Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Casey (Sassy Grilled Cheese). We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Casey, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Do you wish you had waited to pursue your creative career or do you wish you had started sooner?
I constantly see creators on this platform (YouTube) that “I should have started 2 years ago”.
“It was so much easier to grow on the platform [x time-frame] ago”. To that I say – “Today is better than tomorrow” but ultimately I think people should create content publicly when they are ready to.
I’ve been making content since I was a kid. My sister and I loved Saturday Night Live and other variety comedy shows so we would make our own cringy skits and filmed them – most of which were never archived or posted anywhere.
There was a point in my young teen years when I started filming and posting my own content on YouTube and back then I also aimed to do comedy. But I wasn’t ready to put myself on the internet and I wasn’t very good.
To put it lightly, all of my videos were bad. I’m SO happy I didn’t garner any kind of audience between the years of 2010-2014 because I would have ended up in some kind of cringe compilation.
It took a lot of courage for me, as a 27 year old (at the time of rebranding my channel) to create this public persona of myself – Sassy Grilled Cheese. But I believe I started exactly when I needed to and I started when I was ready to. So I have no regrets.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
My name is Casey and I have a YouTube comedy show called “Sassy Grilled Cheese”.
I went to film school right out of high school and I didn’t feel like I fit in. I remember sitting in the auditorium on my first day as a college student and hearing the woman on stage saying: “you are all here because you know EXACTLY what you want to do!”
….. Uhhh, I don’t know what I want to do? I’m 18 years old and barely even know how to drive a car.
I kind of floated through film school. I wasn’t the best student or the most popular. I always took the “grunt” roles during projects but I was constantly trying to figure out what I wanted to do. My first job as a film student was being an intern for a local videography company. My first task was to wash the director’s Mom’s car with baby wipes – it was very humiliating! And I was NOT paid!
Most of my professional film jobs would end up yielding similar experiences and my school projects had me feeling unfulfilled. I didn’t really know why because I knew I LOVED movies, so why do I hate being on a film set?
I met my husband at the same school and we moved to the Midwest after graduating in 2016. I had to focus on what was really important – paying bills.
While I would occasionally pick up freelance video editing jobs here and there, my film career I thought I would pursue seemed out of reach.
Over the years, I would continue to consume content – mostly on YouTube. I watched another YouTuber named “Jaime French”, who also makes comedic movie reviews. I remember thinking how funny she was and going – “maybe I can try this too!”
In 2023 I rebranded my channel to “Sassy Grilled Cheese” and started reviewing movies – primarily ones from my childhood. I realized very quickly that this was something I wanted to do. It is something I grew very passionate about.
Approximately 6 months in, I gained a small audience and since then I’ve been focusing on making entertaining content that my viewers enjoy. I am so appreciative that my viewers choose to watch me when there are so many other people to choose from. The rest has yet to be determined!
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
Definitely connecting with my viewers. Something I didn’t anticipate until I had a small audience was that rewatching and reviewing these movies on YouTube is like watching them with friends.
I love being in a position where I can discuss different elements of these movies with people who comment on my videos. I love when my viewers take the time to say something, or sometimes even message me on Instagram. Overall I just love talking to my viewers.
YouTube lets you know how long someone who comments has been subscribed to you and I see some people who have been following my channel since I only had a few hundred viewers in a video. So the fact that these people are still supporting me and my videos is something I’m forever grateful for.
How did you build your audience on social media?
I think a lot of people just starting out on YouTube aim to seek advice in various forums or discord servers to find the “secret” and truth be told, there isn’t one.
Sure you can do basic things that are largely related to the technical quality of the videos, but whether or not you have people coming back to you depends on what YOUR vision is for YOUR channel.
I really think anyone looking to start a YouTube channel should pick five YouTube creators that they want to pull information from. From that list of five, write down a list of things you like about form each channel. Then take that information and figure out how you will make your own original content from that inspiration.
Creating a YouTube channel, you should always have your audience in mind. Always ask yourself “If I didn’t know me, would I watch my video?”
At the end of the day, the only advice that is truly impactful comes from you. You need to figure out how to bring your vision to life in your own way. Critiques and advice from strangers can help, sure – but what you create can only come from you.
Make confident decisions and learn from them. Its not about grinding, its about being yourself and making videos people want to watch.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sassygrilledcheese/
- Twitter: https://x.com/sassygrilled
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@sassygrilledcheese
Image Credits
My Husband