Hello, my name is Grace Helbig, and I have been polarizing audiences since 1985.
Twenty-nine feeling fine.
I am so happy to be here tonight as your host.
Growing up I always dreamed of performing on a stage like this in front of a few hundred
upper-class advertisers.
But the closest I got was competing in the Miss New Jersey Pageant in 2005.
Yeah, Jersey!
This is where I hold for the over enthusiastic pride screams from the people in the audience
with neck tattoos.
Jersey!
The weekend that I competed, I struggled in heels.
Adults openly judged me, and I watched girls glue a wide variety of fabrics to their butts.
Yeah, it's actually very similar to this experience.
In fact, I saw Robert Kyncl backstage doing some light ab shading.
Get ready.
Yeah, man on a mission.
To give you a little bit of my backstory, I was like many people who go to college and
have absolutely no idea what they want to do.
The only clarity I had in those four years was the simple idea that I wanted to make
people laugh, that's it.
So when I graduated in 2007, I did what every ambitious communications major does.
I worked at an Olive Garden.
I was serving endless pasta bowls and unlimited breadsticks to the Rutgers football team.
Wow!
Yeah, you don't have to clap for that.
That was not the best time.
Eventually, though my parents' prayers were answered, and I got a nine to five at MTV
in project management, very cool.
And at this time, I had also become an active performer at The People's Improv Theater and
found myself making people laugh onstage once a week.
And I got addicted to that sensation.
So eventually, I 86ed, restaurant reference, I 86ed my job at MTV for the stable opportunity-filled
life of a Manhattan waitress.
Anyone need a pilot written?
Got one for you.
My life became waiting tables, doing improv, and auditioning for TV shows, films, and commercials.
I used my hospitaliano summer savings to buy an iMac computer and for fun started making
videos or vlogs with my roommate, Michelle.
That's her right there, yeah.
You can clap because she's a real human being.
Yeah, not lying.
Yeah, not made up.
We would make videos about our experiences living in Brooklyn and after almost a year
of casual vlogging, a website called, My Damned Channel got in touch with me about creating
original content for them.
And before I knew it my hobby became a career, and I was making comedy videos for a series
called Daily Grace.
And for two years I was making five videos a week but for My Damn Channels website only.
Until we finally decided to share the content in a place where the real audience seemed
to be, YouTube.
There I found a community, and I found my voice.
I learned things from my audience like One Direction is a thing.
And my audience learned about irritable bowels from me.
Education was abounding and our relationship was blossoming.
I was falling in love with the new media industry until I found out that, "Uh oh, I was doing
it completely wrong."
You see, unlike most YouTubers at the time, my reality was that I worked for a company.
I didn't own my content.
I didn't have full control over what I was creating and because of that, the relationship
that I was developing with my audience wasn't my own.
So I did one of the scariest things that I've ever done in my life to date.
At the end of 2013, I decided to leave My Damned Channel and Daily Grace and start a
new channel on my own.
I abandoned over 2 million subscribers and I left over 200 million video views, and I
started again from scratch.
Like baking a cake except I really like the boxed stuff.
I was terrified.
I had no idea if my audience was truly loyal.
Would they follow me?
Would they want to see my videos giving passive-aggressive Christmas gift suggestions?
Or my insightful thoughts on how condescending babies are going to be very trendy for spring
2015.
Write it down.
But, thankfully, the community caught wind of my situation and, within a month, thanks
to messages of support from some of my favorite YouTube influencers and the pure devotion
of my audience I had over a million subscribers on my new channel and today over two million.
Crazy, a huge thank you!
It's you guys!
Yeah, you get a car, you get a car, you get a car!
Do it, Google!
Thank you very much to all of you that are here tonight that have shown so much support
to me.
And you advertisers are probably thinking, "Hey, cool job.
You started a new YouTube channel.
This doesn't matter to me.
I want a bajillion views on my diet soda ad."
Okay, if all you care about is passive awareness, there are some three-legged dogs on Instagram
that can get that job done for you.
I follow a lot of French Bulldogs on Instagram you guys.
Also, I highly recommend Beanz Hart on Instagram if you're looking for a role model.
But the reason that you're sitting here I hope, I sincerely hope, is because you want
more.
You want to know that the audience is actively choosing to watch my video and your ad and
not just passively seeing it as they scroll by.
Because people come to my channel, because these people watch my channel to watch my
videos, your ad resonates a whole lot more because these people are engaged.
And how do I know this?
Well, this is where I get really self-serving.
In the last year, I've experienced firsthand how engaged this audience is.
They've made my book number on the New York Times Best Seller List.
Yeah, you guys.
This writing, what?
You guys did that.
My podcast debuted at number one on iTunes.
They went to Netflix to watch movie, Camp Dakota, and thousands came to over 20 cities
to watch the No Filter Comedy Tour that I do with my best friends and fellow content
creators, Hannah Hart and Amy Hart.
It's all been extremely humbling.
And the audience has told me that I am like an awkward older sister to them.
They support me and, most importantly, I think they trust me.
It's weird.
And that's a huge part of the reason that E has recently giving me my own television
show.
And they said it is not because they lost a bet.
They said it.
We'll find out.
But instead they're betting on the bond that I have with my audience to entertain E's audience
and to make their advertisers happy.
And as excited as I am about E, or the book, or the podcast, my YouTube community is my
core.
It is the space that has allowed me to grow in a creative, collaborative, and professional
personal way.
My two favorite feelings in life are laughter and being inspired.
And I am so grateful that my YouTube world allows me to provide those feelings to others
on a daily basis.
So advertisers, the power of this fan community is real.
It is honest, and it is extremely special.
And I feel very blessed to be a part of it.
So all of you out there if you don't join this community, you're missing out on connecting
with the best audience, fans, subscribers, viewers, friends, consumers, whatever you
want to call them, in the world.
Thank you.