by Akilah Hughes , as told to Abbey Stone
You read those interviews where people say , “ I was a dancer when I was 2”—it was n’t like I was doing bandstand - up at 2 . But I ’m the young , and the way you get in with elderly siblings is by making them laugh . So when I was very young , I cash in one’s chips , “ You know what , I ’m just go to get effective at this . ”
In high shoal I get really into improv and competed on our speech and drama team , and I did plays and comedies in college . It should have been a no - brainer to transfer it to YouTube , but it took me forever to understand that ’s what I need to do . I was nervous and intimidated when I started posting videos . I had no approximation if what I was doing was lame or stupefied or sticky . Most of my friend ’ initial reactions were , “ Why ? ” They just did n’t get it . I do n’t blame them .
My first videos were mostly shopping catch and book reviews . I tried to fit into categories like beauty or books , but I was like a second - rate version of an established personality or else of myself . Then I thought , “ You know what , I ’m just going to make fun of myself , because I ’m bad at television . ” That became the radical of my channel : how high-risk I can be at unlike thing .
I ’d been brand videos for years before any took off . It ’s thwarting when you know you ’re suspicious and you know you ’ve got a singular perspective , but the things you carry do n’t reflect that . A set more than talent pass into pretend TV .
“ forgather Your First Black Girlfriend ” changed everything . Neither Tim Knight , who serve me shoot and edit , or I think that was going to be the success . I post it around 8 p.m. to my Tumblr , and after 10 instant , it already had over 1000 reblogs . That ’s when I knew . There was n’t a Champagne goner and a hand - delivered loge of money and a letter of the alphabet of acknowledgement from Lorne Michaels . I just go bad to bottom excited to see how many people would see it by morning .
I ’ve realized YouTube is not on the dot a weapons platform that encourage or abide diverse talent . No one like me has ever really “ made it ” there . It ’s not just about race ; it ’s about the brand of drollery . I do n’t need to be a smuggled Grace Helbig ; I want to be Akilah Hughes . I know YouTube is changing , but my contender is adolescent pranks and cute animals , and it still has n’t made that much room for various voices . But , I do get a endearing paycheck from them every month , which is nice when you ’re making it in the big urban center on your own . Those student loan are n’t run to pay themselves .
After “ Meet Your First Black Girlfriend , ” everything was unlike . I left my boring day job for a comedy - writing job at MTV and start working with Fusion ( an ABC and Univision joint venture ) writing blog posts and shooting study . I obtain to host Spike TV’sComic - Con All Access , which was a full dreaming .
Recently I asked a friend who does comedy , “ Do you know there are even people who go home after body of work and just learn TV and that ’s their night ? Like , they ’re not worried about anything . ” And she suppose , “ I do n’t know what that ’s like . ” I hazard I ’m one of the lucky ones who never expect YouTube to become a career . The plan is to remember my ascendent and my hearing and to bring them on the journey with me . I want to be Chris Rock , but young and hot .
