 1: much is that diversity adding to redefinitions or expansions of
Speaker 1: what beauty is and means? And I would argue that
Speaker 1: yes and no. I think that including those offerings on
Speaker 1: YouTube is obviously beneficial, especially if you're looking for someone
Speaker 1: who looks like you and you want to know how
Speaker 1: to do your hair, your makeup or whatever. Um. And
Speaker 1: that certainly helps normalize for that audience whatever that type
Speaker 1: of beauty is or that type of hairstyle. But it
Speaker 1: doesn't necessarily, I think, cross lines with other viewers. I
Speaker 1: don't know if it's changing the definition of beauty or
Speaker 1: expanding the definition of beauty for your average YouTube viewer.
Speaker 1: I do think that one area where that is an exception, though,
Speaker 1: where this whole, like YouTube space and blogging too, has
Speaker 1: grown out into beauty trends that regardless of who you are,
Speaker 1: you will have noticed is natural hair, because that's something
Speaker 1: where a lot of it um and I want to
Speaker 1: say that we've talked about this. We talked about this
Speaker 1: obviously on our podcast about black hair and how the
Speaker 1: whole natural hair movement was really started online and like
Speaker 1: sharing tips and products and a lot of um new
Speaker 1: kinds of hair care products have grown out of this
Speaker 1: because it's created this whole market and interest, and that's
Speaker 1: been a really interesting thing to see as well. But
Speaker 1: in terms of yeah, whether it's influencing all of this
Speaker 1: is influencing beauty at large, I agree that, like there's
Speaker 1: so much segmentation on the internet that we just in
Speaker 1: general tend to go toward what we're looking for our
Speaker 1: own quote unquote niche. And I'm also curious to know
Speaker 1: how much women of color on YouTube are also benefiting
Speaker 1: from beauty brands being more and more interested in um
Speaker 1: kind of making those relationships, whether they're tapped as often
Speaker 1: as quote unquote influencers as white women are. And because
Speaker 1: I have a feeling that as we've seen more makeup
Speaker 1: companies starting to expand their lines beyond just you know,
Speaker 1: are our pale skin tones? Caroline um that it is
Speaker 1: probably the case, but um, I don't know. I mean,
Speaker 1: I just don't have the numbers in front of me. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't know either, but I would I would wager
Speaker 1: a guess that no matter who you are, if you're
Speaker 1: the one who's getting the most video views and you're
Speaker 1: the most popular on YouTube, whoever you are, then you're
Speaker 1: the one who's most likely to be tapped. And so
Speaker 1: I'm sure that that draws in issues of YouTube. Who
Speaker 1: is YouTube promoting? And so if you never get the
Speaker 1: platform and if you are not getting your voice out there,
Speaker 1: then a Loureal is not going to probably notice you
Speaker 1: or tap you to be there face or their collaborator. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but of course YouTube would shirk any responsibility for that
Speaker 1: by saying anyone can access our platform, you know. Um.
Speaker 1: But if we look beyond just skin tone diversity, it
Speaker 1: is interesting to see how this online beauty culture is
Speaker 1: intersecting with other things such as sexual orientation. U Um,
Speaker 1: I did think that it was uh notable that seems
Speaker 1: like not the right word to use. But um, when
Speaker 1: ingrid Nilsen, who has been a long time huge beauty guru.
Speaker 1: I keep saying beauty guru. That's such a strange phrase,
Speaker 1: but she's really then. Yeah, she recently came out though,
Speaker 1: and it's like viral video UM in which she talked
Speaker 1: about like her whole process of coming out both herself
Speaker 1: and then to her family and then publicly. And she
Speaker 1: 's YouTube's first gay beauty superstar and she's now dating
Speaker 1: another gay YouTube superstar named Hannah Hart. And I just
Speaker 1: thought that that was I don't know, I'm just curious
Speaker 1: to know, like young girls seeing that and being like, oh,
Speaker 1: this girl who I've really admired all these years, and
Speaker 1: it's like very conventionally attractive and like really into like
Speaker 1: feminine pretty things. Oh and she also happens to be
Speaker 1: a lesbian. Okay, that's challenging maybe some stereotypes that I'm
Speaker 1: I'd have had about that. Well. I feel like anyone
Speaker 1: who's a big time consumer of beauty media on YouTube
Speaker 1: um is going to come up against a lot of
Speaker 1: of images and videos that challenge traditional notions of what
Speaker 1: uh beauty is according to gendered norms. You've got a
Speaker 1: lot of men out there doing beauty videos, whether it's
Speaker 1: too whether it's like a makeup artist showing you how
Speaker 1: to tap this is a personal story male makeup artist
Speaker 1: sharing you had to effectively like tap concealer into your
Speaker 1: skin rather than wipe it too. Maybe I don't know,
Speaker 1: cover up some about a adult hormonal acne um or
Speaker 1: whether it's a drag queen showing you tips and tricks
Speaker 1: for really dramatic makeup, or whether it is just a
Speaker 1: guy who enjoys makeup, putting makeup on and showing you
Speaker 1: his tips and tricks. Yeah, we are seeing more a
Speaker 1: list male beauty bloggers. Um, there's one and I hate
Speaker 1: that I don't have his name right here. It's flipping
Speaker 1: my mind um who has also launched I think a
Speaker 1: lipstick line with a cosmetics company. So it's interesting to
Speaker 1: see those kind of relationships being formed as well. Um
Speaker 1: And speaking of gender identity, you also have trans beauty
Speaker 1: guru such as Gi Gorgeous, who not only came out
Speaker 1: as trans on YouTube and has openly talked about her transition,
Speaker 1: she has also gone into not only like makeup routines
Speaker 1: and things like that that she does, but also plastic
Speaker 1: surgeries that she's had um which she has described as
Speaker 1: necessary to match her body with her gender identity. And
Speaker 1: I watched her video talking about that, and it was
Speaker 1: interesting to see how she talked about her plastic surgery
Speaker 1: compared to some other beauty gurus who have also talked
Speaker 1: about plastic surgery, because talk about getting into a dicey area,
Speaker 1: especially when you have such a young audience for a
Speaker 1: lot of these young women. And I'm not talking so
Speaker 1: much like about Gi gorgeous now, I'm talking more about um.
Speaker 1: What Achila Hughes over at Fusion highlighted in a piece
Speaker 1: of like hey, what what's up with this this trend here? Yeah,
Speaker 1: And that's the other side of the coin. When you're
Speaker 1: talking about having a very relatable, authentic voice and face
Speaker 1: on YouTube, someone who really connects with his or her audience,
Speaker 1: someone who is really deeply trusted by young girls and
Speaker 1: an adult women alike. Achila Hughes was talking about the
Speaker 1: whole issue of like, okay, well, when you take somebody
Speaker 1: who's a well known, trustworthy figure on YouTube and she
Speaker 1: talks about plastic surgery, not in a way that brings
Speaker 1: in a lot of what we've mentioned of media literacy,
Speaker 1: but in a way that just uh, maybe normalizes it
Speaker 1: and makes it seem no bigger of a deal than
Speaker 1: getting a tattoo or getting a piercing. Uh, do we
Speaker 1: have something to worry about there? Because one of the
Speaker 1: great things about a lot of these beauty bloggers is,
Speaker 1: like you said, Kristen, the fact that so many of
Speaker 1: them are still open about things in their lives, whether
Speaker 1: it is anxiety or dating issues or family issues or whatever.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's part of their appeal, and it's part
Speaker 1: of what makes them so great. Uh. You know, you
Speaker 1: don't feel as alone, you don't feel like so much
Speaker 1: of a weirdo if you know that people on YouTube
Speaker 1: are going through the same thing that you are, and like, oh,
Speaker 1: look she can handle it, so can I. And that's great.
Speaker 1: But the issue that Hughes raises with the plastic surgery
Speaker 1: stuff is like, Okay, well, we're kind of presenting this
Speaker 1: in a way to a very kind of malleable audience
Speaker 1: that plastic surgery is the answer to certain problems, when
Speaker 1: maybe the answer is more look within yourself, talk to
Speaker 1: a therapist, talked to a trusted friend, ask yourself why
Speaker 1: you want to get plastic surgery. Well, and you can
Speaker 1: also see all of them anticipating criticism, and so you know,
Speaker 1: one thing Akila notes is like there's there's this undercurrent
Speaker 1: of still really needing to be considered likable and and pretty,
Speaker 1: and like, don't let the fact that I've had plastic
Speaker 1: surgery change your opinions of me and what I look like. Um.
Speaker 1: Nick from Pixie Woo, for instance, made a video talking
Speaker 1: about getting lip fillers, and she had gotten the lip
Speaker 1: fillers the day before, kind of on a whim, or
Speaker 1: so she said, And she prefaces the whole thing of like,
Speaker 1: you know how I've always been, you know, so annoyed
Speaker 1: with how thin my lips are. So I'm just doing
Speaker 1: this thing. But of course she's doing it and like
Speaker 1: a really cute British accent that I'm not gonna attempt
Speaker 1: um And at one point she says, quote, unless you
Speaker 1: try these things, you can't really tell anyone about it.
Speaker 1: So you know, I had to go and do it,
Speaker 1: and I wanted to show you. And it's so uncomfortable
Speaker 1: to watch because you can see her, on the one hand,
Speaker 1: acknowledging like I know I'm doing something that is altering
Speaker 1: my appearance in a way that I know that some
Speaker 1: of you are not going to like, but I'm also
Speaker 1: you know, I just but I just did it. Please
Speaker 1: please tell me that's still okay that I did it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And I mean, speaking of that whole likable thing, That's
Speaker 1: what Achila Hughes was talking about her article. She said,
Speaker 1: what should serve as an opportunity to be real with
Speaker 1: audiences about insecurity depression, body dysmorphia. A chance to be
Speaker 1: really raw and honest often feels like a cookie cutter
Speaker 1: attempt to be likable and pretty. For instance, there was
Speaker 1: one beauty blogger, Cuti Pie Marzia who in her video
Speaker 1: where she explains her rhinoplasty for a deviated septim, she
Speaker 1: goes to great pains explaining that it was for that,
Speaker 1: It was to correct a deviated septom. It was not
Speaker 1: to change the shape of her nose, and she framed
Speaker 1: it in a way of taking control of her life. Which, yeah,
Speaker 1: if you have a deviated septim and you snore and
Speaker 1: like your partner never gets any sleep, I would know
Speaker 1: anything about a snoring partner. Uh yeah, for sure, fixed,
Speaker 1: fixed or deviated septum. But it kind of goes along
Speaker 1: with that whole thing of like, are you protesting too much. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, and then there was a strange one. I mean,
Speaker 1: it was just kind of strange with Ingrid Nelson that
Speaker 1: a Kila points out where she talks about her own
Speaker 1: struggles with body and security and things like that, and
Speaker 1: Reckon talks about how she went to go see this
Speaker 1: plastic surgeon who gave her all this advice and then
Speaker 1: at the end she was like, oh, and and he's
Speaker 1: going to take your questions because he's such a great
Speaker 1: resource and he helped me, you know, really come to
Speaker 1: terms with a lot of things about my body. And um.
Speaker 1: Francesca Ramsey actually commented on the video basically saying, whoa, whoa, whoa.
Speaker 1: It's great to talk about body and security, but seriously,
Speaker 1: are we recommending that you're fourteen year old viewers go
Speaker 1: ask a plastic surgeon what they should do about their body.
Speaker 1: Is this really the best way that we can facilitate
Speaker 1: these kinds of important conversations by steering it to surgically
Speaker 1: altering your body, Because, as we've talked about a million
Speaker 1: times on Sminty, the more you see something, the more
Speaker 1: it's normalized, especially if it's someone who is a friend
Speaker 1: or who in this case, feels like a friend. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, because that's that authenticity factor comes in. It's like, well,
Speaker 1: if she did it, and surely it's okay, and people
Speaker 1: still like her and she's still popular and it's totally great. Um,
Speaker 1: because that raises the question of like, well, do they
Speaker 1: have this responsibility to be role models to set an
Speaker 1: example for their audience, Because while yeah, you can argue that,
Speaker 1: I mean a lot of what they're showing is just
Speaker 1: different types of self expression. These are different ways I
Speaker 1: can do my hair when I'm feeling certain ways, and
Speaker 1: do my makeup for different looks, and like this is
Speaker 1: my morning routine, here's my iced coffee. It's also a
Speaker 1: lot of artifice involved. So it's like, well, well, of
Speaker 1: course they'd be talking about plastic surgery. Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: it does make sense in that regard. If you're if
Speaker 1: what is essentially your job is to show your faith
Speaker 1: on the internet and talk about your appearance day in
Speaker 1: and day out. Um, maybe they just consider that part
Speaker 1: and parcel of of what they do for a living.
Speaker 1: I don't know, but either way, it does tend to
Speaker 1: normalize it to an audience of impressionable young girls, and
Speaker 1: it just you know raises the question of the meaning
Speaker 1: of makeup, and that is one thing that a lot
Speaker 1: of voggers, whether they're beauty gurus or not, even on
Speaker 1: Stuff Mob Never Told You was channel UM play around
Speaker 1: with because I think a lot of people are conflicted
Speaker 1: about using makeup, especially if they are feminists, and they're
Speaker 1: trying to figure that whole thing out, and like, what
Speaker 1: does authenticity mean? What does empowerment mean? Can I wear
Speaker 1: lipstick and still be a strong woman and be taken seriously?
Speaker 1: And like, I don't know, makeup to me is so
Speaker 1: fascinating in this way that um, it's it is such
Speaker 1: a tool for self expression, but it also sometimes feels
Speaker 1: like a trap because it also costs so much money,
Speaker 1: it takes so much time, And I don't know, I mean,
Speaker 1: I just uh, I think it's interesting to think about
Speaker 1: all of the different ways that we play around with
Speaker 1: it and how it influences our lives. Yeah, because I mean,
Speaker 1: I use makeup. I wear makeup every day. Kristen and
Speaker 1: I had the conversation during our Makeup Artists episode about
Speaker 1: how I look. I can I can look not great
Speaker 1: and feel not great about myself. Essentially, if I'm not
Speaker 1: wearing a little bit of makeup so that I don't
Speaker 1: look thirteen. Um. But that being said, makeup can be
Speaker 1: used on either side of the fence in terms of
Speaker 1: your argument. You can say that it's a personal choice,
Speaker 1: which it is, and you can say plastic surgery as
Speaker 1: a personal choice, which it is. I agree with that
Speaker 1: it's a very personal choice and it's up to you
Speaker 1: and you shouldn't listen to anyone else if you want
Speaker 1: to do something or not do something. That being said,
Speaker 1: it is interesting to watch like the the is makeup
Speaker 1: feminist arguments because both sides can can say that it
Speaker 1: is or it's not. I mean, it's just such like
Speaker 1: a personal thing. If you want to wear lipstick, freaking
Speaker 1: wear lipstick. If you don't, don't, Yeah, I mean, and
Speaker 1: I do like how the most popular makeup videos, the
Speaker 1: ones that tend to go viral, aren't how to you know,
Speaker 1: buff your pimples so I'm I'm gonna make at some point, um,
Speaker 1: But the ones that use makeup for more satirical or
Speaker 1: even more like serious purposes. Um. One that went viral
Speaker 1: not too long ago was by Nikki Tutorials, and it's
Speaker 1: called the Power of Makeup and essentially champions makeup as
Speaker 1: this ultimate tool of self expression and a confidence booster,
Speaker 1: And she essentially paints on half her face and then
Speaker 1: leaves the other there. And as she's doing it, she
Speaker 1: just talks about how she's perceived so much differently when
Speaker 1: she's wearing makeup than when she's not, and like people
Speaker 1: don't believe her when they see photos of her without
Speaker 1: makeup on because she wears such like strong and beautifully
Speaker 1: contward looks that. Yeah, I mean, she really does like
Speaker 1: a completely different person. But also I would like to
Speaker 1: say with her video, so you mentioned like makeup taking
Speaker 1: so much time. I wear very basic makeup. I wear concealer, blush, eyeliner,
Speaker 1: and mascara and lip bloss, and it takes me what
Speaker 1: feels like seven years in the morning to do that. Um,
Speaker 1: she she puts on this this granted it's a half
Speaker 1: a face, it's not a full face, but she puts
Speaker 1: on that half a face of makeup, and like the
Speaker 1: time it takes me to sneeze, I could not believe it.
Speaker 1: Was so impressed and it looks amazing and and yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean if she feels like it's empowering, then then
Speaker 1: absolutely more power to you like, I feel better with
Speaker 1: my under eyes covered up too well, oh gosh, And
Speaker 1: that whole power of makeup thing also gets us into
Speaker 1: a conversation and we don't have time for today where
Speaker 1: it's like, oh, but is it just deceitful? Are you
Speaker 1: just lying about who you are? To entraven In. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we can't get into that today because it will just
Speaker 1: make me making that groaning noise for an hour and
Speaker 1: a half. But one video, one parody video I do
Speaker 1: really appreciate that I saw when it first came out
Speaker 1: was to Dell Smith's feminist makeup tutorial, which we should
Speaker 1: definitely link to in this podcast post because everyone should
Speaker 1: watch it because she does a voiceover as she's putting
Speaker 1: on her makeup on how the specific makeup will empower
Speaker 1: you to smash the patriarchy with your beauty, and she
Speaker 1: uses items such as a setting foundation made from the
Speaker 1: ashes of Susan the Anthony. Oh yeah, I loved it
Speaker 1: and it was so great. But in the same vein
Speaker 1: to Megan McKay uh did a Ray Rice inspired makeup
Speaker 1: tutorial SNOWI think SNOWI think it's nothing tacky or weird
Speaker 1: or scary. Um, but she literally as she's putting on
Speaker 1: her makeup is talking in the same way that to
Speaker 1: del Smith was like, I'm using you know, the patriarchy smash,
Speaker 1: the patriarchy lip gloss or whatever. Uh, She's talking about
Speaker 1: the types of makeup she's using in a way that's
Speaker 1: bringing attention to domestic violence, especially when it was such
Speaker 1: a hot topic with the NFL. Yeah, so it was
Speaker 1: like her the Concealer was like this shade is NFL
Speaker 1: blah blah blah being really clever with that, and and
Speaker 1: all of those videos sparked a lot of, you know,
Speaker 1: important conversations. So, I mean, I do think that makeup
Speaker 1: is absolutely powerful. Um, but what is what was the
Speaker 1: ultimate message? Because I do think about the time factor,
Speaker 1: especially when I was watching Bethany Modus video on makeup
Speaker 1: for sick days. I watched it too, and and my
Speaker 1: boyfriend and I were best sitting there watching it, just
Speaker 1: shaking our heads, and he actually got up and he
Speaker 1: was like, this is ridiculous, and he walked away. Because
Speaker 1: what she does new Splash for a sick day is
Speaker 1: like basically what I do for a good day. I mean,
Speaker 1: like she even curls her hair. I don't even I
Speaker 1: have the exact same curling hair, curling wand thing that
Speaker 1: she does, and I was like, no, on a sick day,
Speaker 1: you're not, it's greasy. You might get me to use
Speaker 1: some dry shampoo and like a little bit of under
Speaker 1: ey con sailor and shapstick, but good luck and well.
Speaker 1: And that's what I've been thinking about since reading this
Speaker 1: is because Bethanyboda, especially when she was making that video
Speaker 1: that was a few years ago. She's in high school,
Speaker 1: and I was thinking, would these videos have been a
Speaker 1: lifesaver to me in high school or would it have
Speaker 1: just made every morning even more nightmarish having to go
Speaker 1: put my face out in the world, because I would
Speaker 1: feel so much pressure to be even curling my hair
Speaker 1: when I was sick. And I raised this question to
Speaker 1: a girlfriend of mine and she was like, oh my gosh,
Speaker 1: makeup and like how I looked? That was like all
Speaker 1: I thought about in high school. Wh Yeah, I would
Speaker 1: get up so early to do my hair every day,
Speaker 1: basically every day, and like I'm talking full round brush
Speaker 1: hair dryer, like flipping the ends out and then a
Speaker 1: wig on top of that, ladies, and yuh yeah, and
Speaker 1: then a wake on top of that and then a
Speaker 1: jaunty hat. It was crazy, yeah, but and you know
Speaker 1: I'd be putting my makeup onto like I I can't
Speaker 1: believe I was getting up so early to do all
Speaker 1: that stuff. But it makes sense though, like all these
Speaker 1: girls are just now filming themselves and making some money
Speaker 1: on the side doing it. Um he looked concerned. Caroline, Well,
Speaker 1: because I don't know what it would have done to
Speaker 1: me either. But then again, you know, as like a
Speaker 1: high school I was still reading Glamour magazine. It doesn't
Speaker 1: mean that every day I went out and put on
Speaker 1: like super fancy designer clothes and and everything. You know,
Speaker 1: I still got all my J. C. Penny t shirts.
Speaker 1: Like you know, I wasn't. I wasn't. I wasn't feeling
Speaker 1: super pressured to look a certain way necessarily. And I
Speaker 1: wonder if if this is the same thing, or if
Speaker 1: this is the same thing taken up several notches, yah know.
Speaker 1: I mean maybe the pro side of it being taken
Speaker 1: up several notches is the accessibility of it. You know,
Speaker 1: anyone can fancy if they want to and using drug
Speaker 1: store makeup. But I guess it's my concern is the
Speaker 1: line between play around with beauty and makeup and self expression.
Speaker 1: You do you girl and woman and guy whoever? Just
Speaker 1: y'all do y'all that and confidence equals cosmetics. Without all
Speaker 1: these things, you couldn't possibly leave the house, even if
Speaker 1: you're sick. That's just what I wonder and I mean,
Speaker 1: and I'm curious to hear from listeners about it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think whether without the videos, a lot of plenty
Speaker 1: of people are going to equate confidence in cosmetics. Um,
Speaker 1: and I think maybe there will be some people who
Speaker 1: look at these videos and feel like, oh God, I
Speaker 1: have to do that, like to look like a normal person.
Speaker 1: And then there's gonna be plenty of people like me
Speaker 1: who are just like, how do I even with the eyeliner? Help?
Speaker 1: I just need help again one of your Google searches.
Speaker 1: Help well, listeners, We are curious to hear from you
Speaker 1: about this. Are there any beauty gurus that you especially love?
Speaker 1: Do you feel like this does put more pressure on
Speaker 1: us to look certain ways? Do you think that YouTube
Speaker 1: and online beauty is redefining our definition of beauty. Mom's
Speaker 1: stuff at house stuffworks dot Com is where you can
Speaker 1: send us all of your thoughts. You can also tweet
Speaker 1: us mom stuff podcasts or messages on Facebook, and we've
Speaker 1: got a couple of messages to share with you right now. Okay,
Speaker 1: we have a couple of letters here about our Women
Speaker 1: in vf X episode. This one's from Kara. She says,
Speaker 1: I've been listening to the show since it began, and
Speaker 1: I love it. I've gotten a bit behind in episodes, though,
Speaker 1: because I am attending a VFX school, and when I
Speaker 1: saw the subject of the VFX episode, I just had
Speaker 1: to skip forward. I wrote to you back when you
Speaker 1: did the women in Animation episode and told you about
Speaker 1: applying to animation schools and finding out that they were
Speaker 1: fiercent mail Well, I ended up attending an animation and
Speaker 1: visual effects school. When girls first started attending school here,
Speaker 1: they needed to have sexual harassment workshops because the girl
Speaker 1: felt so uncomfortable in the studio that she thought about leaving.
Speaker 1: Since that time, the student body has become much more
Speaker 1: balanced out, and it's happened fairly quickly in the past
Speaker 1: few years. The first thing our new teacher said to
Speaker 1: my class was, Wow, there are a lot of girls
Speaker 1: in here. Hopefully my school is representative of change in
Speaker 1: the industry. I'm very scared about what's going to happen
Speaker 1: once I leave school. Teachers tell us on a monthly
Speaker 1: basis to be careful dating because the industry could jeopardize
Speaker 1: any relationships. Another teacher decided to homeschool as kid because
Speaker 1: he said that VFX artists live a nomadic life. I
Speaker 1: planned on getting married and having kids, but I'm starting
Speaker 1: to rethink and decide which is more important to me,
Speaker 1: my job or my potential family. It's a major issue
Speaker 1: in the industry and something that my female classmates and
Speaker 1: I discuss often. Thank you for the great podcast and
Speaker 1: for bringing to light some of the work that VFX
Speaker 1: artists do well. Thank you, Kara, and I've got a
Speaker 1: letter here from Laura lie Gilmore, who rights to be honest.
Speaker 1: I'd never listened to you before, but my sister forwarded
Speaker 1: me to link to your VFX episode, saying, here's an
Speaker 1: episode from this podcast that describes your job. I'm a
Speaker 1: lead senior editor at Industrial Lite and Magic, a direct
Speaker 1: descendant of the optical women you start your episode with. Sadly,
Speaker 1: I never got to know the women you mentioned, but
Speaker 1: I used to spend a lot of time in optical
Speaker 1: back when I used to shoot Film. I've been with
Speaker 1: I l M for almost twenty years now, and I've
Speaker 1: seen this industry go through quite a lot. I'm also
Speaker 1: a new mom, and when I returned from maternity leave,
Speaker 1: they flung me into the height of production on Jurassic World. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the heels and the actress bothered me, to believe me.
Speaker 1: That's when I began to second guess my career. On
Speaker 1: the one hand, I can't handle the crazy hours anymore.
Speaker 1: But on the other hand, I'm hoping that one day
Speaker 1: my son will think I have a really cool job,
Speaker 1: because deep down, i still love my job. I'm grateful
Speaker 1: that Lucasfilm provides benefits and daycare and an on site daycare.
Speaker 1: I'm one of the lucky ones. Anyway, I just wanted
Speaker 1: to say thank you. It was so fascinating to hear
Speaker 1: my world through your eyes. You were spot on. I'm
Speaker 1: super impressed with your research. It's like the best compliment
Speaker 1: we can receive, So thanks so much, Laura and everyone
Speaker 1: who's written into us. Mom Stuff and how Stuff Works.
Speaker 1: Dot com is where you can send your letters and
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Speaker 1: beauty gurus. Head on over to stuff mom Never told
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