Hey everyone it's Julie Young
For Korean American Story And Not Your Average
Today I am sitting down
With my new friend, Ellie Lee
Hey Ellie
Hi
It's good to see you
And Ellie was on a plane this morning
Coming back from L.A.
I was
But I'm here, alive and well
And cheers
Cheers
This is not water
She is not playin' guys alright
She is not playin'
Alright let's start a little bit
Back in the beginning
Okay
Born in Jersey
I was born and raised in
Bergen County, New Jersey
My Dad, mom
Younger brother, younger sister
Before, they're like "Oh, you're the oldest?"
I'm like yeah
and they're like "Oh you don't seem like it."
I'm like, "Okay no one asked you."
Yeah, no I have a younger brother younger sister.
My dad has been in the retail business for a long time
My mom went to F.I.T
So there's always been like, clothing, fashion
I did like little kid modelling in New York City
You know, walking down the runway
I cried too much, got kicked out
But whatever, it's fine
I'm doing okay
So yeah, I grew up in a family of retail in New Jersey
So I read this-
There was a blog that I found and
I think you were like a guest post on it
I think it was called like "Ugly Duckling" or something like that
And you were talking about how when you grew up
You had, basically the experience of being this
How would you describe it?
I was very quiet and very timid
And very shy
I had a group of four other Korean girls
We would call each other the spice girls
And in that group I was the quietest
I never said anything I was always in the back
I was so shy I was like
Public speak- like I don't know when I was like eight or nine
But just- speaking in front of a group and stuff, freaked me out
And then as I got older into middle school
I'll never forget it
There's this girl Lauren she was the most popular girl
In seventh grade
And everything about her I was like, I'm awed by her
I was like, "Oh my gosh"
You have like a nice body
And you know how to wear makeup
And you wear cool stuff
And she and I were partnered up
For- in math class together
And I was so nervous in her presence
I was so nervous of like being judged and like, all this stuff
I remember her, she held her hand up in class
She was like "Can I get another partner?"
"Because my partner doesn't speak"
And I remember, after that happened where I was like, okay
It needs to change because
I don't like feeling like this
And I'm not gonna let someone make me feel like this
So that's when I started, I think really started coming out of my shell
And really just-
All of a sudden I was like louder
I was more boisterous I was saying more things
And then it just snowballed into what you're seeing now
that's amazing
But so how-
So you say you grew up and you always knew you wanted to be a host?
Yeah
I think it hit me when I was in
Highschool really
Because I grew up in the day and age of TRL
During the
Early 2000's, I guess late 90's early 2000's
That was the show
And Carson Daly was the host of it
And MTV had a thing about VJ's
Which were video disk jockeys
And these were people who hosts these shows and
I would watch and I be like that's what I want to do
Like that is amazing That's something that I want to do
And I remember
I was really good
At giving class presentations at my history class
I just love speaking in front of people
And controlling whether or not I was gonna make them laugh or not
Whether or not I was gonna keep them engage
I like that whole challenge of it
And I remember I asked
My history teacher for a college recommendation
And she said no because I wasn't a good student
I said no but I want to be on tv
She's like, "Oh for that I'll write it."
Because she saw that I had potential in this
So it was something that I've always strived for
I've always wanted to be and
Yeah I've done a lot in it
So then after MTV Korea
Is that when you went to VH1?
Yes
I auditioned for VH1
For four excruciating months
At that point I had been dog walking at that point-
And they're the same company like
And so at that point I was hitting a
A time
Where I was like, "Oh"
This hustle
Is really weighing on me
If I don't hit something
That's gonna change my life in some way
I don't know how long I can do this for
And so when
VH1 was happening I remember
I'll never forget this
I went to this audition
And I walked in and there was this
Super cute Latina girl
And there's this really pretty white girl
And as I sat down, the white girl went in to go audition
And the Latina girl was sitting there
Everything about her was cute
You know like her hair was fine
She looked fine, the clothes were fitting
And she was like, "Oh my god"
She's like, "If I knew that this was gonna run so late I would of done my hair"
I'm like, "Oh my god, your hair looks so cute though"
And I'm just looking at her I'm like, that's what they probably want
I'm like looking at my reflection
Why would they want me?
You know like
Just why would they want me
And I remember texting my younger brother and I said
I'm freaking out
I was like, I should leave I don't need to be here
This is what he said to me, he said
Dude you're there for a reason
You know, you made it there for a reason
You just have to be yourself and show them
And as soon as he said that I was like, "Oh yeah"
This girl may be cute
But like, I'm bringing something that she's not
And so my job is to be myself
And make sure that these people are on the same vibe
If you don't get me it's not gonna work out
You know?
So I went to that audition and they made me do the craziest things
Oh my god
I mean this was the longest audition
On-camera audition I ever had
They were like, "Okay, you're on a red carpet"
Okay, oh oh oh
Oh here we go, okay
Jennifer Lopez is coming down the carpet what are you asking her?
So it's like they wanted to test like are you up on your pop culture
Do you know
You know, these celebrities, you know
And they were like, okay now we're gonna go through
Around twenty slides of all these celebrities
In halloween costumes and we want you to riff on them
And I was like, "Okay, I'm not a comedian but okay let's go"
And so it was like
You know, it was different things
And they're like, okay now read this script
And do this and do that
And so I left feeling really good about it
Like I felt really good about it
Long story short four months later when they called me
They were like, "We want you"
I literally felt like, okay
This is like- this is the push that I needed
Because if this didn't pan out I would of probably
Bowed out in some way
It's just like
It sometimes it's just not worth so much emotional stress
I'm always stressful and so
This industry is not good for people like me because its not
And so
This was the next step
I later learned that I was up against
A girl that had a huge following that was blonde
And there were people pushing for her
But the other people that
Really pushed me forward and said no we want this girl
We're people who just
Watched me and they enjoyed me and like
Also
They loved the fact that I wasn't like a white girl
You know and so VH1
I always say like no body talks about this
But like the fact that VH1 invested in
An Asian-American women thats never happened before
It felt- like really meant alot to me
That it wasn't about
They weren't looking at this they were just looking at talent
You know, and it wasn't about the fact that I was asian
And then I ended up getting that
That's awesome
Um okay so iHeart radio
So Viacom at this point had let go of a lot of people
And I was destitute
I went back to zero
I was at the point where I was
Living the life
Like I was making decent money
I was getting clothed
I was getting my hair and makeup done
I was doing live shows on JetBlue airplanes in the sky
And then I went down to nothing
And I didn't have a lot of money saved
I couldn't afford to live in my apartment
With my friends anymore I had to move out
I moved into a five girl apartment
In Brooklyn with like no heat in my room
And I was
Devastated
I had hit a breakdown
I went to LA to go see my manager and I was driving
And I had a breakdown because I was like
Who wants me?
I thought VH1 was gonna be my
Next three years
It was gonna be
Its gonna launch me into the next thing but
When Viacom
The massacre happened
You know it wasn't that and so I was like
I didn't know whats gonna happen and so
It taught so much about
Never taking things for granted
Learning how to survive when you're so broke
I literally e-mailed
People I used to walk dogs for
After I had lived this- whatever and I was like
Hey looking for some side gigs
And I ended up
This is no joke
I ended up writing dog
Cat
Dog food, cat food reviews
For Jet.com
And that's how I made money for like six months
And this is in between all of these things so
You know but I think that
God, the universe, whatever
Makes it hard sometimes so you learn alot of things
And I learned alot of things
And it humbled me
And it made me feel like okay
I can get through things
You know like, I understand what its like to
I understand that
In the grand scheme of things
I am not a big deal
Who am I, you know?
But I think its about
Knowing that
Knowing that about yourself
Is a really good place to be like
Constance Wu
Shout out to Constance Wu who I think is such a badass
She said this thing in this interview
That like, blew my mind
She said- she literally came from nothing
She doesn't have a relationship with her parents at all
Her family at all
And she says if tomorrow all of this Hollywood stuff went away
If I lost "Fresh off the Boat"
If no one was calling me
She's like I would be so fine
Because I kno-
I have been to where
It has been alone
And just that dark lonely place
And the fact that she survived and she can say that
Is the most badass thing
That's some like Lucy Liu, Kill Bill
Decapitating your head stuff, you know? and so
Hearing something like that I'm like yes
And I think even though
The past x amount of years have really been hard on me
Like emotionally
Like, I'm not gonna cry
I'm not gonna cry
Emotionally it has been really hard on me
I think its just
You just
You doubt yourself
Your broke like
You don't know what the next thing is gonna be like
This constant thing of just like comparing yourself to everybody
And so
It has taught me a lot about
Survival
And like, I know that like I can get through things because
I have been at a very low place
Okay, so one of the things I love about you
Amongst many
Is that you're open about this
And you're not afraid
And so much, if you're in the media
Is about appearances
Always being perfect
So like your- even your
Your instagram and stuff like that
I love that you like, when you're having a bad day
You know or whatever, you're not afraid to share it
And you're real about it
Because I think that so many people who
Just you know are on the outside looking in at this world
Think it's this perfect like you said luxury
But there's so much about it
Its hard and ugly and not so luxury
And glamorous and whatever so
I think it's so important for people to be real about it
Yes I agree
So I thank you for doing that
Thank you for letting me do that
So what do you do when you're in those places
Like how do you get through it?
The biggest thing that I suffer from is
I'm always like okay what's next
How am I gonna top this?
Because she's doing that so like what do I need to do?
Comparison game
Right
And so I think its about
Like all the little victories
Like really think about all those little things that you did
To get to where you are now
And like that in itself is the win
And so I always go back to okay
Its about the process
You're still doing this
You know, you're still getting paid
Like you're still good don't worry about it
And you're just evolving and growing
Which I feel like I'm really doing
In my life like as a woman I feel
Really as if
Growing up as a very Christian
You know living- Christian Korean
Conservative living in a very tight bubble and now
Being on my own I'm just like
Woah woah woah self love
Wait a minute
I gotta do this I need to work on this
So I think
I think for myself I'm really
Embracing the fact that I'm becoming somebody that
I want to just like keep
You know carving and making better and stronger
Because there's just so much to discover I guess
Yeah
And it's a journey its about the journey right?
Yes
Okay iHeart radio, I'm sorry
Yeah
You know, things started really happening after that I was like
Wendy Williams called
And they were like we want you to do entertainment segments with her
And I was doing live tv with Wendy Williams
And then I was doing things with People
And People Style
And I'm doing things on Amazon and auditioning
And so I've consistently been working all these small gigs
And all these things that you know, have really
Got me to the next place
With iHeart radio I had met with
The VP over there of the digital team
The digital host there had left and so
She was like, "I want you to fill up this role"
And again it's just about
I'm a female and I'm
A minority
And just the fact that they were doing that
Is so cool to me too
And so yeah I'm with iHeart radio
And I do all their videos
You know, youtube content
And so I get to interview a lot of music artist
And I'm up on all the music
And I go to all these iHeart radio Jingle Ball
These huge events and I get to see
You know what its like
And I talk to all these
You know, young kids
Oh my god
I'm like, "Man I am old okay I am old!"
Well Ellie thank you so much for stopping by today
Cheers
I wish you so much more success
And we'll be watching