Joi Wade: A Busy (Joiful) Bee

Our interview of Joi Wade for “The Creative Influencer” podcast is available today for download on iTunes, Spotify, and premier platforms everywhere.

Joi is a YouTuber, an entrepreneur, an author, co-host of a travel podcast, a recent graduate from University of Southern California—all on top of a day job!

In Joi’s words, her YouTube channel and content sit at the crossroads of between beauty, education, and side hustling. Her channel has evolved as she’s evolved as a person, especially as she now navigates the transition from college to adult life.

Joi shares some of her tricks for managing all of these projects and how she lives by the mantra “if you have an idea, just try it.”

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A transcript of the episode follows:

Jon Pfeiffer:
I am joined today by Joi Wade. Welcome to the podcast.

Joi Wade:
Hey, thanks for having me.

Jon Pfeiffer:
So, I'm going to set the scene. You are a YouTuber, an entrepreneur, an author, co-host of a travel podcast, recent graduate from University of Southern California, and you have a day job. So, you are busy!

Joi Wade:
I forgot about half of those things.

Jon Pfeiffer:
Well, first I want to ask you about your company. You are entrepreneur. It's Joiful Bee. Tell me about it.

Joi Wade:
Yes. So, Joiful Bee is basically my baby that I've been running for the past year. Joiful Bee is a haircare company that makes unique tools and accessories for women with curly hair. Joiful Bee launched in February in 2020. I was super excited and then a pandemic happened right after, so that was awesome. I actually kind of worked out because people couldn't go to the hair salon, so they were looking for solutions that they could do their hair at home, and Joiful Bee kind of just was a result of me being in the influencer space and making a lot of content around hair care. And, seeing that there was room for me to make a product, I'm also just... I think I have so many different interests. So when I have an idea, it's really hard for me not to at least give it a try. So, I'm still in that giving-it-a-try phase, but it's been going really well.

Jon Pfeiffer:
We will come back and do a video promo so you can see the hair, but you have great hair by the way.

Joi Wade:
Thanks.

Jon Pfeiffer:
So, I mentioned that you're also an author. You wrote You Got Into Where? What's that about?

Joi Wade:
Yes. So this goes back to me liking to try a bunch of different things. So, back in 2016 is when I self-published this book and You Got Into Where? is a guide for high school students navigating the college admissions and scholarship process. I wrote this book after going through this process as a first-generation college student and actually landing a few full ride scholarships. Like I said, I have a YouTube channel so I was documenting that whole college admissions process on my channel and the questions, comments, DMs, and emails kind of got really overwhelming where I started to talk about the same things, right? The responses were becoming very mundane. I was like, "You know what? I need to make this into some sort of guide that I can provide to people who have questions." A one-pager wasn't enough when I started writing out everything you have to know. It eventually was long enough for I was like, "This could actually be a book." So, I self-published that book in 2016. Like I said, right before I went to college.
It was actually a great experience, just learning and trying new things. I spoke at different conferences and did a whole bunch of things around the book because I found through writing the book that I was actually really passionate about just education and always having your brains to back you up.

Jon Pfeiffer:
Right. So, do you have other books in the works?

Joi Wade:
Oh my gosh. In my head, I do. In my Google Drive, I do. I have like some outlines, but nothing coming in the next year because so many other things are going on.

Jon Pfeiffer:
And one of those other things is you're co-host of a travel podcast and what I read was that the target audience is black women. Tell me about the podcast.

Joi Wade:
Yes. So I can't even begin to talk about the podcast without shouting out my co-host and best friend, Janelle. Basically, we have been friends since middle school and when it was time to go to college, we wanted to have something that we did together, kind of to stay in touch and also document our experiences, traveling as young black woman. Her and I just love traveling and she's studying... I don't know, she's studying. She's getting her PhD in oceans and fish. It's something kind of weird because I'm not into science, but so she travels a lot for that. So, she gets to document her experiences on the podcast. I document different things that I'm doing. I think the main thing I like about the podcast is that it's kind of more just a fun place for us to regroup, be friends, and also interview people who are traveling. I think during the past year when people weren't traveling, I still love hearing about people's experiences, so I could plan the next trip. So, that's a little bit about podcast.

Jon Pfeiffer:
If you are a world traveler, how many countries have you visited?

Joi Wade:
Yeah. Okay. I actually don't know the number, but it's quite a few. I've been to many countries in Europe because I actually did a study abroad program there in college. I lived in Brazil for a month in college as well...

Jon Pfeiffer:
The last number I saw was over 25.

Joi Wade:
Yeah. I think it's crazy because I haven't traveled as much during the past year and a half. I feel like I haven't been anywhere because I'm just like, "I can't wait to go places again." I feel like I haven't been anywhere, but I definitely knocked some places off my bucket list pre-pandemic.

Jon Pfeiffer:
So, what's your favorite country you visited?

Joi Wade:
Yeah, this one's hard. I think I mentioned Brazil earlier. I think Brazil was definitely a favorite because I learned something new literally every place I went. I felt like there's so much history that I didn't know about that country. Especially, the African roots that are in the north part of Brazil. There's so much to learn about the history of the people, the different ethnicities that are there. And there's just so many parallels that you can make to African-American culture, African culture and Afro-Brazilian culture. So, I think that was just so fun to learn. Also, they have great nightlife and great food and it's just really fun.

Jon Pfeiffer:
Transitioning and we'll go. When we talked about your YouTube channel, we talked about the videos you did about college acceptance, but you are a recent graduate of USC, University of Southern California, 2020. What was it like to graduate during COVID?

Joi Wade:
It was a mess, honestly, but I would say, for me, I was just happy to virtually graduate, get my degree. Like I said, I was a first-generation college student. So I spent that time, even though our graduation was virtual and there was eventually an in-person one, I spent that time just with my family and celebrating that accomplishment. I think that's what I would have done if there was restrictions or not. I would have spent that time with my family. I think the only thing was my family that's never been to California was kind of bummed. They didn't get to go to L.A., but for me, I was happy either way. I was just happy to be done with classes. I think senioritis is real where you're just so ready to graduate. I just was a super happy to just be with my family.

Jon Pfeiffer:
Senioritis on Zoom.

Joi Wade:
Senioritis on Zoom. Yes. A lots of Zoom calls. To take a class on Zoom is a very unique experience.

Jon Pfeiffer:
Yeah. I teach a class at Pepperdine and I taught two semesters on Zoom and it was just, you're right, it was a different experience. Now you said, some of your family were looking forward to coming to California. Where did you grow up?

Joi Wade:
Yeah, I actually moved around a lot growing up, but I'd say where I'm from is probably Pennsylvania. I say probably because I spent the most years there, but most of my family's from Maryland and my family actually moved around in Pennsylvania. I went to high school in Atlanta, Georgia for a little bit, and then obviously went to school for university in California.

Jon Pfeiffer:
You did move around. Now, I want to shift to your YouTube channel because I have a bunch of questions about that. You describe yourself as a beauty YouTuber, but your videos are more than that. If you were to re-describe yourself, how would you describe your YouTube channel?

Joi Wade:
Yeah, this is a really good question because I've had my channel so long and it wasn't through adulthood, so as I was growing up, my interests kind of changed. So, I would mainly describe myself as the crossroads of between beauty, education, and side hustling. I'd say those. Like, there's not one thing that I've ever stuck with. I feel like my channel has evolved as I've evolved as a person.

Jon Pfeiffer:
Yeah. I, well, it's on your channel that you started your channel when you were in middle school. Did your mom know you had a channel in middle school?

Joi Wade:
Oh yes. So my parents knew, but I didn't tell any of my friends because YouTube definitely wasn't cool back then. I don't think I started telling people until I had like 10,000 subscribers or something.

Jon Pfeiffer:
And then I looked—I had to check—, the earliest video that's still up is when you were a freshman in high school: "What's in my Book Bag." And I know what was in your freshmen book bag. It's evolved since then. In 2016, you did a lot of college admission videos and several videos about you getting accepted. Where were you all accepted?

Joi Wade:
Yeah, so I did a lot of those videos. I was accepted to USC obviously, which is where I attended, New York University, the University of Miami. I applied to Temple University because like I said, I lived in Pennsylvania, so I wanted to get one Pennsylvania school in there. I think I applied to UPenn, too, and they rejected me, so shout out to UPenn. I'm glad I didn't go there because I feel like I needed... USC is such a vibe. If you've been there, students, I feel like it fit me way better.

Jon Pfeiffer:
Well it's to your credit, you did post the video of you not getting into the Wharton School, which I thought was relatively courageous that you had both the highs and the lows. So, kudos to you.

Joi Wade:
Yeah. I had to keep it realistic. I feel like college admissions is such a fragile point in a high school student's life. And if you're watching other people on YouTube and you're like, "Oh my gosh. They got everything they wanted." That's going to be a let down.

Jon Pfeiffer:
Right. Yeah. But I don't know anyone that got everything they want. There's always the dream school that you didn't get in.

Joi Wade:
Right.

Jon Pfeiffer:
Now your latest videos... Actually, your last video was "How I Budget, Save, and Invest My Money at 23." So how do you budget, save, and invest your money at 23?

Joi Wade:
Yeah, I'm actually like a really big money nerd, thanks to YouTube. But I watched so many finance YouTubers. I think Graham Stephan is one of the biggest ones, but CNBC naked, like there's so many fun series that make [finance videos]. I think learning about finance is a lot better when you're just like, "Oh, I don't want to be an adult and deal with this." But, my main thing is just making sure that my favorite thing to do is just have auto-transfer set up so I don't spend money that I don't have. So as soon as I get my check, things get auto transferred into savings, things get auto transferred for where my rent comes out and just keeps things very simple so that I'm not stressing over like this small thing. It's more like I made a plan, so let's stick to it and let the automations do their thing.

Jon Pfeiffer:
Yes. Transitioning, you have a video, a recent video, "Owning a small business is hard! Your top struggles as a 23 year old entrepreneur." So what are your struggles as a 23 year old entrepreneur?

Joi Wade:
Yeah, on one side of the coin, they're self-imposed. As we talked, I do a lot of different things at once. Right now, I have Joiful Bee, which is my product business. I still do the traditional influencer thing with working with brands and just posting content and I do work full time. So, that sense of time management is very self-imposed.
But, I think the biggest struggle is learning how to be a business owner when you're young. I feel like a lot of things in entrepreneurship are just figuring it out. Figuring out, "Oh, marketing costs this much?" Like, "Oh, buying inventory costs this much?" A lot of things surrounding money most apparently, but I think another big lesson is you can't do everything alone. I feel like creators, everyone starts out doing everything by themselves, but that leads to burnout and it doesn't have to be that way. So one of my biggest lessons just like running my small business and also being an influencer is bringing on help. I might've actually have had interns or assistants since my sophomore year of college helping me along the way. So, definitely everything has not been by myself or one-person show. I do not like being burned out. So, I definitely outsource work to people like video editors, for Joiful Bee, customer service help, and things like that because I definitely cannot do at all.

Jon Pfeiffer:
That is a lesson than that it takes many people decades to learn, speaking from experience. So you also have a video, a recent video on "How to be Productive and Get Things Done," which it sounds like you're getting lots of things done, but what's your system.

Joi Wade:
Yeah, I would say I — definitely thinking back to my "What's in My Book Bag?" video, I definitely had a planner in there and I'd still use planners to this day. Right now, my favorite system is I start with a really long to-do list, kind of like a brain dump of everything I think I need to get done because I feel like sometimes there's stress around like, "Oh, I can't remember what I said I needed to do." Then you remember right at the last minute. So, I always start the week off with a brain dump. Then I look at a weekly view of my planner and I move those items from the brain dump and to individual days. Then I don't have any more than three to five items for each day because it's unrealistic really for me to get more than three things done on that list. So, I break it out in chunks so that I know that one, I know everything I needed to get done was accounted for and two, I know that I'm not going to have to do it all at one time.

Jon Pfeiffer:
Shifting gears entirely. There's a video on "Five Things I wish I Knew Before College." What are the five things you wish you knew before college?

Joi Wade:
Yeah. So this one is actually hashtag sponsored, but I chose that topic because I felt like it was a great kind of closing to a lot of my college content. A lot of things I wish I knew before college revolve around kind of like the workload and just how much you need to do on your laptop. I feel like that was just such a big surprise for me. I thought like in high school, I feel like you have binders and you take half everything on paper and then just getting to college. It's like, no, you have syllabi. You have to stay organized and all that stuff, so I feel like that was a big change.
Also, another thing before college that I wish I understood was that your social life just goes through a whole whirlwind because one, you just have different network bubbles, essentially, whether it's people in your major, people you live with and it's hard to balance. Maintaining relationships is a really big thing for college, especially if you're paying a lot of money to go to a school for the network. It's like an extra level of pressure because you're like, "Okay. I paid to be around all of these great people, professors, so now you have to maintain a relationships."

Jon Pfeiffer:
When you're creating a video, who is your target audience?

Joi Wade:
Yeah, I would say my target audience are young black women who are ambitious and kind of figuring out their transition between college and adulting.

Jon Pfeiffer:
I would just say and watching a ton of your videos, your audience, maybe women, but the advice I think is cross-culturally.

Joi Wade:
Yes, definitely. I'd say I found that tons of different people watch my videos and reach out to me. I would say the beauty of YouTube is there's tons of people who talk about the same things and audiences kind of look for someone they can relate to in that sense, so there might be 10 people talking about managing their money, but they look for someone whose journey they can relate to.

Jon Pfeiffer:
In watching the videos, you're obviously comfortable in front of a camera. How do you feel about in front of a live audience?

Joi Wade:
Yes. I love talking. I think I've always been super talkative since I was young. Always the person talking the most in class. I started to stretch that muscle in college. So right around, I mentioned the "You Got Into Where?" book. That's when I started like, "Oh, can I actually give people advice in person or am I just like a YouTuber who has to be behind camera? So, I kind of wean myself on. I started doing small, like events, talking to high schoolers. I started doing one-on-one mentorship. Then eventually toward the end of my college career, I actually hosted a workshop at USC in front of 300 high school students. That was scary because high school students are mean. But, my whole thing with that was just be relatable. You're very close in age to these people. So, I think it went well in that sense, but it was definitely something I had to grow into, but it's more of, I just like to keep things conversational and be myself. I think it goes well when I just leaned into that.

Jon Pfeiffer:
When you finish a video, can you predict the success of that video?

Joi Wade:
I cannot. I'm actually don't see myself as the master YouTuber. I can attribute certain things, too, like I don't follow all the best practices of being an influencer. For example, most people say, "Oh, if you have a YouTube channel, stick to one niche and like stay in one lane." From this conversation, I have not stayed in one thing my whole life. So, I have to accept that. Okay, a lot of my subscribers came from beauty videos. So if I post a beauty video, it's going to get thousands of views, but I also want to share about my business and that's new. So I'm going to have to build up people who are interested in that.

Jon Pfeiffer:
Right. What's the biggest challenge you face when you're creating your content?

Joi Wade:
I would say my biggest challenge is... One, was editing because I would always brush through editing because I had other things to do. So now that I outsource to my editor, I can really take that that is off my plate. I felt like I was just rushing through edits all the time. Even though I know how to do it, I just didn't think I was doing it to the place I wanted my channel to be. So, definitely editing, also consistency. Consistency is what every influencer talks about. But, especially when I have other things going on, like I don't know the last time I posted a video every week for more than three months, but it's okay. I've accepted that and I don't beat myself up about it. I think it would be different if I was really getting upset that I missed videos of like, I've just accepted that that's not my place on YouTube right now.

Jon Pfeiffer:
Right. Okay. So, I want to completely shift gears and go to 73 questions a la Vogue. I don't have 73, but I have a bunch of rapid fire questions.

Joi Wade:
Okay.

Jon Pfeiffer:
Okay. What question would you most like to know the answer to?

Joi Wade:
Oh my gosh. This is like, okay. Let me think. What is my dog thinking right now? What is my dog thinking? Does he hate me? Does he love me? Oh my gosh.

Jon Pfeiffer:
Okay. I'll make this one easier. Favorite food.

Joi Wade:
Italian. Pasta.

Jon Pfeiffer:
Favorite cocktail.

Joi Wade:
Cocktail? Margarita.

Jon Pfeiffer:
If you have 30 minutes a day to do anything you wanted, what would you do?

Joi Wade:
I'd go swimming.

Jon Pfeiffer:
What TV channel doesn't exist that should?

Joi Wade:
Like a YouTuber reality channel.

Jon Pfeiffer:
Favorite movie.

Joi Wade:
The SpongeBob Movie.

Jon Pfeiffer:
Your guilty pleasure.

Joi Wade:
Eating, like going to restaurants, like different restaurants around the city.

Jon Pfeiffer:
What is something that your fans would be surprised to learn about you?

Joi Wade:
That I love designer purses and clothing.

Jon Pfeiffer:
What's your biggest pet peeve?

Joi Wade:
When people aren't specific with what they're asking you. I don't like when people aren't just direct. I don't like, "Hey, how was your weekend?" And I'm like, "You don't care how my weekend was."

Jon Pfeiffer:
That's probably true. What's one talent you wish you had?

Joi Wade:
I wish I could sing or dance really well.

Jon Pfeiffer:
Have you ever been starstruck?

Joi Wade:
Yes. I met Issa Rae and I was like, "What do I do?"

Jon Pfeiffer:
Say hello! You could make one rule that everyone had to follow. What rule would that be?

Joi Wade:
If you have an idea, just try it.

Jon Pfeiffer:
Last set of questions. What are you working on right now that we haven't talked about?

Joi Wade:
Black Friday promotion.

Jon Pfeiffer:
And then my last question, where can people find you on the internet?

Joi Wade:
You can find me at joiwade.com and all of my socials and everything are linked from there.

Jon Pfeiffer:
Thank you. This has been fun.

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