Justine Ezarik began her social media career in 2007, back when influencers were known as lifecasters. Over the years, she's built a tech-savvy brand by reviewing new gadgets and gear from Apple, Google, and Tesla. Her 7 million YouTube subscribers tune in to her Tech Tuesday videos to watch her review the latest smartphones, headphones, and EVs. Beyond reviews and unboxing, iJustine interviews the most prominent tech leaders. Her guests have included Apple's Tim Cook, Alphabet's Sunday Pichai, and Spotify's Daniel Ek. She has inked brand partnerships with Microsoft, Amazon, and BMW.
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevenbertoni/2024/10/28/top-creators-2024-the-influencers-turning-buzz-into-billions/
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00You film something. It's like it may never come out. It may never actually happen and sometimes I'll be sitting on set
00:04Doing nothing and I'm like I could have filmed
00:0745 YouTube videos right now while I'm just sitting and waiting for someone to call action
00:15Hey everybody, welcome to Forbes top creator
00:17I'm Forbes assistant managing editor Steven Bertone here with Justine Ezerec. Otherwise known as I Justine
00:24Welcome aboard. Thank you so much for me. So I Justine is an old-school
00:29Creator we're talking
00:322007 back when they were called vloggers or what was the other term for that?
00:36I mean also then because I was on like Justin TV doing like the live streaming so they called us life casters life casters
00:41Yeah, I mean that was like that was so early. So Justine old-school life caster
00:462007 now she has a
00:48Super popular tech YouTube channel where she not only reviews all the gadgets all the trends, but it lands serious interviews
00:56We're talking Apple's Tim Cook. We're talking Spotify's Daniel Eck. You're like a real tech journalist. I'm jealous
01:02I Justine welcome to the show. Thank you. This is super fun
01:05So let's start out you said you were a life caster
01:08So that is that takes me back to the days now when people say that I'm like kind of cringing
01:14It's just like sounds so weird to say or to like even hear it because it was like such a long time ago
01:19So yeah, so Justin TV, which turned into twitch TV
01:23I was one of the first well second
01:26People that was live casting so I streamed for six months straight basically 24-7
01:30I would never do that again
01:32But it was so fun because you really connected with your audience in like a whole different way
01:36What were you like tell me what were you like a typical thing you would post and not post like live stream
01:41Like would you did you have an eye with these iPhones or this is before? Oh, oh my god
01:45This is actually this was 2007. So it was like right sort of in that iPhone time frame
01:50I would just take people through my day and it then I wasn't just like with like a camera like video cameras
01:55Oh, yes, it was a laptop connected to a webcam. That was connected to a hat that I wore and
02:03Basically just kind of took them through my day and I was still doing like freelance graphic design. You wore a hat
02:08Yes that had a webcam like on the bill
02:10yeah, but then I would like I kind of use that as like a tripod so if I was at a restaurant I would like put
02:14The hat on like the ketchup bottle and that would kind of look at the scene with me and my friends
02:18So yeah, that was like 2007. How'd you get into that? I ran into the guy Justin Khan who?
02:25Started it at Mac world in San Francisco. And at the time I was doing YouTube videos and like this is so cool
02:30I don't have to edit I can just live stream
02:33I mean live streaming obviously is a whole nother set of challenges
02:37But it was just such a fun experiment at the time
02:41What were you doing at the time when you got recruited to do this stuff? I
02:46Had I think just quit my job and kind of like really was kind of going in on job
02:50I was a video editor at a chiropractor office a video editor at a chiropractor's office for one office
02:57I it was yeah, they kind of like made commercials for other chiropractors. Okay, and I was like a really fast video editor
03:03So what would take most people maybe like two days? It would take me one day
03:07So I had all this like free time
03:08So I'd like kind of taught myself to edit in Final Cut which we were using avid at the time
03:13Okay, so I kind of like was honing my skills in my free time and started making, you know
03:17YouTube videos there so you get free back work from doing that. Um, basically, I mean it was just like
03:23Well, I don't have anything else to do. So I'll just kind of teach myself Final Cut Wow wild and
03:28So you started this this life casting did that change your life? I think it did. It definitely gave me a lot of anxiety
03:36Because when I quit doing it you still felt like people were watching you so I mean
03:41For six months straight people were so after that it was just like this weird like paranoid feeling and like always being super
03:48Self-conscious so that took years to kind of get out of but I think that whole experience
03:53Was so much fun because it really was such an early time of the internet that no one else was doing that
03:59How did you evolve from the life caster to building? I just seen to building your YouTube empire?
04:05Yes, I started like I bought the domain in 2002. So I've had the I just seen domain for a while
04:10I mean I was this 22 years
04:12Yeah, that's crazy. And then I made like my first website when I was probably in sixth grade
04:18So that was way before that. And so I just had always had this like love of tech
04:23okay, and I think it was like around like the myspace kind of time is when like
04:28I just think kind of came about because Justine was taken. Okay, so I was like, oh well iPod. I love Apple
04:33I'll just throw an eye in front of it. Okay, and I just kind of started posting content and when I found YouTube
04:39That's when I really felt like there was community, you know, I started getting engagement. There was comments
04:44I was like, oh wow people are watching these these weird videos that I'm making and we're doing tech videos back then
04:49Are you doing more still life casting or no?
04:51I mean, I was just kind of like filming stuff throughout the day and it was more
04:54I really started that channel because I was kind of like teaching myself to edit like I had said I was I was editing at
05:00the chiropractor's office and then teaching myself this other platform and then I started posting it and it was really just
05:06kind of sharing stuff with my friends that we thought was funny and it just
05:11Evolved now fast-forward to me today. What is the I Justine business right now?
05:16How many followers you have, you know sort of your your cadence would tell me what what goes on there?
05:20Yeah, no, it's been interesting because I think the the last few years I've kind of been in that I feel like okay
05:25So because I've been doing this for so long. I feel like every five to seven years
05:28I feel like there's like a shift of like, okay. I need to reassess. What do I like to do?
05:32What is what is working and what do people like?
05:36So I guess now I have a very small team like I still edit a lot of my own videos
05:40Which people they don't believe it and they get mad
05:43They're like you should just hire a bunch of editors
05:45But it's something that I really truly love
05:47So being able to kind of like have a bunch of footage and storytell out of that
05:51It's just it's so rewarding. You still edit on Final Cut. I do still edit on Final Cut. Yeah, I'm learning CapCut
05:56I feel very cool and very Gen Z with my CapCut, right? Yeah, but the CapCut is awesome
06:00Yeah, it's so cool because you can
06:02Do a lot on the phone as well
06:04And then it also translates to the computer and so have you tell me in what is what am I gonna find in your channel?
06:10Like I love how you do tech how you decide what to feature again. What's your team like? Yeah, so
06:16It is pretty much tech, but I feel like for me. It's like tech travel and
06:22Sort of fun. So I think my channel has a good lifestyle play
06:25It really is so I just think that there's so much tech and pretty much everything
06:30So if I want to do sort of a day-in-the-life vlog, I work that into a product review
06:34So it could be a review of a new camera. Well, here's my day-in-the-life using this new camera
06:39Give me an example of what you did the last one you did
06:41Um, I did a day-in-the-life wearing a vision Pro
06:43So I wore the vision Pro all day and showed like how I used it and took it into my daily life
06:48Do people like stop you in the street?
06:50Um, I think this is a time where people were kind of used to it and it's LA
06:53So, okay. I was just another person doing weird stuff. He's worried all day, but you can see okay through it
06:58Uh, you know you could see but I you I didn't drive with it just to put that out there
07:05Yes to be safe
07:06But yeah
07:06Did you know things like that and how would it tell me about how you decide like I'm gonna feature
07:10This product on your show a lot of it is when new stuff comes out
07:15It's like you want to be sort of like the first person to be able to get your hands on it
07:18that helps with search and
07:21You know a lot of the creators are known for getting this stuff ahead of time
07:25So they're like, okay as soon as the iPhone comes out
07:26We know we have to go to Justine's channel because she's gonna have content about it
07:30Tell me about how does this work with your I want to get into this later
07:33But your relationship with these big tech companies like obviously it's very hard to get these things early
07:38But you've really built up a credibility and relationships with these with these teams
07:42How does it work like tell me when you get like I'm sure you're one of the first to get a vision Pro
07:45Let's stay with that. Like you get a call from Apple that we're gonna send you this super secret
07:50Like, you know in embargo to black box with it in and you can test it out, but you can't show it to anybody
07:56I'm sure your name's like stenciled on it. So if it gets stolen and like how did how did that work?
08:00Yeah, I mean usually that process is also a super secretive as well. But we know working with brands like that
08:06I mean, you're usually you have to be a trusted source and I feel like you know, if if you're not
08:12You know, they're not gonna be able to send you these things. So obviously you're signing NDAs. They send you products early
08:17they give you a date to release and then you just kind of
08:20Hustle and get content out for the for the embargo date. It's so cool. What's been like
08:25the the biggest
08:27I mean as a tech expert
08:29What are some of the coolest gadgets in the last like decade that have been the most life-changing?
08:33I'm sure it's obvious like yes, the iPhone has changed everything social media
08:37But like what sort of things have like really stood out to you? I feel like health tech
08:40That's I think this next year where I'm gonna focus a lot of my energy, you know
08:45I've been doing a lot of sort of personal research on myself and I haven't actually published a lot of
08:49My findings and things like that
08:51so it's kind of I
08:52Feel like being able to take your health into your own hands is gonna be so important going forward and just being able to
08:57use tech and AI to be able to identify things before it becomes a problem is
09:03Going to be life-changing for so many people. What is your favorite health tech thing out there right now?
09:07I love the aura ring. It's just something that's so small. Okay. Yeah, so it's it tracks your sleep
09:13It tracks your blood oxygen level. It'll auto detect activities that you're doing and it's just a really great easy way to kind of
09:20You know gauge that overall
09:22You know how you're how you're doing and I see you have an eye you have an Apple watch
09:25I have an Apple watch is like you're like competing
09:28Competing sensors coming in like different different information. Not really
09:31They work they work so well together because it's like it all kind of goes into health kit
09:34And I think that's what's so awesome about
09:36You know sort of the whole Apple
09:37ecosystem right now like they're doing so much in the health space and to be able to take all of these wearables and be able
09:42To have it all in one place is it's just a dream come true
09:45Let's while we're on Apple. I want to talk Tim Cook. So like Tim Cook has been like a Forbes white whale
09:50We've been lucky enough at Forbes. I've done like over 15 cover stories on on top, you know founders and CEOs
09:58You know, we've covered my team like the Forbes team has had all the CEOs but never Tim Cook
10:02I feel like the joke is Apple the head of LPR gets paid a lot of money to say no to everybody
10:07But you've scored that tell me how did that come about and you can first of all tell me
10:12Yeah, how did you get a special, you know time with Tim Cook, which is very very rare
10:16Yeah
10:17I mean
10:17it was just one of those things that that Apple reached out as an opportunity and they said do you want to do this and
10:22I was like
10:23I'm sorry. Yes, of course, and it's great because I think Tim also
10:27Is so understanding and supportive of creators as well
10:30And I think that he really realizes that you know
10:32This is sort of the future and it's it's great that you know
10:35Apple was kind of
10:36Being able to bring in more creators and even more of the events that we go to it's just we're seeing more and more people
10:41And more and more newer creators that are getting an opportunity a chance to review this stuff
10:45What did you and Tim do together?
10:46We just I think that was the the iPad when the first iPad came out and that was still during
10:52Actually did two interviews. So the one the first time was virtual. Okay, and yes, I was very nervous, but it was virtual
10:58So I was like, okay, it's okay. Everything's gonna be fine
11:01and that was kind of like in pandemic times and then the last time was at an Apple event and
11:06You know
11:06We just we just kind of chatted and talked kind of like high level about you know
11:10What he's excited about different product launches and yeah, it's really fun
11:13I think we're finding not to get not we're not getting the politics here. Don't worry
11:16I promise but obviously, you know
11:19This last election has shown like the blur between mainstream media and then also creators
11:25Podcasters YouTube stars that are getting these giant interviews with presidential candidates that used to be, you know for 60 minutes or CNN or Forbes
11:32Do you see yourself as a journalist?
11:35Yeah, so it's interesting because when I first started making YouTube videos
11:40I was like embarrassed to tell people like what I did and so I was like, okay journalists is respected
11:45So I just told people that I was a journalist. And so now this was like 2007
11:50okay, and so now I mean
11:52I definitely feel like because I've been doing this for so long and actually have all these these interviews that
11:57But I think that that's actually title that I can probably claim now
12:00And did you do a lot of like research before like it's interesting you're getting these great interviews with like with Daniel Eck with with
12:06Sundar from from Google with Tim Cook like what do you want like when you go into it?
12:11Like how do you prep and also like do you have a certain couple things that you really want to get get from them?
12:15Or do you have a conversation natural and see where see where it goes most of the time?
12:18It's kind of like a conversation and it's like I
12:21Live in this world
12:22so I kind of like to
12:24You know find like how they work with people and like what inspires them and what inspires?
12:28Sort of that culture because I think it's so important having from the top kind of you know
12:32Having that bleed into sort of the the whole ecosystem
12:36So, yeah, I mean, I definitely do prep depending upon what it's for
12:40But a lot of times it's just like we're just two people having a conversation like how's your day?
12:44You know, how are you so cool? That's that's good advice to every journalist out there
12:48Yeah, what do you how do you see kind of like quote mainstream media and the you know
12:53The YouTube world kind of blending together or are they coming apart? How do you how do you see that?
12:57I mean, I think it is blending together because I feel like we're seeing a lot of more
13:01You know top
13:03different establishments like hiring creators or making more of that kind of I guess like user-generated content and you know
13:11Not doing huge productions. It's like you're just going out with your phone
13:14getting the shot and
13:16And posting it and I think that's really ideally like what it is and even for me as a creator
13:20Who has been doing this for so long?
13:22I'm always so concerned about like making sure the lighting is perfect making sure the audio is great
13:27And I sometimes just have to be like look drop it
13:29Just just go and film and get it and post it
13:32Is it tell me about like you've been doing this for so long and you edit your own stuff?
13:35I love that. What is your like the iJustine operation?
13:38Like you have a giant crew is it kind of just more, you know skeleton crew? What's a filming like? Yeah, no, it's pretty small
13:44I mean, I usually just have like one other camera person or we'll have an assistant depending upon how busy we are
13:50Yeah, it's it's pretty small and I have like one other consistent editor shooter that I work with
13:54But it's a lot of times
13:56It's like I'll go shoot something and I'll edit that night and turn it around for the next day. So it really depends
14:01It's good. Keep it. Keep it tight. Keep it light. What is the iJustine business? How do you make money?
14:06a lot of it is through brand deals, which has been really fun because I love kind of like having I
14:13Don't know. It's like the brands have this idea and they're like, hey
14:16How do we integrate this into something that you're already doing and a lot of times it's brands that I already love
14:20So it's like I don't want to tell them like I would have made this video anyway
14:23But being able to ever tell them that no, I know you guys don't know this
14:27But being able to like make something fun and kind of tell their story is
14:32Something that's so rewarding at the end
14:33Yeah
14:34what's it you mentioned like the I've always hear from these creators that like
14:37The best way for brands to work with creators is freedom be like let the creators create
14:41Let them do their thing like how do your partnerships work?
14:44And like what advice do you have for brands and CMOs out there that want to work with like top creators like yourself?
14:49Yeah, but I think it is it's like a partnership like you there is give-and-take
14:52It's communication and you know
14:54It's I'm lucky that I do have a really great team like a management team that helps like negotiate a lot of that
14:58He's over there for tar. Hello, which we've been working together. How long now?
15:0315 years old school agent in that sense, too. Yep
15:05so
15:06it's been fun because it's like now he knows what I will do or what I won't do and is able to sort of like
15:12Negotiate that kind of stuff in and it is just a conversation and a lot of times. I'll be like, ooh, I
15:17That's a that's great that you think that's gonna work
15:20But I don't think that's the best idea and my audience is gonna make fun of me and then sometimes
15:24They won't push back and then I end up having to get made fun of because they really wanted this
15:30Specific line or something in what have you ever had like wild offers for like like either brands that are just wacky or brands
15:38It just are so not your brand. Oh, yeah, I've had a lot of weird things
15:41I'm like, have you watched my channel or they will?
15:45Sometimes have like they'll it'll be another person's or another channels name and it's like, oh, I don't think that's for me. But thanks
15:52I went against this like you mentioned I want to talk about community because you mentioned like
15:57Run me again. How many subscribers you have on YouTube like over 7 million 7 million
16:01And you said you don't want this brand doesn't want you said this line because your community will make fun of me
16:05Yes, what is your how would you describe your community? What like what are like the demographics?
16:10it's interesting is it has shifted a lot, but I do have a
16:13Younger demographic and also a pretty heavy female demographic too and considering that I'm doing a lot of tech
16:18It's really cool to kind of be able to blend both of that
16:21And are they like obviously it's you've mentioned like are they very tech savvy?
16:24Like are you do you get it?
16:25Like you get a lot of people like commenting on everything you do everything you say is like, oh, sure
16:30How is it hate? How do you deal with that? I mean, there's always hate but there's the nice mute button
16:34I don't like to block because then they know that I've seen the comment, but I think they're pretty tech savvy
16:40But I think a lot of them like I'm making content that I want to see like I love the specs
16:44But I want to see how it works. Okay, so great
16:47This camera has this this this but what does it look like? How does it gonna fit into my day?
16:51How's it gonna work in my workflow?
16:53So when you create you like you just mentioned do you make videos that you yourself want to see or do you think about your?
16:58Community as well. It's a little of both
17:00Okay
17:00I think there is a lot of give-and-take because sometimes I will make videos that I want to make and they don't do very
17:05Well, and I'll know that so it's kind of a little balance you have to do besides
17:09I know you've been doing this forever. How did you what tips do you have for building community? It's so important
17:15Forbes is a media brand wants to build it whether it's through our under 30 franchise through top creators through our pyro women
17:21You name it like it's very important. How have you built this like community of 7 million fans?
17:26Yeah
17:27I'm very lucky because I started so early and back then I was doing a lot of the vlogging and the life casting so people
17:32Felt really included in my life and they felt like they knew everything which was great
17:37But that's not great for people's mental health. So I feel like over the last few years
17:43I've kind of pulled back and not posted a lot of like about my private life and things like that
17:47And I think that's hard because that does kind of take you away from your community a little bit
17:51So there does have to be some sort of a balance of you know
17:54Giving yourself but also not giving too much that it kind of takes away from you know yourself
18:00Talk about that psychological aspect like so what happened you would kind of let people in and it would just be
18:04Tell me what the downside of that? Yeah
18:06I mean, this was a lot of probably like 20
18:0917 maybe I kind of like stopped posting as much it just was it was like they felt like they had ownership over you
18:15Like if someone was in your video, they're like we don't like them
18:17I'm like, well, that's like my best friend
18:19Like you can't say that or you know
18:21Just finding my family and just like bothering people and it's it's it can be very invasive
18:26So it's like, okay
18:27I'm the one that has decided to do this
18:29So like if you're gonna make fun of anyone or say anything like say to me leave my family out of it
18:34Just this is this is it. Do you get like pick when you do get noticed in the street when you go out?
18:40Yeah, yeah pretty not too often and I feel like it's a great balance because it's not too much
18:44But it's also like I can still you know, unless I go to like the Apple Store a Best Buy
18:48Then I was like, that's where my people are at
18:51Yeah, you'd be like a huge but you should like undercover as like a Best Buy like what they call the geeks
18:55What are the geeks? Oh, no, I'm one of them. Yeah, I know we go in there like high-fiving like it's great
19:00What what advice do you have for people because I it's such a tricky thing where you know
19:04Everyone in social media is like you have to be credible. You have to kind of be yourself, which is
19:08It's kind of cliche. But like how do you
19:11Create a link to your community, but also kind of create that that important separation where you're you still have your privacy
19:17You still have yourself. I mean, that's the challenge
19:19I feel like I'm still dealing with having been doing this for almost like 20 years
19:23I think it's something personal to everyone and I feel like you aren't gonna know
19:28How far to push it until you push it and you're like, oh shoot like I got a backup
19:32So I think it's just kind of like use your judgment
19:34And I think asking people if they're okay to to be on camera is really important because it is a huge responsibility
19:41You know
19:42It's like these people don't realize that
19:43They're gonna be exposed to millions of people if they're in like this Instagram story or something like that
19:48So it's it's a huge responsibility and I think you'll know when it's too much
19:52But I think just you know, kind of just remember that anything you post it's not gonna go away
19:59It's there there forever. Yes, you can delete it, but it's somewhere
20:03What a what it's it's fascinating that you're like, you're a top YouTube creator and YouTube is having such a moment right now
20:09I think it always has but right now people are realizing that it's a super streamer
20:14It's super podcast more people now watch YouTube on their TVs at home than they watch
20:20Netflix, I mean, this is a massive thing and I know everyone's changing to optimize on YouTube
20:25Like what are you doing now on YouTube?
20:27Are you changing anything that you do?
20:29To kind of get into that wave or you just keep on doing what has worked for you in the past
20:33I mean, I feel like I I change up something all the time and I'm always doing something different and I think that's why I've
20:39been able to do this for so long because
20:42YouTube is always changing. I feel like I'm always changing. So it's like I have a new interest
20:45I feel like every other month so it's fun to kind of integrate that into my content
20:49And you know
20:50it's fun that they now have shorts and that they have extended that to three minutes because I feel like I've been creating a lot more
20:56Short form content over the last couple of years just because there's so many more platforms that support that
21:01But it's just it's exciting because it does feel like each platform
21:05Offers a little bit something different as far as community
21:08But YouTube has been sort of that steady consistent place to go to actually make money true
21:14Cuz like shorts are great, but I hear from everyone it's getting better, but there's still no money in shorts, right?
21:18Exactly. So, how do you you know with as a as an entrepreneur?
21:23What is your strategy with like obviously the bread and butter is like your long-form
21:28YouTube reviews or YouTube videos, but then there's also tick-tock. There's Instagram. There's shorts
21:34Do you use how do you use those shorts to kind of funnel into your the bread and butter?
21:39Yeah, I mean, I'm I'll be making a video for like Instagram and be like go watch the full one on YouTube
21:44But I still will cut down a good portion of it because a lot of times people don't translate over
21:49So it's still enough content that they'll get the main point so they don't have to go over and watch all of it
21:54But it is hard to move audiences from one platform to the other because it's like once they're there
21:59Like we're not gonna go anywhere else. But yeah, I feel like the shorts
22:03I feel like for me is just like an extra promotion and it's an easy way to
22:08Quickly get views and just kind of post content if it's not like your best high quality
22:13Got you. It's kind of a little interstitial. So that's how you like
22:15Yeah, I was gonna say like how do you think of like the strategy of YouTube shorts versus YouTube long-form?
22:20Well, you can also connect the YouTube shorts to your long-form, which is nice
22:23So if you do make a short you can connect it to the other ones if they want to keep watching and it kind of
22:27All circles together
22:28But I do feel like shorts and long-form are two very completely different things
22:32Like even my friend's son like he doesn't ever watch full YouTube videos. He's just
22:37Scrolling on the shorts. Yeah, what where do you see?
22:39We're like what's your prediction for YouTube or for social media in general in the next, you know year year and a half?
22:45Like where are we going here?
22:45Yeah
22:46Well, it's interesting because you know when YouTube announced that they were gonna be doing shorts to three minutes
22:51I like made some funny videos like wait
22:52Okay
22:53If a short is three minutes then what's a what's a full YouTube video and if this is this?
22:57Like doesn't it really make sense and I think everyone just is kind of continuing to figure it out
23:01I do feel like because YouTube is rewarding sort of that we're watching stuff on TV
23:06They do love that long-form content that you know, I would love to kind of develop a more fun show
23:11That's kind of like based around a specific topic
23:13So that's something that I'm throwing around that I'm excited to explore next year. You said you're always changing. You're always evolving what?
23:20How are you gonna change in the next year? Like what sort of are you playing with different formats playing with different topics?
23:24Like what are you excited about and kind of how do you come up with ideas? Yeah, I think I
23:29Like I have have a bunch of different hobbies that I love so I think I want to kind of integrate that what are the
23:34Hobbies, I love diving. I'm a huge like I basically
23:37Train jiu-jitsu like a professional athlete
23:39Like scuba diving or like high diving. Yeah, so it's like scuba jiu-jitsu
23:45Pickleball, so it's like all of these things
23:48There's so much health tech. Yes and tech that can be used to improve your performance
23:53So that's something that I really want to start exploring and like I said with health tech
23:56there's just so much out there and there's so many people that are doing so much really cool research that I really want to
24:01Kind of like find a home for that and kind of help people
24:04You can do like an amazing like South Pacific dive tour sponsored by all the different
24:08Right different brands like I'm testing all these different things as I go, you know swim with the humpback whales or you name it
24:14Yeah, no and like diving is great for testing out underwater cameras and there's so much really cool dive gear
24:19So being able to kind of just bring more of that sort of to my channel is really been so much fun
24:24And you did sue you like are you a badass? You like totally kick-ass?
24:27I mean I trained for two hours this morning in New York, which was so fun
24:30Like that's the best part is traveling and training because you never know who you're gonna meet and you find really great
24:35Gyms all around so you you came in from LA two days ago yesterday last night last night and you still got what time did?
24:41You train?
24:42From seven to nine. How do you find a gym?
24:46Recommendations from friends. Yeah, how was New York first? Oh, it was great. Yeah. No, it's awesome
24:51Do people know who you are?
24:52Every once in a while that was also weird because I never used to post about like my jujitsu journey until like a couple years
24:58Ago, and so I'd show up at gyms and I'm like, are you I just what are you doing here? This is so weird
25:04So yeah, that's it's fun because it's it's like you have this instant kind of bond with somebody over sort of your familiar hobby
25:10So cool, you've been doing this for so long if you were gonna though, let's say you were gonna start
25:15You're a creator career right now. What advice would you give yourself? You have you know, 2007 advice, right?
25:22That's like my math is horrible. That's like what it's a long time 17 years. Yeah of
25:27Education of learning for their mistakes through growth through all this like you started before their iPhones. That's insane. Yeah, it's it's pretty wild
25:35Yeah, I started my channel in 2006 2006. Yeah, but I think I started more consistently posting in 2007
25:40But yeah, it's my birthdate. I think it's like October 2006. I'm not sure but either way, but either way
25:45So what would like what's like the biggest lesson you would give yourself?
25:49Don't quit I mean that's
25:51Bottom line when people are like, well, how did you do this for so long? I'm like, I just didn't stop
25:56I mean, I've definitely have taken breaks and I also don't talk about what I'm taking the breaks because people make this huge thing
26:01They're like I'm taking a break. Oh my god
26:04And like it's so dramatic and then people kind of just like well if they're taking a break
26:08I'm not even gonna pay attention. So it's kind of like you can do it subtly you can kind of post things have some content
26:13that's
26:15Evergreen that you can post whenever if you like have an emergency that you need to take a break. So I feel like that's
26:21Something that has really helped me and I think also consistency, you know, which kind of goes hand-in-hand with okay
26:27I'm taking a break. You need to have that backup content
26:29What is take me through like a light like what is the life of a video for you?
26:34Take me from like idea into like like storyboard film how you cut it up and spread it through all the different
26:42Different platforms like take me like from step one to the final steps. Yeah, so for iPhone season
26:47I decided that I was gonna go to Hawaii. I love how you like iPhone see no iPhone seat
26:50That's September. Like I basically planned my entire year around September. How long does it last? It's like Christmas of September. It's basically September
26:55Yeah, so the iPhone will come out
26:57we'll go do the event and then I flew to Hawaii like the next day with the phone and then
27:02went with a videographer and I had this list of videos that we were gonna shoot and then we basically just kind of
27:09Scripted out the week what we were gonna be filming what videos there's gonna be
27:14I had like some talking points for each one and then we just filmed for like
27:19Three or four days straight and then edited for three or four days straight
27:23So I think I didn't sleep for maybe 48 hours leading up to the launch of one of those
27:29And when you do these different scenes in Hawaii, for example
27:31What are the are you trying to show off certain iPhone features or you just want to just do cool shots?
27:36It's usually like we'll do features. So like for example, like one of the videos was just a camera test
27:42So we went to this really cool ranch rode some horses
27:45You know tested out the zoom the slow-mo and it's like being in that element
27:49But showing you like if you were to go on this vacation and you had this phone
27:52Like this is what you can do with it. No wonder Apple loves you guys
27:54You're taking into the field, but it's also like super exotic fun fun stuff
27:58Yeah, it's it's so like those types of videos are like my favorite to make when there's you know
28:03Not really a brand that's saying you have to do these things
28:06It's just like here's a phone go review it and have fun with it
28:10And so you shoot for three days you edit for three days. What is the final product of all that all that work?
28:16I'll have like let's say I think for that one
28:19We had like an iPhone
28:2016 video and iPhone 16 Pro and Apple watch video and then an air pods video and then there were a couple reviewing all those all
28:26Those things yeah, and then there was a couple like ancillary things that we also had
28:29But then that's like creating all the social stuff from that too
28:31So it's like you've finished the YouTube now. I have to go spend more hours
28:36Editing all the social content and you do that yourself, too
28:38I mean, thankfully I did have a couple editors helping me, but then everything came to me as the final
28:44Editing exporting thumbnail everything so like seven days of work. You probably have what?
28:50For what 45 minute hour YouTube videos. Yeah, probably and then all the social thing. Yeah
28:56But those are more elaborate videos where there'll be something where I will sometimes film same day edit that evening post the next day
29:04So it can be as simple as that
29:05That's wild. I mean, it's amazing like the the amount of work that goes into what people think is
29:09Oh, I'm just throw up a 45 minute video, but these are you know, like
29:13Cinematic. Oh, yeah, I did the whole the whole for sure. I think that's like the misconception because of short form as well
29:18I think people I mean some of it's easy if you're just like filming on your phone, whatever
29:22But still it's it's so much more work that people would ever even imagine
29:27Do you have any formal like I mean, I know you were in a professional video editor
29:31But did you ever take classes in like filmmaking cinematography all those those sort of things?
29:35I did I mean I went to college for it was kind of like production. So it was like a two-year school
29:39So we did like editing filming and stuff like that
29:41So I kind of used all that but most of the stuff I've learned since has just been trial and error
29:47Google tutorials and just
29:50YouTube on YouTube exactly
29:53Do you have any like you have any plans to go outside of this the kind of like you're I know you mentioned more
29:59Lifestyle stuff, but would you ever want to get into other forms or do something bigger longer?
30:04So to speak are you just very happy with this great community and brand you've built up. Yeah
30:09No, I'm always open to something. I think it's I love doing things that are fun
30:12So if somebody's like this is gonna be a fun project, I'm like count me in. So yeah, it's
30:17Great. Give me a dream. What's a dream project? Oh, wow. Oh, um, I
30:22Don't even know right now. I think I did just do a movie recently, which was actually really fun
30:28I actually filmed it in 2017 and it just was finished. Yeah, I'm talking about Hollywood friends
30:33The timeline and this stuff is crazy crazy, but that's what kind of like
30:37Turned me off from sort of doing traditional stuff. You know, it's like you film something
30:41It's like it may never come out. It may never actually happen and sometimes I'll be sitting on set
30:45Doing nothing and I'm like I could have filmed
30:4845 YouTube videos right now while I'm just sitting and waiting for someone to call action
30:52So I think it's just such a different perspective
30:55But like I do feel like I would love to do
30:57Some bigger projects do some movies or something like that just to do something a little different
31:01Yeah, it's funny because you have completely control like it's a lot of work
31:04But you know like I'm gonna put the time in and then I'm gonna hit the button and then it's out to the world
31:08Opposed to more traditional or Hollywood. Like you said it could just be cut sit. What was the movie?
31:12It was actually based in Pittsburgh and so it was kind of like the story of
31:16Two kids and like their relationship with Roberto Clemente because they loved baseball
31:19Okay, cool. And then I played like the older version of one of the kids
31:22So it was it was really cool. And especially if you're from Pittsburgh, it's based in like the 70s
31:28Big Pirates fan. I mean I was back in the day when I lived there but you know now I'm like, I'm just all jujitsu
31:36There's none. How'd you get into the movie? I mean the movie the idea of it a
31:40Friend they had filmed the entire
31:44Portion of the younger kids and then a friend who was editing it
31:47Her husband was my good friend and she was like this girl looks a lot like Justine
31:53Do you think that she would want to be in this movie? Has she done any acting?
31:56I was like, I'll figure it out. And so yeah came in filmed for like four or five days and
32:01And that was it
32:02That's very cool. It was awesome
32:04Both did the more the more you're out there the more opportunities like that come
32:08I think that's the thing too is
32:10I'd like to sort of just say yes to things because you never know what's gonna happen
32:14I mean, you can always figure it out
32:16At least I know I can so I don't know if everyone can but I feel like you probably could what is your print?
32:21Where are we going with all this? What is like your biggest prediction for social media? Like I hear there's like us
32:26There's some statistic there, you know, I forget what it is
32:28It's a huge amount of let's say Gen Z people want to be creators and influencers
32:33I don't know if I don't know if any industry can accept that amount of that much inflow, especially
32:39What do you think? Where are we headed when social media? What's like the future?
32:42I mean, I feel like everyone is kind of a creator
32:45Even if you don't have sort of like a lot of followers or it's like people are creating and sharing their lives
32:51Sharing stuff that they like so it really is turning into sort of this user generated
32:55World where people don't even realize that they're creators, you know, they're just posting and I think AI is gonna be huge
33:02In sort of all of this space because it's kind of how do we harness AI to not?
33:09Take jobs, but like use it to just give us a little more free time be able to do our jobs better
33:15So give me example, what's your perfect example? What's in a perfect world? What is AI doing for you for us or for you?
33:21I mean, I would love for it to be able to do a quick
33:24rough edit of my videos and even simple things like that AI is has been helpful for me for it's like
33:32Fixing audio doing small little things like that generative AI and Photoshop helping to take these huge
33:38PDFs brand briefs that people will send and you're bringing that down to a small
33:44Understandable chunk of content and then turning that into a quick script and then I take it and make it into an actual script of something
33:50That I would say that's I think we're close to that. I'm also see that's what I'm doing
33:54That's like yeah, and I'm saying I think we're seeing ads now about like I don't know if I haven't done it yet
33:58but like just
33:59Here is your big sloppy
34:01You know video and will a I edit it. I don't know how good it will be but it sounds like that's happening
34:06I've tried some they're not super great or the framing in because I'm an editor myself. I'm like, oh no, don't do that
34:11But what I do like is like I've used some things where I'm able to like instead of having to record vo
34:17I can just type and in my voice. It'll automatically just do the voiceover for me in my voice. Yeah, which one's that?
34:24What programs I was in D ID, which is actually really cool because you basically make the idea is called
34:28Yes, like I made a whole avatar like of myself and I could type it in and they even have this was awesome
34:35They do like a translate feature. So one of my friends
34:38She's she's from Brazil and so we had gone to dinner and ate it like this Brazilian restaurant
34:43So then I sent her this video back that said Wow one trip to you know
34:47The Brazilian steakhouse and I can speak fluent Portuguese and she was like what just happened like it blew her mind
34:52It was a very good steak
34:54It was so good, but it was like, oh this will be funny
34:58I wonder if this will actually work and she's like, yeah, it sounded great
35:01Like I mean, you know here and there you can tell that your voice was sort of a little different just because the mouth movements
35:06But it was pretty awesome
35:09What's your prediction because I love how you've you know, you've been doing this for so long you work with giant brands
35:14You've score major interviews with CEOs
35:17What's what's your advice for like quote?
35:20Traditional media quote old-school media like Forbes where everyone's a content producer, but also, you know
35:27We're an established media company
35:29We have a brand been around for a hundred years
35:31But we also need to make that personal connection. Like what would if you were the head of Forbes right now?
35:36What would what would you head of Forbes social media? What would you be? What would you tell everyone to do?
35:42So are you gonna start a vlog channel now like you go through your daily life? Yes
35:45I give me your give me your hat
35:46You can watch me make my coffee with my kids screaming in the background
35:50Yeah in the floor. Yeah. Yeah
35:52I mean, that's what people want to see which is kind of wild
35:54But I think just making that personal connection and actually talking to the audience is so important and you know
35:59Not coming from it like from a big establishment. It's like hey, look, I'm just your friend
36:04I happen to work at this company and and you know, I get these cool opportunities
36:07So it's like just being present and talking to them like they're people because they are
36:13And what are the powers of like a big Forbes brand in social media now?
36:17This beside like you you had that you had the connection but also obviously, you know
36:21Whether it's the in Apple whether it's a Spotify whether it's a Microsoft like there is credibility there
36:27What's what's the best way to kind of use that?
36:29Yeah, and I think that's
36:31You know a huge part of it is is that trust so it's like you guys have also built that trust
36:35So I think for a lot of audiences, you know, that's so important to them
36:38I want to thank I Justine for joining us at Forbes top creator. Thank you so much. Thank you
36:47You