YouTube UpFronts in New York City

Last week, I took a trip down to NYC for my network, Deca aka Kin Community’s UpFront. I was asked to speak on a panel that included other YouTubers to potential advertisers.  

I got down on Thursday night and stayed with Theodora. I let myself in and was greeted by a doggie belly that needed to be rubbed. We went for a walk in a near by dog park while his mom finished up meetings. I wish I had a dog but given how much I travel and how small my apartment is, I feel like it’s unfair to the animal. Theodora met us in the park and afterwards we went to dinner at a delicious near by restaurant. I ordered a spinach salad with beets, feta and apricots to start and had a tofu dish that came with kale chips and chipotle sauce on top. I love NYC for their food options.

In the morning, I made Theordora come with me to Barry’s Bootcamp for a Total Body workout. It was brutal! It was my second visit to a Barry’s and I still love it! I can’t wait for them to open in Boston. My instructor was Noah, a cute and jacked male that apparently didn’t think sprinting on the treadmill was enough cardio that he gave the floor group mountain climbers and burpees too. After the workout, I checked my heart rate monitor to learn that I burned 522 calories during the 60 minute class. Had I not jumped in the shower right away, it probably would have read 622 in another 10 minutes.  

I grabbed a Not Your Average Joe smoothie with vegan brown rice protein powder while I got ready for the UpFront. I had a handful of almonds that I brought from home to keep from getting hungry right away as I wasn’t sure what would be at the SoHo house. When I first walked in, I noticed the coolest “Photo Booth” I have ever seen. 

Before everyone got there, I struck a pose with Jennifer, my community manager with Kin. She is like my liaison between YouTube and the people that put ads on my videos when you watch them. I don’t have a say in what goes next to my videos but Kin sometimes gets one of my favorite brands, like Target, unbeknownst to me. The fact that I just got accepted into the “Inner Circle” and their ads on my channel have no correlation. 

I finally got to meet one of my favorite YouTubers Mr Kate (picture bottom right)! She makes really fun DIY, style and beauty videos. Her unique personality and style is really magnetic and you can’t help but smile when around her. If she looks familiar, she also was on Entourage as the assistant to Debbie Mazar’s character, Shauna the publicist. I also met up and coming YouTuber Melissa (top left) of Clean My Space. Her videos are fabulous for everything from getting grease off a pan, sticker residue off glassware, and cleaning your fridge. Top right is the fabulous Jessica Harlow, a YouTube beauty guru who has a very loyal group of followers. We did a playlist collaboration together and boy did she send me a lot of clicks! It was nice to thank her in person.  

Lastly, the bottom left is Bernie who you won’t recognize but is the most successful on YouTube thus far as the creator of the Lizzie Bennet Diaries, a modern interpretation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice in the form of short YouTube videos as told by a 26 year old girl. Bernie is the executive produce, co-creator, head writer and director for the series. It is scripted (obviously) and has either won or been nominated for basically every award available for online video creators. Viewers loved the series so much, they demanded a DVD copy. Unsure if people would really buy it, he used KickStarter to see how many would purchase the product. With an initial goal of $60,000, the project has now raised over $460,000 with 7,158 backers. 

I spoke on the panel with Mr Kate, Bernie and Beth of Entertaining with Beth who I love but forgot to get a picture with. Beth has an channel filled with recipes for family friends meals as well as fine dining. Has a kick ass macaroon recipe you need to try. We chatted to the lovely crowd about why we make videos, what got us started, why we love our network and what makes us different. 

My favorite part of the event was not having to explain what I do for a living! I got to meet a the creator of Daily Candy, Tube Filter and many more online publications that I’ve read for years.