We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Julie Lee. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Julie below.
Hi Julie, thanks for joining us today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.
My villain backstory is… (just kidding)- When I was born, I was a premature baby, so I had a weakened immune system; I was sick often while growing up, all through to adulthood. During school, when teachers asked us to draw our real-life superheroes, I saw my classmates sketch out their firemen and policemen, but for me, my hero was always a doctor. They were the ones who made me feel better. I knew since childhood that I wanted to be one too, with the desire to help people of all ages, saving lives, and making sure we were all happy and healthy. That was the dream. I dedicated my life to it and was prepared to give years for this profession. Everything was perfect. I was focused, I was on track, I was studying hard, I was always one of the top students at my schools.
And then college hit. I met many people who were smarter than me with the same goals, same majors, same work experiences. My curriculum was way harder. Suddenly, I wasn’t so confident or special anymore. However, I chose to stick with it because pre-med was all I ever knew and loved. I wanted it so badly. Somehow, I made it through and graduated university with a Bachelors of Science Degree in General Biology. But it wasn’t good enough. My GPA was average, nothing on my resume was overly impressive, I wiggled my way out of taking biochemistry, and I was too scared to take the Medical College Admissions Test in my junior year of college. So, say I got that done and miraculously landed a medical school interview. Did I think they were going to chuckle and smile when I tell them I didn’t take the exam on time because I was too afraid of the infamously tough MCAT? No, of course not. For the first time, I was lost in life. I went off track. I ruined my application. I didn’t know what to do.
Then a friend of mine invited me to compete in a beauty pageant, and so I did, in hopes for a temporary distraction from my failures. Come pageant day, I didn’t get crowned, but it was a great experience for me and I was able to start modeling shortly afterwards. I fell in love with it right away. I had to keep telling myself it was just a hobby because I was still determined on becoming a doctor, no matter if I deviated from the normal medical student timeline. However, as the years passed, I grew as a professional model while my career outlook as a family physician continued to look grim. I had a harder time suppressing my passion for modeling and pretending it didn’t mean as much to me as it did. That’s when COVID hit and I couldn’t go outside to model at photoshoots anymore. Another wall. In an attempt to find work remotely, I tried doing voice acting on Fiverr. It didn’t go too well, so I switched over and made custom ASMR videos for my clients to relax, fall asleep, and improve mindfulness and mental health. That gig took off so nicely that I migrated to streaming it live on Twitch. In January of 2020, I took the biggest, life-changing risk of my entire life: I made the decision to let go of my lifelong dreams of becoming a family doctor. It cut deep like one’s first heartbreak. I had never given up on anything before, but it had to be done because this crumbling dream was causing me to spiral into the worst depression period. During my darkest phase, I did a lot of thinking and soul-searching, and realized that my ultimate goal in life to help others could be achieved outside of medicine. Thus, these heavy shackles were lifted off of me and I found my new callings in life.
Post-COVID outbreak, as things gradually begin to normalize again, I can proudly tell people that I am both a professional fashion + bridal model and a Twitch partnered streamer! They’re such cool jobs for conversation starters. I’ll never get tired of telling people about them, haha. Occasionally, I still daydream about saving lives and reading EKGs all day, but I’m happy to say I have absolutely zero regrets. I hope my story inspires you to take your own risks, as long as it’s worth all that bravery and sacrifice, and that you are able to obtain true happiness, peace, and fulfillment in the end.
Julie, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
Hi readers! My name is Julie Lee and I represent my 2 brands, Model Julie Lee and Bizzybunnyy.
I first got started with MJL after competing in the beauty pageant for Miss Asian American Texas 2017. That opened a new door of opportunity for me and the rest was history. I worked hard on my own and everything was self taught through trial, error, and practice. The more photoshoots I did, the better I got at posing, facial expressions, and being my own agent, hairstylist, wardrobe stylist, makeup artist, and even creative director. It’s a lot of work, haha. But I’m still very much in love with it 5 years later. My goals as a professional model is to inspire women of all ages to have body positivity and influence confidence through fashion, self-love, and self-acceptance. As for the services I offer, there’s a wide variety of ranges: fashion, bridal, editorial, beauty, promotional, stock photos, lifestyle, videography, portfolio work, workshops, you name it. The only works I don’t provide are boudoir, implied, and nude due to personal preferences. Otherwise, I’m very diligent, punctual, artistic, and easy to work with!
Diving into Bizzybunnyy, I need to explain that this is both my alias and brand as an ASMR content creator, or ASMRtist. Those who know me from my Twitch channel are most familiar with this name. ASMR stands for Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response. It refers to the tingling sensation typically from the scalp traveling down the spine and is used to provide relaxation, sleep, or improving overall mental health. I strive to meet at least one of these needs for every person in my audience. I also hope that I can be a good role model for younger viewers especially, through my mindset, morals, drive, advice, and life experiences. I believe what sets me apart from other content creators is how much personality I have and the many sides to it. I’m bubbly, yet also mellow. I’m confident, but humble. I’m gentle, but can get sassy. In addition, I love cracking lame jokes, I’m extremely easygoing, and I’m unapologetically myself! My stream is a safe space for everyone and I naturally love people unconditionally, so I think that’s what draws others to me because they know I’ll accept them as is and that I’ll treat them the right way. I’m most proud of those small meaningful moments when someone comments how I’ve changed their life for the better or that my content helped ease their anxiety or insomnia. It’s the big little things for me that give me motivation to keep going as an artist. For my services in this field, I offer custom ASMR video commissions on Patreon and livestream brand sponsorships!
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
I think the best way for society to support us is by paying full-priced rates for our work, talking about us, sharing our content, engaging with our posts, and recommending our services to relevant clients. It’s like a domino effect. And sometimes those small, simple gestures can create an avalanche for us to be able to thrive on. We pour our heart and souls into what we do and we’re sooooo appreciative of every little thing!
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
The most rewarding part of being a creative, for me, is definitely my impact on people’s daily lives. I feel like the world gets crazier as time goes by, and art is such a beautiful, timeless escape. What really warms up my heart and fills my soul to the brim is whenever I’m told I’m looked up to by another person as their role model, or that I inspired them to be more confident in their body and living in their own skin, or that I helped to relax or put them to sleep and that my craft and existence are what keeps them going in a dark, mundane world. That right there is everything to me and I will never take it for granted.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://joinagent.com/id/JZM4Z
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/model.julielee/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bizzybunnyy
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julie-lee-870487168/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/bizzybunnyy
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ASMRbizzybunnyy
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/user_details?userid=pnjrXqly_MlhCpqGQr0Q2Q
- Other: Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/bizzybunnyy Email: [email protected]
Image Credits
Randy Vu, Jerry Williams, Charis M. Productions, Owen Dollentas, Edward Digges, Peter K. Hull