- Okay, I'm rolling.
This video has been a long time coming
and I decided it was finally time for me
to talk about,
why I left Buzzfeed.
Before I worked at Buzzfeed,
I was just a girl who had gone viral on Instagram
with a series of videos,
called The Girl Who Had Never Been On A Nice Date.
A large!
You got money, he got money, get it all for him.
And that you know, paid the bills for a while
but eventually, that money ran out partly
because I spent it all on crab leg dinners.
But also because that's what money does.
And I was like, "Man, I need to get a job, I need a job.
I need a J-O-B and a consistent stream of income
so I can stabilize myself."
And then I had a friend, Justin Kan, who many of you know,
he was working at Buzzfeed at the time.
He was like, "You should come and do this taste test video
where you're gonna taste Doritos."
I was like, "Okay, yeah all right.
I mean, I need some money, how much y'all paying?"
And he's like, "$200."
I was like, "To eat Doritos?
I'm coming there!"
- Interesting and new.
- I wish you guys could taste it, this thing so bad.
And I was like, "How does one work here?"
I wound up going to meet
with the person in charge at the time he was like,
"You wanna work here?"
And I said, "I don't know what to tell you people,
I need a job, I'm broke!"
And so they hired me.
I'm so excited it'll just be the two of us tonight.
- Oh no, Zack's coming too.
- Zack and Justin and I, it formed outta nowhere.
It was like, "We have a good thing going.
We got a good give-and-take and give-and-take."
- Can I get an amen?
- [Both] Amen.
- What was special about Zack is,
him and I had the same sense of humor,
the same reference points.
And then we both started making fun
of Justin for being bad at technology.
- Hey, does anyone have an iPhone 4 charger?
- I mean, I did back in 2010.
- It felt like we were able to make things
based off of what we found funny very easily together.
This is really weird but, it's okay.
I just don't wanna attend the party.
- Is it something I did?
- Oh my God Justin, no!
Are you kidding me, your a dear.
I just would rather not
and will not, be attending your party.
This girl Ashly Perez,
who was the complete opposite of me in every way,
she was optimistic, bubbly and peppy.
She, was insistent on bringing me
into this world Violet that was happening.
It was a channel on Buzzfeed.
It was her, Sarah and Ella
and they had these characters.
And to me,
it looked like they were making their own little universe.
- If she went anywhere out of character
she would've left a note, right?
- You're always supposed to leave a note, she knows that.
We watched 127 Hours together.
- You're right.
- She's fine.
(cave creature growls)
I was like, "All right, I'ma get in here
but I'ma do it my way."
It was fun specially for me
to kinda be the Black girl representation
in that world they were building.
Oh, I'm afraid of the government.
No one's policing them,
they can get away with whatever they want.
They'll never get me to talk.
- And you're also afraid of love.
(Quinta squeals)
- Man okay, the story of Broke.
I had this idea of making this show
about three friends in LA who like me,
you know, were broke.
- We have two pieces of bread.
- Hey, an almost empty jar of peanut butter.
- And a Cup of Noodles.
- We could make this work!
It was a test to see if they would watch a video
about three Black kids trying to make it.
(jazz music)
Oh hold up y'all,
we gotta pay rent.
We shot the whole series
and then we were able to sell the series to YouTube Red.
- Aye!
- That was a really cool turning point
for me mentally, as someone who wanted to make sitcoms.
- I'm on fire, I'm so on it today.
- I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you
'cause I'm too busy making strides towards my dream.
What are you two doing?
- Oh man, Oh my God, goin' deep!
Up For Adoption was a show that I made,
that is predecessor to what I'm making now for ABC.
I think style-wise, I was obsessed like many of us
with shows like The Office
and Parks and Recreation, mockumentary style shows.
I wanted to try my hand at making a show about a pet store.
I had gone to one to adopt my cat
and I was like, "You people are fascinating.
I wanna make a show about you."
What's wrong?
(Quinta screams)
That was the first time I was like,
"Ooh, I'm making something that's not based on me."
It made me feel like I had the ability
to create different worlds
which was really inspiring for me.
Do you want some?
They're for cats and people.
Some of my favorite memories were getting
to be creative in a way that I don't always get to be now.
Let me get you some water my little sweetheart.
(Quinta screams)
Those moments when you just tell somebody an idea
and they're like, "Yeah, let's do it!"
We are tasting condoms, making you proud Mom!
And then also drinking on Fridays,
I miss that a lot.
We used to get really (beep) drunk on Friday nights.
Drinks for all my friends!
(friends cheer)
For me, it was time to leave
when my ambitions
kind of became different
than just working a nine-to-five.
Requesting time off
to do things like write on a TV show,
and that conflicted
with keeping a nine-to-five job honestly.
For me, it felt like college
and you have to graduate from college.
And I think it was really just time for me to graduate.
In my world, I had no negative experience
that made me wanna leave.
I feel fortunate to have had the experience.
I feel fortunate to have been able to support myself
and not only my myself, but others.
I was able to support a lot of other young Black creators
that, otherwise may have never had a chance
in getting in this industry.
Quinta Brunson personally, has nothing but fond memories.
I looked at it as a really positive experience for me.
Oh my God, they want the tea.
I think that
yes,
but not because I left.
YouTube has changed, the algorithm has changed,
the Internet has changed.
And I think when I was there,
it was like a special moment in time.
And not because I was there but because it was.
YouTube and Facebook and all of that
was in such a, wooo!
Everything was blowing up.
It was a crazy phenomenon of like Wild Wild West,
some Internet creation.
And then I think after a while, that just died down
as things do sometimes.
That's the cycle of life friends.
(chuckles) Since I've left Buzzfeed,
I wrote for a TV show
called Lazor Wulf
which was an Adult Swim cartoon.
I was a voice on the popular Netflix show,
Big Mouth,
and will be returning for another season of that show.
And then I got casted on a show
called Black Lady Sketch show, which is on HBO.
And that was a really cool dream come true.
I sold a show that I am super excited about
and super passionate about to ABC
called Abbott Elementary
which will be coming to ABC, very soon.
You'll actually be able to watch it.
I sold it and it got made and we're gonna make more of it
and then it's gonna be on TV!
And also, I wrote a book!
That was a big thing I did.
This is the part I'm not good at.
If you wanna hear more
about you know my life and stuff,
and even more Buzzfeed juicy tidbits,
you can find it in my book.
I have to do this, I'm obligated to,
this is what you have to do when you're promoting a book.
I hate doing this, but I have to do it,
but, it is a good book and you should read it
if I do say so myself.
Not to toot my own horn
but I think I did a good job with this one.
- [Both] Quinta tripped aye!
Quinta tripped aye!
- Whatever.
(upbeat music)