Ep. 132/ Quit Your Day Job! How Content Creator Drea Okeke Ditched Engineering for Hosting & Comedy
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Today we have the dynamic Drea Okeke, known to her 6 million followers as @drea_knowsbest. A Nigerian American content creator recognized by Forbes 30 Under 30 and New York Magazine’s The Cut, Drea brings a unique blend of cultural richness and personal authenticity to her work. Her story begins as an engineer Lowe's, which enabled her to start her dual career as an engineer and content creator. Drea shared how her childhood passion for capturing moments on camera evolved into creating engaging content on platforms like Vine and TikTok. Even early in her career, she managed to integrate her vibrant personality and cultural roots, eventually growing a substantial following of 700,000 on Vine but then facing setbacks like losing those 700,000 followers in 2017.
What truly resonated with me were Drea’s insights into her transition from engineering to full-time content creation. She experienced pressure from her Nigerian family to pursue traditional careers (like so many of us First Gen folks do) and explains how she balanced these expectations with her passion for storytelling and humor. Her strategic approach to content creation, finding balance and advancing her skills through improv classes, and engaging with her audience through comments rather than likes, all underscored her thoughtful and genuine approach to her work. Reflecting on our shared experiences and immigrant backgrounds, we discussed how humor and authenticity have been pivotal in our respective careers. Drea’s recent endeavors, like the launch of her card game Sabi Slangs, demonstrated her entrepreneurial spirit and commitment to cultural representation. It was an enriching conversation filled with valuable lessons on following your heart, strategically pursuing your goals, and investing in your personal brand.
In this episode you will learn:
Her thoughtful and intentional journey to leaving her full time job - 5:06
How improv comedy helped her be a better host & creator - 10:10
How to embrace multifaceted identities online, beyond niches. - 15:25
How she proactively made her dream of making the Forbes list happen - 20:25
Her top 3 tips on building a following on social media - 28:31
Nigerian slang - 29:38
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In this episode you will learn:
Her thoughtful and intentional journey to leaving her full time job - 5:06
How improv comedy helped her be a better host & creator - 10:10
How to embrace multifaceted identities online, beyond niches. - 15:25
How she proactively made her dream of making the Forbes list happen - 20:25
Her top 3 tips on building a following on social media - 28:31
Nigerian slang - 29:38
Quotes from our guest:
"It was really the pandemic that things started taking off for me... people started loving more short form videos because again, attention spans, there was so much to consume online that you had to be able to hook them in in the first three seconds of your video and lock them in so they watch the entire video." - 15:01
"I have multiple layers of Drea, and I think that's very hard to show online. Like, when people figure out your niche, you get, you just get. You feel like you're stuck in that one box and you don't want to show other sides of you because you feel like your audience only wants you for one thing." - 15:55
“…study the greats and become greater. So whichever content creator you love watching me love going to their page instead of just watching to consume this time, watch the study, right, with your, with your detective lens and really figure out like, why am I so hooked on this creator?" - 28:44
“I think the comment section is more important than the likes because if you focus on the likes, I don't think it's going to take you anywhere. It's just going to give you depression and comparison and all those other things you don't need.” - 31:45
Drea Okeke Bio:
Named by New York Magazine’s The Cut as one of “The Best TikTokers to Follow,” Drea Okeke, popularly known by her digital moniker @DreaKnowsBest, is a Nigerian-American content creator, entertainer, comedian, storyteller, professional speaker, consultant, and host who is widely renowned for her relatable comedic skits and videos that amplify her Nigerian culture. As a recent honoree listed on Forbes Top Creators of 2023,and Forbes 30 Under 30 North America + Local LA. Drea has captured not only the hearts of almost seven million followers across social media, but the attention of the mainstream media as well, and has been featured in ABC News, Billboard, BuzzFeed, E! News, Forbes, GQ, teenVOGUE, Variety, and more. She was nominated for the 2019 Shorty Award for “TikToker of the Year,” has collaborated with notable celebrities like Mariah Carey and Tracee Ellis Ross, and was tapped to host the 2022 BET Awards red carpet. Drea has continued to expand her work as both an entertaining keynote speaker and engaging host, sharing her wisdom and expertise on topics including self-love, culture, reaching millennials and Gen Z on social media, building one’s brand, and turning passions into lucrative careers.
She has represented TikTok on many occasions, most notably speaking on the stage of the 2024 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity’s Cannes Lions Film Festival and VidCon, and MC’ing the main stage at TikTok World in 2022. She has also hosted the Nissan x BET “Next Up” contest series in 2022 and hosted the series again in 2023, which aired during the BET Awards. Drea helms the popular podcast, “Do It 4 The Content with DreaOkeke,” where she offers tips and strategies for the next generation of creators to grow their platforms and turn their passions for digital creation into a paycheck. She is highly regarded as an expert in her field of creating stand-out content, and has even developed her own TikTok Masterclass, “Next Level Influence,” an interactive crash-course for aspiring creators to rapidly grow their audience, scale their business, build their brand, and understand the algorithm to maximize views and engagement.
Her now-global reach has captivated some of today’s biggest brands and media networks who have hired her for spokesperson collaborations, corporate workshops, and consulting, including Nissan, Google, Coca-Cola, Disney, Netflix, McDonald’s, Bumble, Old Navy, and CoverGirl Cosmetics, to name just a few. An impassioned advocate, Drea continues to give back to her communities, having sponsored multiple scholarships for first-generation, African American college students, and even helping to build a school in Africa.
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Kim (00:02):
Drea Okeke is a Nigerian American content creator known by the handle Drea knows best. She has over 6 million followers and has been listed as a Forbes 30 under 30. She's been labeled by New York Magazine's, The Cut as one of the best tiktoks to follow, and she shares her huge exit from being an engineer to being a creator. She shares her tips on building a following and teaches me some Nigerian flying. Welcome to the Exit interview with Kim Rittberg. Do you work for yourself and want to supercharge your business while still having fun? Well, this is your go-to podcast, part MBA Part Cheer Squad. Every week I'll be joined by top business owners who share the secrets to their success. After I found myself working during childbirth true story, I quit my executive media job to bet on myself fighting the fear and imposter syndrome to eventually earn six awards and in-demand speaking career and features in Fast Company and Business Insider. Now, I'm here to celebrate all you rock stars betting on yourself, and I want to help you win. Tune in every Wednesday to hear from remarkable founders and don't miss our Solo Friday episodes, a treasure trove of video and podcasting mini masterclasses with me. Exit the Grind, enter success on your own terms. Don't forget to subscribe today and grab my free video tips at my website, kimrittberg.com.
Drea (01:28):
Can you pronounce these Nigerian names? Oh, yeah, let's go.
Kim (01:33):
On the episode today, we have Drea Okeke. She is best known as Drea knows best on TikTok on Instagram, and she is crushing it. She has been named by New York magazine's, The Cut as one of the best tiktoks to follow and named as a Forbes top creator and honored in their 30 under 30 list. Wow. She's a Nigerian American content creator, entertainer, comedian, storyteller, professional speaker, consultant, and host, widely renowned for her relatable comedic skits and videos that amplify her Nigerian culture. Drea shares so much about her awesome background and her journey. She was an engineer and she started building Vine videos. Remember those six seconds, and now she has over 6 million followers. We talk about how she ditched engineering to become a creator, how her parents felt about it. She shares her advice to people following their passion. She teaches me some Nigerian slang and so much more. It's a great episode, so make sure to keep listening. Thank you so much for joining. I'm so excited to talk to you today. I want to jump right in to your exit. What were you exiting from to enter your new career, your new life?
Drea (02:36):
Cool. Well, thank you for having me on this podcast. I'm really excited to chat about my story. We were jumping right into the exit. My exit was a little bit different. I didn't sell a company. I didn't exit out of a major company. I exited out of engineering. Actually now I'm a very successful content creator, but before I was a content creator, I was dread the engineer doing calculations, time studies and all that in the warehouse. I actually work for Lowe's, which to this day I'm still really good friends with my coworkers and everything. I have a Nigerian background, and if you have anyone that has foreign parents, they give you four options for career, doctor, lawyer, engineer. Now it's probably adding like it because it makes a lot of money, so that was one of my things. But for me, I always wanted to be an engineer because my brain is always thinking about how can I fix things?
(03:29):
Even growing up in the house, I'm the one that when they buy a tv, they're like, okay, Dre, fix it, and I'm like, oh yeah, I'm going to put it together. I always plant things together and I didn't realize that that was actually my creative brain that as I was always putting things together, my creative side. So when it was time to choose a degree, I went into engineering, and as I was working as an engineer, I also was doing vine videos, and for those who don't know what Vine is, that's a six second app. So you have to be creative in six seconds. You think 15 seconds is short. Think about six seconds, and that was fun. It was a fun escape. As I was working, I would use my weekends to shoot videos, batch shoot videos, a lot of videos at one time, and then doing my lunch breaks.
(04:16):
I'm editing videos, and then what the videos I was creating was about my culture impersonating my Nigerian mom, teaching people, my friends Nigerian slangs and everything, and these videos started taking off, but not in a large scale. This started taking off in a sense that I started building a community and I'm seeing the response of people, so I'm like, okay, this is cool. I'm building a community, but also the opportunity at that time, it was now TikTok, so when Vine went away, I lost 700,000 followers. Yeah, that's another discussion. Those followers got wiped away and I had to start from ground zero. So starting from ground zero on TikTok helped me really just figure out, okay, what do I really want to make now? What do I want my brand to be about? So all this I was figuring out as I was doing the engineering job and in 2018 was when I quit and I'm like, okay, I'm going to quit.
(05:06):
Everything again is strategy for me. I didn't just quit. Not a lot of people know this. I didn't just quit and say, okay, I'm going to do social media full time. Right? I quit because I applied to grad school and I applied to USC for a master's in entrepreneurship and innovation. So when I got in, I applied, my video application was about me being a content creator and an engineer in my content creator world. That's my business, and I want to see how far I can take this business along in a large scale. So my application video was really good. They accepted me because everyone in that master's degree program had a business. Either you had a family business you were going to take over or you had your own business, and I was coming in as content creation. Being my business like Dre knows best, the franchise is my business. So that's how I made my exit. I quit that engineering job. I was like, bye, y'all got to go. Then I moved to LA to attend USC, and as I was attending USCI was really, that whole master's program was me shaping my business as a creator.
Kim (06:08):
So that's how I made my exit. That is a pretty amazing story. I have so many follow-up questions. I was writing them down as you're talking. I'm like, follow up. Question number one. Well, first of all, my dad's an immigrant, so both of my brothers were lawyers. That's how it goes. I mean, I'm the only person in my family who doesn't have a master's degree. That's how it is.
Drea (06:26):
What's your position in the family? Are you the first, second last,
Kim (06:28):
I'm the baby, so nobody cares about me.
Drea (06:29):
Yeah, that's why. Yeah, no, the baby always gets it and a way out. I'm the baby too.
Kim (06:34):
Yeah, I'm sure my oldest brother hates my guts secretly because I didn't have to do all the stuff he had to do to be the oldest. He'd be like, I don't hate you. I'm like, I know you do a little bit. Okay. Yeah, I mean, I definitely feel like even if there's not that outward pressure, obviously the joke is like immigrant parents are like, be a doctor, a lawyer, and even if they don't say that, you know that they're thinking it.
Drea (06:56):
Yes.
Kim (06:57):
I think that's really funny. And then I guess, so my question to you as you're building your videos at work, were you not afraid your bosses were going to get you in trouble? I feel like everyone's always worried that as they start making social media content and they're out of company, their bosses going to be like, so I saw your video, and that doesn't meet the standards of our HR documents.
Drea (07:17):
Funny enough, I was very fortunate to have great coworkers who were so supportive of things I had to do and an amazing boss. They were so supportive of my career because coming in again, they were like, oh, this is so interesting. You're an engineering, you're also creating videos. This is funny. Oh, you should do more of this. This is really cool. And at that time, were the viners of those days were becoming more successful and articles about them being millionaires and dah, dah, dah. So they were like, yo, you could be like this person. So they're very encouraging, thankfully. And when I needed to tell my boss, Hey, there's an event happening in LA that I would love to be at, or I was taking hosting classes at that time because I was working to be a successful host. I had hosting classes that six o'clock, he's like, okay, if you want to attend that hosted class at six o'clock, three hour traffic to get into la, if you want to come in at 4:00 AM you can come at 4:00 AM and work your eight hours and go, because I worked in a warehouse, so it was 24 hour warehouse.
(08:19):
I can either take the night shift, the day shift, the afternoon shift. So they were very flexible with me. That's definitely one thing I'll say. I'm very thankful of them because that support was, they helped to be that community when I was so far away from my family. They were a family away from family.
Kim (08:35):
You were saying you were at Lowe's. Lowe's since you were an engineer inside their factory, you were.
Drea (08:40):
Exactly. Got it.
Kim (08:42):
So talk to me about, I feel like if you start making vine videos, you obviously love to be creative and be funny. Were you that kid who was always family gathering, you kind of get up and make everyone laugh, you're singing. What was it like as a kid for you?
Drea (08:56):
I think as a kid I was the bossy little sister. I was the one who was bossy, but no one would listen to me. Good. Now I'm the baby, so I try to boss everyone around. But a core memory of mine that I do remember was when we were in Disney World, I was always the one with the camera, which to this day, I wish my mom could find that home video. I had a video camera and I would record everybody. I would tell her, get together, record, say something, get together for pictures. So I was always the one that would love to take pictures and capture all this content. I always loved doing that. So I haven't always been the class clown kind of thing. I always wanted to be a class clown, but I don't have jokes on the spot, so I wasn't able to do that. But when people hung out with me, they definitely loved my energy and they just loved my presence. So that's where I really realized, I think in college when I realized that, oh, you're actually a good person to be around. People love your personality. Okay, how can we take this personality and show it online?
Kim (09:50):
Did you take comedy classes? How did you end up, I know hosting and doing social media videos is different, but there's standup, there's improv. How did you hone the skills? How did you sort of decide? I feel like honestly in entertainment, there's actually a lot of different ways to express your creativity and to be funny and to be engaging. So how did you kind of hone your skills?
Drea (10:10):
It came naturally based off the people I had around me. I had a lot of friends who were doing comedy too as well. My best friend, James Henry, amazing creator Million, the followers. He also does sketch comedy and the other Vine friends I had too. And TikTok, lemme just start using TikTok friends too, TikTok friends who were doing comedy too as well. So when you're around these people, we have times when we just sit down and we're like, okay, let's brainstorm some content ideas. So we're instantly just bouncing back at each other ideas that we have, and that helps to sharpen that comedy skill as well. And then also for me, I think the number one thing that really made me funnier improv class, improv class was so good because not just made me funnier, it made me think faster on my feet. So improv class is always like, yes, and you're always building, you're always, there's nothing, there's no wrong answer in improv. So you're always quick when you're on stage and someone is acting out the new scene and has created a scene in a whole different universe, you just have to go along with it. So I remember taking an improv class and some of the friends I met at improv class still friends with today, and we still work together with content. It just helped to sharpen that comedy skill for sure.
Kim (11:18):
I took improv classes at UCB in New York. My brother was a lawyer, but then he wanted to shift into comedy and he asked me, he's like, if I pay for your class, will you take it? And I was like a broke journalist. I was like, yeah, if you pay for it, I'll do anything. And so we took improv and it was really fun. And at that time I was a journalist interviewing people on red carpets, and I totally agree with you about it helps you think faster and it helps you be a better observer of the world. I felt like you have to have all the words that fill in the picture that help you bring stories and scenes to life. And I felt like it helped me stay quick on my feet. If you're a red carpet reporter, if you don't ask something interesting or have a good follow-up question, you're never going to bring home any good footage for your boss. You're not going to have that job for very long. And so I felt like it was so valuable to just be able to think fast and have fun and hone those skills. So yeah, I totally agree. How long did you take improv for? How many years did you take that for?
Drea (12:16):
I took it for maybe three months, and now I'm talking about it. I'm like, I need to go back and take more sizzle. It's long overdue. Definitely. Improv class was one I told you hosting classes. That was good because again, I think for me, I don't call myself a comedian. I feel like I call myself more of a personality and hosting classes that also leaned into more personality because when you're reading a teleprompter, you're not just reading a word for word. You need to add your own isms and add your own, make it into yours. And it's the same for when you come up with a skit idea or if there's a trend online. You're not just going to take the trend and copy paste. You're going to add something from your personality, something from your story, something that makes that trend you to make a difference.
(13:01):
When people see it, they're like, oh, this is different. She, she's not just doing what everyone else is saying. That's why even in red Corporate, right, I'm sure you experienced this, if you're asking everybody, so how do you feel about today? How do you feel about being in this movie? And they're answering a question 10 times, they're over it. Yes. So that, okay, what can you do to make it different? That's always a big thing with everything I do. It's like even with content too. What can I do to make my content different to stand out?
Kim (13:28):
And it's interesting, I work with a lot of clients in terms of just more professionals just putting themselves out there on social media as a part of my video marketing business. And I think it's interesting. You always want to do something different and interesting. You don't want to be like, Ugh, this isn't interesting enough. Ugh, I'm not going to do anything. So you have to be super open and super want to push the envelope, but not make it question yourself so much. You know what I mean? I think it could be like this, well, is it good enough? Maybe I shouldn't push, publish, whatever. How long did it take you from when you first started making the Vine videos to the master's degree and kind of doing creator, being a creator, being a personality full time? What was that timeline?
Drea (14:05):
I started video while I was in college. That was 2015, and then lost the followers in 2017. Gained a new audience from 2018. Pandemic really helped. So because everyone was on their phones and everyone was in the house, had nothing to do, so everyone became consumers of content. So that's when my trajectory really went really high. And I think also the brands too. I don't know what happened. Some switched and brands had more ad dollars for online and everything. So I think it was the pandemic that really was like when I was locked in with my parents too, they started wanting to be my videos because they had nothing else to do and okay, be my videos. And people love seeing my parents in my videos because they showed the culture and everything. So I think it was really the pandemic that things started taking off for me as well as a lot of people who were on TikTok especially. And the pandemic was when people started loving more short form videos because again, attention spans. There was so much to consume online that you had to be able to hook them in the first three seconds of your video and lock them in. So they watched the entire of your video. So shorter was sweeter than, so 20 20, 20 21 was the prime time for me. Yeah, for the growth.
Kim (15:22):
And what was your family's reaction when you were like, I'm going to do this full time?
Drea (15:25):
Because I did everything in increments. I didn't just drop everything as like he said, exit. I didn't just say, all right, mic drop, I'm out moving on to this. It was a strategy, right? Okay, I'm going to work as an engineer and do both. And that battle for both was really, really hard because even online, I didn't really share that side of me because I'm like, okay, I'm like a Hannah Montana. I have the best of both worlds at work. I'm a girl that works and that online, I'm the girl that makes people laugh. So I try to separate those two worlds. But then finally when I was like, okay, let me show both of myself online. This is me, the engineer, I have multiple layers of Andrea, and I think that's very hard to show online what people figure out your niche. You feel like you're stuck in that one box and you don't want to show other sides of you because you feel like your audience only wants you for one thing.
(16:14):
So I know that's not answering your question, but I think it's a really important, when you're on social media to you have your core message. Your core brand is what people know you for. For me, people know my core brand is I'm going to use humor to amplify my culture, my African culture. So if you come to that page, you're going to get something about culture, something about heritage, something about storytelling, about my family, this and that. But you're still going to get pictures or videos of Andrea doing public speaking. You're still going to get me tell a story about my engineering background or talk about something I love, so that way I don't feel like I'm stuck in a box. But regarding of my family, how they took the switch, because I went to grad school, it was okay, because why aren't you working?
(16:55):
Drea? No, I'm in school. Even when I graduated, my mom was still hinting like, Hey, Drea should still find a company to walk with, find a full-time job. And sometimes you have to have stand on your gut and what you want to do and your dreams and sense. And I'm like, no, I'm not going to get a full-time job. I was earning a little bit money here and there to sustain myself so I didn't feel like I needed to. But then now in today's age, now that I'm a Forbes top creator and I'm full-time creator, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, they're just so proud. I have supportive parents. I think they'll be proud regardless, but they're more proud because now the funds are entering their bank accounts and I help them book flights and do whatever we need to do. I help them out so they're not like, yes, my mom even is, what video do you want me to do this week? Put me in this video.
Kim (17:53):
Okay, so I want you to tell me when your parents meet someone and they tell them about you, what do they say about you now?
Drea (18:01):
Oh, this is my daughter. She's a successful Forbes creator, online social media star, always social media star. Social media star. Before it was like, this is my Dutch side engineer. And that used to bother me too, like, man, okay, when I was no longer an engineer, when I was in the little pivot of grad school and trying to do social media, they were still referring to me as engineer, which again, that's my title. I always take that. But I was like, they don't want to tell people I'm a creator. But now they've used that as bragging rights. They use that as bragging rights for sure.
Kim (18:37):
They only want to call you a creator when they could use the word star. Yeah, she's a creator. She made Forbes. I mean, first of all, by the way, congrats. That is a huge thing. And I feel like, do your parents blow that up? Does the Forbes 30 under 30, is that behind their dining room table?
Drea (18:54):
Oh, yeah. No, they tell everybody they lead with that. They're like, my daughter is on Forbes. They should, I mean, shoot, I blow it up too. I have a picture of it and you can't see here, but in my living room. So when you walking, you see, because that's my number one dream in life, which now I'm try to get more dreams, but I always wanted to get on Forbes. Since college, I would see the Forbes doing 30 on the 30 list, and I'm like, what are these people doing? What businesses are they starting? Or where are they exiting to make this list? How did Forbes recognize them? It was like as I was building my career, and I remember Forbes launched a social media category for 30 or 30, and they also launched a top creator category that are recognizing creators. I'm like, okay, Drea, you can't miss this train.
(19:43):
You cannot miss this train. You have to do whatever it takes to get on it. And that's the thing people need to realize in life. You have to ask people, don't be shy to ask for help. So I reached out to anyone who made the Forbes list, especially the social media list. I was in their Instagram dms. I messaged 'em like, Hey, how did you get on here? Some people were like, oh, I don't know. My team just submitted me. I'm like, oh, okay, you can get submitted for this. Okay, then let me figure it out. So I reached out to people and getting guidance here and there asking people to submit me to, and that was 2022. I asked a bunch of people to submit me, submitted myself, but didn't get recognized. I was so sure that they were going to notice me, but it didn't.
(20:25):
And I'm like, darn, what the heck? So I was very bummed about that. And in 2023, I'm like, okay, now I need to figure out what do I need to do? How can I brand myself better for force to recognize me, invested in my business, hired a PR company so they could position me better and fix my brand and everything, and just double down on creating more high value content and spending money on an editor, spending money on the sets, the film sets and whatnot to make sure that I stand out in my content and have more output of videos. So that was 2023. I was doing that. And then 2023 was a year that I made three Forbes lists. So Forbes 30 under 30, north America, Forbes, 30 under 30, local to la, and then Forbes, top creator list, all those three. So that was like, wow, God is good. So yeah, tell that story to be like, if I didn't reach out to people and realize that you can, there's certain strategies to get into this list, would've never known. I would've just been submitting myself, submitting myself, and just not knowing that, okay, there's different layers to this.
Kim (21:33):
Well, I love the lesson behind that because a lot of times it is true. You see someone who has achieved a goal that you have, and then often people are like, well, it just happened. Just someone called me. And you're like, well, what do I need to do to do that besides wait? And I like that you weren't just say, okay, I'm going to wait to be discovered by some Forbes editor. And you said, what are the steps I need to do to make this dream happen? Which is great. And the truth is, you have to invest in yourself. You were investing in the sets, you invested in the PR company, you invested in an editor, and you had a goal and you took it seriously and just didn't wait for it. I love that. I think it's a good reminder. It's applicable to everybody. Everybody has that next step that they want to get to, whether it's Forbes or something, not as a lower level than Forbes, but I think it's important to say, how do I participate in making this dream happen and not just waiting to be tapped, waiting to be found discovered. Okay, now that you achieve that dream, we got to set a new dream. What's the next dream? What's the next goal?
Drea (22:35):
The next goal? I've achieved that. I've always wanted to have my own physical products. I always think about, oh, shark Tank. I want to be sitting on the seat as Shark Tank to be clear. So this year I launched my card game, and it's called SA Slangs. Sa Slangs is a card game that is inspired by my viral Nigerian slang series. So I have this slang series where I teach people Nigerian slangs. I've gone around the world doing that, Thailand, Mexico, Oscars red carpets, and BET red carpet. I've done that series. And it's so fun. It brings people so much joy learning slangs from Nigerian culture. And I think it's just the fun nature of the videos, the joy it brings people. And I'm like, okay, I want to be able to create a product, but I want to make sure that it's easy to integrate into my content and it's something that my audience would want.
(23:29):
So I created a slang card game, and this S slang is not just a slang card game because the slangs that are there, if you want to use it, a slang card game, you can to learn the slangs. But it's a combination of all my favorite games in one. So there's different interactive challenges in the game. There's interactive challenges like act out a scenario or rapid fire name and list words about name and list currencies or name and list this. There's games. They can get a little shady point to the person who most likely to do blank. Or there's another one where it's like post a screenshot on your story or something. So there's a bunch of different games in one game. That's how Savvy Slangs is. And interactive challenges. Every time people have played it, they've had so much fun. They've sent me videos playing it.
(24:21):
It's just a good time. And when I've played with my friends, it's just been nonstop. Laughs nonstop competitive. If you competitive, this game is for you. So I just launched at November 11th and I've been learning what it's like to have a small business. Initially I was like, oh, I'm just going to hire a three PL to ship this out for me and I'll have everything self ran so I don't have to think about it. But took a step back and I'm like, when I was creating videos, I didn't just start with an editor. I didn't just start with a film cameraman. I put the tripod down and recorded. I spent the time to edit my video. So if I'm starting my own small business, I need to learn how to ship things. I need to learn how to print labels. I need to learn how to make, because I also want the experience to be personalized.
(25:10):
When my fans or when anybody buys this product, when I was creating snappy slangs, I created it with a vision. Like this will be a card game that will live in Target, Walmart, Barnes and Noble, beyond just my audience. So I want to make sure that everyone who gets this product feels very personalized. They get a piece of my culture and they feel that joy that I felt when I was creating this game. So it's been a journey, it's been an experience that's definitely, I've been working, I've been working it for two years now, and then it finally is released out to the world and it's been nothing but good feedback and I'm excited to 2025 just keep scaling the business, right? Because right now I'm a small black owned female business and I'm looking forward to just keep on scaling it. It's a slow climb. And that's, to me is the best journey.
Kim (25:56):
I love that. Teach me a little bit of Nigerian slang. Can I get a little bit of Nigerian slang?
Drea (26:01):
Let me see. Lemme see if I can pick one from you.
Kim (26:03):
Yeah, let's say what can I get? What can I get?
Drea (26:07):
I'm looking at the cards. Which one can I give you? This one is fun. This is actually a challenge. It's not really a slang, but it's an expression. You're looking at it, it's even backwards. Like, oh boy, this is a sound people make when they're irritated. So usually they go, can you do that sound? Hold on. I was that down. Hold on. You're sucking your teeth, so you basically have to suck your teeth.
Kim (26:41):
Yeah, yeah. Close enough. That's going to sound so gnarly on this podcast. People are going to be like, I'm going to have a warning, like a trigger warning. Lower the volume at minute number. That's so funny. But that was pretty good. Give me some good slang, something funny or something like, yeah, give me some good slang. You're going to be
Drea (26:57):
Blown away by my this one. The challenge on the card is to see who can hold out the sound the longest. So that's the challenge. Everybody goes round. And so who can hold that out the longest? I like that. I like that. I can't find a card, but the easy one I always go with is
Kim (27:13):
What does that mean?
Drea (27:14):
And I was so good. I was like, really
Kim (27:15):
Know. I was like, you're going to be blown away. I've been imitating my dad for 40 years.
Drea (27:19):
What's your family from?
Kim (27:20):
Well, my dad was Israeli. Well, he's passed now, but we spent a lot of time making fun of him and imitating him. So I feel that it's worth something to be able to practice imitating.
Drea (27:30):
Yes, yes, yes. The Noah aha slang means no problem. That's pretty much Noah Wahala. No problem.
Kim (27:36):
Noah Hala. No problem. Okay.
Drea (27:38):
Yes. And I have this one. This one is a little bit harder. It's ola, ola, ola, ola. Yeah, it goes down. Yeah. Yeah, it goes down. It basically means a wealthy or an influential person. And then the card says, you're so-called er dates. So your wealthy dates just asks you to split the bill, act out your reaction. The funniest reaction wins the card. I would throw my water in his face and I would, I'll just pick up my bag and go like, bye.
Kim (28:12):
I don't know if you ever watched Sex in the City, but one of the funniest things is in so many episodes, they would be on a date and she would literally walk out in the middle. And I was like, is that something we're allowed to do? If we're allowed to leave dates in the middle, they're horrible. That's amazing. I didn't know that that was a thing we were allowed to do anyway.
Drea (28:28):
Yes, you can do whatever you want in this life.
Kim (28:31):
Exactly. Anything we want. Okay. I have some advice I'd love to get from you. So you're a huge creator. You've built a massive following. Your top three tips for people who are looking to grow their following on social media.
Drea (28:44):
First one would be study the greats and become greater. So whichever content creator you love watching me, love going to the page, instead of just watching to consume this time, watch the study with your detective lens and really figure out why am I so hooked in on this creator? What about them do I love? What about them that keeps me coming back? And then take those things, those elements, maybe because you love the way they tell stories or you love the way they have a series video and they just keep you coming back. Take those elements, but don't just copy it. Add your own seasoning and flavor to it so that way you create your own organic brand and not just literally copy paste, copy add, flavor and paste. So that'll be the first thing. Another thing I say too, because I have my course Next Level Influence course, and that's where I teach people, creators from start to finish, how to build a successful brand.
(29:38):
And people say, I always say, know your why. Know your why and why you want to do it. Why is what's going to keep you when things are getting low, when you're posting the first two months and you've seen no success, if you know your why and you put that sticky note, literally my sticky note on my wall when I'm working, you're building something great, don't stop. Keep going. It's going to keep you going. Whatever impact you want to make, it's going to keep you going. So know your why and create a series. I think I mentioned that a little bit earlier. Create a series. I've seen the most successful people online have some type of series and a theme that keeps people coming back. My series is in Nigeria. Slangs is not to say that every one of my videos is going to be Nigerian slangs, but the core video that people know me for, and they keep coming back and they want to watch part two, part one, part three, whatever, whatever is that core video.
(30:30):
So if you create a series is also easy for you to, if you have no content ideas, creating content and being, staying consistent, it's hard, but it'll help me stay consistent because, okay, I created part three of making recipes for the holidays. Oh, let me make part four, lemme make part five. And then you just easily, you're now starting to get known as the girl that makes recipes for the holidays, and then your page will blow up. So I think creating a series helps. And I think that was three, but I'll give one more. Especially when you're starting off. Don't focus a lot on the likes. The likes don't mean nothing. Focus more on the comment section. The comment section means more because people will comment about what they feel about your videos. They'll discover, discover your page because of your content, but they'll stay because of who you are.
(31:18):
And you're going to find out if they're staying because of who you are based on the comments. Are they asking for more of this type of video? Do they like when you stopped and put something on the screen? I don't know. So that comment section is going to help you know what your audience likes. And also is going to give you content ideas too, because sometimes saw can make comment, can you do a part three, but instead use peanut butter for this recipe. And they're like, oh, whoa, I never thought about using peanut butter for this recipe. Let me do it. So I think the comment section is more important than the likes, because if you focus on the likes, I don't think it's going to take you anywhere. It's just going to give you depression and comparison and all those other things you don't need. And if you have no comments in your comments section, it's okay. It'll come later. I know people are like, well, I
Kim (32:00):
Have zero.
Drea (32:01):
Yeah, yeah. It'll come later. Just keep posting. Don't stop.
Kim (32:05):
Amazing. And before we wrap up, what would you say to someone who's considering they want to follow their passion, but they're kind of feeling, I mean, listen, everybody has the questioning in their head. Should I do this? Should I not do this? What advice would you give for someone who wants to make a big change?
Drea (32:21):
If it's on your heart, if God put it on your heart, then you're supposed to do it. That's all I got to say. So you got to do it. If you don't do it, then you're going to live your life and regret saying like, oh, dang, I should have done it. Oh man, I was just so nervous to post because people are going to judge me. What if I did what a post. Now when you scroll and you see someone's video and you're like, oh my God, I remember this girl when she first did her first post, and it was tanky, and I was laughing at her, and now she's blown up. What the heck? I knew I should have started. I knew I should have done it. I knew I should have done it. It's always like, I knew I should have, would've, could have, could have, could have, would've. So if it's on your heart and God put it on your heart, then you're supposed to do it. Put it down and remove the doubts and just go after it. And if you stay consistent, most likely, highly, you will be successful at it.
Kim (33:09):
I love that. Anything that I didn't ask you before we wrap up? Anything that I didn't ask you that you want to share with our audience?
Drea (33:15):
No, I think you hit it all pretty much. Yeah. Thank you.
Kim (33:18):
Amazing. Thank you so much. This was such a great chat.
Drea (33:21):
Yeah, likewise. Thanks, Kim. This was good. I had a blast.
Kim (33:28):
Thank you for joining us. Don't forget to exit the grind and enter success on your own terms. This is the exit interview with Kim Rittberg. Don't forget to grab my free download, how to Grow Your Business with Amazing video at kimrittberg.com and linked out in the show notes. I love to hear your feedback. Make sure to submit to me what you learned from the show and how you are crushing it on your own terms. Connect with me on Instagram or LinkedIn at Kim Rittberg, R-I-T-T-B-E-R-G. And this show is edited by Jillian Grover and produced by Henry Street Media. I'm your host and executive producer Kim Rittberg.