De-Influenced with Dani + Jordan - New Year’s Re-Run: De-Influencing Tay + Kay
Episode Date: January 1, 2026Happy New Year! We’re bringing back one of our favorite guest episodes with Kay & Tay, the internet’s favorite duo. We talk about how their content blew up, their backgrounds, marriage and family... life, and the behind-the-scenes reality of creating online every day. Light, wholesome, and the perfect easy listen to start the year. We scored some great deals with a few of our favorite brands for our listeners: Own your health for $365 a year. That's a dollar a day. Learn more and join using our/my link. Visit www.functionhealth.com/DANI or use gift code DAN/25 for a $25 credit towards your membership. Don't let financial opportunity slip through the cracks. Use code DANI at monarchmoney.com in your browser for half off your first year. Cotton is The Fabric of Our Lives and make sure you're checking tags to ensure it's the fabric of your life too. Learn more at TheFabricOfOurLives.com Visit containerstore.com and use code DANI at checkout for a discount on your purchase. If you're ready to take the next step in your life, whether that is merch, your own hair care line, or something in between, go to shopify.com/dani and make it happen. It doesn't matter where you're at in your entrepreneur journey, Shopify is there to make your life and selling journey easier. Learn more at Starbucks.com/partners Get last-minute hosting essentials, gifts for all your loved ones, and decor to celebrate the holidays for WAY less. Head to Wayfair.com right now to shop all things home. Make sure you’re subscribed to our official channel on YouTube, @deinfluencedpodcast, and follow us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your De-Influenced fix! Stay connected with us on Instagram and TikTok @deinfluencedpodcast, and as always thank you for being a part of this journey. Produced by Dear Media
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The following podcast is a dear media production.
Hello and welcome back to your favorite podcast.
D. Inflins.
Guys, that was so bad.
Not bad.
Not bad.
No, I like it.
We're going to keep it.
It's wrong.
Okay.
Hello, and welcome back to your favorite podcast, G. Implins.
We are so excited to welcome this week's guest.
They're a duo that have taken the internet by storm.
They have more than 10 million followers on TikTok, 5.4 million followers on Instagram.
and over 2.6 million subscribers on YouTube.
We are so excited to welcome this power couple, Tay and Kay.
Wow, 10 million.
When did that happen?
Last year?
Yeah.
No, did we hit 10 million this year?
Yeah, it had to be this year, I think.
This year or sometime.
It's so rare to be, like, so successful on every single platform.
It's wild.
I don't even...
I have no words.
I don't even know how it happened, to be honest.
It's like we just started posting for fun one day,
and then all of a sudden we had like all these views and it's so fun but I definitely don't.
I couldn't tell you how it happened.
It's wild.
And so when you started posting on all the platforms, was it all like you were posting on
YouTube, Instagram and TikTok all the same time or did one take off first?
It was TikTok.
Yeah, we started on TikTok and then we, I don't know, maybe like six months later started posting
on Instagram.
Did we start posting like the content we were posting on TikTok or did we backlogged it?
I don't remember.
I did one thing really good at the beginning, and I saved all our raw videos.
And so when we finally decided to post to Instagram, I was like, oh, I got like six months
of videos.
So, yeah, we like just threw them all out there.
We did the same with YouTube.
Which is so smart to just keep all the raw, because we used to film everything on Instagram
stories, and then it would disappear.
And we were actually filming in the app.
So I was like, why are we doing this?
Then we have nowhere else to put it.
Yeah.
But that's when we started posting on TikTok, it was like the same thing.
You would just take our content that we were filming stories.
and like repurpose it.
Totally.
And re-edit it.
And sometimes like the stories
were completely different.
And I'm like,
babe,
you can't be posting
a completely different story
on TikTokers.
She's wrapped it in a new narrative.
Well,
y'all have been so successful.
You're killing it.
I love how real and relatable
all of your content is.
And that you guys are such a good example
online and so family-oriented.
It's so sweet.
So on this podcast,
though,
we like to kind of de-influence
who we are interviewing.
So I first want to de-imluence y'all's like childhood, your background, your upbringing.
So can you tell us more about each one of y'all's childhood growing up and like where you guys are from?
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, me first, who first?
You go first.
So me, I'm from Alabama.
So just north of Birmingham.
It was like a mix of like the city and the country, I guess.
You know, you definitely had the lifted trucks and stuff.
A lifted truck.
Did you have a lifted truck?
It wasn't lifted.
He did have a truck, though.
My brother had a lifted truck, and everyone else did.
He still has a lifted truck.
Yeah, he does.
Yeah, it was your typical, like, southern, you know, kind of grow up riding four-wheelers and stuff, and it was really good time.
I grew up in Oklahoma, pretty much the same thing, except just a little bit more, like, casinos and things like that.
But really, it's the same thing, just very flat, no trees, and small town.
I basically grew up in a town that there was nothing.
for like 40 minutes in any direction. So you were really living in a bubble. So when I moved away from
that town, I was like a fish out of water because I wasn't used to, I mean, I had a Walmart. I had some gas
stations, a lot of Mexican restaurants, and that was pretty much it. Wow. Do you all have siblings?
I do. A lot of brothers. Yes, I do. It's all brothers. Were you close, Greg? No, not. I mean,
I wouldn't say we weren't close, but they're much younger than me. So I was six when my,
youngest or my oldest brother was born. And then I was 14 when my youngest brother was born.
Okay. So big age gap. Big age gap. Yeah. And what about you? Siblings?
Yeah. I have one sister and three brothers. And closer age gap for my brothers, the two older brothers.
So we were really close. Are you all so close like in adulthood with your siblings? Yeah. Nice.
I have like Snapchat streets with, uh, Devin. They're unreal. Yeah. She's so like cool and young.
She's like hip.
They're keeping me hip.
I have Snapchat streaks with pretty much like everyone in my, like my mom, my dad, my grandma, my, um, two of my brothers.
Yeah.
I have like several.
They're getting in like four digits.
Yeah.
Like we're like up there.
Wow.
Yeah.
So they all still live.
Your families both live in Alabama and Oklahoma still.
Yeah.
So you all go back and visit a lot?
Oh yeah.
Yeah.
Well, my mom's actually in Texas, but she's up like in the Panhandle area of Texas.
But we see her pretty often and we go back to Oklahoma to see my dad often too.
What do your siblings think about what you do online?
I think they think it's cool.
I think they think it's cool.
I don't know.
They don't really talk a whole lot about it, to be honest.
But I mean, they've said in the past, like, that's really cool.
Like, you're getting tons of views, you know.
Yeah.
They're supportive.
Yeah, definitely supportive.
Your brothers are too.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's so fun because that's how my brother and I, like, we grew up in Dallas, not too far.
far from here, actually. But it was actually the one thing that brought us together was social
media because we were so different. And then he started posting on YouTube and kind of introduced
me to it. And so it actually was like something that brought the family together. Because like,
I never played video games with him. I played sports growing up. We were just so opposite. And so it's
actually really fun. And especially having like kids too. Like I know you have a daughter that's older.
Yeah. And it, I mean, I don't know if she's into social media, but I feel like it kind of like brings
everyone together. So that's so sweet. Did you guys grow up religious at all? So yes, we both
did. Well, I did, you can tell your story. You can tell your story. You tell your story and I'll
tell your story. Tell us your testimony. Um, yeah, no. Both sides, my parents were divorced and both
sides went to church. I was like typical Southern Baptist, like big Baptist church, you know,
with all the orchestra and all the, you know, instruments and stuff. Yeah. And that's,
that was pretty much all the way up until I was 18 and went to the military.
Oh, wow. You went to the military.
Did you always want to join the military?
No, not really.
I just...
First of all, thank you for your service.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I wanted to go to college, but we didn't have the money for college.
And so I was like, well, I could go to the military and then they would pay for the college.
So that's pretty much it with why I went to the military.
I want to hear more about your experience.
First, you can tell us about your...
Oh, okay.
I kind of like Taylor grew up, divorced parents, very young. I think I was two when they got divorced, but they were both in church.
Same as him. I grew up pretty much Baptist. I always went to a Baptist church growing up.
And then as I've gotten older, I think it's more like non-denominational.
It's kind of what I do now. But both my family's religious.
Yeah. How much does faith play a factor in your like every day and your family these days?
Oh, I think 100% like it's always, like it's a big part of my life.
Especially the music.
Yeah.
It's always jamming the Christian.
Oh, I'm always like if I'm going through anything stressful or scary in my life,
like I'm jamming to some praise and worship music.
That's just, it's always playing in our house.
We don't talk a lot about it, I think, on our channel, but it's definitely there.
Like we have music playing in our stories sometimes.
Do you all go to church in Dallas?
You should come with us to watch.
Watermark. Oh, you go to Watermark? Yeah. It's great for kids. And it's kind of in between us.
Oh, okay. Like we're close to, you know, in Dallas, central of Dallas.
Oh, okay. Cool. Yeah, we are still doing online. We're doing online right now. I was, we were going in
person to a church in Allen, but I got a little scared after having Ellie taking her to the nursery.
And so we kind of just went back to watching it at home. But yeah, I think we would love to get back
into a church. It's kind of nice to go to a big church too. We're like, okay, this sounds
horrible. It doesn't make me sound like a horrible Christian, but I like to sneak in, sneak out.
No, I understand. Especially when I did have a newborn, I would do like, because, you know,
like, during the music, it was two lads. We'd sneak in and then just pop out. And like, our friends
are like, you want to come stay with us. I'm like, no, I love you guys. I'll see you later.
Yes, if you want to sneak in with us, you're totally welcome. Okay. Okay. I want to hear more
about your military experience. How long were you in the military?
Four years. Okay. Yeah. And what was the-air force? Air Force. Air Force.
Force. Okay. What was that like? It was pretty cool. I mean, I think it was really good for me because
you know, they're really good at like, I'm not going to say I was like reckless as a kid or anything,
but they're really good at like getting you in line and like making you think like, what do I want to do
with my life? And I think it's because the military like kind of sucks a little, like, you know,
because you're always like getting yelled at and there's all these rules that you're like punished for
at all times. So you're like constantly thinking like, what am I going to do with my future when I leave here?
Yeah. What are the different like dynamics between each.
military branch, like, don't army guys probably talk crap about Air Force guys. It's like police
officers and firefighters. Like, we're all on the same team, but like we also have these like different
nuances. Oh, yeah. Like, what are the different nuances between military branches? I know like the
air force is like the chair force. Like, yeah. Like, I've never heard that. That's funny. Like, like,
you're just sitting chairs all day. Yeah. Yeah. It's actually true though. But it's also like the hardest to get
into, right? I think Air Force. Either Air Force or the Coast Guard. No, Marines are like the easiest.
Well, physically or mentally. Like physically, it's harder to get into the Marines.
Academically, I would say maybe is what I'm thinking. Like Air Force Coast Guard, I don't know. There's
like a Space Force now. Maybe that's harder to get into. That sounds tough. That's cool.
Yeah. You should doubt someone. Maybe I'll go back and do Space Force. Yeah.
We got to get both the forces. I wonder if the Space Force covers college tuition.
Oh, I'm sure. It's, it's above the branch, I think, all those benefits. Do you have any idea what the
Space Force does? Something with space, I'm sure. No, I don't know. It's so funny because it was like
right when like everyone's talking about aliens, like I think it was Trump. Like he launched a space force
and everyone was like, it's happening. Confirms. It's coming out. I don't want to like deep dive into
modern warfare too much or anything, but I know like drones and satellites and all that
nowadays is such a big thing. And so I could imagine that Space Force has something to do with with
satellites and surveillance and, you know, even at some point maybe weapon systems being on
satellites and things like that. You were
an electrical engineer, right?
Okay, so did you
did the Air Force influence you
to want to become an engineer or did you want to
become an engineer and so you went to the Air Force?
I don't know if it was either. I didn't really, even
up until, I kind of had an idea
leaving the Air Force of what I wanted to do.
But even as I left,
I wasn't super sure. I went
the electrical background because
the computer, like software
engineering and electrical engineering have overlap
a lot now, and I liked to code at the time. And so it was just a good overlap. Did you teach
yourself to code? Yeah. Wow, growing up. How did you teach yourself to code? Did you just
tinker? Or was it like you were doing your MySpace profile?
I know. That's what we were doing. Definitely the HTML.
Yeah, definitely HTML on that. But no, it was a lot of tinkering. Yeah. A lot of like, I want to make
this thing happen and then try to figure it out. And then I ended up getting some books.
And then I realized that was silly.
I shouldn't have done that because the books don't really help you.
You just have to code.
You can't read your way into knowing how to code.
What was the first brand of your, like your first computer?
What brand was it?
Compaq.
Compaq?
Yeah.
That's what mine was too.
Were you coding?
No, I wasn't coding.
But it's so funny.
Like we all remember these like old computer brands that are never around.
Like that's what we played like Freddy the Fish on and stuff.
Yeah.
Like, Sim.
Red Alert 2.
Did you play Red Alert 2?
Yes.
Red Alert 2 was amazing.
No.
I remember having the big computer with, was it Minecraft?
Oh, you played Minecraft?
No, my brother played Minecraft.
Yeah, he played Minecraft for sure.
And League of Legends.
And World of Warcraft.
Yes, but yes, I did play with the Sims.
I was on the Sims.
Yeah, roller coaster tycoon.
Do you guys remember that?
That one was cool.
That was cool.
That was hard, though.
I was getting frustrated because it was hard to build roller cursers.
I could never have been like an architect.
Even in the game.
What's so interesting, you should do this because you're an engineer.
Someone should go back and like re-recode all of these old games that like carry so much nostalgia value and just bring them back.
Like, rebu it.
Like I tried to play Red Alert 2.
It's so hard to.
Literally like last month, I was like, I wonder if you can do it.
And you have to go through all these like coding things.
And I was like, I can't do this.
So, so funny.
Kay, what did you do after high school?
I got married.
Oh, you got married?
I got married at 18.
I didn't realize you were married before.
I got married and I had, so he was in the Air Force also.
You'll have to understand.
You have a type.
We didn't actually know each other.
I have a type, apparently.
You have a tight.
Chair Force.
You have to understand.
I grew up in this very small town that had an Air Force or an Air Force base in it.
And pretty much unless you wanted to marry somebody from your high school, like the only other single guys were in the Air Force.
I mean, that's just, that's all there was.
Yeah.
If the Air Force base leaves, that town, that town is going to be a dead town.
I mean, it's just that's what is keeping it going.
That's why we have a Walmart.
They did have a Walmart.
Yes.
And so when I got out of high school, I was more rebellious, I would say.
I was very like, I went out of my mom's house.
I want to do my own thing.
I can't picture the side of you.
I was trying to be very independent.
I mean, but I, at the same time, I just kind of wanted to do my own thing and be an adult.
I felt like at 18, you're an adult, you know everything.
It was very naive as a child or as an 18-year-old child.
But I did get pregnant with my oldest daughter, Kinsley, and had her at 19.
And then we ended up getting divorced at 21.
How long did you guys date before you got married?
Three months.
Three months?
Yeah.
You're 18.
Don't recommend it.
Don't recommend it.
I thought I was so in love, y'all.
So was he older?
He was older, two years older than me.
So after the divorce, what did you do after that?
To be honest, I was not in a good place when I got divorced.
I was staying with my grandma in her guest room.
I didn't have a job for a while.
And then when I did get a job, I was making like $200 a week.
Like it was really bad.
I had a car, but I wrecked it and it was totaled.
So then I didn't have a car.
It was a bad.
It was a bad time in my life.
It's okay.
It worked out.
This is the character building stage of your life.
It really was.
It was just a really low point in my life, but it really did make me so much more appreciative of what I have now.
And stronger probably.
Yes, I learned a lot.
I really did.
At one point, I moved two hours away to the city to Norman, Oklahoma City area.
I was only there for about four months.
And then when I moved back, Taylor and I had kind of been dating at that point.
And when I moved back, we ended up moving in together.
And how old were you when that happened?
22.
22.
Okay.
And where were you working when you met Taylor?
When I met Taylor, I was working at a place called factory connection.
I don't know if you know what that is.
It's kind of like Ross, but very small, like way smaller than Ross.
There's not a lot of them.
And that's the one that I was a key holder.
Oh, wow.
So I was cool because I could take the key and lock the store up.
But that's the one I was making like $200 a week.
I mean, it was really bad.
But I ended up moving to Norman and I went and I worked at a bar and grill as a waitress on campus corner over by OU.
And then when I moved back, I went and worked at Sally's hair supply.
So I worked there for about two years until we moved to Alabama.
And then how did you guys meet?
We met through mutual friends.
So I had about six months or so been divorced.
And we had like this group of friends.
that we would hang out with on the weekends, on the nights I didn't have Kinsley. I would go hang out
with these friends. And I noticed him with this group of guys that we knew one night in particular.
And I was like, who is that cute blonde guy? And they're like, oh, that's Dudley. They were like,
they were like, that's Dudley. Let me introduce you. So that was actually the first night that he
had gone out from his, like from getting back from his deployment. So that's why I had never seen
him before because he had been deployed. So yeah. And then after that, we were just pretty much
separable.
And so that was how many years ago?
10 years ago, 2014.
Wow.
So you dated for how long before you guys got married?
Two years.
Two years. Where were you deployed?
Afghanistan.
For how long?
Only like six months or so.
What was that like?
It wasn't that bad.
It was kind of fun.
Really?
What did you do for fun?
Played Russ.
Do you know Russ?
No.
It was a game.
Wait.
What's like a computer game?
Yeah, it was a computer game.
Oh.
Yeah. He still plays that one.
Yeah, we had Wi-Fi.
What were you mainly doing there?
We were like, the mission was like, it was called like Guardian Angel mission.
And so like these people would teach the Afghan military and stuff.
And we would just stand around and make sure that either the Afghans didn't kill the people teaching the Americans, like the students, or people didn't come kill the students.
Wow.
Did it feel like a tense environment when you're over there?
At first, just because I wasn't comfortable with it.
Right.
And maybe this was just complacent.
but towards the end I was really comfortable.
Yeah.
Was it culture shock for you just being over there?
Oh, yeah.
Away from that long.
Yeah.
I mean, they, the military does a good job of like bringing things in that make you feel comfortable.
Like I said, I had Wi-Fi and I brought my laptop with me.
And so when I wasn't working, which I mean, we did like a six and one schedule.
So six days on, one day off.
So I could play, you know, video games or whatever.
So they had an Xbox and stuff in there.
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So when Shopify approached us for a partnership is really a no-brainer for us.
Divi has been tried and true to the platform from the beginning.
When we started Divi, we truly did not know where to start.
It was so hard we were operating out of my Unborn Son's Nursery,
our Unborn Sun's Nursery at the time.
And we knew that we wanted to kind of launch something very quick, fast, easy,
scrappy. And of all the platforms, it seemed like everyone in e-commerce relied on Shopify to do so.
Danny leaned a ton on me to figure out the back end of the business. And so I didn't want to mess it up
because she would have been quite mad at me. Shopify has honestly been a total game changer for us.
It's basically been the backbone to our business, giving us the ease to start and the flexibility
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million and we'll probably stay on Shopify until we're, you know, 300 million plus. I don't think
we will ever actually go off of Shopify. In fact, I think a lot of the bigger companies and the
biggest brands that you know are switching from their own technology stack over into Shopify
directly, which just speaks to how powerful the platform is. I really could pull up sales from the
past hour on my phone right now. It makes it so easy to keep an eye on sales and manage them
from afar. And I know that as business owners, it really gives us peace of mind. I will say,
though, that I had to turn off the notifications because, you know, I started when you're early
in your company, you love the dings. But then when you're later, you know, it becomes really
unhealthy. It's like scrolling social media just to always watch your sales all the time. But it's good
to know like every once in a while we'll actually pull it up and we'll look at, you know, the sales for
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your entire business from your phone, you know, and with how well versed it is now in connecting to our
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that started it all from my unborn son's nursery in a Shopify store. So thank you Shopify for
sponsoring our podcast and being the best e-commerce platform ever. We love you. Are you still close
with a lot of your like servicemen? No, I don't think so. I feel like the brotherhood side is like the
big part, right? It's really weird because you make you really miss it out. You make really good friends.
in that moment, like, I can think back to like every stage, like basic training and then
tech school and then being at the base and being deployed. And I always had a friend that I was
like super close with, like, call it battle buddy or whatever you want. Like I had someone that was
like my friend. Yeah. But then the second you leave that stage and go to the next stage,
you just like, I never talk to him again. Like every single time. Yeah. Wow. Do you think the
military for you was like kind of a, like, there's almost like two different types of people.
I feel like it's like the military for you was like, hey, I really want to go to school. This is a
for me to kind of serve my country and then be able to go to school. And then there's others that
are kind of like, this is what I was born to do, like this is my life. So do you think that like
because for you, it was more of just like a means to an end, it was just like a chapter in your
life versus like others. I feel like other servicemen we talk to, they're like, they're my brothers.
Like, you know, like they're at my weddings and stuff like that. You call it like high speed. Like
those guys were high speed. Oh, interesting. So what does that mean? That's just like they're like gung-ho.
like they're in it.
They're in it.
Yeah.
Okay.
The high speed guys are like the ones that were like really into the military, which
nothing against it, right?
Yeah, it's just a different.
Honestly, I'd say that's better because you should try to be the best at everything
you do.
So maybe being high speed was the way to go.
Yeah.
Wow.
That is so crazy.
So then you guys got married.
Uh-huh.
Okay.
And so, and then what brought you guys to Dallas?
When he graduated, he kind of applied all over.
And he ultimately landed the job in Dallas.
There were a couple in Dallas that he was kind of debating between, but ultimately the one that he chose was just the best offer that he had.
It was actually the only two offers you had were in Dallas.
But he did apply to several areas, and this is just kind of where we ended up.
Can I ask you a more personal question?
When you started dating Kay, were you intimidated or scared that she had a daughter before?
Because you'd become kind of like an instant stepdad.
I don't think so because we did take it so slow.
Yeah.
So, you know, at first we were dating and we were both very standoffish and, you know, we were like, maybe this will go somewhere.
Maybe it won't and we'll try.
And so I think because of that and because we dated for so long, it was a very like slow step process.
It felt very natural.
At no point was I like, yeah.
We also didn't let Kinsley meet him for like six or seven months.
Oh, wow.
I really wanted to be sure because, like I said, like I had jumped into something initially.
with my ex and it was just, I didn't want to go down that path again. And so I wanted to be sure
before anybody met my daughter. And he was the only person I've ever introduced to my daughter.
And he was great. I mean, from the get go, they hit it off. I mean, they were just like little
besties. It's, it's really sweet. I have some videos of them the first day. And we took her to feed
the ducks. And he had her on, on his shoulders. You know, she was only, she had just turned three.
Okay. So very little. So she probably doesn't really remember much.
before you. She's, I've asked her, she said, I don't remember anything before Taylor. Like,
she only remembers Taylor. That's amazing. Yeah. So that she really had like, and I know that
she's close with her, with her birth dad too. But it's like, that's really cool that she had
you as well, her entire life. Like a bonus dad. Like a bonus dad. Yeah. Okay. So you guys
got married. He moved to Dallas. Um, how in the world did you were, were you working in Dallas?
I was. What were you doing in Dallas? Um, I was a dental assistant. Okay. How,
How in the world did you go from dental assistant electrical engineer to like one of the most famous TikTok couples ever in the world?
Like how in the world?
Do you feel like a famous TikTok?
I mean, I've hung out with you guys multiple times.
And I got to say, y'all are so down to earth.
I don't feel like you're TikTok famous.
And then I like read that.
And I'm like, oh, my God, they have 10 million followers.
I was like, 10 million.
Wow.
I was like, that's cool.
That's huge.
I definitely feel like, what is that?
What is that when you don't feel imposter syndrome a lot. I don't feel like anything special. I just
kind of feel like myself, how I've always felt. Obviously, I make more like wiser choices these
days, but I do feel just very normal. Yeah. Well, it happened really fast. It did too. Right? In the past
two years, if I'm not mistaken. It's like two and a half years. It'll be three years in January.
Three years. So it's kind of hard to like even soak it in and realize what's happening.
because by the time you do, you've grown another three million followers.
Yeah.
It was just so wild.
Yeah.
It's happened very fast.
But yeah, I just, I'm very, I just feel very thankful, very blessed, you know.
That's why I do so many giveaways because I just feel like I want to give back.
Because I was in a place before we started this where, you know, we didn't know how things
were going to get paid.
We were living in, you know, a little rinky dink rent house.
You know, I've been in hard times.
And so I just like to give back and help because I don't feel like,
I don't feel like God's given me the success to just sit on it and like have it to myself.
I want to do as much as I can for others.
What do you all feel like is like one of the core purposes of your platform?
Like, you know, you have 10 million followers.
It's obviously been a huge blessing that God has given to you guys.
Like what do you guys kind of talk about and think about every day of like,
this is why we're here.
This is why we're doing it.
I think for me, at least, and maybe it's different for you, but for me, I feel like I see all the time in the comments, like, especially when I'm doing like a big surprise or something for Kay, like, I'm going to do this for my wife or I'm going to do this for my girlfriend or something. And I feel like it's, maybe it's a motivator to like have a healthier relationship or a better relationship. And I think that's great. Because I think like that's like the most important thing really if you think about it. Like, because you have to raise your kids right and you have to do that together. You can't have like the single parent household.
the kid because like the two parent household's like so important you know and so if i'm like
instilling in like the young people right now like have a good strong relationship then there's
got to be some crazy benefits down the road for that from that yeah it's it's it's cool because like
as ticot has kind of blown up it's sort of created this like conveyor belt of content so you're
just scrolling it's going to feed you this it's very different than i would say like when we
you know kind of grew on instagram where it was like you had to almost like very intentionally
decide who you were going to follow
And I think it's cool what you guys are doing because it serves up a sort of positivity on the conveyor belt versus what I typically get, which is not that.
You know, it's more like outrage or clickbait or, you know, rage baiting type of content. And so what is y'all's demographic like? Is it mainly women?
Definitely mainly women. Younger? Kind of all over the place.
Like baby, like baby having age mainly.
This is the main, but we definitely have a big younger audience on YouTube.
Like YouTube shorts is a lot of, like, we'll be out in public and there's like seven-year-olds that'll recognize us.
I mean, we have a very young audience base on YouTube, but then, yeah, it definitely depends on the platform.
I feel like Instagram is more like that mom's to older, like maybe grandmother's age.
And then TikTok is definitely like teens to like.
young parents, yeah. That's really rare to be able to appeal to such a wide demo. I feel like it's
because you have such a youthful energy to you. You could honestly be like 19 years old. And people are
like, people like, oh, she's my age. You know, it's getting used a lot of people. Yeah.
They're like, you have a 13 year old daughter. Like what? Yeah, they have no idea. Trust me.
It's, it's wild to me too. Because she's like, she wears my clothes. I mean, when you were talking
about Stella taking her things, I was thinking to myself like, that's literally Kinsley. She'll come in
my closet and be like, can I wear your shirt? And I'm like, Kinsley, I bought you the same shirts.
Well, it's at my dad's. Yeah, straight up, I thought that that was your sister. Like, when y'all came over
for the giveaway, I was like, oh, it's their sister. Do you tell people how old you are? Yeah.
How old are you? 32. See, we're the same age. You look like you're literally 19.
Oh my gosh. I'm so jealous. I mean, I would have said like 24, 25 is what my guess. I guess that
time I wouldn't work out with what you said. But yeah, as I've gotten older, I appreciate that. But when I was a
kid. Like, I was the late bloomer. I was not the one the boys liked because I looked like a child when
everybody else was like looking all womanly, you know, and I never, I didn't get to that point until
later. And it, it was just something I hated when I was little. I hated how round my face was. I was
like, I look too young. But as you get older, I think you appreciate it a lot more. People always tell
you when you're younger, they're like, you're going to love it one day. Yeah. No, I want boobs.
It turns out they were right. They were right. So when you guys got married,
and you started living together and everything, what did you guys see your life looking like?
Before social media? Before social media. What was the five-year plan?
I mean, for me, I always had the dream of being at home with my children. But at the same time,
I had always dreamed of being in the medical field, particularly dentistry. I think at one point,
I wanted to go to be a dentist, but it was a lot of school. And by the time I got into
dentistry. I felt like I was too old. And so I kind of settled with dental assisting,
if I'm being honest. But I loved being in that field. So at that point, I was like,
this is what I'm going to do. I'm just going to succeed and excel at being great dental assistant.
And I wanted him to obviously, like, go to school and do what he wanted to do. And I think
what he wanted to do was was engineering. And then really, I didn't, I didn't anticipate having, like,
larger than life life, I guess. I really just thought we were going to have a very humble
have a little house, have a picket fence. Yeah, that was my dream. You know, I think that's a lot of
people's dream. And I just really wanted to have like my little family, my house, buy a house one day,
you know, backyard and just yeah, I might forget this question. So I want to ask you. Like,
obviously your lifestyle looks way different now. Do you guys miss that dream of just a more simple life
in the kind of hustle and bustle and pace of what it means to be a content creator?
I think we keep it pretty simple.
Yeah, I was going to say the same.
I feel like even though like obviously it's a little less simple than what we could have had,
I guess, I do try to keep it as simple as, you know, just raising my kid and doing fun things with a family.
I didn't show up in a Ferrari, you know?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Not yet.
No, I would say it's more the opportunities, like you invites the,
hey, fly here to do this. It's probably that typically, I think, for a content creator,
makes the life less simple. We struggle with that a lot because if you truly want to keep
your life simple, you have to say no. Far more than most people have to say no, right? And so
that's probably the hardest thing to protect it feels like to keep things simple as like,
we want to be home as much as possible with our kids. You know, oh my gosh, but this is such a
cool thing. You know, it's once in a lifetime. Are you good at saying no to opportunities?
Oh, yeah.
I feel like we say no to a lot, especially like brand deals and things like that.
Because for me, I turned down so many things because if I'm not 100% behind it, then I don't want to share it to my audience.
Because, like, I was on the other side at one point.
Like, I watched influencers and I watched their stories.
I watched Danny Austin.
She's so different now.
No, but I really did.
Like, I would be influenced by things.
And sometimes I'd get it.
And I was like, this isn't that great.
You know, and so when I was given the opportunity to, you know, share things I like to people,
I really do 100% believe in what I share.
So we turn down things all the time.
I mean, people send us stuff and they're like, please, I want to work with you.
And we're like, I just really didn't like the taste of that or, you know, whatever it may be.
What about like extravagant trips to New York Fashion Week or concerts or things like that that are just, you know,
they're so fun and it's such a cool opportunity.
but a lot of times it doesn't really make sense with the everyday lifestyle of being a mom.
I'm asking more so because I struggle with that.
And there's all these fun opportunities.
I'm like, I want to go and I want to speak on that panel and I want to do this.
But at the same time, like those things also really exhaust me and wear me out, even though
there's such great opportunities and I'm so thankful.
How do you pick and choose kind of like the more extravagant trips and opportunities?
Hayes anxiety level.
My anxiety.
Really?
No, I really do.
I feel like if we're invited to big things like that, we tend to say yes because we see it as
as this is a dream opportunity. You know, nobody, nobody out there. If they tell you they wouldn't do it,
they're lying. They would do it too. And we look at it as building our brand, you know,
and it's an opportunity that. And not only that, but if it's something we take the kids on,
it's another opportunity to travel. And that's something that we really didn't get as
children to travel and go places and see the world. And so I love that I'm able to give my kids that.
And maybe it's not as simple as our life was growing up, but it's still amazing. And
anybody would be doing it if they could. That's how I feel on that. So how did, because we kind of
glazed over this, how did y'all go from being a dental assistant electrical engineer to posting
content? What was the inspiration behind it and what was the first video? I think it was him.
It was a mix.
Were you following influencers?
No, no.
Also, Kay, who did you follow?
Who was your core rotation back in the day?
I don't know if I want to say.
Come on.
Maybe so flattered, you have to.
I remember one, it was, it was, it wasn't their name.
It was, you know, back in the day when OG influencers would have a blog and they would have a clever word and that would be, and they would transfer that to Instagram?
Yes, yes.
It was something like getting up buttercup or something.
Oh, dress up buttercups.
I followed her. I followed, I did follow you. Oh my gosh. I will say. And then I followed like Darland and all of them. I had a wide range of. What about Emily? Probably Emily because they were like really good friends. I don't know. Champaign and champagne. Oh, yes, yes. Yes. That's how I knew her by it was champagne. Yeah. Shampaign. Yeah. She was funny. Yeah. If you want to start the year off right, get to the container store. They can help you organize any space in your home and pretty much your entire life. From high,
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Yeah, so you follow up like the OG, like Instagram girls,
bloggers, kind of.
Okay.
And then, okay, yeah, so tell us about the first video,
the first idea where you're like,
I want to give this a shot.
So Kay was had just gotten TikTok because her friend at work.
I had another assistant I worked with and she was,
like 10 years younger than me. She was like 19. And she was like, you need to download TikTok so I can send
you all these funny TikToks. And I was like, I'm not downloading TikTok. And it took her like three
months of convincing me. And then I was like, okay, fine, I'll download it. And I don't, I wouldn't even
say I was really hooked on it or anything. It was mainly so she could send me stuff. And then
Taylor and I, we were coming back from Oklahoma from like a like Christmas thing. And so something,
side note, something that Tay has done with my.
My youngest brother, the one that I was 14 when my mom had him, something that they've done every single year with Kinsley is make like this home video.
And it's like a movie.
And it's a sequence.
So there's been like seven of them.
And they tell a story.
And so every holiday that we're there, they add on to it.
They add on to the story.
And it's something that my mom and I get to sit and watch after two days of them working on it.
And we like pop popcorn.
It's just like a whole thing.
That's so cute.
So Tay had just finished editing that year's.
holiday movie and he was like, I'm in the editing mood. I want to edit something. So I was like,
well, why don't we just film our trip back and we'll just film like, I don't know, random stuff,
like going into a gas station. I mean, it was the most like random things. And I thought it was
going to be a hit. I was like, my 15 hour drive in 15 seconds. I was like, that's going to slap.
Like that title is so cool. And then I was like, well, we can just post it on my channel and then,
you know, just see how it goes. And I think it got like,
10 views. It was like,
so it didn't pop off. It did not pop off. But it was so fun. And that was like at the very
end of December. And then I think like three or four days went by and then it was New Year's.
And we were talking about New Year's resolutions. And I was like, you know, that was really
fun. Why don't we make a resolution this year to do one video a day and just post one video a day
and see what happens. Just for fun. Just for fun. Just for fun. Just because we had so much fun
together doing it, even though it got no views, that really wasn't what it was for for us. And
It was just something that we found like, like, oh, this is a hobby we can do together.
And our family enjoyed it, you know, like our parents.
And it was just, it was very, very just silly and fun.
And then I think after like a month, we started getting a little bit more traction on our views.
Not anything like crazy.
I mean, like, I'm talking like 700 views or something.
And I.
There's a lot of people when you think about it.
It is. I actually have, he has a video of me sitting on the couch and I was like,
and I'm like refreshing it.
And I was like, it has 200 views.
It has 350 views.
Yeah.
One of them got 8,000 views, and she was like, I was freaking out.
Do you know how many people that is?
That's a lot of people.
It's like, this is so crazy.
And then, oh, he asked me, how many followers do you think you want to have at the end of the year?
And I was like, I don't know, maybe 10,000, but that's like a lot.
I don't think we'll get that.
And at the year mark, we hit a million.
You are kidding me.
No.
It was insane.
It was actually crazy.
Did you even know what was happening?
Like, were you, when you started posting, where you're like, oh, people like this type of content?
Or were you just posting and it was working?
At first, I feel like we had no idea what we were doing.
We just posted the most random stuff.
And then we kind of started realizing like, oh, this is the kind.
I think we did like the acting like my wife's for a while.
And so he would act like me and those always popped off.
I've never seen that.
I've never seen that those from you.
I mean, I've seen them online, but I didn't know that you did.
Yeah.
And they did it pretty good.
They had like four or five million on each.
They're so funny.
I love this.
Those are still like one of our most highly requested to bring back.
Really?
They're like, bring back the acting like my wives.
And then what was the, oh, remember when that series we had where we would, Kay would always get packages.
And so I would go down there and it was, you ever seen those package lockers where, yeah.
And then you never know which one's going to open.
You like put in your number or whatever and then one of them randomly opens.
And so we'd play this game where Kay would put the number in and then I would hold my head up against one of the doors and try to predict which one was going to open.
So it hit him in the face.
And we did that.
That one went really, really viral.
I feel like that.
And we did that one for a couple of weeks.
Maybe even a couple months.
It was a while.
It was a series.
Yeah.
That one was fun.
Wow.
But it really didn't turn into what it is now until, I don't know.
Pregnancy?
Well, right before pregnancy.
We started filming more the way that we do now.
But pregnancy really.
What year was everything you just said, what year was that?
2022.
Okay.
Yeah, 2020.
This is so recent.
Very recent.
It's so recent.
And then last year, we were at a million and then I got pregnant and it went.
Oh my gosh.
like up to 9 million last year.
So you transitioned to the type of content you're in now around 2023.
They need to like run studies on y'all.
Like what exactly was the kind of catalyst for transitioning to that type of content?
It just fit into your lifestyle better.
It was timing.
It was so much easier to just film randomly than to make some like skit.
Yeah.
And really it and it I felt like we started building a really good community when people felt like they were getting.
snippets of our day and of our life, especially like on Instagram. But, and I think that's why
the pregnancy content did so well is because people felt like they were on the journey with us
and the good, the bad, all the crying that I look back on and I'm like, that was so cringy.
But at the same time, it was very real and very raw. And I was okay sharing that because I had
so many people that would reach out and be like, I totally understand what you're feeling right now.
And that made it worth it to me because I don't, I didn't want people to feel alone because
pregnancy is, I mean, you know, it's a scary journey, your hormones. I mean, you, you feel
all kinds of stuff. And so I just really wanted other women to feel like they had somebody who
could publicly tell others, like, this is normal. This is what's happening when you're pregnant.
And I just, I think that and the journey, falling along the journey really helped build up our
community a lot. Yeah. So I think that the reason I pointed at you and said, I think it was you is,
so you guys were over here filming for a giveaway. I think it was like,
Daryland, Danny, you, and someone else.
And I watched you film that giveaway, and you were precise.
So my thinking, it was kind of the first time I had ever been exposed to probably how much
goes into a TikTok.
But also, you really, because Jordan used to film all my content.
Yeah.
Like everything for two or three years.
And even whenever you started posting on TikTok, like, I didn't even have the app.
And he built us to almost a million followers.
Yeah.
Just taking all of my stuff.
So I like when I saw,
he doesn't do it anymore as much anymore because when we launched Divi,
he didn't have as much time.
Yeah.
But when I saw you doing it,
I was like,
oh, this is deja vu.
Like I remember these days.
But what was so interesting to me is that when we did it,
it was like,
it was photos.
Like 2017 was all about like Instagram photos.
And then they launched,
I think it's dead now,
IGTV.
You were big on that.
Which was like long form.
And I loved that because like I loved editing just like you love editing.
And I loved creating stories and like getting people engaged.
But it was more long form because that was when Instagram was like,
hey, we're going to compete with YouTube.
So then that died out.
And then Instagram stories came about and we got really good at that.
And we just like learned how to integrate it into our lifestyle in a very like real way,
which I think what you guys did.
We didn't even plan the content.
It was just the whatever happened that day.
And then Reels came out.
And I think that for me it was hard to.
comprehend like that attention spans were going to go plummet down. So I was like always trying
to fit like I was like mad at reels because I was like I can't fit what I want to say in 60 seconds.
So when you guys came over and you were leading the charge on filming this giveaway, I was like,
okay, this is a reel. This is going to be like 30 seconds. And you like, I don't know if you
remember this, but you like knew how to kind of micromanage almost every second of where people
were going to fall off at every moment. So, like,
like there was a time where they were like explaining or showing off the prizes and you were like,
there needs to be something in the shot that like catches their attention. So I think that someone like
threw dollar bills down. And so I agree with y'all's story that I think that you guys found a
really natural like amazing way to capture your lives. But I think that there's a little bit more of a
science and engineering to it. Yeah, for sure. That I don't think you get credit for, but I want to use
this podcast to give you credit for. So at what point did you do?
you start really kind of like diving into the science of editing and attention span? Like a few
months in, I like started getting into communities and stuff. So, 2020? Yeah, yeah, it was in
22. So during that zero to a million stage. Okay. Communities. Yeah, like Discord groups and
things like that. Yeah, yeah. Other creators that are trying to figure it out too. And yeah, I got into
communities. Don't give away your secrets, but like what kind of things would job? Or do.
Honestly, they probably don't even work anymore because it changed.
just so fast. It does change. You have to be able to adapt.
Help us understand, like, I think people will be really interested in, like, what the
conversations looked like in these Discord communities at the time. Is it like, hey, I'm
trying. I got a million views by clipping it at this second mark or doing, like, two second
intervals. Like, what were some of the, what's some of the vernacular around those Discord
groups? So, like Danny said, it changes so much. So now the strategy is like dead that we had
figured out. But we had figured out at one point, like on TikTok specific,
specifically, if you got to this certain view count at this certain amount of time and like
your ratios, like your share ratios, your like your like ratio's and all this stuff was good
enough, it would, it would just go.
Yeah.
And so you would be like trying to figure out like in the video itself, like how do I edit
this? How do I zoom?
Whatever to get the like ratio and everything, you know, to that point.
Did it have to do with a drop off time?
So like, hey, if I can keep them engaged for, and it's so crazy, we're saying this because
YouTubers are like, can I keep them engaged for a.
minute, TikTokers are like, can I get them for three seconds?
Yeah.
What was the second?
Yeah, what was the second time frame?
It was rough.
I think, well, it was more of how the average person completes.
So it was like how you needed like 50, 60% of the average person to watch the entire
video.
And like it didn't matter the percentage that fell off as long as at the end of the line,
you were at around 50%.
Yeah.
Right.
It's changed so much now.
But Danny, you'll kind of get this, I think.
the biggest way for us that we found is the idea. Like if you have a good enough idea,
you know this because you did YouTube. If you have a good enough idea, you can have a really
boring video and like the idea itself propels the video. It's always the most, it was always for
me at least the most mundane. I feel like when you tried too hard, it like wouldn't make it.
But if it was just like a, it was if it was a unique topic that was mundane, like I don't know
Well, it's very much like, like, YouTubers and like a Mr. This is like Mr. Bees is famous for this.
It's like you have to know the thumbnail. Yeah. Before you know anything else. And so that's what.
We always had the thumbnail and the title to our YouTube videos before we ever had filmed the content.
We wouldn't even know what the content was going to be. But you liked the title of the thumbnail.
But how do you, how do you apply that to what you guys do? Because y'all's is such real life that you can't, I guess I guess you can kind of kind of have an idea going into the editing.
So like, hey, like I think that this is kind of what the story is going to show.
shake out to be. Or do you know going into the filming? It's a mix. So like for example,
I might have a video that Kay and I think is really funny of Ellie doing this. Yeah. How do I
turn that into something that's going to get 20 million views? And so then I'm like, okay,
well, I need, that first clip needs to have certain texts. And it could say anything. It could
say Ellie's doing a lip thing. But like, who's Ellie? First of all, so all those people that don't know
Ellie, they're not coming in. Right. So now it's our daughter. And like Kay's now my wife. And, you know,
like, and I'm like broadening and making it more generic. So that's like one piece of it. And then
it's like, where do we start? Like we filmed this moment and we have this moment. Where do I start
the video to where people are going to actually see this cute thing happen? And so then it's finding
that point in our filming that makes sense. It's just all those little details. It's like a puzzle.
Like I think that's what the fun of editing is. That's why I used to love to do it. It's like you're
you're trying to take all this raw footage and piece it together into a puzzle that will make
sense to someone who's never watched it before. It really is like the artfulness of editing.
Why do you think y'all's videos that are so personal about your day-to-day get so many shares?
Maybe it's like relatability. Like Kay's really good at just showing herself. And I think a lot of
people are like, I go through that exact same thing. And other people aren't sharing that.
And boyfriends like do this for me, you know, all this surprise.
and things that we do.
That's another part.
So we have like the random moments that because we film every day.
You know,
you do stories.
You end up with so much footage.
You're like,
which one's actually going to go on the story?
Right.
Right.
And we do that except we have one more element.
And we're like,
which one's good enough to be a real?
And then take that off and we're not going to put that on our story.
And that's going to be a real.
Yeah.
But then you also have the planning aspect of like,
like, for example,
our eight year wedding anniversary.
Like I had already planned for a month.
Like I know what I'm going to do like for K.
and like that surprise you know what i mean and like so i like filled the room up with balloons and like
hit the presence in the bedroom right so like it's kind of like i was saying the ideas too you have to
have those ideas ahead of time and totally yeah no i mean we we know that whole it's kind of weird because
the life of a content creator you end up realizing that the job is your life and your life is your
job and so what was very odd and i think what burnt me out um you know probably
a year or two ago before Divi even.
RIP, he used to help me film.
Well, so, so.
I miss those days.
To be honest, what burnt me out was like us having kids because when it was just us,
it was so fun to create these moments and it was like we were a team doing it.
But when we had kids, I really felt like, and I think that I, in the same way that you
are really good at the TikTok side, I think I was really, really good at like the Instagram
story and just Instagram side in general.
like I really understood the science and the artfulness in that era. But what I realized was like, man,
I feel like I'm contriving our lives. And, you know, to a certain extent, like with our kids, right?
And so when our kids were really young, it just psychologically, I couldn't wrap my mind around it.
Like, I really struggled being like, okay, like, am I planning this moment for-
not when our kids were really young is when they started to get older.
Yeah, sorry. When they started to get older and like we're cognizant of like what was going on,
I started to have a moral dilemma in my mind.
And I think that you guys are doing it really well, to be clear.
But I think a lot of creator couples and families go through this where it's like,
am I creating this moment for content or because it's like truly authentic to what my daughter
or my wife want in the moment?
And I just, I struggled through that.
And I'm curious, like, do you guys ever feel like you struggle with just that natural nuance
of being a content creator?
I think for now it's very natural.
Like you were saying, it was natural in the beginning.
We talked in the past about, you know, when Ellie gets old enough, if she's disinterested, you know, we'd probably just put her, you know, like, she wouldn't appear in the content as much, you know?
And because at the end of the day, like you said, it's our life.
Like, yeah.
And so if it's not fun, then that would suck because you have to do it every day, you know?
Like, I put a video out every single day.
And there's a difference between editing something that I'm really excited about and enjoy and a moment that I, like, I'm enjoying rewatching.
and then like, I hate to say it, but like sometimes I do branded content and I'm not enjoying it.
And I'm like, I got to chug through this.
Yeah, because it's part of the job.
Yeah.
Do you guys, so the dynamic I feel like is happening is probably similar ours where you all film during the day.
And then you're probably with the kids and then you go into your cave.
Yeah.
And you probably edit until like, what, 12?
11 o'clock.
So we kind of have like a good thing going right now.
It always hasn't been like this.
It's really been since we've been able to get L.E.
on like a good routine. So she goes down at seven. If it's any later than seven, she is not
happening. Like she's unhappy. So if we put her down at seven, we kind of use the evenings right now
as like our us time to just really not film, not do anything. Like we just hang out together,
whether that be like playing a video game together or whatever it may be. But we do that together.
And then usually he'll edit like in the mornings. In the a.m. In the a.m. right now. So
Interesting.
Yeah.
So the first thing I do, I wake up and I edit.
Do you feel creative in the morning?
Yeah.
After coffee and everything, I'm like.
I think.
I could never edit at night.
Never.
He used to.
He used to.
He used to.
Because I feel like editors are typically, they'll go in a cave at night.
And that's where they get their kind of like creative second win.
Well, I think for me, it wouldn't work if, like, Kay doesn't around me when I edit.
I do go off on my own and do.
Same.
And that has to be that way.
If Kay will come in and ask me a question, I'm like, Kay, I'm in
the zone. Yeah, I totally feel that. I would like literally take my phone and I'd be like,
okay, bye, like family vacations, I just disappear. They'd be like, we're Jordan and it's like,
oh, he's probably editing. Oh my gosh, I was literally in labor and I swear the nurses were probably
like, gosh, this absent husband over here. But I was like telling Taylor was like, do not stop editing.
We have to have that video today. He's like, no, this is going to slap. I do the same thing. I'm like,
you go do your thing, like leave him alone. Yes. Like he, like, I am very supportive of him.
just doing his thing as long as it takes. And then I'll just take Ellie, you know, Kinsley and go do
our thing and not bother you. It's so funny because it's like this is just such like a insider inside
baseball story. But it's like, you know, I think I even in our family kind of got this reputation.
Like when we go on family vacations with our extended family, I got this reputation of like,
oh, like he's not present or he's not interested. And I really was. And like we would be able to
watch this like content back. And it.
was like such a fun, you know, I don't mean this in a bad way, manipulated view of like what
happened, but it was a more beautiful, like, wholesome view of it. And it was like, I was so proud
of not what actually happened, but like the recreation and the storytelling of it, you know. And
but it caused me to get this reputation of our family of like, oh, like he doesn't care. And I really
it's a job. Like doctors go off when they're on call, mom. He's just editing. Like it's just, it's
It's a job.
And again, part of the dichot
of just like the burnout that I think that
I particularly experienced is I was like,
man, like I want to be, like if we're on family
vacation, like I want to be there.
Okay.
I want to ask you all a question.
What is it challenging
working together?
And if so, what is the biggest challenge?
Especially filming and editing together.
I think, I don't think it's a challenge.
And I think we do something that we did
accidentally at first, but it ended
up working is Kay has ideas
in her head for videos.
and I have ideas, and we don't talk to each other about those ideas, because it would ruin it.
Like, if I tell Kay, I'm going to fill our room with balloons. Like, it's not going to be...
My reaction's not going to be as genuine if I...
And so we don't really talk about content ever. Kay doesn't even get on social media most of the time.
I mean, especially not TikTok or YouTube. Like, she really only uses Instagram.
And so, like, we have this thing that we're doing every day and those like full-time, you know, job and all these hours and all the stuff.
But we don't really talk about it. Yeah.
So you're saying you don't fight.
Oh, we definitely have to...
About content?
What do you fight most about these days?
Well, I mean, we fight about all the time so.
I'm just curious.
What was our most recent argument?
Let's see.
I thought Kay was going to be mad because it ended up not being a fight,
but I really thought she was going to be upset
because I got this thing yesterday,
and it was a smoke machine.
Oh, my gosh.
And I was going to surprise Kay with a boo bath.
And I ordered all this stuff on Amazon,
and it came in.
like this corner where I put my stuff and Kay just doesn't go over there. It's like my, my,
I keep them in the boxes and I leave them over there. And so Kay was doing something to Deli and I
carried everything up and I set up this bath and I accidentally bought like an industrial smoke
machine that you would use in like a haunted house. And I put it in our shower and I was expecting
to just fog the shower up a little bit because I had this funny joke that I was like, I thought
Kay would really like. And so I turned it on and it filled the entire room to the point where
you couldn't see anymore with smoke.
And I was thinking of myself the entire time.
I was setting up the rest of the bath.
I was like, Kay's going to walk in here and she's going to be like, what have you done?
You didn't.
No.
But I really thought that was going to be something.
I thought it was intentional.
Like, I thought you were wanting it to look like a haunted house.
It was so smoking.
It took so long to go away afterwards.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It was rough.
So it's not content that you guys, first of all, I, you know, I'm friends with a lot of,
like, I would just call them.
Instagram husbands, but I think they're similar, like creator husbands or whatever. And I find that
the best dynamic that keeps marriages strong in this space when your brand is like y'all as a
couple is like very defined swim lanes of like, hey, I do this, you do that. And I think that like,
you know, Danny and I had to figure out like where we trust each other and where we like,
well, I can tell you where we fought the most with when it came to content is when he ever posted
if he ever posted anything that I didn't approve first, I, because I, like, sometimes,
especially because there's so many different platforms, but maybe, like, let's just say it had
something to do with, like, breastfeeding. And I knew that I wanted to stop breastfeeding in a
week. And then maybe he would post something and be like, I love breastfeeding. I'm like,
that's not true. Like, I hate breastfeeding. And you just told everybody that I like it.
And, like, if we would have sat down and, like, I know that you're going off and editing on your own.
And maybe I had told him that I liked breastfeeding two weeks prior, but like that's not where my mind is at now.
And so it was things like that that we would fight over because I'm like, why didn't we just run this content by me?
You know?
Yeah, I don't like, I don't like to be managed though.
Like I would always roll the dice and I'd be like, you know what?
So do you all?
I'm the opposite.
I give not only the videos every time to her, but then I give the caption to.
And she approves it and spell checks it.
Because we would have a better husband.
She would get upset sometimes because I'd have all these typos.
And she'd be like, you can't change it.
That I did get up with that.
It makes me seem like such an idiot, by the way he spells this.
Because we're a couple and we're posting on a couple platform, like, people don't always know if it's me or him talking.
And if he puts all these typos, I'm like, that makes me look.
So when I put peace of mind, but I spelled it P-I-E-C-E instead of P-E-A-C-A-C-L.
Taylor, I would have strangled you.
I've been so mad.
I'm like, I know how to spell and he's a horrible speller.
And I'm like, you're making me look so dumb.
Or like, just the whole, like, sometimes even the way he doesn't post for me anymore.
But like we kind of used to be more of that couple content as well. And like the way he would block like put the text covering the whole thing. I'm like, you're covering my shoes.
Oh yeah. You're like, you need to move the text up a little bit. And I shrink the video and make like a border in case like I hate that. Do not do that. I'm like, I want to see the whole thing.
If you ever sing it, see it shrunk on our stories, it's because he's done it. And I can't stand it. But like how am I supposed to show your shoes? Because we didn't film it. And so. It's so funny. It's like if you're in the business, you know all these nuances. Like I bet if I watch Jell stories or.
or watch your TikTok guy,
I'd be like,
that has Tay written all over it.
Yeah.
That has Kay.
I don't know.
It sounds like y'all are more collaborative
than Jordan was willing to be.
He was not willing to listen.
My biggest,
I'm not a collaborative person.
I'm a terrible collaborator.
It makes it really hard to create content together.
So y'all don't fight over content.
I'm like,
we're fighting now.
Like,
this is why I quit.
This is why we have a podcast now.
That's so true.
Okay,
so I want to ask,
what is your favorite platform?
you said you're on Instagram most, what is your favorite platform to create content on?
And what is the most, what is the word lucrative?
Yeah.
My favorite is Instagram, hands down.
I love the story aspect.
I love that we can share just very raw, like, I don't know, like there's no editing that goes
into stories.
You're kind of poster day.
I really do.
I love stories.
But I also love, like, that I feel like we have more connections.
with our community on Instagram.
Not that we don't have a great community on the other ones,
but I just feel like Instagram gives you a way
that you can just communicate with everybody.
Because I'm one of, people always ask me,
they're like, why do you go through your DMs?
Like, you should not be going through your DMs.
But I go through my DMs and I reply to a lot of DMs
because I feel like, okay,
there's a reason this person sent this to me.
They want me to see this, whether it's advice or whatever.
I love being able to reply to some of those people.
But yeah, I just, I love the community.
Instagram is hands down.
I can't even tell you the last time I was on TikTok, like scrolling through.
Like we, I get on from my page, but I don't scroll through.
Why?
I don't know.
The content, well, for one, we share.
And so the content he watches is not really interesting to me.
So the FYP page is just like all video games and stuff on our FYP.
It's just not interesting.
But then if you, like on Instagram, that's where I scroll.
And so it's all the stuff I like to watch.
So I go on Instagram and he has TikTok.
Yeah.
I want to ask you guys about like the community and the differences in your TikTok community and your Instagram community.
So one of the things that like there's no exact formula to this, but it's kind of a feeling.
I have always felt that if you have, and I'm just going to put random numbers to this, if you have 500,000 followers on Instagram and they're very engaged with your stories and you have a meetup at a mall, I think that you could have more people there than someone who has 3 million followers on TikTok.
and even gets good views, right?
Well, is that true? Do you feel that way?
I do.
So a couple of extra aspects.
How long have you had the 500,000 followers and 3 million followers?
Are they newer followers?
Like if you have 500,000 followers that you've set on for seven years?
Or did, I mean, is it, you know what I mean?
Yeah.
Okay, that's a real, so what are other variables that would factor in?
The reason I say this is because on TikTok, no one unfollow.
So if you have three million followers, you could have gotten a bunch of followers a long time ago.
And no one unfollow.
So you just have them on Instagram.
You're constantly battling the unfollow rate.
You probably know.
That's so true.
And you're churning.
You're churning followers at all times.
Yeah.
And so in that case, yeah, 500,000 meet up probably because you've held 500,000 followers for however long and churned new followers.
And the person with 3 million, unless they just got it, like right then, they're probably old.
And they may not even be active anymore.
Go ahead.
Is there?
So that's a really good point about TikTok that you're not losing followers.
People don't typically unfollow.
They say like if you have 20% of your following on Instagram super engaged, like that's really good.
Is there like a percent ratio on TikTok that is really good?
Probably, but Kay and I just shoot for a million views on every video.
That's like our happy point.
We've never raised that bar.
We've always just said if every video gets a million views, then we're happy.
Do you feel like if you shared a meetup that you were going to do in Dallas just on TikTok,
you would have as much of an audience come as if you did it on Instagram.
So you feel like Instagram is more powerful in creating that really engaged audience.
Or at least for a local audience, for sure.
So going back to the other question, which do you feel like nowadays is more lucrative?
And what do you feel like will be more lucrative in the future?
I don't know about the future aspect of it.
I think TikTok is, well, it's hard for us now because like you said, we have the audience on all the platforms.
and so they bundle the deals.
Yeah.
As far as brand deals go, I feel like it's definitely bundled.
TikTok was always really, like back when we did it ourselves,
TikTok was always the best platform.
Lucrative.
Yeah, but nowadays, I don't know,
because they put it all together into a package.
So what about like conversion rate though?
Because some brands probably like to measure exactly how many sales you're getting
or clicks you're getting.
Now you can, I'm still like out of loop with TikTok,
but you can put a link on TikTok now, right?
Oh, I didn't know that.
Oh, I don't know.
Oh, well, TikTok shop.
Yeah, TikTok shop.
I'm like, you would know how better than I would.
Yeah.
So I always told brands like, if you want exposure, like TikTok's great for that.
Yeah.
And then if you want, you know, clicks, then Instagram.
Like sales.
Yeah.
Sales or Instagram for sure.
That's what we're finding on the Divi side.
I think that's why I'm so curious because we, we, I think every brand had this, like,
fomo effect, right?
Where it was like, oh my gosh, we've got to work with these TikTokers.
They're getting so many views.
I think that.
that we're close to, if not there, where we're at the leveling out experience where it's
like brands have devoted a lot of dollars to TikTok. And they realize that they get a ton of
impressions, but it's not the same conversion or ROI is like working with an Instagram or on
Instagram stories. Which is probably why they're bundling with you guys. It's like, hey,
give us the views over here. Give us the conversion over here. I don't know. I kind of like struggle
with that because I think that there's so many brand deals on Instagram that it's so
hard to trust people. And so I feel like the conversions are happening from TikTok,
they just can't track them back. It could be. I just feel like it's like I'm so sick
of seeing like the same brands 24-7. Like I want to know like what maskera are you really
like what do you actually use? And when you're just doing a get ready with me on TikTok and I'm
like, she didn't even talk about it. I just saw it sitting there. Like I'm going to go buy
it at, you know, Albertsons. Because she didn't talk about it. Because she didn't talk about it.
So that's why I want to buy it. So I do feel like it's like just kind of more challenging to measure
on TikTok.
But what TikToker do you guys feel like has the most engaged TikTok audience outside of y'all?
See, that's hard for both of us because we don't, I don't scroll.
I don't do a lot of TikTok.
I mean, I scrolled TikTok for entertainment, but I don't scroll, like, my brain's not turned
on when I'm scrolling TikTok.
Biggest following.
You know, Keith Lee has a really, like.
Is he the food one?
He's the one that does a food one.
And I know this because when he goes to places, like everyone comes to see him.
And it could just be the way he's filming his content.
You know, maybe he shows the big...
Yeah, maybe he shows the big audiences so that it gives the impression that there's big audiences.
And, you know, if you want to be in a video, so next time he's in my town, I'm going to go.
Yeah.
Maybe that's why.
But it appears that he has a really, you know...
Do you guys use TikTok shop?
No.
Well, I did one time.
What's the culture around TikTok shop?
Like, why...
Because brands are really starting to go there.
I'm curious why some of the bigger influencers are not using it.
You know, like on Instagram.
when a new feature comes out and you're like, I don't know if I want to touch that because
what if it hurts my channel somehow?
TikTok's like that, but like tenfold.
It's very un-forgetable.
There's stories on TikTok, but I won't use it because what if the analytics from that
story affects my reels, like the overall analytics of my real and then hurts my real performance?
It's like you guys have this really good thing going.
I'm not touching.
I'm not touching.
That's why you don't see big channels doing TikTok shop because they are not touching.
Yeah, like Alex Earle does not do TikTok shop.
That's what I was going to say.
that's when you asked me the last question.
Yeah.
Tiana Rovalard.
I think she's going to be like,
T.
T.T.
Yeah.
No,
that's Tiamu.
Probably.
Tiana Robillard was,
she's good friends with Alex.
Yeah,
I think she's just a hard worker.
She's rising to the top.
Like,
I think she's super smart.
Like,
she actually worked for DareLand at Nudes.
Oh, okay.
She like understand,
like,
I think she's going to be a big deal.
I like her.
Yeah.
Does she use TikTok shop?
I'm going to have to search her up.
She did once.
So she did a, I think I've talked to this about this on the podcast, but she's the first person that I have seen.
Oh, she just did.
And it was so good.
It was how organic she was.
Oh my gosh.
It was so organic.
And I was like that, that link converted so well.
Was it to the jeans or what was it?
The camo pants.
The camo pants.
I was like, dude, she just slung some camo pants.
Oh, man.
I almost bought them.
And those don't usually get me.
It was so just like nonchalant, like, oh, you guys have been asking a link to.
in TikTok shop, that was it.
And I was like, that's going to make you the button.
Like, you're so smart.
Doesn't even describe them.
She's just like.
She just doesn't describe them.
She was like, and like she wore them a ton.
And like a lot of her.
It seemed like she was really serving me.
Like she was helping me.
This wasn't about her.
She was like your friend.
Like she was like, she got my back.
And I was like, and then I think it's too.
It's like when people do that, they just sprinkle it in there.
Like, you're like, I want her to get the commission.
Like I want her to be a success.
Yeah.
You know, when you see these links 24-7, you kind of get like a little annoyed.
But when they,
they don't do it often. You're like, you get the bad girlfriend. See, that's what I think. I think
a lot of these TikTok, uh, TikTokers are going to discover TikTok shop. And I think it will be kind
of like when Instagram, mommy bloggers discovered Instagram stories. And I think it if, if the feature,
or LTC or something. Yeah. Um, okay, let's go into some maybe misconceptions. Actually, this isn't
really a misconception. I'm actually just personally curious. How did you feel like,
about moving to Dallas. You're technically in Dallas now, the Dallas mommy blogger community.
So far, I've loved everyone I've met. Like, genuinely, I really do like the community that is
built up here. I mean, I don't have a lot of experience meeting other groups. Like, I know there's
like a Nashville group. And, but I, I feel like I'm so proud to be in Dallas with all of these
girls because I just really think so many of you guys have been so successful and, like,
such an inspiration to some of us newer content creators. So yeah, I love it. That's so good.
That's how I feel about the Dallas Mommy blogger community too. I feel like everyone is so supportive.
At the same time, we all are prioritizing our family, so we're not hanging out every single weekend.
Like I wish that we could because we're all so busy. But it's like when we do have those
moments, like we want to get together and we want to support each other. And so I'm glad that
you're feeling the same way that I do. If anybody comes for you, you tell me.
I'll beat him up.
I will tell them.
But I feel like everybody's so genuine, too.
Because you don't know, like, when you're on the other side of things,
like, you don't know, like, if that person's really like that.
And then when you meet him in person, like, when I came to,
I came to Stratton's birthday party.
And to be honest with you, when we left, I was like,
did you know all those people were, like, on Instagram and stuff?
And he was like, no, like, everybody was just so normal.
Everybody was so real and genuine and normal.
Yeah.
That I had no idea, like, I mean, some of them, obviously, I knew who they were, but there were several that I had no idea.
And I ended up following them after because I didn't even know that they were on there.
And I just thought they were just the most kind people.
And they welcomed me, even though I feel like I'm kind of like the new guy.
Yeah.
But I did feel very welcomed, and I loved that.
Oh, I'm so happy to hear that.
Everyone keeps each other grounded.
And I think kids keep you grounded, too.
You can never get a big head when you have a kid.
I walk into Stella's bedroom and she's like, Mommy, you're so big.
today. I'm like, thanks. I actually felt like I was looking pretty good.
Wow. Right. Okay, let's see. Have you guys ever been canceled? I've been canceled twice. So,
there you go. I'll tell you first. Actually, at this point, I've probably been canceled seven times.
Like, it's like, that's why I also don't get on TikTok as much because I figure out all these things
that I'm doing wrong that I didn't even know it was being wrong. Instagram just seems a little bit more,
like they'll DM you something mean. But,
talk, it's like all the Jordan calls on the talking head videos where they're always like calling
you out. And I'm like, oh, I didn't even know that I, you know, strapped her wrong in the
car seat or whatever. Like, yeah, they're brutal. Yeah, TikTok's brutal.
Don't have a lot of talking head videos. I feel like. We have a few. Yeah, we have a few.
Yeah, we have a few. Hey, that's good. That's when you know that you're doing well, though. Like,
you got to have some hate. You got to have haters. That is like what's crazy about, we talk about
this a lot. Like, if we would have gone through the hate wave, like we call the hate wave, like
2020 era because just everyone was mad. Well, I was canceled in 2018. Yeah. And so,
but if TikTok was around at that point, because you create these talking head videos,
then those go viral. And then people create more because it's a strategy than to hate you.
So it is a very vicious platform. It is. Yeah. Have, I mean, have y'all gone through the talking head
videos? We had, we had a period where there's a lot of people talking. But I feel like can't, like saying like,
were you canceled? Like, it makes people think, like, they think actually they have the ability to
cancel you, but you actually can't cancel anyone that keeps posting. Yeah. Unless the platform itself,
you're not canceled. You're still here. Exactly. So when you said you were canceled so many times,
I was like, but you're doing so much. Yeah, you're not canceled. You're right. Well, I guess, okay,
I had to be honest, when I was canceled, the word canceled wasn't even really a thing that was, like,
very new. Yeah. And so I didn't know if I was actually canceled or not. Like, I didn't know if I would make a comeback.
And like now I feel like enough people have been canceled that any time that I feel like, oh, it's happening again.
I'm like, it'll be fine.
Like at the day, like everything is okay.
Yes, maybe I've made some mistakes from my past.
That was so long ago.
Like I've, you grow so much in just a year that I'm just like everybody, you know.
They don't try and cancel you from posting.
They try and cancel your will.
Yeah.
And it's the funniest part is.
Yeah.
We had so many views during our like cancellation or whatever.
that we had like the past cancellations.
It's like I made more money when everyone was talking bad about me.
Oh, the views were crazy.
Keep it coming. Keep it coming, please.
It's so hard to have that perspective, but it's true.
Like it actually does kind of help you grow.
And it puts you on the map.
Like I had never been written about by People Magazine.
And all of a sudden I was in there.
And I was like, Mom, look, we made it.
You put it on your wall.
I'm like, then at first it took two weeks of crying in bed.
And then I was like, but wait a minute.
I was in People Magazine.
Exactly.
Just put me on the map.
Yeah. Okay, so let's see. What does...
You guys play video games together.
Yeah. I remember you telling me that. That's cool.
I feel like that's something that I can't get a lot of other women like to relate to me on that.
I feel like I'm so like weird.
Yeah, we're playing PubG right now.
I used to play some games.
You like play like shooter games.
She plays real games.
Yeah. I do.
Well, okay. But to be fair, it was just something I,
I started so that I would have something to do with Hay.
And I knew how much he enjoyed it.
And I didn't want to be one of those wives that was like, get off your video game.
Because I knew he thoroughly enjoyed it.
Like that was his wind down.
That was his decompression is to get on his game.
And I wanted to be able to enjoy that with him.
And so I think it was a joke at first.
He was like, you play with me.
And then I actually enjoyed.
She gets into it.
Do you like have a headset and everything?
I have a whole like gaming setup.
I'll show you a picture.
Wait.
Okay.
Why are you not streaming?
That's what everyone says.
Why are you not streaming?
Because I'm not good.
You would kill it.
But I feel like it doesn't matter.
I feel like you just have to look cute while you're playing games.
Yeah.
A lot of people have suggested it.
We have the whole setup.
We might do it one day.
I don't know.
Maybe if you ever get burnt out of creating the relatable content,
and you're like, I just need a break for my personal life.
You could go into that.
Yeah.
I'm definitely the gamer that, like, they'll be like, he's behind you and I turn the opposite.
Like, I'm not good.
I'm never going to claim to be good.
But I do enjoy it.
Well, honestly, like, and I'm just so curious if you all feel this, like,
females in game chats and like, you know, if you're actually like talking, I feel like when
females play in these games, like the culture's pretty ruthless in the gaming culture.
They're mean. They're so mean to women. It's true. Or they think I'm a little boy. Yeah.
Like that hasn't hit puberty. I get that all the time. We've been playing this game.
We've been playing this game where you're like in an office and you have to try to figure out.
Dale and Dawson. Dale and Dawson. Yeah. And you have to try to figure out which ones are the slackers.
Like think like Among Us, but like repackage.
and the men on that are so horrible.
Oh, I bet.
And they all like role play as they're in the office.
So they're like, yeah, it's just the worst.
Yeah, it's not actually mean.
It's like vile.
It's probably heard things about like said to you that you're like,
because they're protected from amenity.
Like they can say whatever.
Exactly.
Babe, try and think of the worst thing you could ever say to Kay.
And times that by 10 and that is what they say to her in the game chats.
I honestly could.
Maybe that's why she handles the hate so well.
on mine because she's like, this is nothing.
I've been doing this since
2015.
That is funny.
I could try to learn some video games.
I could tell you some fun.
I'll tell you what I played growing up.
I did play Mortal Kombat.
I played Zelda.
I played
Mario Card.
207 on 664.
I did too.
Old Nye played that.
I played all the super like Super Smash Bros.
Super Mario, all that.
I played anything that my brother was playing.
But I'll tell you where he lost me was like the Minecraft he lost me.
And then he lost me at World Warcraft.
World of Warcraft.
He was actually really big in World of World Warcraft.
That was his thing.
That one destroys family.
Yeah.
But I liked like double seven and like some of those like shooter games because they weren't
too like I don't know, grotesque and like too much.
But I was still like competitive.
Yeah.
But yeah.
So that was kind of my gym.
So anything in that realm.
Are you playing Call of Duty?
Not really.
We never really gotten into that one.
We play Tarkov.
That one's pretty fun.
Escape from Tarkov.
It would take a long time to explain.
Think a shooter game with extra steps.
You guys play board games?
They have a bunch of board games.
Yeah, they love.
We talked about this.
They want to play Katan.
That's fine.
I switched over to Risk.
Oh, really?
I've not played that one.
I love risk.
I played that.
Something I did when I was deployed?
A lot of risk.
You seem like you would be into like niche board games.
Yeah.
Yeah.
We didn't have a game board night.
We should.
We love game night.
Okay, let's see.
Where do you all want to be in 10 years?
If I could be exactly where I am right now in 10 years, that would be great.
Obviously, I want to continue to progress and maybe make a brand or company like you guys have.
But, like, I am just so content with our life right now that I wouldn't be mad if we just did exactly what we're doing right now for 10 years.
Obviously, maybe pop more children out.
Yeah.
I feel like I want to definitely the more children.
Wait a minute.
We can just skip over that.
How many are we talking?
I want at least two more.
Okay.
I've always wanted four kids.
And I feel like, and honestly, I could have a baby every year and be happy.
Like, I love having babies.
Like, I think it's the most fun thing.
It's the most rewarding thing.
I mean, now, don't get me wrong.
I don't love pregnancy.
Like, I don't love pregnancy at all.
It's the having the baby and seeing them for the first time, like, the just absolute
high you get from, like, having a newborn.
I love that part, too.
It is just, unmatched.
And then Ellie is just like the perfect baby.
Like, I think she's good.
She's good.
purposely so that we'll have more and then they're going to be
they're going to be the worst. I've actually been blessed with two really good babies.
Kinsley was so good. She's great now. Kinsley is amazing, y'all. Like, I know that she's
not in your content, but I've had a chance of meeting her a couple times. That
girl is amazing. She's so, like, she's so much her. Like, honestly, she could be your mom.
Like, she has to keep me, you know. And she's like, you ask her any question and she really
knows herself and she's confident. She's beautiful. Like, you've done
such a good job with her. Like, I was just blown away the first time that I ever met her. I'm like,
can we hang? Like, is that okay? Is that weird? I feel like she's just very, she's just a very good kid.
She has a great head on our shoulder. She's going to do big things, great things. She's not the
kid that I'm ever going to have to worry about. And thank goodness, she was the one I had at 19,
because she truly was such an easy baby. Like, you could put her in her bed and she would just
fall asleep. There was no sleep training from the get-go. She was just easy. And the only thing I will
say she's the pickiest eater I've ever met. Like for a while she was on the beige diet. So it's
like chicken nuggets, french fries, mash potatoes. Still on that diet. It was. But 32 is still going
beige. But yeah, both having two kids back to back that are great and like well behaved,
like I could have like five more. But realistically we'll probably have two more.
Okay. Yeah. That's, that's the goal. I love it. Let's see. What advice would you give to
others getting into creating content right now.
Anyone can do it as long as you keep your head in it at all times.
Like momentum is everything.
And you guys know this.
Yeah.
Consistency and momentum.
That's it.
I mean,
ride the wave.
We did,
we've done a piece of content every day since we made our New Year's
resolution,
you know,
except one day.
It really is a lifestyle change.
I mean,
you can't just expect to not make it like your life.
Like,
I mean,
you think about content every single day.
Yep.
You have to.
If you want to,
be on top if you want to succeed. You have to do those things that you have to be consistent. You
can't go a month without posting. Not saying you can't come back and make good views, but you're not
going to grow the same way. It is a lifestyle. It's not a job. It's not. It's not a job. You got to love it.
But that's what I love about this job is that it's really like integrated into just our normal life.
I feel like I'm not working. I feel like I'm just living my life. And that's why I feel like when we
we post very like milestone content like just slices of our day and those are like memories
and now like I'm thinking about Ellie turning one next month and I'm like but I have a whole year
literally I'm going to have 365 days worth of Ellie content like you know not just Ellie but just
our life for 365 days I'm going to have that and that is that makes it worth it to me even
if it wasn't about the followers or the money or anything the perks I get to have all of these
And it is just so cool that we get to do that.
I love that too.
My mom's always like, you don't have photo albums.
I'm like, mom, they're all over the internet.
And you can access them anywhere that you are.
Exactly.
You have been very transparent about your autoimmune conditions.
That's kind of what you call it.
You started dealing with those about five years ago, I believe.
Can you tell us more about that?
Yeah.
So I actually have a family history of autoimmune conditions.
My mom has lupus.
She's actually a dis.
She was a nurse. She's disabled now.
And so it kind of runs in my family.
So about five years ago, I started getting very mild symptoms.
Like not, if I didn't have a family history, I wouldn't have been alerted to go to the doctor.
I mean, it was very, very mild, like maybe some joint stiffness in the mornings.
But I just felt like, okay, maybe I'm getting old, you know.
And so I started seeing a rheumatologist.
And initially, they couldn't find really anything.
My labs looked great.
I looked pretty great.
Didn't really have obvious swelling or anything.
And then it just kind of remained the same for a couple of years.
years and then it just kind of progressively started getting worse. And I would say in 2022 is when I
finally started getting some of my labs started showing what I was feeling, but not quite enough
to get a diagnosis to match all of my symptoms. Like I haven't really said this online,
but my symptoms matched lupus. Like I have almost every single lupus symptom. But it's a very
hard diagnosis to get like incredibly hard. And anybody who has it will tell you it took them
five plus years to get diagnosed.
because you just don't, you feel horrible, you have all the symptoms and signs, but your labs look
fine. And it's a puzzle. You have to have both, really, to get that proper diagnosis. So anyways,
I got pregnant. I felt great during pregnancy. And then at about seven weeks postpartum is when I, I mean,
the worst I felt ever, I didn't feel this bad before. I've lost about 50% of my hair.
I actually have extensions now because it got to the point where,
I mean, it was very hard to look at.
I mean, so few hairs in my head.
That on rash, on top of rashes.
I can't go in the sun because I get just rashes.
I don't burn.
I just get rashes.
So I do fake tanner now and it's great.
And then there's just so many symptoms, fevers, daily fevers.
But yeah, so I just recently got a lab result back that is really the main piece that my doctor
wanted to see before giving me this diagnosis.
which I don't have, by the way.
I'm not officially been diagnosed, but this is the one that she said for all these years,
well, but this is negative.
This is negative.
And so now that it's positive, I feel like I have so much validation.
Even though I haven't even spoken to my doctor about it, I already know.
Like, I'm going to be able to walk in and be like, see, I told you, like, this is what I've known in my heart is wrong with me.
Because when it's yourself, like, not only you know your body, you know when something's off.
When the doctor sees you for 20 minutes every three months, like they don't, they just see.
the pieces, right? They're not actually living with it every day. But I could be my own rheumatologist
at this point because I've researched endlessly every single symptom, every lab test, all of it.
And I can tell you without a doubt, like I know what's wrong with me. And so I just feel so much
validation that I think I'm finally going to get help and get the medication that I need.
Because that's the other thing is insurance won't cover. If you don't have the proper diagnosis,
you can't get on the medication because they're like, well, she's not been diagnosed with this.
and so they won't cover it.
So that kind of stinks.
And for me, like, what helped me, what help it click is Kay has, like,
diagnoses of different autoimmune conditions where the doctors just kind of, like,
took a shot, and they're like, I think it's this.
I think it's this.
And that kind of sucks to be like, because there's thousands of autoimmune conditions.
And it kind of sucks for them to be like, I think you have these three or four things,
but, like, what if it isn't those four things and what if it's just lupus?
And so, like, Kay's, like, really research.
And, like, you know, I don't think I have five different issues.
I think I have one issue.
I've been told I have rheumatoid arthritis.
I've been told I have fibromyalgia and I've been told I have chogranes.
And don't get me wrong, you can have like five autoimmune conditions.
It's very common.
If you have one, you can have multiple.
So I'm not saying I don't have those other things, but there's so many of my symptoms that don't align with those.
And your mom has lupus?
My mom has SLE lupus.
She also has chokrins and rheumatoor arthritis.
Do those usually, is it genetic?
sometimes leopis? I think they've been found to be genetic. I don't know. There's a lot of science
behind it. Like it's, I think you have like a, I forget the percentage. You have a higher chance
if your mother has it. When you told your mom your symptoms was she like, yeah, that's probably
what it is. Oh, yeah. I'm literally my mom's carbon copy. Like everything. Everything I experienced,
she's like, I literally get the same thing. So that's what's helped me keep pushing for this
diagnosis because I know, like, my mom's experiencing it.
And it's been five years.
That is exhausting.
It is.
And frustrating.
And it just goes to show you, you really do have to continue to advocate for yourself.
Yep.
Keep getting the test.
Even if they're negative, they will turn positive if it's there.
She had to actually end up coming off all of her medication.
So, like, all the stuff that doctors had prescribed to help her with her pain and stuff
or other autoimmune conditions, she just had to cold turkey, all of it.
I really think that those medications were what.
was causing my tests to look normal because they were helping just enough that it wasn't
able to show. And now that I've been just off of everything for like three months now,
it finally started showing. And I was like, well, I had to have been it. Did you ever deal with
postpartum depression? I wasn't clinically like diagnosed with that, but I would definitely say I had
a lot of that and anxiety really bad. Same. And I think that I had never taken a medication
consistently like that. You know, if I'd strap or whatever flu, I was.
would take something. But I feel like ever since I started that medication, it's so hard to track.
Like, what is, why are the night sweats happening? Are they from that medication? Are they from the
pregnancy? Or are they from anxiety? Are they from, I'm just hot at night? Like, it's just so hard to
track it until, and I'm so scared to go cold turkey, especially because I've had now three pregnancies
in almost in four years. And so I'm like, I don't want to get all my medication because these
pregnancies are hard. But I will look forward to the day whenever I can just, like, clear everything
and start from scratch and, like, really assess. But yeah, I'm sorry, that is for five years.
That's a lot. But good for you for, like, keep fighting for yourself and for trying to figure out
what's going on. And I'm hoping that you get that clear diagnosis. So we'll be praying.
Where can people find you guys? I don't know. Which one do you want to find out? Which one do you want to
shout out.
Just Google them.
You'll find all their links.
Go to our YouTube.
We're going to do long form at some point.
That's an answer to the 10-year question.
I want to be making long-form content.
It looks so fun.
Yeah, I want to do long form.
Like, really bad.
But not on our own.
Like, I can't do it alone.
Would you ever hire an editor?
If we were doing long form and I would even hire someone to film.
Like, that's the thing because I don't know how you'd be filming for all platforms
like that.
We couldn't.
It's too much.
We already feel like we're, we want to do long form.
long form though. We were doing long form and TikTok and Instagram stories. At one point, we hired
this guy. Remember Jack? Oh yeah, yeah. And he came over and filmed us and it was just like,
the flow was so hard because it was just like three different storylines that we just couldn't
figure out how to match up all the storylines into one. Yeah. You know, you definitely have to set a day
aside and like film the YouTube video. Yeah. But when you're doing daily stories, that's really
hard at the time. True, true. That was really, yeah. Any other projects you guys are working on?
I don't think so.
I mean, we have, like, branded stuff we're doing.
Yeah.
Can you tell us?
I have some new jewelry pieces that are about to come out.
So I'm pretty excited about those.
Shout out.
Yeah, shout out to Rellery.
They're amazing.
They're so nice.
They're awesome.
They'll actually be at the first birthday party.
Really?
Yeah, they're super sweet.
You should do another event with them.
Like a pop-up?
Yeah, I bet people loved that.
I know.
Everybody keeps asking if we're going to do another one.
I would love, I loved doing the pop-ups.
We should do a joint pop-up.
That would be fun.
Is that a thing?
Like, multiple creators do a pop-up?
Yeah, I'll do it.
Oh, yeah.
We can do divvy and relery.
Divi and Relary.
Get your scout massage.
Get your cell massage.
Let us know.
Rose couture.
Yeah, we'd do that.
Oh, yeah, for sure.
Hey, let us know.
Hey, I'll be available.
I'm not going anywhere.
I got this baby that I got to deliver.
So, okay, well, thank you guys so much for coming on the podcast.
And I, I hope that y'all are over and more playing some video games.
Maybe.
Maybe.
Paintball.
Work a ton.
Board games.
It's not video games.
Maybe video games.
Hey, four people.
That's PubG.
That's a full lobby.
Oh, Mario Party.
Maybe you can convert.
Oh, Mario Party.
I would do that.
I would do that.
Get the wheeze back now.
Yeah.
Oh, my gosh.
Oh, my God.
All right.
Well, thank you guys for listening to the rest of this episode.
Make sure you leave a comment down below of your favorite part.
Comment something that people wouldn't understand.
And then everyone will be confused.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
So what do people comment?
Just in the podcast.
He already said it.
Okay, okay, we love you guys and we'll talk to you later.
Bye.
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