Our interview of Taryne Renee for “The Creative Influencer” podcast is available today for download on iTunes, Spotify, and premier platforms everywhere. Taryne is the co-host of the “Unsolicited Advice” Podcast with Ashley McDonal. She is also a former YouTuber, who quit YouTube after building a sizable following.
Taryne tells us her perspective of how to be a successful Influencer and why she quit YouTube and how she became a podcaster.
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A transcript of the episode follows:
Jon Pfeiffer: I'm joined today by Taryne Renee. Welcome to the podcast.
Taryne Renee: Thank you. Thanks for having me.
Jon Pfeiffer: You are the co host of your own podcast, Unsolicited Advice.
Taryne Renee: Yes.
Jon Pfeiffer: The other co host is Ashley McDonald.
Taryne Renee: Yes.
Jon Pfeiffer: And she's an influencer.
Taryne Renee: Yeah.
Jon Pfeiffer: You were also part of that world for a while.
Taryne Renee: Yes, that's true. I had a short little chapter in it.
Jon Pfeiffer: And we'll come back to that.
Taryne Renee: Okay.
Jon Pfeiffer: So, I have been listening to your podcast.
Taryne Renee: You have!
Jon Pfeiffer: I have. Yeah, so here are the things I've learned. I've learned that you say you're not qualified to give advice, but it is an advice podcast.
Taryne Renee: Yes.
Jon Pfeiffer: I've learned that there is no normal.
Taryne Renee: Yep.
Jon Pfeiffer: And I learned to always pull it to the side.
Taryne Renee: Oh my God! Yes, yes.
Jon Pfeiffer: Things that I didn't know before.
Taryne Renee: Out of context that sounds very strange. Yes.
Jon Pfeiffer: So listen to the podcast and you'll know what I'm talking about.
Taryne Renee: Yeah.
Jon Pfeiffer: So here's some questions I have-
Taryne Renee: Okay.
Jon Pfeiffer: What's it like looking into Ashley's eyes?
Taryne Renee: It's magical. She has very beautiful eyes. And it's funny we talked about before, but you know, she's my best friend and so a lot of times when you have that best friend relationship, you don't really sit and stare in to each other's eyes often, it's mostly like you know you're sitting on a couch, watching t.v. or you're sitting in a car driving somewhere.
Jon Pfeiffer: Okay, another question I have is why don't women have beards?
Taryne Renee: You know, I don't know and in one way I'm thankful for that, but in the way we talked about on podcast about not being able to just change up your appearance drastically, I don't think it's fair. We should have some type of like, you know-
Jon Pfeiffer: Well I was talking about this preparing for the interview and it was pointed out that you can change your hair.
Taryne Renee: That's true.
Jon Pfeiffer: Women can do that all the time-
Taryne Renee: That's true.
Jon Pfeiffer: ...where guys don't really have that option.
Taryne Renee: That's true. Like it's a little more rare or not as common for guys to just like dye their hair a bunch of different colors or-
Jon Pfeiffer: Right.
Taryne Renee: You know. Yeah, I guess that's true.
Jon Pfeiffer: And then how did man discover which foods are poisonous?
Taryne Renee: I don't know. I really don't know. I thought when I googled it it was going to be this--like all these things would come up, but I didn't find any scholarly article telling me that. Which, I mean I guess I need to dig a little more, but-
Jon Pfeiffer: I heard a comedian talk one time about the bravest man on Earth is the first one that tried cow's milk.
Taryne Renee: Oh, that's true. Eew. Yeah that's true. [Laughter]
Jon Pfeiffer: Okay. Your podcast also talks about boy troubles.
Taryne Renee: Yes.
Jon Pfeiffer: And getting over break ups.
Taryne Renee: Yeah.
Jon Pfeiffer: And how to ask girl out on a date.
Taryne Renee: Yep.
Jon Pfeiffer: You had a couple episodes ago, there a girl that was moving to Arizona-
Taryne Renee: Yeah.
Jon Pfeiffer: ...to be next to a guy that she hadn't told that she liked-
Taryne Renee: Yes. Yes.
Jon Pfeiffer: And then you had to give advice on what to do about that.
Taryne Renee: Yeah.
Jon Pfeiffer: And I, as a listener, I'm sitting there thinking, "tell her to tell him first!"
Taryne Renee: Yep. Yep. Well that's what's so cool about it is you know honestly our most common email is about love or having a crush or this guy dumped me I can't get over it, and so a lot of times we'll address one story but we know it's hitting like-
Jon Pfeiffer: Tons of others.
Taryne Renee: A hundred and fifty that are sitting in our email box, but there are certain situations that we address that is like not very common or we haven't, I haven't personally experienced. Like going to another state for a guy and not telling him how I feel. So it's kind of fun to just give our kind of unbiased opinions and-
Jon Pfeiffer: There's a lot of embarrassing situations that-
Taryne Renee: Yes. I love those. Those are my favorite.
Jon Pfeiffer: The first episode was a guy took his date out to a driving range-
Taryne Renee: Yep. Uh-huh. Yes.
Jon Pfeiffer: And ...
Taryne Renee: And she was very nervous-
Jon Pfeiffer: I'll let you do the ... I don't want to ruin the punchline.
Taryne Renee: Thank you for making me talk about farts right away on your podcast. Yeah, she was very nervous and went to swing the club and something came out that she was not expecting in very close proximity, so yeah.
Jon Pfeiffer: But it's fun as somebody that's not in that world to listen to it because .... it hadn't been on my consciousness-
Taryne Renee: Yeah.
Jon Pfeiffer: And then you hear it. Because you also talk about flirting.
Taryne Renee: Yes.
Jon Pfeiffer: And I now know never to start a conversation with "hey big boy."
Taryne Renee: Well, or you know, you never know ... you could go for the surprise factor, I guess with that. But yeah, but even that flirting. I've never had to sit and actually define what I thought it was. It's just something people don't talk about I guess in definition form, so even that was a fun episode to-
Jon Pfeiffer: And I was talking to one of my sons about this and he was like, so how does one flirt in 2019?
Taryne Renee: I mean, honestly, I think that's why things are so awkward is because it's shifting to like a non-personal form. Like you have to learn how to DM someone, how do you interact with their social media accounts to where they know you're interested. And things like liking one of their really old pictures. Like that's a huge thing where if a guy likes an old, old picture, you're like, okay, he was like checking up on me. So, it's things like that. It's like a new, a totally new thing.
Jon Pfeiffer: Because I was sitting next to somebody and they were showing me their girlfriend-
Taryne Renee: Uh-huh.
Jon Pfeiffer: And they were talking about breaking up-
Taryne Renee: Uh-huh.
Jon Pfeiffer: And they were on Instagram and I liked her photo and he was just like, he went apoplectic.
Taryne Renee: Oh my gosh. Yeah, no that's the worst thing you can do. Every time I'm showing my mom-
Jon Pfeiffer: But it was from his account.
Taryne Renee: Yeah. Every time I'm showing my mom something, I'm like put your fingers on the side. Don't accidentally tap anything. Yeah.
Jon Pfeiffer: And how does that play in to the post #Me Too?
Taryne Renee: You know, I think that's just a very, very, very big example of how, now that social media is out and people are more aware of the things going on and people are ... you know before it's like you only went to the news to hear a lot of things that were going on in the world and that's a very select story. But now it's everybody has their own platform and can talk about whatever they want and tell their own story in any way. So, I think it's just a way of--it's faster connections, instant connections on internet and then you have the hashtag system where it's like you literally can say me too, click it and see thousands of people who-
Jon Pfeiffer: Have the same story.
Taryne Renee: Yeah. Yeah.
Jon Pfeiffer: Okay, so I found that you're ... and I'm jumping around-
Taryne Renee: That's fine.
Jon Pfeiffer: Your word this year is "undaunted."
Taryne Renee: Yes!
Jon Pfeiffer: How did you pick that word?
Taryne Renee: So we were actually in Hawaii for New Year's and Ashley kept talking about her word and I was like, okay, I should find a word. But for a person like me, who I think very psychologically and I try to be very intentional about things, that was a big task and I was like searching for days about a word and so-
Jon Pfeiffer: And that word has to be with you for a year.
Taryne Renee: Yeah. And it has to be something that really resonates. Like not just something, you know, like happy. Where it's like, of course I'm trying to be happy, that's a natural thing. But I think I've realized in life there are certain things that I don't take a step because I'm afraid of a, b, or c. You know. Failing, looking dumb, you know, what will happen, not knowing the outcome. So that whole, I feel like that word encompass like I don't want to be ... I don't want to not do things just because of that fear.
Jon Pfeiffer: And you picked this word before your podcast launched.
Taryne Renee: Yes. Yes.
Jon Pfeiffer: When did you first start talking about the podcast?
Taryne Renee: Ashley's been talking about doing a podcast for a very long time. Podcasts is her thing. I always say I feel like I'm a fake podcaster because I didn't even really listen to a lot of podcasts before this. Now I feel like I'm a fan and I feel like I've done enough episodes to where I can say oh, yeah, I'm a podcaster. But she took me to coffee one day and was talking about her podcast and I was like, okay, get on with it. Just do it, you've been talking about it forever and then she finally was like, I was wondering if you'd want to do it with me. And I was like, oh, heck yeah. Like talking? With you? Of course.
Jon Pfeiffer: I can talk.
Taryne Renee: Yeah. I can talk, as you can tell. So, yeah. It just kind of ... and then from there, it was like it took a little while and then by the time it really starting rolling it was so fast. We want an episode out by the end of next month and blah, blah, blah. So-
Jon Pfeiffer: And how did you come up with the concept?
Taryne Renee: That was definitely a team effort. We were talking about we both love people and a lot of times when we hang out, we'll be like, oh my gosh this girl at work told me a story, vice versa. So we kind of talked about what if we read people's stories or comment on people's stories. And then always joke about it but I really do have a minor in counseling, like that's what I actually went to school for. And so that's always been a passion of mine, it's just-
Jon Pfeiffer: You are a professional.
Taryne Renee: I mean, I like to say--she always is like "shut up!" when I say it, but yeah. I mean kind of. So that's always been something I'm passionate about so it's been cool to see that kind of shifted really fast from just being embarrassing kind of stories to like hitting on some actually really substantial topics. So yeah, that's how it kind of came up and then we were thinking about names and then I think I was the one who came up with Unsolicited Advice and then because of that name, then it kind of kept morphing in to like, okay, let's do advice, let's do this, so, yeah.
Jon Pfeiffer: What were some of the ideas you threw out that you decided not to do?
Taryne Renee: I'm trying to think. We were saying more of like a girl talk type of thing where it's just like we talk about our perspectives on things. But one of the things we really ended up settling on is we didn't want to limit our audience. We didn't want it to just be girls. We wanted it to be something that anyone could resonate with. So that kind of shifted away really fast. But we actually came up with the concept and name fairly quick.
Jon Pfeiffer: Some of the other things I've learned from listening to your podcast-
Taryne Renee: Yes. I love this.
Jon Pfeiffer: That you would like to create a word.
Taryne Renee: I would.
Jon Pfeiffer: But, and I'm going to come back to that, but you made fun of your brother for coming up with a word!
Taryne Renee: That's because if you knew his personality and the way he presents stuff, you would understand why. It's like, he's one of those people ... by the way, he's like my best friend, I love him, so no shame, but he's one of those people who has this quality about him, especially with me. He likes to pester me, so when he says certain things like, oh I made this word. Instantly I'm like, you're so dumb. But if it catches on, goldilocks, then.
Jon Pfeiffer: And his word was goldilocks.
Taryne Renee: Yep, yep.
Jon Pfeiffer: Which means perfect.
Taryne Renee: It's pretty brilliant, I guess. I'll give him that.
Jon Pfeiffer: So now what's your word?
Taryne Renee: I don't know. I still haven't come up with it. I mean, it'd be cool to like fully create a word. Like from scratch. But, yeah, we'll see. We'll see.
Jon Pfeiffer: With your own letters and everything.
Taryne Renee: Yes. Just like random letters, random sounds. Yeah.
Jon Pfeiffer: Okay back to the actual making of the podcast.
Taryne Renee: Yes.
Jon Pfeiffer: So you launched in March of 2019.
Taryne Renee: Yes.
Jon Pfeiffer: When you first did it, did you do practice episodes?
Taryne Renee: No. So actually, I really ... and it's funny because I'm very good and just on the spot ad-lib type stuff, Ash struggles with it a little big more. But I was surprised because I told her, I'm like, "Ash, like I don't really want to plan. Like I want to just go in there." We have like a few things that are kind of like markers. Like we try to start with a random thought and something about our week. So we try to come prepared with that. But as far as just the dialogue that happens in the beginning, you know, when she reads a story, the advice I give and then you know, I'm the flip of that. So we didn't really plan too much. And then the first time we went in he was like, "You know a lot of people record a first episode and honestly throw it out," because they're like that was so awkward or whatever or it might happen down the road. But we've never had to do it. We've never had to re-start. We've never had to edit things out. I think there's been like four times where we were like, hey, to our producer, let me re-start that, I didn't do justice to that story. But it's like re-start ten seconds, not like a whole episode. We've both been surprised at how-
Jon Pfeiffer: It flows.
Taryne Renee: fluid it's been. Yeah. It's been really cool.
Jon Pfeiffer: So when you read the question, the other party--the other party [laughter] the party in the first part, the party in the second part [laughter]--if you're reading a question, Ashley has not heard the answer and when Ashley reads it you've not heard-
Taryne Renee: Yes. Not at all.
Jon Pfeiffer: ...the question.
Taryne Renee: The only thing we'll sometimes do is if I have three stories, I'll say, hey, what type of story is yours. So she'll tell me, oh, it's embarrassing, it's about dating or it's a really sad story. So then I try to kind of counter it with-
Jon Pfeiffer: To balance it with a happy, a short...
Taryne Renee: Yeah, because if we both came with ... you know, we want to keep it light to a certain extent. So yeah. Or I have a shorter one, so I pick a longer one. Like that type of thing, but we have no idea what kind of story it is.
Jon Pfeiffer: So the email comes in to a common email box, if I understand it right.
Taryne Renee: Yes. So-
Jon Pfeiffer: How do you keep from the other person seeing your-
Taryne Renee: So-
Jon Pfeiffer: ...from double picking.
Taryne Renee: Yeah. We have a system. We have two folders. So one's Ashley's stories and one's Taryne's stories. So it's kind of funny because if emails come in, I'll try to go in right away to try to get good ones. Because there's been times where I haven't checked until the day before and then I'll go in and I'm like, "Did you take all the emails? We used to have this many and there's none." But now that's not a problem. In the beginning it was but we have way too many now. It's kind of overwhelming but it's great. So yeah, so we snag our stories and put them in our folders so that the other one can't see them.
Jon Pfeiffer: And how do you pick which one you're going to read? So you're going through, you look at it. How many do you have to read before you find on that kind of is general enough that it could spill over?
Taryne Renee: Yeah. So, sometimes it takes a good amount of time. You know I try not to pick ones that we've already talked about those topics. I try to pick ones that I really feel like I can personally give advice on or that I'm confident that I could research and give good advice. Or sometimes some of them it's just like, very simple things that, like I said, I feel like could tie in to other things. And then there's a lot that I have saved that I'm waiting just for good times or some really, really heavy topics that I would love to maybe even have a professional come on and address certain things. So, it's a process.
Jon Pfeiffer: Because I was joking to my assistant about this, that I was going to write a letter in-
Taryne Renee: You should!
Jon Pfeiffer: ...as an 18 year old girl to see if I could get my email read-
Taryne Renee: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Jon Pfeiffer: but it sounds like there's enough duplication that I would have a hard time channeling my inner 18 year old-
Taryne Renee: Inner 18 year old. No, but honestly, we had a story from a guy one time and I was so excited. I wish there was more. I love the diversity of the different people, so you should just write in as yourself.
Jon Pfeiffer: Okay. Do you know the demographics of your audience?
Taryne Renee: I don't know too many details. That's a good point, I should probably check in on that. But I do from the people that we get that send us messages on our Instagram or even just in my life, where people will come up and say hey, I listen to your podcast, it's very all over the place. Which is my favorite thing. I hope that continues to grow for sure.
Jon Pfeiffer: What about your family?
Taryne Renee: My family are the biggest fans. Especially my brothers, which I wasn't expecting. But yeah, they're so supportive and listen to everything and will text me through out the week and be like, oh my gosh, this was so funny...
Jon Pfeiffer: Are they older brothers or younger brothers?
Taryne Renee: They're younger. I'm the oldest. Yeah.
Jon Pfeiffer: So you're like the authority figure.
Taryne Renee: Right. Well, you know, I like to pretend I am, but yes.
Jon Pfeiffer: What age range ... not age range, I'm sorry, what rating range do you try to go to? Do you try to make it G, PG, R?
Taryne Renee: We're trying to stick to ... I mean honestly, naturally we're both pretty in the PG-13 range. I-
Jon Pfeiffer: Which, just as an aside, it's interesting what bothers Ashley that you don't have any problem talking about-
Taryne Renee: Yes! Yes.
Jon Pfeiffer: And what bothers you-
Taryne Renee: Completely.
Jon Pfeiffer: that Ashley just freely will talk about.
Taryne Renee: Completely. Well yeah, we definitely balance each other out in those ways. But my whole thing is I don't want to do something that--just in life in general this is how I try to live my life--I don't want to do anything that's going to make anyone else uncomfortable or is going to offend any one. And knowing the fact that we do have a lot of young listeners, I wanted to make sure that it was something that wasn't going to be a problem. And I feel like there's enough content out there that is inappropriate and rated R, I feel like it's refreshing to have a podcast ... like I wouldn't be concerned if kids listened to our show. Or if my boss from my full time job listened to my show. And I like that we can sit in that and not have to worry about it.
Jon Pfeiffer: Yeah. What's the biggest challenge you faced in launching the podcast?
Taryne Renee: We really didn't face any challenge. We've-
Jon Pfeiffer: Other than getting Ashley to do it.
Taryne Renee: Yeah. Other than her finally stepping up to do it, but, the feedback has been so positive. Everybody involved has been so supportive and it's felt so natural and I think that's how we both knew this is something that could go somewhere. We really haven't had too much of a kick back or-
Jon Pfeiffer: What has surprised you about the process?
Taryne Renee: I think that. How easy it was and then I think also the shift from it being oh, this is going to be a fun, funny thing to actually hearing some of the girls or people we've talked about their stories saying that we actually changed their life or impacted them. And that's been like ... we always sit back and I'm like, "Oh my gosh, Ashley, we're actually doing something good," you know what I mean? I don't think we expected for it to get there. But it's been so cool.
Jon Pfeiffer: And you had talked about doing a feedback episode where you would follow up on stories.
Taryne Renee: Yes.
Jon Pfeiffer: Have you had, have people responded to that?
Taryne Renee: Yep. So I think we're going to try to do the first ten episodes because I didn't realize how many stories we've actually done. So when I started reaching out to some of our previous people I was like, "oh my gosh, there's too many." So I think we're going to do it kind of in chunks. But I've already gotten all the responses back and I think we're gearing up next week to go in and record that and I'm super excited about it. And my brother was actually the one. One day he was like did you ever hear back? Did that girl open the picture? He's like, I need to know what's going on with these people.
Jon Pfeiffer: So voyeuristic in one sense.
Taryne Renee: Yeah, yeah. So yeah, so it just kind of rolled together and I'm really excited actually about that.
Jon Pfeiffer: Because when you first mentioned it on the podcast I'm thinking, how are they going to get all of that together? Until I'm like "duh: you have their email address!"
Taryne Renee: Yep. And I had to search through and find exactly which ones and I think we'll do a better job now of marking but yeah, it's been fun hearing.
Jon Pfeiffer: What has been your most popular episode? Do you look at the download figures?
Taryne Renee: I'm horrible at that stuff. I do know our last episode, Alone and Hungry, that one it did hit the charts for the health category of top episodes. Which is hard to get an episode up there-
Jon Pfeiffer: Right.
Taryne Renee: So, I don't know if that means that's our top one. That's something I should probably research, but yeah.
Jon Pfeiffer: When you finish an episode, can you predict whether it's going to be successful? Do you have a feel?
Taryne Renee: You know, there is actually, the answer is no. Because there's been certain episodes that we've recorded and I was like, that felt so rough. I felt like I was dragging. I don't think I said what I wanted to say. And then when they send it back and I do the final review, I'm like, oh my gosh, that was so good. So, I think it's hard to tell because you know I'm really hard on myself. So sometimes I'll leave being like, oh that was horrible. But there are certain episodes that feels good when you leave, but it's hard to...
Jon Pfeiffer: And before you post it-
Taryne Renee: Uh-huh.
Jon Pfeiffer: ...do you listen to it all the way through?
Taryne Renee: Yes. So I usually, I try to go through the whole episode for a few reasons. One, to make sure that there wasn't anything in there that we wanted to take out. Two, I try to mark all of the things we mention so that I know what to post on our social medias. So if I said, you know, like the last episode, oh yeah, I have a hard time doing eye drops, there's this one video that proves it, so I marked in my notes, find eye drop video so that way when that day came, we were posting all the stuff on social media.
Jon Pfeiffer: Who is in charge of posting on social? Is it you or Ashley?
Taryne Renee: Both of us.
Jon Pfeiffer: Both of you.
Taryne Renee: Yeah. Both of us. She is, that's like her gift. So there's times where she'll just run with it-
Jon Pfeiffer: Imagine that! [Laughter]
Taryne Renee: Yeah. But I also post a lot. And we both have access to everything. It's a very 50/50 partnership.
Jon Pfeiffer: And your Instagram account is?
Taryne Renee: Oh my gosh. I always forget which one's-
Jon Pfeiffer: I can help you out.
Taryne Renee: It's Unsolicited Advice Pod.
Jon Pfeiffer: Yes.
Taryne Renee: Yes.
Jon Pfeiffer: @UnsolicitedAdvicePod
Taryne Renee: Yeah. Because our email is actually Advice Unsolicited Pod. Because it was hard to track down what we could use.
Jon Pfeiffer: You had mentioned that you were recognized at a drive through at Starbucks.
Taryne Renee: Yes.
Jon Pfeiffer: And somebody said do you have a podcast.
Taryne Renee: Yes.
Jon Pfeiffer: Now, was it because of your voice or was it because they saw you?
Taryne Renee: I'm assuming visually because I wasn't talking to her directly. And I think just with social media. Even our podcast social media always has our faces up and whatever. She could have been a previous, from when I was doing YouTube or from Ashley and Alisha. But she specifically said "Do you have a podcast?" So that was like-
Jon Pfeiffer: How was that moment?
Taryne Renee: Oh my gosh, I freaked out. She was probably like, "oh wow, calm down." Because I'm like "Oh my God, yeah!"
Jon Pfeiffer: You want a selfie with me?
Taryne Renee: Yeah. Yeah. I think because I am so passionate about the podcast and it's something that both me and Ashley are just ... we just truly love it. So I think I got super excited about that.
Jon Pfeiffer: And as I recall, that was before Ashley had ever been recognized for having a podcast.
Taryne Renee: For the podcast, yeah, specifically. Well, she gets recognized all the time, so it's hard to know-
Jon Pfeiffer: I want to come back to that one. Yeah. Okay, so you had a brief stint as a YouTuber.
Taryne Renee: Yes.
Jon Pfeiffer: What did you learn as an influencer that's carried over to help you on the podcast?
Taryne Renee: You know, I think the whole social media world, it really is a business and a science and I think that when you're outside of it you view it as, "oh, it's just this you just post pictures, you just do whatever," and it seems like anyone can do that. But the honest truth is like, no. Like most of you will not do it. You know? And I think I just fell in to it kind of because I was really close with Ashley and Alisha [Marie] who are really big YouTubers and just being friends with them and people seeing me in their stuff and kind of getting to know my personality, I had this random following that grew. And so they talked to me one day and were like, you should do something. You're really good at being on camera. And they know that I was always passionate about that age range, so they were like you should just do it. So it kind of just fell on to me, which doesn't happen to a lot of people. But that knowledge I've learned from that has definitely transferred in to how we advertise and all that stuff.
Jon Pfeiffer: Because I checked out your YouTube channel last night.
Taryne Renee: You did?
Jon Pfeiffer: Yes. And there are nine videos.
Taryne Renee: On my main one. Yes, yes, yes.
Jon Pfeiffer: On your main channel. The first as a Q&A.
Taryne Renee: Mm-hmm [affirmative].
Jon Pfeiffer: Then there was a dating advice, according to a four year old.
Taryne Renee: Yes. That's probably my favorite.
Jon Pfeiffer: It was pretty profound advice.
Taryne Renee: Right.
Jon Pfeiffer: And then my favorite was your pick up lines challenge.
Taryne Renee: Yes. Those two were probably my favorites to film.
Jon Pfeiffer: Do you remember your pick up line that was most popular?
Taryne Renee: Yes. It was hey, are you my appendix, because I got a funny feeling in my stomach and I'm thinking I should take you out or something like that. Yes.
Jon Pfeiffer: Yes.
Taryne Renee: It was pretty brilliant, I will say.
Jon Pfeiffer: And then you had 48,000 subscribers.
Taryne Renee: Mm-hmm [affirmative].
Jon Pfeiffer: Which a lot of people would kill to be able to get to that level.
Taryne Renee: Yeah.
Jon Pfeiffer: A million and a half views.
Taryne Renee: Mm-hmm [affirmative].
Jon Pfeiffer: Your Instagram has 74,000 followers.
Taryne Renee: Mm-hmm [affirmative].
Jon Pfeiffer: And you decided to stop?
Taryne Renee: Yeah. And I think it seems--well, if that's something that you're wanting, it seems stupid that I didn't pursue it. But for me, I have a full time job that I'm passionate about and I think that I would have had to quit that, fully commit to dedicating to a channel, and I just didn't have that passion driving behind that and also I wasn't willing to give up what I did. So it just seemed like something that just-
Jon Pfeiffer: The balance of it.
Taryne Renee: Yeah, because I think if you go into things where you're just like, "I just want to make money," you're not going to get anywhere. Because there's so much work that's behind it, there's so much that goes in to it, and so if you're going into it for the wrong reasons, you're not going to be successful.
Jon Pfeiffer: Well I think that's from people on the outside, they're looking at it, they don't realize it is a full time job.
Taryne Renee: Oh my gosh. It's like the most full time job because with my friends, I'll go over at night and we're all watching a movie and they're still editing or on their phone answering emails or researching and they put so much thought in to their art--it really is their art--and I think people just assume like, oh, your life is so easy, your life is so whatever, but they don't understand that's work and even those trips. Like yeah, they're enjoyable, but you still have things you need to do and you're up late editing and trying to get your posts up for those trips and-
Jon Pfeiffer: I mean the first trip, second trip, okay. The tenth trip-
Taryne Renee: Yeah. You're like, I'm so tired. I just want to be home. No, I will talk until I'm blue in the face about how hard Ashley and Alisha work. And those are really the only YouTubers [I know] ... you know, some of their [friends], like Remi [Cruz] and them, like I love, but yeah, I've definitely first hand witnessed how hard they work and I, at that time, was not really wanting to do that.
Jon Pfeiffer: Do that.
Taryne Renee: Yeah.
Jon Pfeiffer: Now, there's a couple sites that track YouTubers.
Taryne Renee: Oh, okay.
Jon Pfeiffer: You're on them
Taryne Renee: Why? I am?!
Jon Pfeiffer: There's one called Celebs Trend Now dot com. And I'll read you this-
Taryne Renee: Oh my gosh.
Jon Pfeiffer: It says, "Taryne Reneee is a famous people [sic] who is best known as a YouTube star."
Taryne Renee: Okay.
Jon Pfeiffer: You are a famous people.
Taryne Renee: I'm a people.
Jon Pfeiffer: Okay. And then there's one called websites, it's called Famous Birthdays.
Taryne Renee: Okay.
Jon Pfeiffer: Did you know, you're the 42nd most popular person born on July 20th?
Taryne Renee: Shut up. Wow.
Jon Pfeiffer: The 42nd most popular.
Taryne Renee: You know, I am putting that one my resume.
Jon Pfeiffer: Because I was thinking about that and I thought, who is 43rd?
Taryne Renee: Yeah. I would love to know.
Jon Pfeiffer: Who is 41st? I couldn't find that. But I did find, which you probably already know, other people born on your birthday.
Taryne Renee: Okay.
Jon Pfeiffer: Carlos Santana.
Taryne Renee: Oh really? I did not know this.
Jon Pfeiffer: Alexander the Great.
Taryne Renee: No way!
Jon Pfeiffer: Way. Sir Edmund Hillary. The first person to climb Mount Everest.
Taryne Renee: Yeah.
Jon Pfeiffer: So you share-
Taryne Renee: Wow.
Jon Pfeiffer: And you are 42nd most popular.
Taryne Renee: That's amazing.
Jon Pfeiffer: Yeah.
Taryne Renee: I feel honored to be on that list.
Jon Pfeiffer: That was my own little rabbit hole last night-
Taryne Renee: Yeah, no, that's awesome.
Jon Pfeiffer: I was like how did that happen. But you are a famous people.
Taryne Renee: Thank you.
Jon Pfeiffer: You're welcome. So now, when you're hanging around like Ashley-
Taryne Renee: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jon Pfeiffer: ...You've talked about people coming up to her-
Taryne Renee: Yeah.
Jon Pfeiffer: How much of that from you as an outsider looking at it, how much of kind of gets in the way of what you're doing at the time and how much is like the excitement of being recognized?
Taryne Renee: Yeah, you know, I think that it all depends because I know, like they, they're very connected and adore and love their fan base and I know personally from the times where someone's come up to me, it's kind of cool because you're like oh, it's like a face to the people that are watching and commenting your videos. So I know that they really enjoy it. And I've never, of all of the times and it's been a lot, that people have come up to them, they've never dismissed them, they've never said no, like they're always very engaged with them and you know, asking [questions], saying I like your shirt, I like your whatever. You know?
Jon Pfeiffer: Yeah.
Taryne Renee: But there have been times where you know, we're like super tired or coming from something where I feel like it's more of an effort that they have to put on. I think there's also a pressure of when you're just living your life and you're doing certain things, you're not worried about people documenting it-
Jon Pfeiffer: Watching what you're doing.
Taryne Renee: Yeah. So there is certain things like that where it's a little bit like, oh, you know. And I will say, in the things I've been tagged in, they don't always capture the most flattering-
Jon Pfeiffer: Flattering-
Taryne Renee: pictures of you. I've definitely grown in my self confidence because some of the things I get tagged in I'm like, "dear God is that what I look like?" So I think it happens often and of course just like when you run into someone from high school in a store. Sometimes you're just like I'm not really in the mood to talk but I think that they are so genuine that they push through that really well.
Jon Pfeiffer: You have a Twitter account.
Taryne Renee: Yes I do. I do.
Jon Pfeiffer: Two very funny tweets.
Taryne Renee: Oh, okay.
Jon Pfeiffer: My turtle hissed at me and it hurt my feelings.
Taryne Renee: Oh, my turtles. I forgot about them.
Jon Pfeiffer: Just so random. And then, I legit pulled a muscle in my back by dancing in the shower.
Taryne Renee: Yep. That did happen. Yep. I totally remember both of those very clearly.
Jon Pfeiffer: Okay. I want to transition to you as an individual as opposed to you social media podcast.
Taryne Renee: Okay. Yeah.
Jon Pfeiffer: Where did you grow up?
Taryne Renee: I grew up in Whittier, La Habra area.
Jon Pfeiffer: So Southern California.
Taryne Renee: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jon Pfeiffer: And then you mentioned a day job. What's your day job?
Taryne Renee: So I actually started a program with a string of preschools that is early intervention and identification of red flags in preschool age kids. Because it's a private school, we don't have the same resources as state schools. So it's a lot of going in and observing kids, meeting with parents, helping connect them with-
Jon Pfeiffer: When you say red flags, what do you mean?
Taryne Renee: Like developmental. So you know whether it's a child who is not speaking the way they should at their age or you know not able to socially interact appropriately. Just certain things like that that I'll kind of step in and just help the parents get the process started of is there something there and what can we do if there is.
Jon Pfeiffer: How did you develop that?
Taryne Renee: I was a preschool teacher fairly soon out of high school. And one of my first classes I had a few kids, two that were diagnosed as autistic and one that I was almost positive was. And I just remember feeling like I didn't know what I was doing and I needed help. So I had kind of dropped a hint to the superintendent at that time, like I think this is something that we need as teachers. Well then years later I nannied for a while, I did a few other things, I actually came back to the company and was approached saying well, okay, this is your passion, what do you think about just starting it. So-
Jon Pfeiffer: And you had mentioned it in the podcast, but when you have to approach the parents to talk about that.
Taryne Renee: Yes.
Jon Pfeiffer: How do you start that conversation?
Taryne Renee: You know, for me, I would rather almost not hit on anything I really want to say to create that relationship. So a lot of times, you know, it's me saying hey what are things you notice at home? Is there anything you're concerned about? And then I kind of feed off of that. So if they're already aware of certain things, I try to just kind of mirror that with what we're seeing at school.
Jon Pfeiffer: If you're a parent and you're self aware at all-
Taryne Renee: You would think.
Jon Pfeiffer: You would think.
Taryne Renee: You would honestly think. But you know, when it's your child, it's your precious little one, that kind of coming to realization that there could be something there is such a...
Jon Pfeiffer: Little Sally's not perfect?
Taryne Renee: Such a hard. Yeah. Such a hard process. So honestly a lot of our meetings are very emotional and sometimes I get yelled at, which I try not to take personal but, yeah.
Jon Pfeiffer: And how has the ability to give advice or to be able to talk to parents that don't want to hear what you're saying-
Taryne Renee: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jon Pfeiffer: How is that transferred over to just talking to people that do want to hear what you're saying.
Taryne Renee: I will say it makes it a lot easier and it kind of is where I can just sit back and relax. Because when you're seeking help, that's when you're open to hearing it. Those are easy conversations. And so sometimes when I have to go in and kind of push my agenda on a meeting I'm a little more gentle and try to like kind of tip toe around it because I don't want to turn them off to where I can't have productive-
Jon Pfeiffer: How do you call these meetings? I mean, what do you say to the parents-
Taryne Renee: The directors will just say hey, we just wanted to meet and then we kind of just set it up from there. So luckily I'm kind of like a third party. I just come in to try to help. So it's not ... I'm not directly calling the parents necessarily, so.
Jon Pfeiffer: So I want to shift gears again.
Taryne Renee: Okay.
Jon Pfeiffer: Okay now we're going to go with 73 questions a la Vogue.
Taryne Renee: Oh my gosh. Okay.
Jon Pfeiffer: Okay. What's a question you would like to know the answer to?
Taryne Renee: Oh, how people first discovered things were poisonous. Of course.
Jon Pfeiffer: I mean, that seems so obvious. They died.
Taryne Renee: Yeah. But like was there a person? Did they assign people? You know?
Jon Pfeiffer: I like the idea of assigning criminals.
Taryne Renee: That's what I thought. That makes the most sense. You wouldn't be like, oh my children, they're the youngest. Just like, we-
Jon Pfeiffer: Here's a bad guy [crosstalk 00:35:58]
Taryne Renee: Yeah.
Jon Pfeiffer: What is your favorite food?
Taryne Renee: Honestly probably German bologna sandwiches.
Jon Pfeiffer: Because I found that you had salmon for the first time about a month ago.
Taryne Renee: Yeah.
Jon Pfeiffer: How do you get through your life?
Taryne Renee: I don't eat any fish. Like, what so ever. I will admit that probably most of it is mental, but yeah, so this has been a big hurdle for me. A big hurdle. Yeah.
Jon Pfeiffer: Salmon's actually very good.
Taryne Renee: Yeah, I'm learning how to cook it and season it and all that stuff.
Jon Pfeiffer: What is your least favorite food?
Taryne Renee: Pickles.
Jon Pfeiffer: Really?
Taryne Renee: Yeah. I almost have like a phobia of them. Yeah. Definitely.
Jon Pfeiffer: So pickles are out for Christmas.
Taryne Renee: Pickles are not, yes, no.
Jon Pfeiffer: Favorite cocktail?
Taryne Renee: Probably, I mean, I don't enjoy the taste of alcohol, so probably like a fruitier type of drink.
Jon Pfeiffer: Do you collect anything?
Taryne Renee: I do. I've recently gotten in to Legos. So I started collecting sets. They are mainly Star Wars. I have one Harry Potter castle set up, but.
Jon Pfeiffer: And where do you keep these Legos?
Taryne Renee: There is a shelf in the hallway that has them all displayed, but I'm running out of room. So I'm going to have to start looking in to some cases or something I guess.
Jon Pfeiffer: Have you been to Lego Land?
Taryne Renee: You know what, I haven't. And now it's built up so much in my mind, I have to make sure I go with the right people that are going to let me geek out.
Jon Pfeiffer: Yeah.
Taryne Renee: A little bit.
Jon Pfeiffer: You got to go because it's actually surprisingly interesting.
Taryne Renee: Okay. I'm going to do it.
Jon Pfeiffer: Take a young kid.
Taryne Renee: Oh that's a good idea. Okay. That is where I'm at mentally.
Jon Pfeiffer: Because there's rides you could, well I didn't mean it that way.
Taryne Renee: No, but it's true. It's true.
Jon Pfeiffer: If you had 30 minutes a day to do anything you wanted, what would you do?
Taryne Renee: Probably something in nature. Like whether it's be up on a mountain or sitting by the beach. That's where I feel the most-
Jon Pfeiffer: Connected.
Taryne Renee: Relaxed. Yeah, and connected.
Jon Pfeiffer: What t.v. channel doesn't exist that should?
Taryne Renee: T.V. channel? That's an interesting one. I feel like maybe like America's Funniest Home Video, like that type of thing but more of like that's what it's dedicated to. Because I personally love watching people fall and things like that. It's a flaw, but maybe something like that where it's like dedicated to things that are just going to make you laugh, but at other people's expense I guess. That makes me sound horrible, but, yeah.
Jon Pfeiffer: Favorite movie?
Taryne Renee: Okay. So it's embarrassing but my favorite movie is The Hot Chick. I know. I honestly don't know why-
Jon Pfeiffer: Why?
Taryne Renee: It's the stupidest movie but I watch it and I'm dying laughing the whole time. I can literally quote the entire thing. I don't know. It's an embarrassing fact, I guess. Yeah.
Jon Pfeiffer: Last movie that made you cry?
Taryne Renee: I can't think of a movie, but I just finished Stranger Things and that was probably the hardest I've cried in a long time from watching some type of show or movie.
Jon Pfeiffer: If you could star in a movie, who would be your co star?
Taryne Renee: Oh my Gosh. Charlie Hunnam. Charlie Hunnam for sure. I would arrange that.
Jon Pfeiffer: What's your guilty pleasure? Not salmon.
Taryne Renee: Definitely not salmon. You know, I think my guilty pleasure is really ... putting on a cheesy Netflix show and playing a stupid game on my phone. Right now I've been playing Merge Dragons, which is literally the stupidest game but it's like my when I'm just like wanting to chill routine.
Jon Pfeiffer: How would you describe your personality?
Taryne Renee: I would say that I'm one of those people who says the things that everyone thinks but no one has the guts to say because ... basically I'm an embarrassing person who doesn't realize they're embarrassing. Maybe that's a good way.
Jon Pfeiffer: What's the one talent you wish you had?
Taryne Renee: I-
Jon Pfeiffer: It kind of makes you realize that the people on these Vogue interviews-
Taryne Renee: Yeah.
Jon Pfeiffer: had the questions in advance, didn't they?
Taryne Renee: Geez. They must have. Or maybe they just cut out all the pauses.
Jon Pfeiffer: No, they did. They did.
Taryne Renee: Yeah. I think that my probably I feel like I have little talents that I never really dedicated to. I really wish that I was like advanced in dancing or playing an instrument because it's like I have a little taste of that but I never really did much.
Jon Pfeiffer: What's your biggest pet peeve?
Taryne Renee: Oh, when people cut in lines. I don't know why. It triggers me really hard. Yeah.
Jon Pfeiffer: Like at the grocery store?
Taryne Renee: Yeah. Or Disney Land when someone goes to cut me, I get really flustered.
Jon Pfeiffer: Other than Mike Traut and Kobe Bryant-
Taryne Renee: Oh gosh.
Jon Pfeiffer: Have you ever been star struck?
Taryne Renee: Yes. I met Charlie Hunnam and that was like the ... I had a really hard time talking. I was able to say my name, but that was about it. Yeah. Pretty much any celebrity I see, I get star struck in a way that I'm fascinated but I want to know what they're really like. That's always what intrigues me.
Jon Pfeiffer: What piece of entertainment do you wish you could erase from your mind so you could experience it again for the first time?
Taryne Renee: Wow, that's a cool question. Probably my first real concert experience.
Jon Pfeiffer: Which was?
Taryne Renee: I think it was like my first Coachella, standing on a field at night. And I think it was like, it was either Radio Head or Death Cab. There was a band that I'd always listen to and just being there and hearing in that atmosphere. That was just magical-
Jon Pfeiffer: Feeling the vibrations, the speakers-
Taryne Renee: Yes. Magical. I wish I could go back to that.
Jon Pfeiffer: Okay. Still about you personally but shifting away from the-
Taryne Renee: Oh okay.
Jon Pfeiffer: the Vogue style. How do you consume content? Are you a cable, Netflix, YouTube?
Taryne Renee: Mainly Netflix. Yeah. Mainly Netflix. I honestly I'm not very good at other ... I don't watch a lot of YouTube, which is so funny because, you know, my best friends are [inaudible 00:42:37] besides theirs, I don't do much.
Jon Pfeiffer: What's your favorite social media platform?
Taryne Renee: Instagram. I think it's visually, it grabs you. So, yeah. Definitely Instagram.
Jon Pfeiffer: You talked about comments-
Taryne Renee: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jon Pfeiffer: and you go back and read. On a scale of one to ten, one being you couldn't care less, ten being they really cut to the bone, where are you on reading comments?
Taryne Renee: Honestly I feel like it depends on my mood but probably closer to like a three. Or a four.
Jon Pfeiffer: So comments are pretty easy for you then.
Taryne Renee: Yeah. I try not to, but I think because I have that ability to be like, to see deeper than what it is. And usually if someone is that miserable that they have to go on my page and say something stupid, I know that like they have deeper problems than me. So I try to just like not think about it.
Jon Pfeiffer: Do you ever respond?
Taryne Renee: I try to like them but I have this really horrible way where I hate being unfair, so I feel like if I respond to one person and I don't respond to all of them then that's not nice. So I try to at least like all of them, but yeah. Sometimes, sometimes.
Jon Pfeiffer: What's a question you wish people would stop asking you?
Taryne Renee: When am I going to get married. Oh my gosh, yes, a thousand percent. That's-
Jon Pfeiffer: And you have been to a number of weddings in the last six months.
Taryne Renee: I'm pretty much living out the plot of 27 Dresses. Like I've been in so many weddings. It's ridiculous. But yes.
Jon Pfeiffer: Do you consider yourself to be an influencer?
Taryne Renee: I mean I think at the very, very stripped down definition of it because there are people that do follow me and do watch my moves then yes, I would say so. I don't think that I ... I don't know, sometimes I have a hard time thinking that I am but I think I am at the basic-
Jon Pfeiffer: But if people are writing in for your advice-
Taryne Renee: It's very true. Yes, you're right. Yes, I am. I am changing the world. Everyone loves me. Yes.
Jon Pfeiffer: That's a good way to end this.
Taryne Renee: Yes, yes.
Jon Pfeiffer: Other than the podcast, what's ahead for you?
Taryne Renee: You know, honestly I feel like the podcast is something I'm very much dedicated to. I think that it's going to bring a lot of change and I'm open to it. So I'm not really sure, but I'm also really excited that I don't know. If that makes sense.
Jon Pfeiffer: And how can people find you on the internet?
Taryne Renee: Basically everywhere if you just search Taryne Renee, you'll find me. That's my Twitter, my Instagram. If you want to, you know, get a kick out of my YouTube, Taryne Renee's my name-
Jon Pfeiffer: I actually recommend that.
Taryne Renee: They're fun. And then I have Taryne It Up vlogs, when I was vlogging for a while, so. Yep.
Jon Pfeiffer: Thank you. It was a fun interview.
Taryne Renee: Yeah. Thank you.
The Creative Influencer podcast discusses influencers and internet creatives.
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