We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Tanaya Ree a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Tanaya, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you take us back in time to the first dollar you earned as a creative – how did it happen? What’s the story?
Growing up in New Jersey, I had the opportunity to shoot local events around the town and build up a reputation that enabled me to shoot a live concert featuring the legendary Chuck Berry! That was all pro-bono, but I knew I would have to do that to build up a reputation first.
From then on at the age of 15, the town entrusted me to shoot more local events for which they paid me my first paycheck. I did that for most of High School and it paid for my school lunches and video games. That’s when I knew I could make entertainment production my caremicrophone being able to entertain and engage people, but it wasn’t until 2016 that I made my first big step towards that.
In 2016 I launched my Twitch channel that is now partnered and consists of 10,000 followers. Twitch opened the door to my content creation and on-camera career that has led me the opportunity to work with brands like Adobe, E.L.F. Cosmetics, Hello Fresh, and more. It has also afforded me the opportunity to connect with others who have gone through similar struggles, but are gifted. Ultimately this decision led me to foster a community of over 100,000 aspiring or emerging artists. In my content, I prioritize mental health, life coaching, and comedy. I didn’t exit my career behind the camera though. I’m currently working on two projects as a Producer—one is a dating series entitled Game of Hearts premiering June 21st at 6pm Central on twitch.tv/africanprince and another is for a feature film that I can’t wait to discuss. Before that, I edited a docu-series entitled Anunnaki: Ancient Secrets Revealed about aliens and a political series entitled GenZone for BET+.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
After High School I sought to learn as much as I could about the ends and outs of production by attending School of Visual Arts in New York City where I got my Bachelor’s in Film/Video Production. During my time there I learned what I could about lighting, editing, directing, screenwriting, and more.
After shooting local events, I decided to hone my craft at School of Visual Arts in New York City where I learned the ends and outs of editing, lighting, producing, and more. After graduating with a Bachelor’s in Video Production, I landed a job at Viacom where I worked for several years.
It was at Viacom that I grew from Production Assistant to Editor/Graphics. I freelanced in New York for a number of years as an Editor, Producer, and occasional Cinematographer before I ultimately deciding that some of my skills were being under-utilized. You see, when I was child, I always envisioned myself on stage or with a microphone being able to entertain and engage people, but it wasn’t until 2016 that I made my first big step towards that.
In 2016 I launched my Twitch channel that is now partnered and consists of 10,000 followers. Twitch opened the door to my content creation and on-camera career that has led me the opportunity to work with brands like Adobe, E.L.F. Cosmetics, Hello Fresh, and more. It has also afforded me the opportunity to connect with others who have gone through similar struggles, but are gifted. Ultimately this decision led me to foster a community of over 100,000 aspiring or emerging artists. In my content, I prioritize mental health, life coaching, and comedy. I didn’t leave behind my career behind the camera though. I’m currently working on two projects as a Producer—one is a dating series for live-streaming platforms and another is for a feature film. Before that, I Edited a docu-series entitled Anunnaki: Ancient Secrets Revealed about aliens and a political series entitled GenZone for BET+
How did you build your audience on social media?
Initially I built my social media following through Twitch streaming and it grew very gradually from 500 to 10,000. TikTok had the most rapid growth from 100 to 10,000 in a few months, but this was during the pandemic when everyone was at home scrolling on TikTok. The algorithm was also a lot different then. Instagram I grew primarily from Instagram reels. And all other social media I grew mostly from Twitch.
All in all, my advice to anyone wanting to grow on any platform, is to take advantage of the platform’s new innovations whether it be reels, Meta AI, YouTube Shorts, TikTok Shop, take advantage of new tools if it makes sense for what you want to do because their algorithms will push out that content. But also, consistency is the key. I wasn’t always consistent on TikTok and that greatly affects my performance there today. The last thing is, make things you genuinely enjoy because when all is said and done, that’s the main point. Much of this stuff won’t make you money initially, so you have to be doing it because you love it.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
2023 was a big pivot year. There was a strike in Hollywood that caused a temporary stoppage of most television, commercial, and film productions so work was slim pickin’s. I received so many rejection emails from places that I applied. So I had to get creative with how I was going to be making money for that year. Luckily, I had already fostered a wonderful online community, so I took advantage of that by leaning in to my Content Creator career. I was able to make money primarily through community support and revenue from videos I posted on TikTok, Meta, and through Twitch streaming. Eventually I aim to grow and increase my YouTube so I can earn revenue through YouTube partnership as well. As a Creative and especially as a Contractor, it’s always good to have multiple irons in the pot so you’re not stuck leaning on just one.
The great thing about being a Creative is also that you likely will have multiple skills that are transferable. Never think that you’re going backwards by having to lean on skills you started with. Everything you learn is applicable to your journey. And most importantly, you don’t have to put yourself in a box. If you want to pursue something else one day, you can. I went from being a paid Cinematographer, to being a paid Actress, paid Comedian, paid Producer, to a. paid Editor, to a paid Fitness Model. I enjoyed doing all of them. We can do many things in this world, and most of our limitations are our own mindsets. No box.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://tanayaree.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tanayaree
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tanayaree
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tanayaree/
- Twitter: https://x.com/tanayaree
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/tanayaree
- Other: https://www.twitch.tv/reeree
Image Credits
Images by: Bill Nash Photography