Dudes are Down BAD and Wearing Diapers in the DMs | Twitch Streamer Sasha Emiri

When you think your DMs are a circus, wait till you hear about the guy who took a walk on the wild side with a diaper – not kidding. This episode, I'm joined by Sasha Emiri, who takes us through her journey of becoming a content creator. From her 'cringy' start on Musical.ly to becoming the lifestyle queen of Twitch, Sasha's story is a testament to the unpredictable, ever-changing tides of social media.

There's more to Twitch streaming than meets the eye, and it's not just about playing video games. It's about crafting a community, bonding over shared laughs, and so much more. But it's not all fun and games; we also get real about the challenges that lurk behind the camera. From impersonation nightmares to the resilience needed when facing online trolls, this episode is a raw glimpse into the life behind the 'live' button.

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Watch the show on YouTube: www.youtube.com/@thisisntmydegree

Host - Original Dante
YouTube: www.youtube.com/originaldante
Instagram: www.instagram.com/originaldante

Guest - Sasha Emiri
Instagram: www.instagram.com/sasha_emiri
Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/sashaemiri

Note: we do discuss contracts and other backend influencer stuff, but none of the contents of this episode should be considered legal advice, we are not lawyers. :)

Transcript

Dante: 0:00

What's the craziest DM you've ever received?

Sasha: 0:02

Juan was a grown man in a diaper that said Mommy. Huh. He just wanted me to talk to him like he was a baby.

Dante: 0:08

A grown ass man in a diaper.

Sasha: 0:09

Yeah, he said Mommy, please don't block me.

Dante: 0:12

Mommy, please don't block me, is crazy.

Sasha: 0:15

Unfortunately, that's exactly what I did. I was like whoa sorry.

Dante: 0:25

How high should I throw it?

Sasha: 0:28

Hit the ceiling.

Dante: 0:29

Hit the ceiling. Ok, we're going to hit. It did not hit the ceiling it didn't hit the ceiling and this is not my degree. Welcome to the show and I talk with other creators, such as Sasha Emery.

Sasha: 0:45

Hi everyone.

Dante: 0:46

Sasha and I go way back. We do.

Sasha: 0:49

We really do, we do. I mean, you were probably my first content creator friend in St Louis.

Dante: 0:55

Holy crap yeah.

Sasha: 0:56

Yes, yes, you were.

Dante: 0:58

OK, we'll suit. Yeah, like I said, we go way back For those that don't know who you are. Who are you?

Sasha: 1:04

OK, well, I do a few different things. I would say I'm most popular on Instagram. I make content there that's lifestyle, but also I do model for an agency as well. I stream on Twitch three times a week and I'm also on TikTok, but I haven't been on as much.

Dante: 1:24

Maybe soon, yes, I didn't know that you tick talked.

Sasha: 1:27

I don't know if that's the right word, but Funny enough, most of my following comes from when TikTok was musically. Really yes. And then when? Tiktok purchased musically, it all transferred.

Dante: 1:40

You started on musically.

Sasha: 1:41

Yeah, and it was like those cringy videos where you like you know you like move the phone everywhere and you're like dancing to the music. Yeah, I did that stuff.

Dante: 1:49

So if we go to your TikTok account, we're going to see those videos, or have you hit them all?

Sasha: 1:52

No, I archived or deleted them, although I like looked through my Google photos and I found one.

Dante: 2:00

Oh, wow.

Sasha: 2:01

Yeah, this is like really cringy, but like I'm so glad I still have it because I'm like you put yourself out there, girl, you know like don't let anybody get you down.

Dante: 2:10

You were unapologetically you, exactly you did it.

Sasha: 2:14

Exactly. You have to have a cringy phase or you have to just like, have spurts of it here and there. It's what makes you human.

Dante: 2:20

It's inevitable. Yeah, you got to put yourself out there, or else you're just boring you know, Thanks, yeah, you got to have a little bit of weirdness and a little bit of interesting like to it. You know, like that's a cringe phase, like I was. Oh my gosh you.

Sasha: 2:35

that's a good face, though, for dancing. I took a twerking class the other day.

Dante: 2:40

This is a twerk phase.

Sasha: 2:42

You know what I mean when you like, own it. Dancers have this face.

Dante: 2:46

That's when they're really feeling it.

Sasha: 2:48

And yeah, they just kind of they have it in their face as they dance. You're like, wow, they're good at it and they know they're good. You should meet the instructor, this chick. She was so good she could have come straight off of like a step up movie, the cheeks claps. The cheeks claps. No, it was my girlfriends and I, because this was like just a random class pass, you know, quick one credit class. We went there and literally it was just like mesmerizing. We're like I feel bad, I feel like I keep looking at her butt, but we're supposed to because we're learning. And yeah, yeah, it was just two hours straight of just two hours two hours where it's not just twerking.

Sasha: 3:28

It's like you do squats and then you like dance and do other stuff. It's zoom but slash working out, slash twerking, but like she hit every step and I was just like mind blown, yeah two hours of twerking sounds like exhausting. And also just remember to wear like loose pants or just like thin material, because I went to the twerk class after I got a massage, which first of all needs to be switched.

Dante: 3:54

I should have had the massage after the twerk class. Why did you go work out after a massage?

Sasha: 4:00

Because I needed to use my class class pass credit. I had gone to work prior, so it's like work massage twerk. The twerk massage.

Dante: 4:09

Twerk is a crazy itinerary.

Sasha: 4:12

Yes, it is. I was in a turtleneck, khakis and loafers. For twerking class For work. But I didn't think it through that I wouldn't have time in between each, so I texted my friend like hey, like, can you please bring, like you know, just twerk attire. But she brought compression pants. So, like the instructors are laughing at me, like, hey, your butt's not going anywhere, like your booty's compressed. I don't know what you're gonna see here, today. Yeah, it was a compressed beauty.

Dante: 4:43

Compressed booty. Okay, so you started out on musically. We got on a huge twerk, tangent, twerk, tangent, whoops, but you started out as a musically star. Then you built an Instagram like platform.

Sasha: 4:59

So I guess it was like I was. I mean, what's considered a star? You know what I mean? It's like I had maybe 20,000 followers on musically back then.

Dante: 5:09

That's a pretty big deal.

Sasha: 5:10

And like. Then I just stopped using it because I was like I think it's only for kids. It was like my ex at the time just was like oh, this app is cool, you can like edit your videos on it. I was like cool. So then I started using it. Then decided, okay, maybe it's not like for me, ended that. But if you want to know how my origin story with Instagram began, it came by surprise because I had a best friend who he was a content creator before it was a thing. He had 22,000 followers on Instagram.

Dante: 5:41

Okay.

Sasha: 5:41

And he took really good photos and so we just became friends online. You know, he lived in the same city as me and basically whenever we went to eat or travel somewhere I would take his pictures and he would be like no, no, no, I want it to be like this. He was very specific, so I was his stand in and then that stand in photo he was like you should post this on your socials because, like hey, they're as good as mine, you might as well put that up.

Dante: 6:08

Okay.

Sasha: 6:09

And I was like that's weird, who post pictures of just themselves. You know, it's the era of like take pictures of the sky, take pictures in groups.

Dante: 6:17

Was this like early Instagram? Like everyone's throwing the Mayfair filter on there?

Sasha: 6:21

Maybe it's not, it's a little bit past that, but yes, it's still like early Instagram, because there's no like true influencers.

Dante: 6:28

It's not like as common, so it's like 2015 ish 2017. Oh, so it's a little bit later, mayfair.

Sasha: 6:37

Yeah, so it might be way past Mayfair.

Sasha: 6:38

Sorry I don't know if I ever use that filter, to be honest. But he's like twice, yes, it was bad. So he wanted me to post these pictures, which I didn't. But he was like, sasha, you got so much potential with this. Like, how about you just make a separate account? Yeah, and then so he ended up making the account. He clearly knew how to build a following using the hashtags, all that stuff I had no idea about. So he got it to 10k followers and gave it to me for my birthday, because he's like hey, you've been here helping me build my content, taking pictures of me. You know, I've just been his little producer on the side, so it was like so cool.

Sasha: 7:13

I was like 10k followers Awesome. And I loved that I didn't have any friends or family on that account, because it gave me creative freedom where I felt like I'm allowed to be cringy because nobody knows a blank slate that no one knows who you are.

Dante: 7:27

It's just you.

Sasha: 7:28

Yes, and so that really helped me get into that mindset and like, either way, I should have already had that mindset, you know. But yeah, so it's like whenever we traveled, we would take pictures of each other and just post it, and that's how I started to grow my following. It was very much focused on photography, travel, and then, whenever he started to get busy, I ended up like any reach out to you by photographers hey, you want to shoot together, and I'm like sure. So my theme became, like I do collapse of photographers, and my following grew based off of you know, the photographer is following slash, you know it's like that collaboration.

Dante: 8:06

It's like the cross pollination between the two yes, exactly yeah.

Sasha: 8:11

by the time I left Little Rock, which is where this all began, like people on the street would recognize me I was like this is so crazy. Like what it? You know, it's like that local celeb vibe which was yeah, I don't know it was. It was very fun, especially at the start, especially when it wasn't an oversaturated creator market. So like. I got. That's when I probably worked with the biggest brands like Sephora, you know, just like bigger companies that didn't know what to do with people's followings.

Dante: 8:44

Yet yeah, yeah, they were like you have an audience, we want to capitalize on that here's stuff, do your thing. Yeah, exactly, no plan.

Sasha: 8:55

Yeah, yeah.

Dante: 8:57

Okay, so you then moved to St Louis. Yes. So what happened once you got here, like around, where was your follower count at that point?

Sasha: 9:07

Who? That's a good question. I mean, I think it was that maybe like 40,000.

Dante: 9:11

Okay, yeah, so did you continue to do the same thing here Once you moved here?

Sasha: 9:16

Yeah. So there were a couple things I would say that stick out as what grew my following. So the first one was just that spur of learning from my best friend how to grow a following using hashtags and location. Yeah, Because when you become like the top post for Little Rock, suddenly it's like anytime someone's searching Little Rock, my picture came up.

Dante: 9:36

That's valid.

Sasha: 9:37

There was also the what's the song yeah In my Feelings by Drake.

Dante: 9:45

So specific.

Sasha: 9:46

Because the dance that went with it where you dance outside of your car. Yeah, in my Feelings dance I did that and back then 40,000 views on that actually brought in a lot of people.

Dante: 9:59

Yes.

Sasha: 10:00

So when I did that trend I saw Spike in my follower account by a good amount, and then I like had this random picture. I was in Lake Tahoe and there was like a place where you could, like you know, be in a hot tub basically. So I was like in my winter jacket, heading towards like this little hot tub oasis, and that picture got picked up by like Barstool.

Dante: 10:25

And then so wow, Back whenever, like everybody was paying attention. I mean not that people don't now, but like it was a whole different time back then.

Sasha: 10:34

Sure, and so because of that, I think I gained like 25,000, 30,000 followers just off of them posting it, which was like bizarre because I had no idea this was happening. It was just like suddenly this huge influx. And then I was like, why is there this picture of me up there? But I guess, like it was a way to, you know, get some people onto my page, so yeah, and then just like random accounts, like I've had a, there was like a small span of time where a bunch of accounts in India started like reposting my pictures and it was like Bollywood World or Bollywood this, and then so I got like 7000 followers from that. So I think, like over time it's all accumulated to what it is now One photo got posted, and then suddenly it got posted again.

Dante: 11:22

And again, again, and then more people started noticing and then more photos got reposted.

Sasha: 11:26

I'm assuming, Right, and then it just kind of like set a blaze.

Sasha: 11:29

Right, it set a blaze and then it stopped, you know. So it's like then. It's just more of like smaller growth through just your picture doing well or whatever. So when it used to be a photo sharing app, that's certainly when I saw like my biggest growth. I know Reels is a really big thing now, but it takes a lot more effort, so much more effort, so much more just like thought process with it, and so of course, I'd like to get more into it. But in general, like my, my peak or hopefully it's not the only peak but whenever that all spanned, it was because photo sharing app and those random moments- and just these big pages getting involved.

Sasha: 12:07

Yeah.

Dante: 12:08

So you went from Instagram to Twitch? Yes, what sparked that decision?

Sasha: 12:17

Basically, I was saving my ass from a terrible situation. That didn't work out, so there was something else in the works, and because that didn't work out, I ended up pulling Twitch into it. So to get into the details, because that's no fun if you don't get to know the tea, right Okay. So I got reached out to by an LA director. He had the blue check mark before. You could just buy it.

Sasha: 12:44

Okay, so the real like you, gotta earn that Right, right, he had like this legitimate following with. When you searched up his name, it was in bold. I was like whoa, this person's like worked with a good amount of celebrities, like you know, he is talking to me about these projects and things were just really making sense. He was looking for a travel host for, you know, like a food slash travel show. So it was very much up my alley. You know, really, all the things that I like and what I post about is lifestyle.

Sasha: 13:14

So we started working together and ultimately, you know, he said a contract was in the works, perfect. But in the meantime, he's like time is of the essence. Let's get going with like taking some pictures, let's promo it, promo it onto your Instagram and like, in hindsight, looking back, I wish that I was like, let's just wait for the contract. Why are we starting off with all these like promotions to things that haven't even happened yet? But the thing that he really pulled me in with was that movies don't actually have the funding or you don't have the movie done when you put out the movie trailer, but the whole point is to get people excited. So, yeah, I never knew that, but it makes a lot of sense you get a lot of the funding through the trailer too. So he's like the whole point is we have to promo, get people excited. So that way, really, we legitimize what the show will be, which he would then use his connections with Netflix, sell it off to them, and it would be that Okay, that makes sense.

Sasha: 14:12

Yes, and so because of it, you know, everything happens so quickly. So it was like two weeks of just like every single day photo shoot, photo shoot, photo shoot. Let's go film at a restaurant, whatever. And I was all about it, but he had to leave. He was filming a movie in Joshua Tree but he was like, hey, you know, I'll text you, it'll be good, you know I'll be back within like 10 days or whatever it was. But then he was gone for like two and a half weeks. I hadn't heard from him. You know, I just couldn't even like get him on the phone. So I was stressed out, because now I have my entire following reaching out to me, super excited about this thing. We called it Sasha Does it.

Dante: 14:49

That was like the campaign yes, and it messes you, saying like what are you doing? Yeah, exactly what are you doing.

Sasha: 14:56

Right. And then in my head I'm like, oh my gosh, I don't even know what I'm doing. Because is this happening? Did this man ghost me? We haven't signed contracts. Did he find someone better? Suddenly, you know, everything's just like going through my head and so ultimately it was like, ok, be chill, just continue what I'm doing. But ultimately it's like you can only keep up with like this. Something's going to come soon, it'll happen. Just wait and see for so long before people start to get frustrated. So after three weeks then it suddenly became like a month of like. People didn't know what was going on. So I decided you know, ultimately, whether this man is legit or not. I don't think I could work with someone that just disappears out of thin air, leaves me out of the dust, to like have to fend for myself. And really, even though we did touch base later on, it was like he didn't want to do a contract. There was something about contract.

Dante: 15:53

He didn't want to do a contract.

Sasha: 15:54

Yeah, and I feel like anything truly legitimate. There's a contract. Or else I feel like maybe I might get scammed. We do all this travel, we do all this promotion, maybe we get some money, who knows for paying for it. Like suddenly, does that lie on me? Like, hey, you owe us for all this. So it just became too scary. I you know, no matter how fun it sounds, it's kind of like a too good to be true moment. You have to be smart about it. So I ended up just like nixing that. And then I'm like you know what I've been promoing for something I've been wanting to get closer to my community. My brother had introduced me to Twitch and so I was like let's do it, let's let's roll with it, let's try Twitch out. And honestly, I'm so grateful for having done that. I was so scared. It was such a like fast learning curve, just like how, when you're podcasting, it was a big learning curve there too. Yeah, yeah.

Sasha: 16:49

So, yeah, just learning a craft as you go in real time can be so stressful, but so let's take it back to your first stream. Yeah.

Dante: 16:57

How did you prepare for that?

Sasha: 16:59

Wow, I was. I took a few shots, so there was that Ease the?

Sasha: 17:08

nerves yeah, basically ease the nerves. And then, because Twitch was so known, is so known for gaming, and I'm like I'm not a gamer, but maybe that's what I need to do, maybe I need a game, I don't know. So, luckily, I have a lot of talented followers, and one of them like helped create Ghost of Tsushima, which, yeah, what, yes. And so because of that, he was like, hey, here's a free code, you can play it, whatever. And so I was like, ok, sure. So then I was just demoing the game for him and then talking while playing. Unfortunately, I'm not talented in gaming at all, so then it was hilarious, like everyone there that was watching. They were such nice supporters because they probably followed me on Instagram for years, but they were like wow, it's such an interesting perspective to see someone game from not knowing how to game. Usually, you see gamers for being experts.

Dante: 18:01

That's one hell of a game to be thrown into for not knowing how to game.

Sasha: 18:04

Yeah, that is. That was not a good choice, that was almost like here.

Dante: 18:08

Here's one of the most challenging games out there. Let's just see what happens.

Sasha: 18:13

That's wild.

Sasha: 18:14

Yes, yes, and so it just ultimately felt like I had too much pressure of like oh, now I'm stuck at this stage and I keep dying and I can't just keep dying. Eventually, people want to see a different scene. So I was like you know what? I learned about the just chatting category, where there are just people that hang out and talk as if it's like a podcast, and that felt a lot more natural to me. I to really begin streaming. I was incredibly nervous. I was like what if no one's there, no one wants to watch, or no one's chatting with me? I'm like talking to a wall, what do I do? But really, I just started to purchase games that it's kind of like a two-player game, but as long as you're talking as if there's someone there, it works.

Sasha: 19:00

It's like conversation starter card games, so I started doing that or finding hot topics to talk about. So I had that in the back Like ready to go in case things just like weren't interesting. But luckily it's like people were there to ask a lot of questions. And it's still nice to have this other back burner things, Because sometimes I just feel like talking about it Whenever the submarine implosion happened. I was like.

Sasha: 19:29

That's all I talked about for several days. So we definitely discussed that. It's just I don't know. I decided that with streaming, I'm never going to do something I don't want to do. It's all going to be stuff that I would already have done if I wasn't streaming, or I've been looking forward to it, so that way it doesn't feel like work.

Dante: 19:47

So has Twitch streaming always been fun and hasn't felt really like a chore so far.

Sasha: 19:55

So there are definitely times where it's felt like I don't know if I feel like streaming today. But then there's that aspect of like I have subscribers, I have people paying money to want to see me show up. Well, who am I to ruin a schedule just because I'm not in the mood? I can't do that. So, especially like the first several months, there was a big learning curve or like a self discovery of like oh, sasha, you're not really great with having a schedule, you're kind of a sporadic person and I used to think I was like fairly consistent. But here I am like it's only been a week and a half. I'm like oh, like do I need to do any stream today? Can I cancel?

Sasha: 20:32

But ultimately it's like forcing myself to do something I'm uncomfortable with has been like such a good, like learning situation for me and ultimately I end up enjoying it. It's kind of the same, more relatable aspect of hey, you made plans with friends but then suddenly you feel lazy, you don't want to go. But then you're like I don't want to be that person that doesn't stick to my word, I'll go. And then you have the best time thinking why did I ever question it to begin with?

Dante: 21:00

Yeah, so it's like that. Yeah, sticking to a schedule is one of the most underrated things you can do as a creator. I'm really bad about it. I still don't have a YouTube schedule. The podcast, thankfully, is on a schedule.

Sasha: 21:13

Oh, that's good, but for my.

Dante: 21:14

YouTube uploads. Yeah, there's no schedule there. It's challenging. So how did you set a schedule for yourself? What factors did you take into play when deciding? Ok, I'm gonna stream on Wednesdays or Thursdays or Fridays.

Sasha: 21:31

I definitely switched my days around a good amount at the beginning, just because I wanted to do a day where I felt like people might be on, that might be free. So like maybe Friday nights weren't the best time I started off with. Like Friday nights, like Sasha, what do you think people are doing? Not hanging out on your stream, that's for sure. So it's like maybe weekdays are better and ultimately it's like as much as you wanna think about, like oh, what are the most popular times to stream? It's also like remember, like what's best for you.

Sasha: 22:00

If you're not gonna be able to be consistent with it, there's no reason why you should put it at a certain day or time. So then I thought about like which are my least busy days? Like Thursdays are usually really good for me. Sundays I usually don't have anything like until like 2 pm or later. So I put that into consideration and then I also made it so they're not necessarily on top of each other, although I do have Wednesday, thursday now. So it's Wednesday, thursday and Sunday, but like I like having at least a separation between one or two streams.

Sasha: 22:33

So that way I can like have new things to talk about. If you saw me yesterday and now I'm talking today, there's not too much different that happened between the day.

Dante: 22:42

There's only so much that can happen.

Sasha: 22:43

Yeah, exactly, only so much that can happen, and so, to keep the conversation fresh, I like to make sure that it's a few days apart. Yeah.

Dante: 22:52

So you started out, everything was like what the heck am I doing? At first. Then you started moving into more of a flow and consistent pattern. So when did you start noticing that, like more people were paying attention and that this was really starting to like build community?

Sasha: 23:09

Sure that. I think that's a really good question and it's hard to fully tell when it happened as much I think. I guess when I started to notice was when my viewers started to message me on Instagram and they would be like WStreams, sasha, like that was a really good one or people started to like actually send me, you know, real feedback from the streams and I'm like, oh wow, they're really paying attention to what I'm talking about.

Sasha: 23:37

And then they kept asking me when are you gonna start a Discord and a Discord's kind of like a group chat that's really well organized, where you can, you know, update people on your schedule or what you're up to. So it's kind of like DM, but group style. It's just very popular with gamers. So I started that and that's when I started to notice like there was a community aspect where people were talking on like the general chat to each other. You know they were becoming friends based off of the commonality of knowing me and I was like that's so cool, I love that that is me.

Dante: 24:11

Like you built a community of people that were like already like yo, what's good? Like how are we doing today? Right, exactly, that's so neat.

Sasha: 24:18

Yeah. So it's like while I'm streaming, you know the viewers will like say hi, chat, or like you know they'll like welcome each other in, oh, wow, or based off of how they reply or talk to me, you know, I think they get a sense of who that person is. So then suddenly they're gifting each other subscriptions to my streams and like that's when you're like wow, like this is so cool, like they recognize each other by their username, just like I do, and now it's like a real family, you know.

Dante: 24:47

So what are gifted subs? Kind of walk me through the tiers of things that people can do.

Sasha: 24:52

Gosh. I mean, I don't fully even know all of it. I should be doing better about like figuring out the monetization to that level. But I will say so in terms of just subscriptions. You could do just like a one month subscription for, let's say, $6. You could do two month, three month or six month, so you can kind of get like your specific tier of subscription. And then if you just want to, let's say, make a donation, like instead of sending me 20 bucks you'll spend 20 bucks on gifted subs, and then you get to choose any of the viewers to be added in there.

Dante: 25:31

Hmm, okay, so with these subscriptions do people get like perks, like what comes with that?

Sasha: 25:36

Right, so there are perks, like in my discord I have, like you know, only subs, you know, For example, but at the same time, like I actually have not used that thread at all. So like I'm sorry guys, sorry, I have to be better.

Dante: 25:50

Yeah, these people are VIPs. It's like you could be like yes, so true, Just let them in the club, you know.

Sasha: 25:57

Yes, but like we have like very specific emotes. So it's funny. There's this running joke, especially at the beginning, cause I was so stressed about streaming. My mom like somehow became like pretty popular on my stream. Not because anyone has ever seen her, it's because she is a backseat driver type of mom, like that tiger mom where she doesn't think anything's right and she'll let you know. So it's like I would be cooking something on my stream and I'm at my mom's house and she's in the background just like no, don't do that, what are you doing? This and that? And she's just like nagging me and everyone thought it was hilarious. And so because of that, you know it's like bossy Yuki, she's, she's feel over here.

Dante: 26:39

That's hilarious.

Sasha: 26:40

Complaining about how I'm making something again. So we made an emo of her. Her hair catches fire and so whenever-.

Dante: 26:47

I'm sorry Did. Did her hair actually catch fire?

Sasha: 26:51

No, but because she's always like throwing out her, like strong emotions about what I'm up to. Whenever they hear her voice, her emo pops up and so if you're a subscriber you get to put on the flames. They're like oh, she's here.

Dante: 27:06

She's here. Oh, that is hilarious.

Sasha: 27:09

Yes.

Dante: 27:09

What the heck. But it's so funny how little things like that stand out and people just like make it a meme.

Sasha: 27:17

Yeah.

Dante: 27:18

And it's something that's like an inside joke for you and your community yeah, exactly.

Sasha: 27:21

So I think that's like the best part, and one of my favorite things about the community aspect it's that we have so many inside jokes together and it's just like, yeah, even as little as like, they get to know who my mom is and they have a little thingy they put up every time they hear about her.

Dante: 27:38

Yeah, so it's nice, it's so funny.

Sasha: 27:40

Yes, and I would say to keep up with my schedule too, something I started to do Cause again like streaming three times a week and having fresh ideas to talk about. That's hard. That's like three hours of just like off the top of my head. So, because my you know Instagram and really anything I do is lifestyle, I've broken up my streams into cooking, fitness and chat. So Wednesdays I cook and then I work it off the next day, on Thursday, and then Sunday it's like let's chill, talk about what's going on.

Dante: 28:15

Oh, that's cool. You have a whole schedule and routine. That makes sense.

Sasha: 28:19

Yes, yes.

Dante: 28:21

What makes you not give up?

Sasha: 28:24

Really, I would say, out of any social media platform that I've used, twitch has been the most rewarding, even though it's the one that I've had for the least amount of time. And it's simply because of that community where it's like I talked about you know how. I went to Hawaii in September, but I hadn't posted any pictures from when I went to Hawaii, and so everyone's like Sasha, where are your Hawaii pictures? Or they're messaging me on Discord or Instagram and it's like, because I've talked about it so much, like they remember those things about my life and they're waiting to like see it.

Sasha: 28:57

And then it makes me excited to be like. You know what I need to. Let me start posting again for sure, Because the hardest thing I've had with like being a content creator is the fact that my brand is me.

Sasha: 29:09

And I think a lot of people, you know. I think they assume that all content creators are very self-centered and selfish and all about them. And I don't know as someone that has a hard time, like you know, bragging about myself or putting myself out there in that way, although it's become more habit now it's yeah, that's just how it is.

Dante: 29:33

Yeah, a lot of people think that it stems from influencer.

Sasha: 29:38

Right.

Dante: 29:38

That word is so negative because so many influencers are self-centered and they think that they're entitled to other things and they deserve the world just because I have clout. Yeah. Even though clout isn't currency that you can use to pay the bills. So be respectful of people's businesses. Come on now. Don't just show up to a restaurant and say, hey, I have 100,000 followers, I deserve to have the best experience, and all of this food comps for me and my friends.

Sasha: 30:07

Yeah, exactly, it's like people got a sense of entitlement from it and really at the end there I kind of lost my train of thoughts. I was like, yeah, that's what it is, but in general it's hard to kind of stay interested with yourself. I'm like I get sick of me. So then I'm like who else wants to pay attention to my life? But then I have to remind myself like no social media is like glimpses of your life. It's awesome to be able to share it with other people and they're wanting to see it. So then I'm like, ok, get out of your head, sasha, stop acting so negatively towards yourself. Get back out there.

Dante: 30:40

Social media is just a slim portion of your life. What you decide to share on social media and that goes for pretty much any creator out there. We're not sharing everything that goes on in our lives and every moment of every day. Some people I feel like there are maybe like five people that live stream their whole entire day and that's just their content. More power to you, but that's not me. I'm guessing, that's not you either. No, it's not me.

Sasha: 31:05

You have three days that you stream.

Dante: 31:07

It can't possibly be you. That's a lot, but OK, I want to ask some very specific questions about Twitch streaming and just like go through more of a rapid fire, OK, OK. So one of the things that I hear a lot is Twitch is quote unquote dying. Do you feel like that's the case?

Sasha: 31:28

I don't feel like it's the case. I mean people quote, unquote, say Instagram was dying, but here are a lot of people popping off on Instagram now and they're growing their following significantly. You know every platform kind of dies to an extent. Everything peaks. I don't feel like Twitch is dying. You know I try to vote like OK, maybe they have less people on there, but it's still millions of people. That's plenty to work off of.

Dante: 31:55

Oh for sure. Do you think streaming is oversaturated?

Sasha: 31:58

I don't think so.

Dante: 32:00

OK.

Sasha: 32:00

Because the best part about streaming is that it's a lot more authentic, because it's super like off the cuff, it's live. So depending on the person, everything's going to be different. You know, you could do a cooking segment about the same food I'm making in this room, and it won't be the same at all.

Dante: 32:18

That's true.

Sasha: 32:19

I would say it's a lot harder to do cooking when you're broadcasting. It's just, I don't know. For me I get a little bit nervous, same way as when I'm driving but suddenly someone's in my passenger seat Suddenly. I'm like breaking a little harder than I was normally. You know what I mean. So because of that, it's like there's a learning curve to it.

Dante: 32:39

So do you get nervous with how many people are watching the stream at a time?

Sasha: 32:44

Certainly, but because I take the viewer count off or I don't look at it, it's not really top of mind anymore. Ok, that makes sense that's valid.

Dante: 32:54

Don't pay attention to the metrics, because that's why I don't even know if I could do streaming. Because now in recent I'd say in the past six months I've shifted my perspective on content creation to look at the numbers so in detail and I'm like, oh, let's look at the retention. Why did people stop clicking here? What was? Part of the video. What was it at caption style? Was it the subject matter on the screen? Like I don't know if I could do streaming just for that.

Sasha: 33:22

Right, it's hard, it's like it's fun to get granular, just to get some more knowledge from it. But then, I don't know, I definitely take a step back where, like, I stop getting granular all together and I don't even look at my viewer count, I don't even look at my Twitch summaries anymore because ultimately it's like I want to do what feels good for me and I get the feedback through what people talk about via DM to me. So they're like, oh my gosh, like I really love the segment where you did this or that and I'm like, ok, cool, I'm going to do more of that because a lot of people are talking about it.

Sasha: 33:54

So it's like I can still pick up the drift of how a stream went and so I just go off of that, but of course, like, everyone's different.

Dante: 34:02

Check the vibes. Just go with the vibes and see what's going right. Would you say that Twitch can be a full time job?

Sasha: 34:10

100%. There is so much opportunity for making money off of it. For example, like I may not be Twitch partner, but what I can tell you as Twitch affiliate is that I can make money off of ads Any time someone is watching. Maybe every 30 minutes I put in like a 30 second ad or a two minute ad, so you're making ad money, then you get your subscription money and then you can start getting sponsors for each stream. So right now I'm in discussion with an ice cream company and technically it's like if they were to just put their logo on my screen for every single like cooking stream, for example, maybe I'll charge them you know who knows 400 to $1,000 for the month of being there. Yeah.

Sasha: 34:55

So then that means let's say it's $1,000 with the ice cream company, plus for a fitness company and then for just like a conversation and random company. So that's $3,000 just on sponsorships through the basics of me wearing the clothes, me eating the food randomly throughout the stream. So that's three grand plus another ad revenue, plus that, and then you know the subscriptions can get bigger. And the viewerships gets bigger and everything multiplies. And that doesn't include if people want to just send you a donation aside from subscriptions, because a lot of people, you know.

Sasha: 35:30

they know that Twitch takes like a good chunk of the money, especially when you're not partner, so then they might just send you a Venmo, you know.

Dante: 35:38

Oh, wow.

Sasha: 35:38

It's. It's a. It's definitely an interesting world being a creator, because the ones that really support you you know they'll see content. Like I just posted a picture with my coffee cup, then they'll send me five bucks for the coffee because they're just like you know, like that's cool and it's really nice.

Sasha: 35:53

You know, please don't stop doing that, yeah always support creators, because it's hard out here for us, you know right and the key to know is because sometimes you know people try to make their lives glamorous online so it's like, oh, is everybody super rich or this and that, and you know, you'll never really fully know unless you're like Mr Beast, and it's like very disclose you know you do that research, but in general it's like being a content creator. It fluctuates so much I can make a crap ton of money one month, then nothing.

Sasha: 36:24

The next month it's so dependent on, like, how things are going, who you're talking to, what brands you worked with, and usually if you do a brand partnership, you don't really get another big one until a little later, because it's like you don't want to be Posting too much about a brand, because you have to think of the audience. You want to feel authentic, you don't want to seem like you're a paid promoter.

Sasha: 36:45

Yeah, and so it's like you have to find that happy balance. So really it's like, yeah, it's not just like money always coming in, of course, unless you're one of the big dogs and it's just view count, view count, view count.

Sasha: 36:56

Yeah, and you're like publishing a video like every other day exactly Then it's a totally different thing, but here's a random story to go off of that I there's an Instagram account that has like maybe 30,000 followers. They use all of my pictures, my likeness and everything, and this person's story highlights are like oh, I just got like hundreds of roses and it's like very luxurious, very up there I'm like wow, they make my life seem better than it actually is.

Dante: 37:23

But somebody pretending to be you.

Sasha: 37:24

Yeah, someone's pretending to be me. Oh they have a good following.

Dante: 37:28

How.

Sasha: 37:29

I don't, I don't know, but the issue is I've tried so hard to report it, take it down, and Instagram has not taken it down. I don't know why. I don't know how they keep staying there, but ultimately I'm blocked. They blocked me because, yeah, they're like yeah, they're trying to be you trying to be me. So then I'm like, ah, there's nothing I could do at this point. So if you find someone that looks like me, that maybe is more popular than me at this point, listen, I'm here, is my g, I'm the real one.

Dante: 38:00

Here's the challenge I have for you that support Sasha. Okay, go to that page, hit report impersonating someone I know and say it's Sasha Okay, just go in there, do that form. If enough of you do it, that page will just wither away and I'll snap away. Okay, I Think. I think with enough people it can happen.

Sasha: 38:23

Well, I mean, I've reported it before and I know it got like so many reports. It's just, it's crazy.

Dante: 38:30

I don't know how it's still existing there. Maybe it doesn't, I don't know my head.

Sasha: 38:33

I'm like is it because I don't have a blue check mark? So there are four there. Like how can we validate which ones which?

Dante: 38:39

I do. I feel like at this point, you, you should.

Sasha: 38:43

I should have one. I should have the check each egg.

Dante: 38:45

Yeah, I think you should. I think it's to the point where, once you get past 100k, I think at that point, like you really got to start thinking about it, because right people will try to impersonate you.

Sasha: 38:55

That's true, yeah like you're popular.

Dante: 38:58

See like people are trying to be you. Hmm. I think it's time. Okay, you like try to find for it.

Sasha: 39:05

No, I haven't done it. I Was super intrigued at first because, like within, like all those little bullets they had, one of the things was like oh, we'll make sure to kind of like what was it? It wasn't look it wasn't boost your account, but it was kind of like make sure that your contents get get seen more or something.

Dante: 39:26

Oh yeah, they did say that at first.

Sasha: 39:27

They did say that and then so I was like, oh, that's wonderful, but like that's really giving Creators that chance to be more like seen and their content to be seen. But then, right before they launched it, they've removed it.

Sasha: 39:40

I remember that and I was like that's so sus. How could you make it this big thing and then not really have like a big announcement of the changes? It was just more like if you notice, you noticed. If you didn't like, here you are paying to think that that's gonna have they have so many times promised things like paying creators.

Dante: 39:59

This whole creator fund, that's been what? Five years in the works now? Yeah, still hasn't like I've. Okay, I lied, I actually got paid like maybe ten dollars from meta.

Dante: 40:08

That did happen last year, okay, early last year right it was like whenever they were trying to push reels and they were doing like reels bonuses. To request Instagram verification, you need username, full name, a document confirm your notability, what you have, a category, your country, your audience, also known as. Those are all optional and then, if you want, you could submit like articles, social media accounts and other links that show your account is in the public interest. Paid or promotional content won't be considered. So I think if you were to use a couple different posts that have been shared like barstool, use them from like big organizations.

Dante: 40:49

I think you have a chance of getting it Would say you don't have to pay meadow. Like you know, 12, 14 bucks a month.

Sasha: 40:55

Oh yeah, but even then, like I didn't know, that was an option to basically still apply for the check mark without having to pay, I thought everybody was like everybody has to pay.

Dante: 41:03

Yeah, it's nice that you can just, like you know, request it the old fashioned way.

Dante: 41:08

You don't have to go through like here's my card info. Here's all of this. I had it for a brief moment because I wanted to see, like, what the benefits really were. And with all these deep fakes and AI and stuff coming out, I'm like you know. Maybe an extra layer of protection would be nice. My engagement went down. This was all like March last year, I remember, on my birthday. I got it. I was like happy birthday to me. I'm terrified who allowed this to happen. So I had less engagement. I had more story views. Surprisingly, Okay.

Dante: 41:42

I had more story views and, yeah, nothing really changed other than it just had a blue check mark. But I did notice that whenever I commented on bigger pages, my comments would typically get more engagement. But that's just because, like with a blue check mark, like you're, you're coded to think oh, that person is the real deal.

Dante: 42:01

Yeah, I want to be recognized by them or something, because we see celebrities and all these other social media creators out of blue checkmarks and they're thinking oh, like I want, I want that person to notice me. So I noticed my comments like even though I'm not shit, people would still like my comment. Like crazy.

Sasha: 42:18

No, that makes a lot of sense. Yeah, it was bizarre, but it's the same thought process, like when you say see a blue checkmark in your DMs or comments. You're like, oh, who is that?

Sasha: 42:29

And you click it as whenever you're going through TikTok and you're like, oh, that's a funny video, but then for some reason, if it's like a really low like count, for some reason you're less likely to click it versus if it has already millions of people liking. I don't know why, but like I don't know if you've ever noticed doing that yourself. But I'll be scrolling and I'm like, huh, that's interesting. But then, like it seems like nothing's happened with the video and then I just move past it for some reason. But when it's like millions of you know people like to, I'm like, oh, that's so funny. And suddenly it's like extra funny or extra good.

Sasha: 43:04

Yeah, it's like we start thinking, okay, well, if millions of people have engaged with this, something must be going on that I want to know about Right and that's so silly Cause it's just like we don't have a limitation on our likes, we don't have a limitation on our follows, and so it's like here we are, like, why are we acting like we have only a limited number of them? But yeah, it's like part of me, I think. I think about like my algorithm, where I'm like oh my gosh, this video is funny, but I really don't want to see more of this anymore.

Dante: 43:33

So I'll just keep moving past.

Sasha: 43:34

But like dang, I want to put more, more level out there Doesn't hurt.

Dante: 43:41

Exactly. It doesn't hurt to double tap a photo like a comment. I don't know what else you can really do. What else can you like? Like stories?

Sasha: 43:49

And you can share.

Dante: 43:51

Please share.

Sasha: 43:52

Share is good.

Dante: 43:52

Sharing is what really sharing is carrying. It is carrying.

Sasha: 43:57

That's where the impressions boost up, and then you get more exposure to a larger audience.

Dante: 44:02

Like I'll challenge you to look at an Instagram reel, because they publicly show how many shares there are. Look at some of the most popular ones and look at how many shares it has. If you see one that has, like you know, hundreds of thousands of likes, look at the number of shares. Like the people that I share the studio with, like Epic Eats and Braden, a lot of their stuff goes like hyper viral because of the number of shares, because people are sharing. You know, epic's my top 10 restaurants in St Louis. It has like 44,000 shares.

Sasha: 44:37

That's so cool.

Dante: 44:39

And it hits, you know, a million people, that's because like so many people are sharing it with each other, right, but? Just wonderful Food for thought. No pun intended because they're foodies. What are some things about being a Twitch streamer that aren't talked about enough?

Sasha: 44:54

Hmm, that aren't talked about enough. See the issue is, I don't know what's really talked about or not talked about, because I don't have really many Twitch friends.

Dante: 45:04

Well, then what issues do you think need to be brought to light? Right. Because, like every, every creator can talk about something. That is a struggle, like I don't know. A lot of people get like hate comments and some people get, you know, discouraged by the amount little amount of views that they get or something. Right. What? Or maybe it's bigger than that, Right. What is?

Dante: 45:25

something that you've experienced, that you feel like yo more people need to talk about this kind of stuff. That goes on. Right Like men sending you photos in diapers saying, mommy, that needs to stop, that needs to end.

Sasha: 45:37

Right. Something that isn't talked about enough is like you have to have such thick skin to be a Twitch streamer, not because, like you know, you get a ton of hate comments or something. It's just like there's going to be people there to ran on your parade, no matter what. So, yes, like I guess, just like, make sure you have those mods, no matter how small you think you are, even just a friend, because it really like kills the vibe whenever you're just chatting, having the best time, and then someone just like randomly calls you a slut or you know just something like out there and you're like we were talking about pizza, sir, and so it's just like making sure that whenever you're doing that, remember they're trying to get a reaction out of you and the key is just to keep moving.

Sasha: 46:30

So you'll just be like scrolling through, you skip it, you laugh, you say something else and then you know hopefully the mods are on it.

Dante: 46:39

Is there anything that you would like to speak about being a woman in the content creation space? Because I feel like she all put up with so much more shit than men do content creation Because, like I don't know, that's just, maybe that's just my perspective, but I just want to know.

Sasha: 46:53

Yeah, absolutely so. For me, given that my Instagram following came from a lot of just like photo shoots and like modeling, what that comes with is a lot of people will objectify you and with that aspect like of course, it's nice to get compliments like oh, you look nice, or you know you really fit, that's fine. It's more just the opportunities that come for you can take you down a really windy, horrible path. So you just have to know what you stand for, what it's worth, and think about long term, because as I've grown my following and bid in this industry for a few years, I've gotten reached out to with like it feels like it's almost like the devil knocking at your door where I've been offered 30 grand a month to basically have like someone run an only fans account for me where they'll do everything, they'll chat with everyone.

Sasha: 47:48

And all I have to do is like have pictures that don't even need to be provocative, but they'll just handle it all, and it's almost like what you know, the agency that I'm specifically talking about. They work with people like that. I look up to that, I'm like wow there's these.

Sasha: 48:06

they're very popular celebrities and DJs and I'm like, wow, this is incredible. But like the contracts are crazy. The contracts are not okay and like I would just hope that the really high up creators just have like the ability to be able to adjust these contracts. But when you're much smaller, you don't get as much leeway with that. And so these contracts basically because they told me they're like hey, we know you don't want to do like OF, but you could just send us whatever pictures you want. You could be at the beach every day and a bathing suit, and that's fine. But there was like a portion of the contract that said they could manipulate your images, which technically means they could just put body parts on you to make it however they want. Yeah, or whatever conversation they're having, which also isn't you. So it's like they're just taking your likeness and you're just selling your soul away. And that's why you have to like reach out to a lawyer If you get any contract, no matter how simple it seems, there's a reason.

Sasha: 49:06

Lawyers exist and every time I've gone to a lawyer for any time, an opportunity comes and I say opportunity. Like you know, maybe it's not the best, but yeah, every time they're just like what the heck, like Sasha, don't do this. This seems really questionable. Or I've marked literally the whole contract. Go back to them and get it fixed. So yeah, it's just. It's really hard because I think about the offers that I received, like even you know, last year. And what if I got that offer when I first started off, when I was like first just like growing tens of thousands of followers a week? Yeah.

Sasha: 49:43

I don't know if I would have been able to be as smart as I am now of like, hey get a lawyer, hey do this and that, because, yeah, what happens if you're just eager to, like, you know, catch and join every single thing that comes your way and turns out it's not what you thought it'd be.

Dante: 50:00

Yeah, that's contracts and legal Definitely have a third party.

Sasha: 50:06

Right, exactly.

Dante: 50:07

Is Twitch the final thing, like what's next for you?

Sasha: 50:11

That's a great question. Ultimately, you know, I've been in this stage for several years now where I had a huge boom at the beginning when I started my social channels, and then it's had like its ebbs and flows, but ultimately I work a nine to five job. You know, I've been working up the corporate ladder and it's been really successful and great for me, but then I also have this side hobby that happens to be like keeping a lot of my free time and making money too. So I've come to a point where I really do need to make a decision which one to do Ultimately. I'm not forced to do that, but to be able to excel at anything, you really do have to put your energy fully into it, and I feel like right now I'm not excelling at anything, it's just more in that like weird decent gray area.

Sasha: 50:57

So my plan in the next few months is actually to move to Japan Half my family lives there. Opportunity to get better at speaking Japanese, be closer to family, and then I'll be streaming a lot, I'll be cooking a bunch and really just making content in general, because what I want to do is give content creation that full attention it deserves. Maybe it means hey, sasha, you actually don't like doing it full time or you're not as good at it anymore as it used to be Like who knows right but the key is that it feels like the world is my oyster. But whenever you have too many options, it becomes very scary. It makes you do nothing when really it's like no, it's time to close some doors and really know which paths are going to be like the most vital to you and also what speaks to your soul. So that's ultimately what I'm going to do. I'm excited for what's ahead with that and, yeah, I have a lot of you know high hopes and I feel good about it.

Dante: 51:56

I'm excited for it too. Honestly, I'm excited just to see where you go and Japan. I think it'd be really cool from, like, a personal perspective and from a content perspective. I think it's going to be really fulfilling for you.

Sasha: 52:09

Thank you so much.

Dante: 52:10

I'm excited for that you mentioned that you were doing a ramen apprenticeship. Like I'm super pumped for that because I mean I'm a sucker for good ramen.

Sasha: 52:19

It's a long running joke in my family. When I was in preschool, like it was career day and my family was like, well, what are you going to say? And like I loved ramen, it was my favorite food growing up and so I wanted to tell everyone I'm going to own a ramen noodle restaurant. And then once I got up on the stage and they asked, I was like uh, there was like three girls that said artist and that seems like the safe bet. So I said artist and my mom was like in the crowd, like ramen, ramen couldn't do it Too freaked out. And since then they're like Sasha, you, you have to pursue your dreams.

Sasha: 52:54

You have to have that ramen shop. Like I'm not going to open up a ramen shop, like 99% sure, but I will learn the art of ramen. I'm going to go there really just like own it. Have that moment that I could check it off, because my family is just like your ramen girl to an extent. To an extent we're going to own that. And who doesn't want a nice hot bowl of noodle soup?

Dante: 53:16

Especially today.

Sasha: 53:18

Yeah, and then when it's 90 degrees out.

Dante: 53:20

It's going to freezing rain tonight. We're literally going to be iced in tomorrow. With that said, go make yourself some ramen, and thank you for tuning into this episode. Go enjoy a nice hot bowl of ramen. Maybe add some spice to it also.

Sasha: 53:36

That sounds so good, and thank you so much for having me. I have had the best time.

Dante: 53:40

Yeah, no thanks for being here and sharing your success story so far, because it's it's not done. I'm calling it right here, I'm manifesting it. I think that's what it's called, like when you speak into existence. We're manifesting that it's not done. I'm excited to see, like the next several years, and just see what you do next. What will Sasha do? Sasha does it. I guess we'll find out. Oh my gosh, all you see you, all you did was you owned that concept from a bozo that didn't do things properly. You took it, reclaimed it, made it yours, and that is the motto.

Sasha: 54:19

Mic drop.

Dante: 54:22

Literally the mic. This table is so bad, like I really like, look at this, look at this. All it takes is one little and then the whole thing falls. So I am going to go on Amazon business right now, order myself a new table and you guys in the meantime, rate the show, check out the show notes in the description. I'll drop all of your links so everybody can go check everything out. Hopefully you can check out a stream. I'll put this out on a Friday, so check out the Sunday stream. Okay. Chat about what you thought about the episode. Okay, and hit subscribe. I'll see you guys in the next one. Bye, peace, центрal and serenity.