Introduction
I hit a hundred K on YouTube holy! I can’t even. Jesus, holy, you’re so happy as I am and as proud of myself as I am to be sitting here achieving this milestone and making this video that I’ve envisioned in my head for so long. I would be kidding myself if I sat here and told you guys that I did this completely on my own. Yes, I definitely put in the work, but anyone who achieves any milestone on YouTube or in their life has people helping them, people behind the scenes that have supported them through this entire process. So, I have a big list of people coming up that I would like to thank, so bear with me. These are the people who have supported me through this whole process, who have shared my videos, collaborated with me, exposed me and my work to new audiences, and most importantly, been my friend. Everyone will be listed in the order in which they appeared in my life. Obviously, Chris was the first person to appear in my life, but I’m saving him for the end because dramatic effects.
The first person I’d like to thank is Lucy Martin. Some of you guys might already know Lucy because she also has her own YouTube channel. We met in University, and we met because Lucy was one of Chris’s really good friends. I’ve kind of stolen her from Chris. Well, Lucy, if you’re watching this, you’ve been one of the few people that understood from the very beginning why I started YouTube. You’ve been my friend all the way through this, and she actually sent me a 100k present today, a big box of salt and vinegar chips – that’s my favorite kind of chip. It’s my favorite food; chips are a food group for me.
Yes, Peter McKinnon, thanks to you starting your YouTube channel and then telling Chris he should start his YouTube channel, it gave me the fire to start my own and be a role model for other female filmmakers. So, thank you for that. Travis, now a lot of you guys don’t know Travis. Travis is actually my agent but is a huge part of what I do. He invested in me super early; I didn’t have a huge following when he came on. He saw the potential in me and in my channel. He’s been a huge part of giving me the ability to make this my full-time job, so thanks, Travis.
Becky and Chris, my first YouTube collab ever. We had actually never met before, but we slid into each other’s DMS. Well, I invited you guys, if you’re watching this, to Chris’s 100 K party. They drove up here from Buffalo, and we had never met in person before, which is kind of weird. Since then, we’ve gone on so many adventures together, from heli pancakes to my cottage this past summer. You guys have honestly inspired me so much over the last two years. You stuck to your guns and made content that you’re super passionate about, and you didn’t deviate from that ever. I admire that so much, and thanks for being my friend.
Kitty, who goes by Atola Visuals on YouTube. She was actually one of the first female YouTubers I found when Chris started his channel. I was like, where are the other female YouTubers? I can’t find them. I was like, wow, this girl’s so fricking cool. She’s so chill and so fun in her videos. Not too long after I started my channel, I think it was a few months in, I believe she commented on one of my videos, and I remember just completely losing it because at that time, I just thought she was so cool. So, we kept talking from that point on. Almost a year after we started talking, I was like, why don’t I just come visit you in San Francisco? I went by myself to San Francisco to sleep on a girl’s couch that I’d never met before. Not the couch, I’d never met her before. We had the actual best time. We are two peas in a pod. We honestly spent most of the weekend drinking margaritas and watching Jersey Shore, and I’m not mad about it at all.
Sorelle Amore, she has felt like my YouTube mama. It’s not even like she’s very much older than me, maybe it’s because she’s so tall and I feel so small. Oh, you so much more than me. Wait, I pretend I’m welcome. Lizzy, you just feel like she’s like a mother to me through this whole process. She really took a chance on me and collaborated with me when I had just under 20,000 subscribers, I think. And we were friends, but I just remember being like, that’s so nice, thank you so much. It always means so much when someone else likes your work enough to want to share it with their own audience and they think you’re good. So, it meant a lot to me – her persistence, her energy, her silliness. She reminded me that I had all the tools to do this, that I just needed to dream big and put in the work. And because we’re friends, I was lucky enough to get an inside look at her success. It made me one, really proud to be friends with such a boss lady, and two, it just reinforced that I could do this. Your friendship has been super valuable to me, and thank you.
And Johnny Harris, we met at Buffer Festival two years ago, and now that we’ve become such good friends, Chris and I value their friendships so, so much. Isn’t I, along with Becky from Becky and Chris, have a monthly mastermind, so we talk every month. Last week, we were actually in Vancouver all together, and I just want to say this about you, because she’s Finn. I don’t even know if she knows this is I don’t know if you know this, but this is what you’ve done for me. You’ve really given me the confidence in myself as an artist when I felt really embarrassed to say so or feeling down on myself or feeling not good at my work. The things you say to me, I will remember and tell myself those things because they make me feel good about myself. So, thank you.
Cody Waner, before we even met, you were sharing my content everywhere. It meant a lot to me because you were so nice and you were always so on top of it. When we finally got to meet at the Moment Invitational, you brought up my Creator video, and if you guys haven’t seen it, Cody said to me that that video meant so much to him because of his two daughters, and that has always stuck with me. And I just want to say thank you for always being a huge supporter of me and my work, and I’m so stoked that we got to collab recently. I love the video, so thanks, Cody.
Sarah, Sarah Dietschy, Sarah again was kind enough to share me and my work with her audience. I think I had about sixty-five thousand subscribers. Sarah, if you’re watching, I think you’re one of the most genuine people I’ve ever met, and I really look up to you in the way that you’ve grown your business and you’ve made yourself such an integral part of the tech space. I feel so lucky to be your friend.
Donna from Denner did it on our last trip to Alberta. We messaged on up because he lives in Edmonton. We were like, hey, do you want to come meet us? We’re gonna be in Jasper. Come show. He came, spent the day with us. We shot photos, we shot video, we did a video together. Again, they’ll be linked. We had such a great time. Again, he’s such a kind person, a genuine person, been super supportive of my work. I’ve really enjoyed our friendship, so thanks, Donna.
Kristin, you guys wouldn’t know Kristin either. She’s another agent of mine. So, she facilitates all the contracts with tourism boards and a lot of the travel-related jobs that we do. Thank you for helping to, again, give us such a fun job, to find projects that we are super keen on doing. We love these tours and projects. It gives us the ability to make money and travel at the same time, which is crazy. And thank you for being such a great friend, too. I genuinely love you, so thanks.
Recent additions to LP Incorporated, it’s not my company, don’t Google it, okay? My two assistants, Lydia and Holly, and my vlog editor, Josh. Literally wouldn’t be able to do this without you guys. You do such a great job, you make my life so much easier. You made this channel successful, Josh, you’ve been killing it with the vlogs. So, thank you guys so, so much. Your work does not go unnoticed. Also, thanks for dealing with my crazy-ass.
I wrote things down that I wanted to say to Chris, and they sound really good written down. And I feel like if I try and say them from my mouth raw, you know what I mean, like off-the-cuff, that’s the expression, then it won’t sound as good. So, I’m gonna read it and see if I think of anything else after I read it. Chris, you haven’t just seen me work my butt off, but occasionally you have been the source of my frustration many times because you always try to help, and I am very independent, but
