The Bossticks - Claudia Sulewski On Relationships, Veganism, Weight Loss, & YouTube Growth

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Starting point is 00:02:31 Welcome to the skinny confidential, him and her. I don't know how it falls into my lap, but I think the mentality that I always have is just like, why not just fucking try it? You know, just dive right in. And I think especially like in this industry, it's so much about experience and just, you know, having that confidence. Hello, happy Friday. Welcome back to the skinny confidential him and her show.

Starting point is 00:03:22 Boy, oh boy, do we have a fun episode for you today. We have on Claudia Sluski. Who is Claudia Sluski? She is most known as an influencer who has over 1.7 million Instagram followers and 2.2 million subscribers on YouTube. She has been doing YouTube forever. I think she said she's started. when she was 13 years old.

Starting point is 00:03:45 Her online content usually consists of photos and videos about lifestyle, travel, beauty, and fashion. She talks veganism, entrepreneurship, and even dishes on her relationship with Phineas O'Connell, who also happens to be Billy Elish's brother. He is a gnarly producer. They have such a cool relationship. And they have a podcast called We Bought a House. Grammy Award winning. Grammy award winning.

Starting point is 00:04:07 And also the way you open that episode is the voice that I fear you would murder me with if you were going to murder me. practicing it's like a low like don't fuck with me. I don't know what it was. It creep me out. Yeah. I'm to like experimenting with different voices just because you never know what you're going to need and what kind of inflection you want to. Claudia thought that we could, you know, maybe we could boost our social presence if we were a little bit more lovey-dovey and did like the romance shots on social, but I'm not going to sit on your dick on my Instagram. Sorry. You went from, okay, so this is why we can't do the romantic stuff for because you went right to that. I'm just not the person to be holding your hand with a sunset in the background. Should we go and like do the thing we're like, we're like, we're the thing we're like, we're like, we're. look longingly looking at each other's eyes. No. You know what?

Starting point is 00:04:45 Also, to be honest, your beard color doesn't fit my feed. Well, all right, fine, whatever. We're going to have to lose on that part of our career. Guys, thanks again for tuning in. And here we go with another incredible episode with Claudia. This is the skinny confidential, him and her. People are die hard for you guys. Like, you will post something together and it's like hundreds of comments.

Starting point is 00:05:12 People love love. Yeah. That is the answer. You guys are so cute. Thank you. Like adorable couple. Thank you. How did you meet?

Starting point is 00:05:20 So we technically met on Rea, Raya, however you pronounce it. And I, listen, that is just the times that we're living in now, dating apps. So many people meet through them. I hate saying that because there's more to the story. So basically like two and a half years leading up to us meeting on Raya, I have a lot of friends that are in the music industry. And two of my best friend, best friends specifically had sessions with him. And both times, they both were like, I just had a session with this guy. You guys would fall in love with each other, but it's not worth it because he's always

Starting point is 00:05:53 out of town. And so it was always like this, oh my God, you guys had hit off, but he's gone. But he's in a relationship or whatever. And in 2018 in September, I was out to breakfast with one of my friends, the one who was saying all that stuff. And I came across his profile. And I was like, is this the guy, Finneas? Like, who else has that name? And she was like, oh my God, I can't believe he single. Yes, you need a match with him. And so it sort of everything fell into place so perfectly and so quickly because we already knew so many people in the same friend group, but just did not know of each other at all.

Starting point is 00:06:29 I've only just heard his name. So it just like immediately clicked the second we met, the next day he wrote a song about me, titled it Claudia. It's already, I don't, you have a fucking song about me. I knew right when you said that I was going to be in some shit. I know. God damn. Wait, we have to put the Claudia song in the beginning of this episode, Taylor. That is so cute. Yeah. Okay. I want to do that. I can, if you guys want to throw up even more, before we said, I love you, you know, he's writing these songs about me. I was like, what can I do for him to express my love? And I love painting. So I painted him this drawing of like an angel falling into this orange rose because his favorite color is orange and he calls me an angel. And he made the,

Starting point is 00:07:07 that the cover art of that song. So it just keeps on going. I was going to say a BJ. I was going to give him a BJ. I mean, yes. We do that. That's, you know, that's, you know, that's on the right. So I'm going to write a song. You're going to, you're going to paint. I don't know how good the painting's going to be. I don't know how good the painting's going to be. Taylor, will you pull it up on the screen? I want to see the cover art too. That is so cute. So we've always just been that. Yeah. Yeah. We're both. I mean, I don't know anything about making music. And that's what's kind of fun about the relationship is I feel like personality-wise, we have so many interests and familiarity. And like, we, yeah, we just share a lot of traits. But in terms of what we actually

Starting point is 00:07:44 do, it's so different. Which is fun, too, because it adds, like, a different dynamic. And it sort of feels like, you know, we're bringing these new things into our lives and, like, you know, just through podcasting together or making YouTube videos together, whatever. It's like, it's fun to intertwine the two different industries. Yeah, you guys have a lot of synergy. Well, I think it's one of the keys to in relationships. Obviously, Lauren and I have a lot of aligned interests, but we do different things. And I think that's what keeps the conversation interesting, you know, especially as you stretch out a relationship. Oh my gosh. Look at the cover. So that, so that's like the video where they changed it up. So if you go to images, you'll find the original one. Which is to the left.

Starting point is 00:08:23 You could do like the first one. Yeah, it's that. It's about like. You're very good artist. Oh my God. Yeah. You guys got to Google this. It's beautiful. You need to frame that and put it in your house. It's, yes, it is, it's next to his, like, six Grammys. I'm like, okay. It's next to his six Grammys. You never painted me shit, Lauren. Sorry, I've done other things.

Starting point is 00:08:45 That's true. Okay, so to give our audience some context, talk to us about your first YouTube video. Oh, gosh. Okay, so my first video was uploaded in, thank you, 2009. I was 13 years old, didn't tell my parents. Yeah, kept it a secret. Because at the time, too, posting anything online was like a little bit risky. I didn't even share my first name.

Starting point is 00:09:08 So my username was Beyond Beauty Star, which is so embarrassing. Got bullied for that later on in high school. Lauren's name was A Fantasy Girl 143. So you're... You get it. You fucking get it. Yeah. So it was Beyond Beauty Star because back even before YouTube, I always had like an entrepreneurial side about me in middle school.

Starting point is 00:09:31 I would laminate and draw bookmarks and, like, make little characters, sell them to students. And then in middle school, I made, like, soaps and lip bombs and all this stuff. And my dad's business is above and beyond construction. And so we thought of, like, beyond beauty. I don't know. Anyways, so that all led to this. But my first video was, like, it blew eye makeup look, stealing my mom's palette off of my, you know, MacBook computer. No editing whatsoever.

Starting point is 00:09:57 It was so embarrassing. I think you should post it on your Instagram. So here's the issue. a year into making videos I got hacked. All my videos were deleted. So, like, all the golden nuggets are gone. Yeah. You can't find them anywhere?

Starting point is 00:10:09 No, they just delete them. They took them off the page. It is really hard, yeah, to get any videos back that have been deleted off of YouTube. That's why, like, anytime you go to delete one, it says, like, deleting forever, are you sure? So all of those were gone. But I got it back by, like, filling out this whole questionnaire on Google and typing in, like, all my old passwords. And I don't even know if that would be, if I could do that again. But thank God, got the channel back.

Starting point is 00:10:35 Okay, so you post your video and then how does it sort of spiral and like, how does the momentum go? Do you post one once a week, once a day? What are you doing to like gain this traction? Were your parents cool with it at 13 or they still didn't know? So they found out, my mom found out six months in because I was signed in on my computer and she went to go check something out. So I had a little laptop and I started it because I loved editing.

Starting point is 00:10:58 And that's still like my bread and butter and my thing that I kind of like take the most pride in and the most time in. And so at that time, I was being consistent not because, oh, this is what I need to do. This is what's going to gain numbers. Like I just genuinely love doing it. You know, I didn't really have like a sport that I went to every single day after school. So this was my sport. This was my like recreational hobby. So I just kept going because I loved it.

Starting point is 00:11:23 And then maybe like two or three years in, I was like, all right, we're going. somewhere with this. Like brands started sending out free product. And it's so funny at first, it would be like a video guarantee for just free product. And then obviously that changed to monetization and all that stuff. And by the time I was in high school, I had fully become like a full-time job, basically. My friends were like out drinking, out partying. And I was just in my bedroom, like filming and editing every weekend. And then a month into junior year, I switched over to online because I started missing too much school from traveling. I think like the first two weeks of junior year, I went to New York for Mabelene just for Fashion Week and did some different

Starting point is 00:12:06 content and interviews and stuff. And all of my teachers were like, good luck when you come back. Like they just didn't, they didn't care for, you know, my absence, which, you know, why should they? So going back to school, I was incredibly behind, made like a 10-page PowerPoint. point convincing my parents to start online schooling, convince them. Can't believe I did, but I did. And then I moved out here at 18. So it kind of like, it's so weird because I feel like when I started, I had no idea where it was going, but I just had that feeling inside of me to just keep going and keep pushing. And I'm so grateful that I worked so hard and was so committed at that young of an age because it propelled me to start an entire career by the, you know, age of 18 out here.

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Starting point is 00:14:38 And of course, we want to thank MagicSpoon for sponsoring the podcast. All right, let's get back to the show. I have the same, like, very parallel stories as you. Like not, I didn't start at 13, but like I know what that feeling is. Yeah, you just, you just know your own. on the right path and like each day you just do something to get a little further. I think it's an important conversation to have for parents because there's some parents that listen to this show.

Starting point is 00:15:07 Like there's some older and younger, but there's young parents. There's older parents. I think you have, it sounds like you had some really supportive parents that allowed you to pursue this career. Yeah. And I think a lot of parents are like, no, you got to finish school. But in your case, like finishing school, like what else would you have learned? A couple more math class, maybe a little, a couple of history lessons.

Starting point is 00:15:22 But like you actually built a career by doing it. And you had parents that support of that. And I think it's important for people to hear when they, have kids if they're chasing a passion like that, you should give them room to grow. Absolutely. My mom was supportive of it from day one. And I think the second my dad saw that I was making money from it, he was like, okay, this is, this is good. And I think for a while, even after moving out here, they always were checking in and being like, are you good financially? Is it, are you growing, all that stuff? And this sounds, going back to what you're saying, like,

Starting point is 00:15:52 this might sound totally dumb. But, you know, back in high school, I just knew I wasn't going to go to college, like all of my friends started researching schools and figuring out where they wanted to go. And I had just no desire and like no feeling of, oh, I should just in case start researching and see where I want to go. Because for some reason, I just knew like that's not the path that I'm going to take. Not that I have anything against college, of course. But I think if you know what you want to do and it's already working, then it can just set you back time wise and money wise because it's so expensive these days. We agree. You have to finish school in order to go do X, Y, and Z. But if you're already doing it, like a college and high school is a place to prepare you to do the

Starting point is 00:16:31 thing that you ultimately are going to figure out to do that you want to do. But if you already figured out what you're going to do and you're making money on it, like, why do you need to waste all the time and the tuition? Like some people are going to write in. So you need the education. But like in this particular case for what you were doing, like at that time, like what college course could you even have taken for YouTube? There was probably nothing, right? I mean, not that I can think of. I guess I could have taken like film and TV or something. And who are these people that like, in quotes? Like, who are these people that tell us that we have to have to do this or have to do that. Like, I think we constantly have to question. I think in your case,

Starting point is 00:17:01 it would not have made sense for you to go to college. So you come out here at 18. You're in L.A. What do you do? Do you know anyone? Yes. So because of just YouTube events and conventions, I had already sort of formed my own network and bubble of friends. I already had a manager that was out here. She sort of scouted me just via email across the country and was like, hey, do you want to work together? I was signed with Style Hall, which was with network. So I definitely had, you know, a support system out here in a friend group, which made the move really easy for me. And sort of like the first thing that I got into was obviously doing YouTube throughout all of it. The first thing I got into was hosting.

Starting point is 00:17:39 So sort of loosely scripted stuff. I don't even know how I fell into it. Sometimes, like, the things that I have done, I don't know how it falls into my lap. But I think the mentality that I always have is just like, why not just fucking try? it, you know, just dive right in. And I think especially like in this industry, it's so much about experience and just, you know, having that confidence. And so I became Teen Vogue's first ever YouTube host. Don't even know how I finessed my way into this, but they threw me on red carpets with a cameraman and a microphone. And I had to memorize, you know, questions for specific

Starting point is 00:18:17 celebrities. And I would like have it on my lock screen so that I would remember, like right on the spot like, oh, this person's coming up. Okay. And so I did that for a year and sort of created original content for Teen Vogue's channel and mine and did sort of like the press stuff. And that was great. And towards the end of that, I sort of, you know, I was inspired to try other things because if someone had told me, you know, just a year before that, you would do this, I'd be like, no way in hell, that's insane. Who would let me do that? That is so scary. And so shortly after that, I reached out to, you know, my manager at the time and I said, I don't know how this works, but I've always been interested in acting. I'm so fascinated by it. I'm intimidated by it,

Starting point is 00:18:55 but I'd love to try it. And I booked a few digital series, and that started a whole new interest. So that's still something that I am constantly working towards. And I don't talk about it much because the acting industry, you don't have control in it. If you are just going in for auditions and stuff, like it's a brutal business. You are saying, you know, you're getting nose left. and right hundreds of times. And the right cards just have to add up. You have to, you know, have the right look, the height, the right hair color, all this stuff. That's something that I'm still sort of, you know, constantly focusing on. I have a traditional team. So in quarantine, it's just been so many selfies. I mean, not selfies. Oh my gosh. Self tapes with my boyfriend. Poor Phineas has to

Starting point is 00:19:41 deal with all this. But. Well, Michael won't even take a fucking picture of me. So you're lucky. Well, here's the thing. Okay. So are you like, do you not like husband? Instagram husband. No. No. I look at it this way. I'm terrible at it. And I think I was like maybe... Terrible to hold the camera and just

Starting point is 00:19:56 button? No. Because I just can't do it. Well, you're going to... I found a new trick with the self-timer where you hold the clicker in your hand. I'm going to be self-fucking obnoxious on every... iPhone tripods.

Starting point is 00:20:07 Yeah. Do you have one? Yes. Okay, can you send me the one that you use? I'm starting to think, though, Lauren. Maybe we should be a little bit more romantic on the feed show a little bit more love. Maybe I could read a whole thing there. No.

Starting point is 00:20:17 Here's the thing is like I tried to get Phineas to help me with those sorts of things, but it just created tension that just didn't need to be there because the photo would never come out how I wanted it to. And he still tries. Sometimes it works, but like, you know, I need a lot of options because sometimes I want the in-between shot. I want the in-motion shot. Right. You know, and so I have to look back and you took my photos. I do have one tip for this that I just learned. Yeah. Okay. So you take your phone and I hope that people can see this and you open the phone to take the photo. Okay. So just, like how he would take a photo of you. So like this. Right. But then you turn the phone towards you

Starting point is 00:20:54 and turn it on selfie mode. And you have him press the button over and over and you can move to the camera. Yeah. That has worked for my relationship. But you know what? I haven't done that yet. I think there's the blogger, like, influencer, like YouTube boyfriends that really like photography and like filming. And that's okay because like that's their thing. But like for someone like me, I hate doing all that. I hate taking pictures. My mom's going to take these fucking Christmas card photos and I'm still scarred from them because I had to do all these weird pose. I always looked terrible, but you put them out anyway to the world. I don't want to hear about your Christmas car trauma.

Starting point is 00:21:23 But I think about, like, imagine in my world, if I was like, listen, Lauren, you know, I know it's not your thing, but I need you to do the accounting for one of the businesses. Like I need you to, you'd be like, what the fuck are you talking about? It's not your thing. Right. It's the thing with photography. I don't think it's that hard to press the button. But it is because, and then the, you're right, the tension happens because I do it wrong and then I get mad because I don't know how to do it. And I'm like, let's just opt out of this and do different things.

Starting point is 00:21:43 You take one photo and it's blurry. See? I don't know how to do it. Listen, I see both sides. I really do. But I just, I, you know, I feel it out. You just have to go with the flow and feel it out because sometimes he wants to help out, you know? And I'm like, all right, this is the fucking moment. Let's take these photos. But sometimes I just know not to go there. I bet if Phineas was here, he would see my side. He would. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He would. You guys could come in the rain. Here's a question for you. You, I mentioned earlier, you got thousands of comments. You have all these people commenting. One, do you actually read all of them? Or do you do you, do you? detach from them. And two, what do you do when someone's just a fucking asshole troll? This episode is sponsored by Butcher Box.

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Starting point is 00:24:48 that to your face. And also, I've noticed, like, any sort of hate that I do get, it's always just wrong. And I always get this sense of wanting to defend myself and be like, no, no, no, that's not, that's not what's going on here. But you can't do that because I think also publicly, if people are saying that you're only responding to hate comments, I don't think that looks great. You know, I would rather put time into responding to a really sweet one that's really thoughtful. And they put a lot of, you know, kind of time into a response or a comment or whatever. The times that I, actively look for comments because I don't really read like my Instagram comments as far as photos go. Like I'll do a quick check to make sure everything's fine.

Starting point is 00:25:27 I didn't like accidentally have something in the background or something. But the time where I actively search for comments is in videos when I ask for advice. Like, hey, do you guys have a book recommendation for nutrition or whatever? And I'll go through it because they know so much. Like I feel like you can ask the most specific question and someone is an expert at that. And it's not me. And it's one of them. And it's, so I actually love that whole idea of it. But I really try to stay away from like reading comments. I do like the first 24 hours and then I forget about it. I agree with you. You can't give it energy. You can't. So how is your YouTube channel evolved since you were 13? I mean, obviously it's evolved and you've changed. What are those changes and has the audience and community evolved with you? Yeah, so a lot of them have grown with me. I get so many comments saying, like, I've been

Starting point is 00:26:15 watching you for years. And I'm even now meeting people that are my age who act or, you know, do completely other things. And they're like, I grew up watching you. I'm like, that is so embarrassing, but so crazy. My content, I mean, I've definitely sort of grown with the different trends and sort of cycles that YouTube goes through. And so the thing that I always wanted to maintain and make sure is like even from day one, I took it just so seriously in terms of like, if anyone sees anything, I don't want to be embarrassed by any of it. And so I'm genuinely proud of like everything that I've made thus far. Like I never let certain trends like override who I am and what what my style and brand is. Like I know YouTube went through a phase where everyone had

Starting point is 00:27:00 bright colors and they loved minions and they, you know, they wanted to appeal. Which minions? Minion was like a type of movie like the little yellow. guys with the one eye and the overalls. It was just like a fucking thing to love minions. And I never understood it. But there was, you know, there was that whole phase where people wanted to appeal to younger audiences because they watched a lot of YouTube videos. And even just through that, I mean, maybe it sort of bruised my channel to not do that or not sort of, I feel like I definitely didn't collaborate as much. That's like the one thing that I regret is like collaboration is so key and it's so vital to just expanding and, you know, going to different, reaching to different audiences.

Starting point is 00:27:41 But overall, it's always just been about like the style and aesthetic and the editing and stuff. But last year, I sort of made a bigger switch. I always had two different channels. This is a very like OG YouTube thing to do to have a main channel and a vlog channel. And I very quickly realized that the content that people wanted for me was the lifestyle content, the vlogs. Like, the more natural and nitty-gritty and less polished it is, the more they want to see it. And so I got rid of my second channel and I dumped all of my time and efforts into just one. And now that one platform has, you know, the sit-down, stylized videos, the tutorials, but it also has me going on a hike with my dog and then talking about how my computer broke and how we're trying out surfing, whatever we're going through. People love that.

Starting point is 00:28:31 What is the key to a vlog? Like, are you using your phone? Because for me, a vlog is overwhelming for me because I'm Instagram storing so much. So it's like, oh my God, another thing to add. Are you doing it off your phone or bringing a camera everywhere? Camera. Well, right now it's like, where am I going? It's mostly at home. Okay, but let's do pre-COVID. But pre-COVID. I would bring different things. You know, last year we traveled a lot. And some of my favorite vlogs were the travel vlogs. So going to Coachella and Australia and all these different places. I mean, you know, I went the extra step. I brought my little drone with me. I brought my GoPro. I brought like a little fish eye clip that you put on your phone that just makes the footage look more interesting. And the thing that I never want vlogging to feel like, because I was nervous about this going into a relationship that is public and he has nothing to do with YouTube. never want to overstep and feel like I'm forcing him into my content. And so the way that I look at

Starting point is 00:29:26 vlogging is like, if there is something happening in the moment and it's special and I want to record it, I don't. I want that memory to live out because I don't want to ruin it. I don't want to stop what everyone is saying or laughing about and try to get it on camera. I would rather pick up the camera and then like create a moment for the camera, if that makes sense. Because I found that that just makes it easier for others around me to sort of be natural. And it just doesn't feel like I'm disrupting anything. I remember like my Coachella vlog was one of the first that Phineas was really in. And I showed in the video before uploading. And he was like, I don't remember like 80% of this footage. When the hell are you filming all of this? I'm like, well, we're walking and I'm walking

Starting point is 00:30:10 backwards and I'm filming a shot of this in the go card. And then, you know, when you were doing that, I was doing this. And like, you find your ways. But in terms of like right now, a lot of it's at home, I do use a camera. It's the camera. So if anyone wants to start blogging. So I use two different cameras. The sort of like great starting one is the Canon G7X. It has like a flip up screen so you can see yourself. And it doesn't have a detachable lens. So it's like not confusing at all. It's like a point and shoot camera. That one I still use all the time. That's the one that I would bring with me in my purse or whatever because it's not as obnoxious as like, you know, the fuzzy microphone and the lenses and everything. And then the other camera I use is the Canon.

Starting point is 00:30:49 M50. It's like a smaller DSLR, so it has its own sized lens, but you can get like a converter lens that you put in between to use other ones if that makes any sense. But it's, yeah, it's like a great DSLR camera that I'll use for more like polished videos. You know what I think is interesting that listening to you. It's like, and don't take this the wrong way, but like you're like a tech nerd, right? Like you love the tech. You love the editing. And I think like you can't do what you do unless you, well, maybe you can. But like you get, it sounds like you get excited doing the editing. and doing the filming and learning about the cameras. And I feel like that obviously speaks to the success of the channel.

Starting point is 00:31:23 Like if you're someone that's not excited about those things, you don't like editing and you don't like filming, you don't like the tech stuff. Like it's hard to do it, I imagine. It is hard. And I think, you know, a lot of people ask me, what's your biggest advice for starting a channel right now, right? And like everyone's classic answer is be yourself and this is, you know, whatever, like make your personality come out.

Starting point is 00:31:44 But I think one of the things, especially in this age where TikTok and all these short form videos are what people are taking in. Like, people's attention spans are a lot shorter. And so if you're going to upload a 15-minute vlog, you need to make that shit flow. So I always have music in the background. If I have a clip where there is something visually happening that's interesting, but the audio stops, I'm going to pull the audio from the next clip, put it underneath so you can already hear the next thing, and then it jumps to that next clip.

Starting point is 00:32:10 And so having it always going, I found that the second I started really doing that and making sure that every beat is worth watching, I was getting comments of people being like, oh my God, I can't believe this 20 minute video just went by. That went by in like five minutes. And I think also like visually you always want things happening. So even if it's not an interesting shot, you know, adding text title or zooming in, zooming out, all these things. Like it keeps people like visually engaged with the content. And I think that's something that people don't always sort of talk about. But I think that is such a huge part of like sort of my success with my content because it's very casual and it's very personal. But because because of it's very personal. But because of. I make sure to add all that in, it feels like a mini production. I think, though, you can't know that unless you're somebody, like, so you do your own editing and you like the editing. And like, you have a very quick pulse on what the audience likes. And if you're someone that can actually fulfill and do those editing and make it tight and make it flow, like that speaks

Starting point is 00:33:08 at the sex. And a lot of people, if they don't know how to do that and they're not excited about the editing process, I think they can just throw out a video. Like, they're going to come up against your video, which is edited. You know, I was listening to, what was the girl? Alex Cooper from Call Her Daddy was talking about how she. edits her show and how she edits her video. And she spoke to it in a way. I was like, wow, that's actually really interesting. She edits it in a way where it speaks to that, you know, Gen Z millennial audience where it's quick and it's snappy and it's flowing. And I thought like, wow, that was a really smart take on some smart editing. But she does it herself because she's

Starting point is 00:33:35 excited about the editing process. We're going to get into that. But first, we're going to talk about something that I am in love with. And that is our sheets. Oh, I'm actually in love with this too. I'm pumped. Okay, so here's the deal. We like, I like to switch out our sheets, depending on what season it is. Which honestly, I was pretty, I was pretty hesitant about that in the beginning because I was like, I like to stick with one thing here. I like to, you know, get the thing and then stay with it. I don't like to change it up. That's why I've been with you for a long time? You got in butt naked into our new linen sheets and you were like, why did you switch the sheets out? And I said, Michael, it's summer. Linen is so chic, especially white linen. It's like shutters, hotel. But I was like, no, we're not in the Caribbean, so it felt weird to me, you know? And what did you say in the morning when you woke up? I was like, holy shit, these linen sheets are good.

Starting point is 00:34:27 They are so, so good. So here's the deal. We always have brook linen sheets in our house regardless, but we just switched it over to the linen. If you're not a linen fan, they also obviously have cotton. Just to give you some context on brook linen, it was founded in early 2014 by a husband and wife duo, a him and her aspect, if you will. And they wanted to find beautiful home essentials that didn't cost an arm and a leg. And Brook Linen, like, it just has something for everyone, okay?

Starting point is 00:34:54 It's a variety. They have color patterns, all different kinds of material. They have like a classic sheet, which is like a cool and crisp, timeless mat finish. They have a lux. They have a linen. Linen's my favorite because it's airy and effortless. Summer right now, it's hot as hell in L.A. Linen's the way you got to go.

Starting point is 00:35:09 They even have a cashmere. Don't believe us. Trust the 50,000 plus five-star reviews. Jesus, that's a lot of good reviews. That is a lot. Okay. So Brooklyn and sheets are the perfect place to start. making your mornings great. Brooklinen is so confident in their product that all of their

Starting point is 00:35:25 betting comes with a lifetime warranty. Get 10% off your first order and free shipping when you use promo code skinny only at brooklynn.com. Brooklyn and everything you need to live your most comfortable life. That's brooklinen.com promo code skinny for 10% off your order and free shipping. All right. Let's get back to the show. Yeah. And like even this is like a small example, but I just uploaded like a sponsored video the other day. And in order to keep it fresh and different, like I had a shot of me, you know, stretching and doing yoga, and then it shows the title. And then I slid in to that same like shot. And so there's two of me. So while I'm trying on the clips and I'm doing the yoga, I'm over here on this side talking. And it's so funny because it really, it's not that complicated to do. You just have to make sure you film everything in the same shot so that the frame doesn't move. So you got to do it. So much work. Yes. But because I've been doing it for so long, it's like I can do with my eyes closed. But it's just, you just got to pre-planet in your head. I think that is like, that's one of like the best and worst things about what I do is like while I'm filming, I have such a vision of like this is how it's going to be. And like every single video of mine is filmed out of order. Like I sort of string it along like a story. I think that's really important too. You need to have a beginning, a middle and end to make it feel like a whole complete, you know, thing, project baby. You know, one of the

Starting point is 00:36:52 of the bad thing about that is you can imagine how much control I love to have in whatever I'm doing or like, you know, put out. And so I've tried having editors. And it just, it's not only does it like pain me, but all the comments are like, who edited this? What is going on here? So it's tough because I'm trying to figure out a way like once all of this is over this year, you know, things are crazy. But once things kind of like go back into momentum, like, do I eventually want to hire an editor, what's going to happen when I book a role and I'm gone for two months and I need someone to start editing. Like, I need to figure out how to delegate and I just, I feel like I need to pry that out of you guys because you guys are so good at it. It's funny when you think about like,

Starting point is 00:37:34 well, thank you. But it's funny when you think about, it's not funny, but it's just an observation I make for what you do, for what my wife does. You guys are content creators. I think like to a degree maybe what I do in the podcast, not as well as you guys. But people, you know, it's so easy to talk on a mic or it's so easy to film a video or so easy. they don't realize how many hours and hours go into the back. I imagine like, yeah, you have all the filming,

Starting point is 00:37:56 which is hours, but then you have all the editing, but then you think about all the planning and the way. Like, it's like if I told you, hey, go create a video, you're not just doing this in 30 seconds.

Starting point is 00:38:04 No. Maybe a 15 minute video. I think that's an ignorant statement to say. But it's, but it's something's easy without someone doing it all the time every day. But the reason I like what you're saying is like when you were, even to me, I're explaining,

Starting point is 00:38:14 I'm like, Jesus Christ, like that is a lot of pre-production, a lot of film and then a lot of post-production. Like, that is not something you can do so quickly. And even you wrap it up into a 15 minute thing. Like how much time does it actually take to do a 15 minute video?

Starting point is 00:38:27 When you think about everything, pre-post and filming. Totally depends. I have definitely pumped out videos in one day. Like if it's a sit-down video where I'm just talking about my favorites, I'm filming overlay shots. I'm adding transitions. The whole thing, one day. I can do it in one day at this point because I have.

Starting point is 00:38:42 But like that one day is how many minutes of footage is that? When you's all said and done in editor. If it's like sitting down, I mean, between me like fixing my hair, and like drinking, you know, just everything, maybe like two hours or like an hour if I'm really on it and just like not having to refill anything. That's for like a proper tutorial, whatever. And then I can edit that in like three hours or something and add another extra hour for like try on shots or product shots or swatches, all that stuff. So it's like a full day. Like I'm definitely working past 5 p.m. or, you know, whatever cut off you like to have to feel like you have to feel like you have separation in your day.

Starting point is 00:39:19 And sometimes that is just how it goes. You know, I try to stick to a schedule, but with due dates and sometimes, you know, whatever, life throws different shit at you. So you can't kind of have to work on the spot. But I can definitely pump out a video in a day. But when it comes to vlogs, I just always want to make sure whatever I'm saying or doing is interesting, whether it gives the people entertainment or joy or knowledge or whatever it is. I just don't want it to be like a waste of space or air or, you know, whatever to have on the

Starting point is 00:39:49 internet. So that's, I'll give myself like a week to just gather as much interesting stuff and then string it into one story. So everyone thinks it's one day, but it's really like a week of my life. Let's say it's a day or say it's a week, but that's also like what people forget, it's also 11 years of learning how to do this quickly and effectively. Like, you know, like if I, if I, if I, if you told me to do that today, how long would it take me? It would probably take me three months because I don't know how to do any of it. Right, right. Taylor gets mad at me all the time because I make him create all these video assets for the show. And I'm like, hurry up, hurry up, he's like, what the fuck? It's not that. You can't do it that fast.

Starting point is 00:40:18 Yeah. How important do you think Instagram story reels and TikTok is? Ooh, that's a great question. Tick talk I'm so unfamiliar with. We were just talking about this. I don't know. I just can't get on it. I don't see myself as being the girl who like dances and like pops it. And I don't know. I think there's a lot of brilliant content out there because it is hard to get like I just think it's. for such a short amount of time, like I remember back in the day with like vines and stuff, people like really thought it through and made these viral videos that seem like it just happened by accident, but it was all planned, you know? So I don't want to discredit any of that, but I'm just not on TikTok. I don't know. Maybe that makes me feel like older. What about stories

Starting point is 00:41:09 and reels? Stories, I think, Reels is just like IGTV, right? Is that what we're talking about? Reels is the new TikTok. Reels is the new TikTok. Oh, fuck. Yeah, I have a lot. started that yet. I just, I don't even know, you guys. It's as content creators, it never shuts off. Like, I know. Even at 11 o'clock when I'm winding down, I'm like, oh, should I snap like my red light? Like, it's, it just, you never sort of turn off. Right. Exactly. I think it's a mistake though that creators make when they, okay, I'll tell you, I'll give you an example. You have a very prominent YouTube channel and social channel and you like doing that. You're excited about that content. You like, you like to edit it. You like to film it. You like to put it out there. And like,

Starting point is 00:41:45 that gets you going. But you're not excited about TikTok and you don't care about it. I think it'd be a huge mistake for you to go. Yeah, but nobody else would think it's a mistake for you to go there. Like, I'm not excited about any pictures. So I don't, my social looks like garbage. I don't post on whatever. But I like talking on a mic. I think people think they need to be everywhere.

Starting point is 00:42:01 Doing everything. Doing everything. Right. But then you do and you're doing it all either subpar or mediocre, where it's like if you stuck to maybe one thing that you were really fucking good at and really talented out, like you're going to thrive there. And you really like, you don't need every channel. Agreed.

Starting point is 00:42:13 I totally agree. I think back to the original question, I think because stories, are so fast and they're so on the go. I think they're genius. I think the way that you do it is awesome. I should be better at it. But I think just because it has all those features of being able to swipe up and click and everything, I think it's extremely powerful. You know, with YouTube videos, it's way, it's way more sort of old school. You got to go in the description box and go through those links and stuff. So the convenience of it is what's so smart. I think IGTV is great, too.

Starting point is 00:42:45 I've done a few things on there, just like a couple of videos. I should honestly be doing more because it is a great way to put like a long form video onto a platform that usually just has like photos and stories. Just some more pressure to create more content. Yeah, it's just this is why I'm like, you guys, tell me how to delegate. Like what do I need to hire someone that just focuses on that? I don't know. No, but I think you're doing it. I actually think people think they need to delegate and capture everything and I think that's a mistake.

Starting point is 00:43:12 Right. Like it would be really fucking weird if you saw me dancing on TikTok. Like if you tuned in and that was what I was doing. I don't know. I want to see it now. Okay. Well, listen, maybe we could talk. But I think, you know, it would just be, I think people do things that are unnatural to them that they're not excited about and people can sense it.

Starting point is 00:43:27 Yep. And it looks like it's desperate. And it's like, why are you doing that? Like maybe I miss the TikTok thing. Like, it's not for me. I think we all missed it here. That's okay, though. Because what I didn't miss is this and what you didn't miss is YouTube.

Starting point is 00:43:41 What Lauren didn't miss is blogging. And so like, if you do those things really well, like, that's all you really need to do. You have to be aware of, like, channels that are dying. But obviously, like, you know, you can't do everything. I think, like, you just need to ask yourself, am I growing and evolving in what I'm doing? And if you are, then you're golden. You're great. I agree.

Starting point is 00:43:58 Yeah. So how close knit is the YouTube community? Because we're not in that community. Like, are you, like, is it like how TikTok is where people are moving into houses together and you guys are going to parties together? Or is it, am I just totally hysteria? stereotyping and it's nothing like that. No, you are spot on. I feel like it was probably more tight-knit and closer in the beginning when sort of all of this first started. It definitely felt like going into high school 2.0. No one was mean necessarily, but they were definitely sort of groups and

Starting point is 00:44:28 circles and gatherings. And that started forming way before anyone lived out here. It was just at the conventions and VidCon and Playlists Live and all these different things where YouTubers would get to meet their subscribers. And so moving out here is definitely like that. Listen, I had like a two-year phase where I lived in a house with four of my friends and it felt like a frat house and then I got the fuck out because I couldn't do it anymore. No one was doing their dishes. It's definitely like that. I see it so much with TikTok.

Starting point is 00:44:55 But here's the thing. I think a lot of that is helping everyone grow. Like I know when I first moved out here, I had a group of like 10 friends. We all made YouTube videos. They were the only people that I knew, but they were also my best friends. And yeah, we all made videos together. The regret that I was talking about earlier was. was that I didn't expand into other people that, you know, I maybe didn't know as closely because

Starting point is 00:45:17 I was too intimidated to ask or didn't want to waste their time or whatever insecurity I had back then. But I think that definitely helps. And I think with these TikTok stars, like, that's absolutely what's helping them grow, is living in these, like, hype houses or whatever they're called. I mean, are they taking COVID seriously? Like right now, everything is questionable. But from a business standpoint, like, they're all living together. They're creating content together. It's, like, genius. I mean, their numbers are insane. And, you know, they're transferring over to other platforms. So they're real numbers. Who's the coolest YouTube star besides you? I know you're friends with Lauren Elizabeth. She's been on hearing for. I love Lauren. Okay, we love her too. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:45:56 Who's someone else that's just really cool that if you met them, you'd be like, that's a cool person. I feel like at this point I've met just about every, like, YouTuber that I've ever been excited about. One of my favorites is David Dobrick. We were just hanging out with him the other day. Oh, she loves him. He is just so genuine and so sweet and he edits all of his content. And he, like, he's just always on. And I really admire his work ethic. So I think he's great. I think Casey Nystad is like, oh, gee.

Starting point is 00:46:24 I watched his videos way before he even started, like, daily vlogging. I don't know if you guys ever saw any of that. But that was- We used to go, like, skating through New York, everything. Yes, every single day. He'd wake up at like 4 a.m. Edit the video. Get it up by, like, five.

Starting point is 00:46:38 It's so crazy. Did Casey do the one where he crashed through all the bike? Lanes. Is that when he... That sounds definitely like a Casey thing. And he said like, he got yelled at for a cop. If I fuck this up, I'm sorry, Casey. There's a guy that he was basically saying like a cop yelled at him for staying in the bike lane. So he tried to ride his bike through New York bike lanes. And there's like trash and cars. He crashed through everything. I think that was him. I think that was him. I think that was him. I'm sorry, whoever that was him. He's the first time I saw him. He's gone like snowboarding in the streets of New York. So like that it's very aligned with like his,

Starting point is 00:47:04 you know, his brand. But he has like his editing and everything is just crazy. Maybe I'll start a podcast. house, learn a podcast hype house. We can all go and live with podcasters together, huh? No, I don't think I don't think. Who's with me? Wow, no podcasts have done that. No podcasters have done that. The podcast hype house. The podcasting is cool because of the pod house. Very much like YouTube. My problem when I was blogging, like when I first started blogging, it was not collaborative at all. Right. In fact, it was so competitive and I was like, okay, this is bullshit. I'm going to bring as many people as I can on the blog. And that was very weird. But you guys have always been collaborative and podcasting I appreciate it so much as it's so collaborative and that's how everyone grows.

Starting point is 00:47:45 Yep. So I tend to think that the blogging space out of all three of those is the most catty. In social space probably. Interesting. And maybe like Instagram too. Have you seen the blogging space change at all or does it still feel? Because you make it sound like it's, at least when you started like it's this sort of independent thing that, you know, everyone has their own space and their own.

Starting point is 00:48:07 You stay in your lane type thing almost. Yeah. I think that it's separated from YouTube because you get to write and put pictures up, whereas you guys are right in a camera, which is very different. I think it's a generational thing. So I'll give you an example. We had Jillian Michaels on this show who we love. And she basically was saying when she was coming up in traditional media, you know,

Starting point is 00:48:28 they only had like X amount of places you could go to be seen on X amount of television channel. So if you were somebody that was like, if you and Lauren were going up against the same channel and Lauren got the job, like you didn't have a place. or if you got the job, she didn't have a place. So it was very competitive and not collaborative. Right. In the blogging space, similar, like, there was almost, like, you know, still, it was endless traffic,

Starting point is 00:48:47 but only a few that were really popping off. So, again, people still competitive. Right. But then, like, when YouTube started coming up, like, there's so many channels and everybody could be on at the same time. So you guys probably just inherently realize, like, oh, it's good because, like, they can watch this channel and my channel, and it doesn't take anything away. Being collaborative is useful, I think.

Starting point is 00:49:04 It's a youthful thing. It is. It's like, there's so much room for everyone. But it's the same thing that happened in the, music industry in the past, like if a label picked you up, they can only pick up so many. But now with all the streaming service, like any, it's much harder to stand out. But like any musician can put their music out. In the past, it wasn't like that.

Starting point is 00:49:18 Like, if a label didn't pick you up and put your CD out. Or like if you're a newscaster on, if you're a newscaster on Channel 10, there's only one woman newscaster. The internet opened up the lanes for everybody to have a voice, which is why I think traditional media is going to die because people are getting sick. Like, you don't want to watch this like highly scripted, like segmented things. I think she knows that. I mean, even like network television is.

Starting point is 00:49:39 stuff. Now there's so many streaming platforms and like mini series that are being created and all this. It's the same, the same thing is happening everywhere. Absolutely. So I watched one of your YouTube videos before you came here that was all about being vegan and how you sort of lost weight in front of the world, in front of your YouTube world. Can you talk about that a little bit? Yes. So before anyone comes for me, I'm not fully vegan. I'm like 80%. I just by nature, dating a vegan who eats plant-based, you, you know, you just, end up eating the things that he eats. You're vegan-ish. Began-ish, totally. I do believe in the, you know, plant-based diet, and I think it's really great and healthy. And as long as you're doing

Starting point is 00:50:18 it right, because you can be unhealthy in any sort of diet for sure. Like, Oreos are vegan, you know? So yeah, basically, like, it's crazy because before ever meeting Phineas, I was so obsessed with trying to lose weight and trying to figure out what works for me, what can I eat, how can I work out, whatever, all this stuff. And I remember when I met him, I was at a place where I was like, fuck it, I'm done. I just, I was becoming really over it. And it all sort of started by accident because he doesn't drink. He doesn't do like any drugs or smoke weed or anything. And that's just sort of, he's just not interested in it, which at first I was like, whoa, I don't know if I can look late because, you know, I got to have like my Moscow mules and my tequila shots. Like,

Starting point is 00:51:02 I definitely, you know, didn't drink a ton, but out on the weekends. You know, you're drinking with your girls. You're single. You're mingling. All that stuff. A month into dating, I just, I had no reason to go out and get drunk. And so I sort of accidentally went sober and just, you know, maybe had a glass of wine. And that first month, I dropped like eight pounds or something crazy and didn't change anything else. And it fully was just, all of those toxins were gone from my body and the, you know, it really like, it bloats you and it, it, I don't know. It's the whole reason you get drunk is because it's literally like toxic to your body. Like that's the effect of, of the alcohol, you know, on your liver. So I slowed down on just

Starting point is 00:51:50 weekend drinking and that sort of like kick started this whole new approach, which was, okay, if I actually want to sustain this lifestyle, I don't want to try to jump into. to a million things and just try to hold myself accountable towards that. Let me take it one thing at a time. And so realizing like how much better I felt without drinking every single week, I was like, all right, keeping that. Let's try cutting out dairy. Did that for a little bit. That was great. Let me try cutting out red meat. And like those are the things that I definitely just try to keep away from everything else. Like I still eat fish. I still have sushi every so often. And I think working out, that is something that's always changing right now.

Starting point is 00:52:33 You know, we have a dog and she requires so much energy. She's a two-year-old pit bull. So we're constantly hiking. We're having one hour walks every single morning. So that sort of changes. And I go through phases of like Pilates and stuff. But in terms of food, it was just making sure that I just did one thing at a time. And I was really gentle and slow with myself.

Starting point is 00:52:51 And that way, it just, it helped me to learn how to listen to my body because I had such crazy binging habits before. I never listened to my body in terms of like when I was hungry, when I was full. I sort of like I remember at one point, like there would be weeks where I wouldn't even experience like being hungry because I felt like I was just always snack, snacking and then like waiting for the next meal and just like snacking and eating and snacking and eating. And I think giving your body, you do a what is it called again where it's like you only eat in like a certain intermittent fasting. Are you guys still doing that or no? I am not, but Michael is. I mean, like I think, again, like you, I fell into it by accident.

Starting point is 00:53:30 Right. Like I didn't realize I was doing it. I'm just one of those people that. He's not attached to food. No, no, no. But I never have felt good eating too late. And I also have never really liked eating too early. Second you wake up.

Starting point is 00:53:41 Yeah. And so I'm like, oh. And then I learned more about it talking to people on the show. I'm like, oh, it's actually a good thing. It gives your body a chance to clean and like stay in shape and boost your metabolism and all these things. And so like it's just like easing into it slowly over time. And then learn about, oh. And then to your point.

Starting point is 00:53:56 I, Lornell says I'm not attached to food, but I think I've always had a good relationship with how I listen to my body about food. Like if I, I could be something that's eating and if I'm like, I'm full, I quit eating. Or with like alcohol is no, like I'll tell him sometimes like alcohol's not serving right. And I'll just quit alcohol for a while. Like I listen to what my body's saying it needs or doesn't need. And then I just live that way. It's just by accident though. I think that's great. And I, that was something that I always aspired to live by. And just through, taking out some of these things, I sort of subconsciously and naturally started doing that. So now I do that as well. I know when I'm full and I should stop eating. And also like, I mean,

Starting point is 00:54:35 there's so many little like tips and tricks. Like people always say when you start feeling hungry, like 80% of the time you're just thirsty, you know, making sure that you drink a lot of water. And I'm constantly going back and forth on like, I'm just not going to have coffee for like a few weeks. And now I'm just going to have matcha. And I think just making sure that your body isn't reliant on anything. I never want to feel like I'm relying on something. Changing it up. But overall, it's tough because I've had a lot of friends come up to me and be like, tell me exactly what you do. Like, are you doing lemon water? Are you doing cellar juice? What's going on? And like, it's just for the most part, I'm just eating whole foods that are plant based. And I don't like

Starting point is 00:55:13 drink alcohol. I maybe have when we go out to dinner, we share a glass of wine. Like it's sort of embarrassing how much we just don't desire it, I guess. Like, I love the taste, but I just don't, I don't need a ton and that sort of has just worked out. Personally, I think, I believe people don't know how to listen to their bodies because they're constantly adding things. Right. And I think that the only way you can figure out is when you start removing things. So like, to your point, if you remove alcohol and all of a sudden, like, oh, wow, I've lost weight and now I realize I don't like, okay, so like that's a solution. Or if you remove dairy. Like, oh, maybe I don't need that. But in reverse of that, like, I've gone periods where I've said, okay, I'm going to remove red meat. But then over time, like, oh, my body actually for my blood type, I like, I like red meat. Not a lot. But once in a while, like my body's saying, like, hey, you need to get some red meat. And then I listen. I think the biggest mistake people are doing is they're like adding the lemon water, adding this, adding that. And it's like you're crowding so many things in your body. You can't hear what it's saying. Let's look at what you're doing right now and see how we can sort of fix that or change that versus exactly dumping all these other habits.

Starting point is 00:56:18 because then you're just like, I feel like you're all over the place and you're like making sure you're doing these new things that you're not even focusing on like let's let's start with the foundation. People do it with medical things with supplements, with diets, like with all these things. They're constantly adding, adding, adding, and you're crowding so much in that you can't figure out what the fuck's going on. Yeah. What are some of your favorite vegan restaurants in L.A. that we need to try?

Starting point is 00:56:38 And what are some of your favorite vegan meals to make at home? Oh my God. So many recommendations. Okay. Nix on Beverly. Oh, I heard about this. It's amazing. They have an adorable.

Starting point is 00:56:48 outdoor patio with like a tree in the middle. It's so cute. Their takeout is amazing. So we're constantly like post-mating from them. Okay. So Knicks on Beverly, NICC for like a good burger, Monty's Good Burger. Their milkshakes are so fucking good. They have like a strawberry and a chocolate and they do different like seasonal flavors. Take a note on that one. Yeah, Monti's Good Burger. I think they have two locations. The one that we go to is in Silver Lake. But Nix is really close to here. obviously it's on Beverly. Crossroads, obviously. You guys have been there, right? The Cale's great. So good. Really good. There's a lot of really good vegan Thai food. That was something that I like recently introduced into my life since dating Phineas was like how much good vegan Thai food there is.

Starting point is 00:57:32 Yum where? There's like, let's see I'm trying to think. There's like vegan gold pretty close to here. There's vegan glory. There's one that's close to us. Oh, wait, I shouldn't say it to reveal a location. Never mind. But anyways, there's like a ton out there. There's an. app called Happy Cow, which is basically like Yelp for plant-based foods. Okay. So if you're ever traveling and you just want to have something that's like plant-based and light, happy cow. How do you guys both?

Starting point is 00:57:57 Because now it's, you're together, I feel like, I mean, separate you guys are already sort of, I would say celebrities. A new, it's a new digital kind of celebrity, right? It's not like the traditional celebrity. Now that you guys are both together, how do you go out to dinner and have a normal time? Are people outside of your house? Like, how gnarly is it? It's sort of, you know.

Starting point is 00:58:16 It's not that crazy. It's definitely not that crazy. I think any sort of populated areas like malls or the grove or something, then that happens. And it's what's that? Like people running up to you. People want your autograph selfie. Like what do you mean? Yes. Asking for photos. And everyone is always so sweet. Like it's never, it's never been like super invasive or crazy. I mean, we do now have people showing up at our door and sending fan mail and stuff. I got to draw the line there. That's what happened to us. I'm like, listen, I'm not the one. Don't show up. Don't care. Don't care of your fan. It can't come to the house. It's creepy.

Starting point is 00:58:50 Yeah. And come take a picture. Say hello, but can't do the house. Well, the house thing. It's just like you're crossing a line and we can't tell you that this is okay. I don't let it. Exactly. No.

Starting point is 00:59:00 So we recently got like a front gate and everything and a wall built. Literally while that construction was happening. She's having a heart attack that I said that by. She's like, I'm not. I agree with you. Listen, if somebody shows up at the fucking door, I'm booting him. I'm booting him out of the door. Okay.

Starting point is 00:59:13 So you got a gate. We got a gate. We got a wall. Literally, as it was being constructed, we had someone, like, steal our packages and, like, rip off our nass camera and shit. It was just, we're like, we're like, we're literally doing this because of this sort of shit. But that wasn't a subscriber. That was a whole other incident. But, you know, people show up with their moms. And, like, I'm always wondering, like, as a mother, does this feel like something that you're okay with? Like, driving your kid to someone's private property? It's a little crazy. But we, just because, obviously, with Billy's position, You know, Phineas is in a great boat because for a while, he was kind of like sort of in like the behind the scenes sort of in terms of like their, their, you know, unit and sort of what's going on with them. So it's the sort of fame came more gradually for him. And I think because, yeah, it's just, it's not, it's not that. It's definitely doable. And obviously right now it's like we're not going into any malls and we're not, we're not doing that. But it's, it's pretty wise. to tour with them. That's when you can really sort of notice it and see it, you know, walking around through like Coachella campgrounds and stuff and like, you know, that's crazy. Is there just a mob? Yeah. Well, we wouldn't do that. We wouldn't do that with Billy. You know, she stays back. Yeah, yeah, yeah, totally. But Phineas and I, we'd run off and like, or, you know, landing in Australia, there'd be

Starting point is 01:00:33 people at the gate because you're allowed to go through the gates if you don't have a ticket. And so people would, you know, so it's wild to see that. But we definitely don't have it as like crazy as really does. You guys both seem very down to earth. She also seems down to earth. All three of you seem very down to earth. Yeah. Which I think is important.

Starting point is 01:00:50 I think a lot of that comes down to, at least for them, their parents. I mean, their parents are so incredibly sweet and nurturing. They're so involved. They tour with them. And so it's like they're such a family unit. I see them at least like every other day. So would they both sell musical growing up and it like just worked together like that? Yep.

Starting point is 01:01:09 Yeah. So their synergy was just they grew up together both musical. So they were homeschooled. Their parents taught them how to write music and like always just embraced any sort of interest they had in piano playing, guitar playing, all that stuff. So Phineas has been making music his entire life. And once she turned 13, he wrote a song was like, I think you'd be great on this. And that was oceanized, which is like the first song that, you know, she probably came out. She was 13 years old. What is with you guys being 13 years old? When I was 13 years old, I was like trying to sneak out and get a tattoo and steal my dad's car. I don't know. I don't. Because here's the thing. I just, I don't know. I can't speak for them. But for me, like, that I didn't have like a plan at 13. Like, I just feel like I got incredibly lucky. Like at the right time, the right place, the right interest, you know? And then just took advantage of it and kept going and was smart to do that. But yeah, they were homeschooled. So meeting him, I was like, your homeschooled didn't go to college? Great. We're going to, this is a good match. I really need you to step it up with the musical stuff with Zaza so that I need to be able to live off her so that I can sit back. You know what you should guys should do is definitely put. in musical classes just in terms of like rhythm and pitch because first of all I think it's this is something that phineas is super like adamant about he's like I want to put our kid into just musical classes I'm sure your kid will be very creative we'll fucking see we'll see but yeah so I think I think

Starting point is 01:02:30 having good pitch is like a great thing to have just in case if that's something that becomes an interest that's smart I'm going to put her in musical class yeah so smart yeah and I think maybe maybe better than jW tumbles or whatever the hell. Yeah, what the fuck did our parents put us in? They put me in the fucking corners where they put me. I didn't do. Yeah. The COVID balls at Chuckie cheese, my mom just threw me in the COVID balls. Before you go, can you give us some tips to an Instagram aesthetic and how to take an Instagram? Yes. Maybe lighting tips too. Any lighting tips. Natural light. All the way. All the way. I don't even mess with, like, you know, shadow boxes, ring lights, all that stuff. I don't even mess with that stuff with YouTube. I always try to use natural light when I can and just work around

Starting point is 01:03:12 that work around the sun. What's the best time to shoot really quick? Best time to shoot definitely in the shade so you don't have direct sun on you, but you have an even flush. So what time is that like four? So like under a tree is all you need. What time of day? Yeah, like four, I would say. Or like sunset hours. That's gorgeous. That you want the full sun on you because you've got that golden glow. But like you're also, you got to close your eyes and then open them really wide and then close them again. I mean, I haven't done that in a while because I don't have anyone to help me take my Instagram. So now we're just doing the tripod stuff. I don't either. I go on a I go on a three week vacation. I get one fucking photo. I totally get it. We miss a lot of beautiful scenery. So go on.

Starting point is 01:03:50 So you told us the light trick. So what other like editing? Like give us the aesthetic tricks. Well, I'm really simple. Like I I like having a very simple natural feed. I like having nature and water and lots of colors. And I keep it pretty similar to the original photo. Like I just, I usually will bring down the highlights. That gives me like a bit of a tan. Little bit of grain, sharpen the photo, maybe some contrast. On VSCO cam, I use the WWF filter, which is like the panda one. I don't know. I think it's like four nature photos, literally. I use that one, the same one every time. And I just like to keep it like very... The over-edited photo is like going out, I feel like. Yeah, I think so too. Yeah. And I think like

Starting point is 01:04:32 people love like smiling photos and like photos that just feel very like, oh, I just, you know, got this photo because I was living in the moment and someone. Michael's like 600. Yeah, exactly. So that I'm always trying to achieve that. I get about 8,000 of you living in the moment, but it's just the wrong moment. No, you don't. You don't know how to get a good photo to save your fucking life.

Starting point is 01:04:49 It's so bad. I'm really like polling something. I'm bringing some to the surface right now and I'm so sorry about it. No, it's fine. But I deal with this back at home too. You know, we're all in this. Yeah. And I don't believe that they can't take one photo.

Starting point is 01:05:01 I don't believe it. I had a guy, see, because here's the thing where Phineas could be in trouble, I'll tell you. Okay. He started by really high, wrote a song for you. Like that is used to. I know. What else could you do? So let me tell you what the problem with this. And good luck to Phineas, because he's got to keep that momentum going. Yeah. I had a buddy before I got married to Lauren. He's like, listen, man, he's been married before. I was like, set the bar fucking low. Because if you set it high in the beginning, you got to keep up with that energy. If you set it low, like, there's a lot of room I have to continue to improve. Right. So like, I did the same thing with these photos. I'm like, I'm going to be so shitty at these photos that she gets to the point where she's like, I don't want to deal with this guy on this at all. So right now, you're still on like the slow incline. You're. You're Lauren hasn't even, she hasn't even seen, I'm not even close to the peak. You haven't even seen how good I'm going to get. Like, have you squatted down for the photos yet? Does he do that? No, no, I don't do,

Starting point is 01:05:47 I haven't even got there yet. Is that like in two years? I'm barely like, I'm barely like, you know, I'm barely like, you know, but anyways, I think with everything in the relationship, like I got to have some room to continue to improve. Sometimes I'll throw something out there. She's like, where the hell did that come from? Like, wow. Tell us about your podcast. We bought a house. Yes. So Phineas and I started a podcast. It honestly, our approach with it was, incredibly casual and scrappy. It sort of was like a joke that we'd always make. We'd be like laying in bed and just making each other laugh from something very like vulgar and like should definitely not be online. But we'd be like, this is so fucking funny. Why do we not have a podcast?

Starting point is 01:06:24 So it was something that we have always talked about doing. And then I one day was like, we're doing it. I'm getting a graphic design artist. So I reached out to literally my subscribers. And I found this graphic, or he reached out to me, this guy, Anthony, and he just killed it. We're like, it's a cartoon of us naked with, like, the house covering our bits, and we're, like, holding it together as dog prints. It's very, very cute. And so our approach with it was just, like, let's sit down once a week and just talk about, like, what we experience, the things that we're, like, talking about and what we learned,

Starting point is 01:06:58 whatever. And because we're recording it in quarantine and this year specifically, we, we, things have just become so personal on the podcast because that's what you just the conversations turn into. But it's, it's fun. It's meant to just sort of be this comforting space that people can turn on and just have something fill the air. And so I think, I think that's the only way we could have done this. Like, I think right now we're in this point. I mean, I remember you guys reached out so early on and we're like, do you want to join the network? And we're still not signed to a network. And I think, I think that's just not.

Starting point is 01:07:35 what we're meant to do with this because this is the first time we've ever done something together in terms of like, you know, launching this together, doing it and making it this 50-50 split. And very quickly we just realized that putting any sort of pressure on this, like we want to make sure if we're doing this, we enjoy doing it, you know? And so we're keeping it very casual. It sort of feels like this like underground thing that like sometimes we promote, sometimes we don't. And yeah, I mean, a lot of people, like, love it. Like, a lot of friends are like, shows a different side of you guys probably. It totally does. I mean, you can do things. You can have

Starting point is 01:08:11 conversations that you can't, like, I think this medium is one of the few mediums that you can have a conversation. Like, you couldn't, this would not, in YouTube, people would have been like, what's going on here. I mean, it was a, I mean, you could do now film this podcast, but it has to be in podcast format because it's like, it's hard to get people to listen for, you know, 45 minutes hour. Right. Right. Right. Exactly. So we have fun with it. I mean, literally there's one, episode that's called the tampon that went to the Grammys. I had a tampon stuck in my body for like four weeks without knowing about it. Oh shit.

Starting point is 01:08:40 We talked all about it. And that tampon went to the fucking Grammys. That's, you know, another story for another day. Hey, that's not an uncommon story. That's what I'll tell you. I didn't know it was in there. And then I had to backtrack and be like, when did I put so dangerous? That's not an uncommon story, Lauren.

Starting point is 01:08:56 One of my friends had a tampon stuck in her for four weeks too. Yeah. And she was dating this new guy. and they started having sex and he said, what's that smell? And she said, what smell? And he said, what's that smell? He happened to be a paramedic. So he knew.

Starting point is 01:09:14 He knew. He said, you have a tampon stuck in you. He pulled it out. She said it was the most rancid. Let me tell you something. Michael was around when she told this story. I'm telling you, everything happens for a reason. God bless his soul for coming in and saving her.

Starting point is 01:09:27 I'll tell you something, Lauren. The fucking paramedic credential had nothing to do with how he figured that out. Yeah, any, any, you know, listen, I get it. The women now I'm going to be attacked again, but like, just because he's a paramedic, that's not how he figured that out. Right. He's like, something is funk down here. I don't love tampons.

Starting point is 01:09:44 People think I'm so weird. I'm like more of a bad person. No, I, well, here's the issue. We had it in there for four weeks, right? Had no idea. Of course, we're having sex while that tampon's in there. All the way up there. I'm like, how did you never feel this?

Starting point is 01:09:56 You never felt it? Are you kidding me? You don't have that. And so now, well, so now every single time we're having sex. I'm like, you don't feel a tampon, right? Like, it's now like a huge fear of mine because... How can you even put a tampon in after that? Doesn't that give you anxiety?

Starting point is 01:10:10 It's really scary. You can die from something like that. I'm not kidding. You guys. You isn't always pat and call it a day. My gyno was very, very concerned for me. Yeah, I got, no, I got like an infection from it, you know, had to take some, yeah. Like, use a pad.

Starting point is 01:10:24 Well, for the most part, yes, I do that. But Taylor, sometimes... Taylor stop masturbating back there to this. Sometimes, you know, you go swimming or whatever. You got to put a tampon in. But this is the sort of shit that we talk about on our podcast. Okay. I'm going to go listen to the tampon and the one to the Grammys.

Starting point is 01:10:37 Yeah, it's pretty funny. I went like rogue in that one, but we just, we film it in his studio. So he has in our house, it's like a half basement and he's soundproofed the whole thing. And that's where he works. It's amazing. My office is upstairs. So there's a layer sandwiched in between us. So I don't hear him.

Starting point is 01:10:53 He doesn't hear me. That's good. I think it's great for the dynamic in terms of living together and working from home. Everything it's always set up. So in terms of like, you know, should we? have taken a more like serious approach with this and like making sure that you know we're squeezing out as much like reward as we can for our efforts but in terms of like my personal efforts I just I walk downstairs with my macha we film for an hour and then I carry on with my day like it's so chill

Starting point is 01:11:19 and yeah I think that is like the that's how it's going to be forever you know but again though like you this is what every with every kind of content medium like that's what's working for you guys that you need to and I think people over think people over think it like they look at somebody else's formula like I got to do it that way and it's like if that's what's working for you guys and that what's the audience likes like that's what you should do yeah exactly and we're having fun with it and it's just like it gives us an hour to sort of have undivided attention towards each other and talk about things that maybe we normally wouldn't and it's great so I love it for like a relationship aspect yeah it feels like a date it's either going to be really really

Starting point is 01:11:54 good for the relationship yes I have thrown so much shit in his face because he's pissed me off he's so annoying sometimes podcasting just so you like, no. Listen, we've gotten on like full fights on this thing. Taylor has like one day we got to release like on like some clips of just like the breakdowns and like the fucking meltdowns that we both have. Yes, I need that. Like people would be like,

Starting point is 01:12:15 send that file over to me. Yeah. Where can everyone find you? We bought a house, the tampon that went to the Grammys. But besides that, your Instagram and your YouTube. It's all just my name, Claudia Saluski. Okay. Last name is sort of an annoying long one, but that's okay.

Starting point is 01:12:29 And yeah. What's Phineas? His last name is Elish? It's O'Connell. Elish is Billy's middle name. Got it. Yeah, yeah. O'Connell sounds good with Claudia.

Starting point is 01:12:38 But he's just got the single name app. So it's just app. And he's a great name. That's a cool name. And it's spelled cool too. Yeah, that's a cool name. Without the pH, it's just an F. Yeah, that's cool.

Starting point is 01:12:48 Yeah, it's really good. Taylor Q, Claudia, the music please again. And we're out. Thanks for coming on. Thank you for having me. You may have seen it on My Stories. a rose gold CBD pellicure pen. Do you want to win one?

Starting point is 01:13:04 They are so cute. I have one puff before I go to bed and it just relaxes you. It doesn't get you high. It's just a little CBD. If you want to win a pellicure pen, all you have to do is tell us who you want to see next

Starting point is 01:13:15 on the skinny confidential, him and her show, on my latest Instagram. Super easy. So head to at the skinny confidential and tell us what guests you want to have on. On that note, we'll see you on Tuesday. in the opposite direction but I love

The Bossticks - Claudia Sulewski On Relationships, Veganism, Weight Loss, & YouTube Growth

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