Rebecca
So I am here today with Jessii and Mandii Vee, two sisters who are both YouTubers. Is that how you would describe yourselves?

Mandii
Sure!

Jessii
Yeah! I feel like I don’t like the word ‘influencer’ — I prefer ‘YouTuber’.

Rebecca
Why? Just like, less pressure?

Jessii
I don’t know. I feel like ‘influencer’ has gotten like a bad name for some reason lately, the past couple of years. So I prefer ‘YouTuber’.

Rebecca
Was ‘influencer’ even a word when you first got into this business?

Jessii
Probably it became a thing back in maybe 2017, so a couple years after I started YouTube. Or maybe it was always a thing, but I didn’t hear about it that much.

Rebecca
Right. And you maybe didn’t know you were that yet.

Jessii
I didn’t know I was an influencer.

Rebecca
Ok, so I thought it would be fun to talk to you both because our podcast is about sisters — it’s us in our conversations. I’ve always found it so interesting. I’ve known you, Jessii, from being in my series, and I don’t know you, Mandii, but I have watched you. So it’s kind of funny, right? Strangers have access to your lives, which is interesting. I don’t know how you feel about that — we’ll get to that a little bit later, but it’s funny that I can know you without knowing you. But you both have done so amazingly. Jessii, you’re almost at three million subscribers right now.

Jessii
Yeah, it’s crazy to think about so many people.

Rebecca
So many people with access to your life, right. And Mandii, you’re working your way up there with 100,000, almost 120,000?

Mandii
I’m working my way. Yeah, close.

Rebecca
You’re entrepreneurs, really. Do you see yourselves that way, as well?

Jessii
Yeah, definitely. We enjoy it so much — like, we love what we do. Mandii, she’s also a hairstylist, so she’s got a lot mixed in there.

Mandii
Yeah, that’s more my full-time gig. I feel like the YouTube, Instagram influencer thing is more on the side, a secondary thing — but I still love it. I love doing it.

Rebecca
Right, it’s more of your secondary gig.

Mandii
Exactly.

Rebecca
Have you guys ever done an interview together?

Jessii
I don’t think — actually, you know what, we did one at that Brampton festival, I think back in 2018?

Mandii
Oh yeah, the meet-and-greet.

Jessii
On stage. Yeah, it was a meet-and-greet, and we were being interviewed on stage. That was really intimidating, but fun. That was our last time we did anything together in front of people, I think. Right? I think so.

Mandii
Yes.

Rebecca
And what’s the age difference between you?

Mandii
Two and a half years.

Rebecca
Mandii, you’re younger?

Mandii
Yes.

Rebecca
Right. I’ll take a screenshot at the end because it’s fun to show the contrast — Mandii, you’re very blonde, wavy, amazing hair. I’m really happy you’re a hairdresser, because you obviously have skills. You didn’t just wake up like that — you actually have the skills to do that, right?

Jessii
She always looks good.

Mandii
Aww, thanks guys.

Rebecca
And Jessii, you’ve got your really dark hair —

Jessii
Vampire!

Rebecca
Vamp — which is also beautiful. Although you look a little more — your hair isn’t quite as immaculate.

Jessii
Yeah, it’s not as wavy…

Rebecca
It doesn’t have the perfect waves, but it’s still great. Mandii, have you done hair tutorials?

Mandii
I haven’t actually.

Jessii
You should!

Mandii
I’ve thought about it. I’ve done colouring tutorials, kind of — filming myself like doing a balayage or whatever. That’s mostly my thing, I like colour as opposed to styling, or doing an updo, or something like that.

Rebecca
Ok. Well, just know that if you do a video teaching those waves, I’ll watch that.

Mandii
Just get a crimper! Buy a crimper, it’s so easy — the machine does it all!

Rebecca
Really?

Mandii
Yeah!

Rebecca
You say that, you hairdressers — it’s not that easy.

Jessii
I burned my hair.

Rebecca
Yes, exactly — it’s the burning. I guess it’s not the right heat. Anyway, have you had to reframe your business, Jessii, during COVID? I mean, you in particular because this is your full-time gig, right? Does it look really different? How do you feel about being a YouTuber in COVID?

Jessii
Nothing’s really changed for me, and I’m grateful for the fact that I work from home anyway. So when the pandemic hit, my lifestyle didn’t really change aside from not doing meet-and-greets or touring — which I was doing pretty consistently, every single year. That was one thing that I really, really miss doing. But other than that — I edit at home, I film at home, I do my research at home, and if anything my viewership got better, because so many people are at home and need something to do to take their mind off what’s going on, right? So things got better for me, as awful as I feel saying that, because it’s not the same for everybody. Things really stayed the same for me, which I was grateful for.

Rebecca
Right. What about you, Mandii, does life look different? You would have had to cut back on — I mean, there have been moments where you couldn’t do your hairdressing, right?

Mandii
Exactly. So like I said, the hair salon was a full-time thing, and when COVID hit, it obviously impacted the salon a lot because we had the lockdowns and I wasn’t able to work anymore, seeing clients and stuff. I actually filled my time a lot with YouTube and filming. It kind of became my full-time for a couple of months there, which I actually really enjoyed — just throwing myself into it. Focusing on that full-time was really interesting, and I really enjoyed it too. Obviously, it sucked — the salon closing and everything — but it was an interesting little change.

Rebecca
Do you guys help each other brainstorm different series? My sister and I are idea-driven, and we definitely pass ideas back and forth, and that’s a big part of who we are together. But how do you guys function?

Jessii
I feel like we don’t do that.

Mandii
I think in passing — if I had an idea for her, I’d let her know, obviously. I think most of the brainstorming comes from collaborating. If we do a video together, then we’ll share ideas that way. But we’re so different with our channels, what they look like, that there’s not really much of a discussion there for that.

Jessii
Well, you’re lifestyle, and like I’m more like creepy mysteries and stuff — so it’s so different that we don’t really bounce stuff off each other, unless we’re collaborating.

Rebecca
And how do you decide to collaborate? Like, do you do like one collaboration a month, or…?

Jessii
We were doing them pretty consistently before COVID, and now we do it every few months, I would say. But whoever’s channel it’s going on — that person will come up with the idea.

Rebecca
Your mom is your manager, Jessii. So your parents, do they get involved with ideas? Or no?

Jessii
It’s funny because recently, my mom and dad have been getting together and doing brainstorming sessions. They’ll email me a list of really cool ideas. For Christmas they came up with 25 video ideas, and I did use a bunch of them. They’re so excited to tell me about it too — they sit down and think about everything. They love that.

Rebecca
And that would be their own initiative? You’re not saying, “can you…”?

Jessii
No, I never asked them. They just do it, and they come to me. I think it’s awesome. They’re very supportive.

Rebecca
And Mandii, do they get involved in your life that way, too? Do they have ideas for you?

Mandii
Yes. My mom will definitely share some ideas with me. She’ll call me up and be like, “I’ve been thinking about this, I think you should do this next,” or whatever. We’re always sharing ideas with each other, I think.

Rebecca
Right. Your family is so beautifully close. That’s certainly what is projected, but I get the sense that’s actually what is: your family is quite close.

Jessii
Oh yeah. I mean, we do everything together, and even our extended family — especially before COVID, we’d have family events every single weekend. We were always together with family, and our grandparents.

Rebecca
Gosh. Do you feel like there’s a secret to your family getting along? Can you share that secret with the world?

Mandii
Yeah, honestly, what is the secret? I don’t even know.

Jessii
We’re just weirdos! We’re all just so strange, and we just get along so well. I don’t know, we don’t take things so seriously, and maybe that’s why we’re all so close.

Mandii
I think also, we’re very open with each other. I don’t see that in a lot of families. I feel like there’s a lack of communication in a lot of families. I’m very grateful because especially our mom, she’s very welcoming — as kids growing up, she would let us tell her things, and she was never quick to anger (in the sense of whatever we were going through in life). I feel like that’s a really fundamental thing to have in a family dynamic — just being able to be honest and open with each other. That brings you closer.

Rebecca
So she can handle the things you need to tell her.

Jessii
Yeah.

Mandii
Whether she wants to or not.

Jessii
We would speak about, like, relationships and boyfriends. They’re the type of parents who are like, “If you’re going to drink, do it in the house.” They were never weird about that kind of thing. When we were teenagers, we were very open about it.

Rebecca
They tried to create an environment where you would want to be.

Jessii
Yeah. They let us have house parties, and sometimes dad would stand at the front door and check who was coming in — he’d have a list.

Mandii
There would be a list because there was a capacity — there had to be a number of people that was acceptable. He would be the bouncer.

Jessii
And he had to know them. So they would let us do all kinds of stuff growing up.

Rebecca
But he determined how many people could come in?

Mandii
1,000%. And if there was someone with a bad vibe, he would kick them out.

Rebecca
My gosh, that’s amazing. Jessii, where did you meet Ty?

Jessii
So we met on a dating app, back in 2017. Then we met in person at a coffee shop — and I didn’t tell him I was a YouTuber at first.

Rebecca
And had he looked you up?

Jessii
No, he didn’t. Even when I told him eventually that I was a YouTuber, he never looked at my channel or looked at my videos. He wanted to learn who I was through me and not through online, which I thought was really nice.

Rebecca
Aww, that’s so beautiful. And what is life like for you, now married? Have you been married a couple years?

Jessii
I’m going on to my third year, after the summer.

Rebecca
And has it changed? You were just telling me before we started recording that you guys have a series that you do together, your own channel?

Jessii
Yeah, we work together. So I manage my main channel, and Ty manages the vlog channel. So he edits it, and we film together on that channel and stuff. But it’s really great. I mean, we’re both homebodies, we’re very similar, so we just get along so well — so we can work together really well. So married life is not anything crazy or difficult, right now. It’s been really good. Even with the pandemic, we’ve been totally fine. You know, in the same house constantly every day — we’re good.

Rebecca
Yeah. With your dog.

Jessii
With our two dogs, yes. Winnie and Mr. Thomas.

Rebecca
Although you had a dog loss?

Jessii
Yes. We lost Dozer a year ago. He was our family dog for twelve or thirteen years.

Rebecca
So was that sad for everybody?

Jessii
Oh, yeah. Especially our dad. I feel like he was the closest with Dozer. Especially because he was the only one working from home when we went to school — my mom went off to her job, so it would just be my dad and Dozer, in his office, working every single day.

Rebecca
And Mandii, you’re getting married too?

Mandii
Sure am! This year, September.

Rebecca
Wow. There’s a weird similarity — not to bring it back to my life too much — but my sister and I both got married quite young. Because you guys, relatively speaking, you’re youngish in this world to be getting married. Do you feel that way?

Jessii
I was 25. I don’t know if that’s considered young for getting married. You’re gonna be 25, Mandii, when you’re married.

Mandii
I’m going to be 25 too, yeah.

Rebecca
I think it’s on the young side. I mean, I was 22, so that’s even younger. Does it feel young to you, or no? I mean, you’re just living your life, and this is what makes sense to you.

Mandii
I feel like, to me, it’s the perfect age. I feel like I’m different from everyone else. I feel like settling down in your 20s is a little far-fetched for a lot of people my age, I think — they just want to travel and enjoy their life and not, you know, feel like they’re being tied down, so to speak. I always dreamed of the married life and having kids and stuff like that. I’m very traditional that way.

Jessii
I’m not on the kid train yet.

Rebecca
You’re not?

Mandii
I’m on the kid train!

Jessii
No. Mandii’s like, “I’m going to get married and have a bunch of kids right away,” and I’m like, “Maybe mid-30s?” I’m 28 now, and I always said, since I was a kid, “28, I’m gonna have kids.” And now that I’m here, I can’t do that. I’m so work-oriented, and I just can’t see myself being a mom yet.

Rebecca
Although I bet your fans would — do you feel like they would just be all over that? Oh my gosh, isn’t that the thing with influencers, as soon as you have a baby?

Jessii
People’s channels actually do really well, because they start a family vlog channel, right? I mean, that’s huge. Think of Colleen Ballinger, her channel’s crazy, and she’s had her three kids now. But people ask me all the time — like whenever I do Instagram Q&As or something, every question is like, “When are you having babies?” And I get the excitement, and that’s cool, people are just happy about it, but I feel like there’s so much pressure. Once you get married, the next question is, “When are the kids coming?”

Rebecca
Oh yeah, we’re obsessed with people’s progression.

Jessii
Yeah. What’s the next thing?

Rebecca
I think we’re a progression-obsessed society. Although Mandii, that would be really good, because you do clean-up videos and stuff — I really liked how you connected it to your cluttered mind, like cleaning up your mind? Is that how you think of…?

Mandii
I absolutely think of it that way. At least for me, if I look at my room, you can really tell what kind of state of mind I’m in by how my room looks. If it’s really messy and all over the place, then that’s the state of my mind. I actually don’t know what comes first — if it’s anxiousness because my room looks like that, or I’m anxious and then my room ends up looking like that. You know what I mean? So I just like to clean up both. I think it kind of goes all together, for me at least.

Rebecca
Yeah, like you just feel better. Are you the same way, Jessii? My desk is pretty messy, but I — I think — ascribe to the ‘messy is creative.’

Mandii
Organized mess.

Rebecca
Well, yeah, How are you, Jessii? Are you organized or messy?

Jessii
I am so messy. My whole life, like everything. Since I’ve moved into a new house, I feel like I’ve been trying harder to keep it clean. But my room growing up was always messy — my mom had to sit me down and be like, “You need to clean this today.” It was always a forced thing. I’m so cluttered. It could be a creative thing — I have a million papers on my desk with ideas everywhere. Everything’s just everywhere. When I do clean, I feel so much better afterwards, but I hate having to clean — which sounds terrible.

Rebecca
Are you guys on the same street? Are you close?

Jessii
No. We used to be — we used to live in the same house. She lived in the basement part and I lived up on top.

Rebecca
But then you both moved to separate places.

Mandii
Yeah, it was so sad.

Jessii
I know, I loved living together, that was so fun.

Mandii
So sad!

Rebecca
Was that a fun time of your life?

Jessii
It was, because I could just walk downstairs and talk to Mandii whenever.

Mandii
It was so nice. I actually miss those days so much.

Jessii
I know. That was nice.

Rebecca
Could you have kept it going, or it was just the time?

Jessii
It was just time to move. When Ty and I got married, we wanted to have our own space and move to a new house. I mean, I loved living with Mandii.

Rebecca
Do you guys fight? Did you go through your fighting stage, and do you fight less now?

Jessii
Oh yeah, we fight less now. But when I think of our childhood, we did everything together — we watched Disney movies, played Barbies, walked to McDonald’s to get a McFlurry. We did everything together, and then I feel in high school we were less close. I don’t know why that was, I think we were just doing our own thing. High school’s a hard time.

Mandii
Different phases.

Jessii
Different phases, yeah. And then in our adult life, I feel like we’re so much closer. Closer than we’ve ever been. We don’t fight now, and if we disagree we will talk it out maturely, for as long as it takes. We can have three hour conversations.

Rebecca
Right. What would be something you might disagree about? Could you say?

Jessii
Nowadays? I don’t even know, because you know what? I can’t even think of what our last argument was about.

Mandii
Usually it’s some form of miscommunication.

Jessii
Yeah, maybe.

Rebecca
Right, but it’s not an often thing?

Mandii
Not at all.

Jessii
No, not at all. We used to fight a lot in high school, and I don’t even know what the fights were about for that either. I think friendships, sneaking out… I don’t know.

Rebecca
Sneaking out, do your parents know about that?

Jessii
Oh, yeah. They know it now. We talk to them about it now.

Mandii
They know everything.

Jessii
I used to sneak around a lot.

Rebecca
Oh, really?

Jessii
Yeah. People, when they see me — they probably don’t think that.

Rebecca
I wouldn’t think that. So you had…?

Jessii
Yeah, like secret boyfriends and stuff. My mom knows about it now, but back then…

Mandii
She was very mysterious.

Rebecca
Oh really?

Mandii
I knew everything that was happening as it was happening — but mom and dad would look at Jess, and she would be the perfect quiet little child. I would be the one who was going out and didn’t even care who knew about it.

Jessii
Yeah, you were up-front about it, and I was very secretive.

Mandii
I was so up-front!

Rebecca
I did want to ask you about the bullying stories, because those are obviously really profound for people hearing and identifying with those kinds of traumas. Mandii, do you think “Oh, I should have been more subtle”? You know what I mean, like, “If I wasn’t completely out there, then I would have saved myself some pain.” Although that’s hard to say in retrospect, right, we are who we are.

Mandii
No… I know that maybe if I was a little bit less out there, maybe I would have. I mean, it’s hard to say because I don’t regret anything. Obviously, I feel like when you’re going through it, it’s different. But upon looking at it from a place where I’m at right now, I learned so much from it and I’ve grown so much from it. I’m a completely different person than how I was before, and I’m better because of that experience.

Rebecca
And you think better because you’ve been through pain? I think about that in my own life.

Mandii
Oh, 1,000%. Because when you’re at rock bottom, the only place to go is up. And it also helps you become a more empathetic person. To have gone through pain yourself, you can empathize with other people and give them advice and help them through hard times. You know what I mean? You’re just more aware.

Rebecca
I wonder how universal bullying is — like, if everyone was honest and they looked at their childhoods, did they go through some form of bullying? Mandii, I did listen to your story, and I have a very visceral memory of being in grade four — so it was a little bit younger, because you were a little bit older, was that high school for you?

Mandii
It was high school, yeah.

Rebecca
And Jessii, you have your own bullying story?

Jessii
Yeah, it sort of started in elementary school and went into high school.

Rebecca
Can you talk about that a bit?

Jessii
Yeah. I think I was on the opposite end, where I was too quiet and to myself, so people took advantage of that and bullied me because I thought I was weird and this strange, quiet kid. I remember in elementary school, I struggled getting onto the bus — I hated when I had to go to school, because no one would let me sit beside them. I’d walk on and they’d place their bag on the seat beside them so I couldn’t sit. I had this one guy who would trip me all the time when I was walking to find a seat on the bus. So it really started there.

Then in high school, girls are just really mean. I had a friend, she was in the popular group — in the dance group at our school (we had an art school). A lot of the dancers there were really mean to me, but she was friends with them, so I would sit with them at lunch. And after I would leave — Facebook used to have (was it called Honesty Box or something, Mandii?) where people could send you something anonymously. They would always send me things like, “We hate that you sit with us at school,” or would just say something horrible about lunch time, really. So I started sitting in the bathroom at lunch, or going to the library where I could be by myself, and I just sort of isolated myself from people because I was like, “Well, if I can’t sit with them and hang out with them, I guess I’ll just be on my own.” But I feel like — end of grade 11 and grade 12, I really started making more friends, and I ended off high school on a good note with really good people around me. I was a lot happier, but it was a struggle for a while, for sure.

Rebecca
Could you find those people on Facebook if you looked?

Jessii
Oh, yeah. And it’s funny, because when I started YouTube and things started getting really good for me, they would send me messages like, “Oh hey, remember when we sat together? We were friends!” I was like, “No, it wasn’t like that at all.”

Rebecca
So what did you do, do you just ignore them?

Jessii
Yeah, for the most part, I ignore them. Or they’ll reach out and try to get me to promote their new business or something.

Rebecca
Wow, for real?

Jessii
Yes. It doesn’t happen as much anymore, but the first few years of my YouTube channel — they would pull from like, “Oh, we sat together, remember?” And it wasn’t like that at all. They saw it differently, or they were purposely changing it so that they could be close.

Rebecca
That they could fit into your story again. And Mandii, your story — a little bit different, but do you feel like sharing a bit of yours?

Mandii
Sure. I mean, it went on for a long time. It ended up being pretty huge. It got to a point where all my friends — I had a boyfriend at the time as well — left me, because they were getting bullied just by association with me. So I ended up being completely isolated and alone. At this point, my sister had already left high school, so I didn’t even have her at the school, which would have made a big difference, obviously — having somebody, just one person, there for me. But I didn’t have anyone. It got so severe, to the point where they would follow me to my classrooms, or they’d wait outside of the door for me, or even inside the classroom. One group of girls, they actually threw a chair at me in the middle of class, when the teacher stepped out, and no one in the class did anything.

Rebecca
Just to try to hurt you.

Mandii
Yeah, just to embarrass me in front of the class. Obviously, when you’re a kid and you’re a bystander, you don’t know what to do, you’re shocked — so no one really said or did anything about it. I got pushed into a locker in the middle of changing between periods, like in a crowd of people. So it was kind of hidden, like no one really noticed. Similar to Jess, I ended up eating my lunches in the bathroom, and in the library as well. I was actually pulled out of school for a semester, due to serious mental health issues: anxiety, depression, and everything. I just couldn’t handle it anymore. I was homeschool for a semester. Throughout that period of time, I ended up doing a lot of work on myself, getting help for anxiety and depression. I became a lot more confident and sure of myself through that time, and I was able to actually go back to school the following year and walk with my head held high. I made a new group of friends. It all worked out in the end, just because I didn’t care anymore.

Rebecca
Right. So you had to shift your own mental place.

Mandii
Completely.

Rebecca
So you both ended your experiences pretty well. But do you feel like you have scars from that, Jessii?

Jessii
Oh yeah, for sure. When I look back at my time in high school as a whole, it’s a lot of bad memories. I don’t like to think about it a lot. But it ended off good, so I guess that’s a positive.

Rebecca
I wonder, you are well-acquainted with vulnerability — like, you experienced being vulnerable. Do you think that has allowed you to go and be vulnerable all the time in your YouTube videos?

Jessii
I feel like when I first started YouTube that actually sort of hindered me from wanting to be vulnerable — because I had a bad past experience. When I started YouTube, I was telling stories about my life — that was what I did before all the scary mystery videos and stuff. I just told storytimes from my life, and I told my bullying story. But a lot of people — you know, you have the dislikes, you have people making fun of you, or not liking your content. So when I first started getting hate comments like that, it was really hard for me, and I wanted to stop. But after a while, you have to think that you get so many more positive comments than you do negative comments, and you have to focus on that. My family was really supportive of me, and my mom sat me down and talked me through everything. I got past it eventually, now I don’t even care about any negative comments. Recently YouTube actually got rid of the dislike button.

Rebecca
Oh, they did?

Jessii
Yeah. And people are actually mad about that. I’m good with it, but people are trying to petition to get it back.

Rebecca
Because they feel like they can’t say what they want to say? Oh my gosh.

Jessii
Yeah, I feel like the people who aren’t YouTubers — the viewers — they want it back. I kind of get it, because you want to express whether you like something or not — but at the same time, life is better without the dislike button.

Rebecca
So do people still leave mean comments if they want?

Jessii
Oh yeah. They can leave whatever they want, really, but I don’t really focus on that.

Rebecca
Do you even read them?

Jessii
No. Actually, I don’t even read a lot of my YouTube comments. What I’ll do is I’ll look at a video, and the first ten most upvoted comments I’ll read and I’ll like and respond — and I won’t look through the rest, because I know…

Rebecca
Like, it starts to degenerate?

Jessii
Yeah. I don’t want to second guess my content and myself. I just want to focus on the good.

Rebecca
Yeah. What about you, Mandii? Do you read your comments?

Mandii
I do, I read all my comments.

Rebecca
So do you go through kind of a wave, like up and down?

Mandii
Yes. And honestly, to be real with you, the hate comments don’t really get to me as much. Maybe they would have a couple of years ago, or maybe while I was in high school, but really, it doesn’t. Because I can take constructive criticism, I like to see that kind of feedback. But I find the hate comments, they’re just so silly. I just laugh it off, I don’t care.

Rebecca
Right. You’ve gotten kind of immune to them.

Mandii
Completely. I just laugh it off.

Rebecca
That’s a good thick skin to have. One thing we’ve been talking about on the podcast is — we call it our multiplicity. So all the people that exist inside of us, so you have a YouTuber inside you, and Mandii, you actually have a hairdresser inside you? Do you think, “What’s next for me?” Or do you see versions of yourself? Or do you, in the moment, just do what you’re doing? Or do you think of other sides of yourself, or what your next iteration might be?

Jessii
Yeah. I mean, I get some anxiety thinking about my future. I sort of take things day by day, but there’s a lot of things that I like to do that I wish I was doing more of — like creating art, or writing. I’m actually writing a book right now, which I have never said to anyone! Yeah.

Rebecca
Yes! Actually, I was wondering about that. I had thought of asking you that, so I’m glad you brought that up. So you’re writing a book?

Jessii
Yes. It’s a fictional book that I’ll talk about eventually, but I’ve only written one chapter — so it’s just the beginning. I don’t know what’s gonna happen. I want to do more creative stuff like that. I’ve always loved writing since I was a kid, I’ve always loved making art. I’d love my life to go in that direction eventually. I don’t think YouTube is going to be forever. There’s always new things — I mean, TikTok is already taking over the world. So people might start to just go to TikTok and forget about YouTube — I don’t know. I don’t want to think that way, but I have no idea what the next five years of my life is going to look like. But I always want to create, no matter what I’m doing — creating videos, creating art, creating something. That’s what I like to do.

Rebecca
What about you, Mandii? Do you know your next iteration, maybe it’s going to be the mother?

Mandii
I would love to have kids and start a family, of course. COVID has stopped the things I really want to do, like traveling and taking up more of a travel vlog spin on my channel and on Instagram, and stuff like that. I’ve always loved doing stuff like that. With the hair salon, who knows? I would love to open up a hair salon and hire other stylists and stuff like that. There’s just a lot of options, I think.

Rebecca
Yeah, that’s a good way to look at life.

Mandii
I want to do everything. I want to do it all!

Rebecca
Do you do Jessii’s hair?

Mandii
I do. I didn’t today, but I do.

Rebecca
But you do cut it and stuff?

Mandii
Yes. I cut it, I colour it.

Rebecca
Do you do your mom’s hair?

Mandii
I do the whole family. My friends.

Jessii
It would be rude if we didn’t go to you, you know?

Rebecca
Would it? Yeah, I guess so.

Jessii
Yeah. She knows what she’s doing. She’s great! So it’d be weird if we didn’t get our hair done by her. Right? It’s kind of like betrayal if you don’t.

Rebecca
So do you officially make appointments and go in, Jessii?

Jessii
Oh yeah.

Mandii
She’ll message me. It’s not that formal.

Jessii
Well, it is formal because she has these text messages that go out. It’s like, “Your appointment is tomorrow at 3pm.”

Mandii
Well, because I have a system and I put your name in it, and it sends notifications.

Jessii
You have to send ‘yes’ or ‘no’ — like, “Do you want to cancel or do you want to confirm?” It’s very professional.

Rebecca
So do you do Ty’s hair?

Mandii
Yup! They come together. They’re actually coming later on this week.

Jessii
Yeah, we’re coming in like two days.

Rebecca
Yes. I’ve always wanted to have somebody who could do hair or nails in the family. Actually, my sister has always said that in a different life, she would have been an esthetician.

Mandii
She could still do that! It’s such a quick course.

Rebecca
I’m gonna tell her — she could still do that.

Mandii
On the side, why not? Or as a hobby.

Rebecca
Yeah. I would love to see her do that, because she’s very academic. I’d just love to see her getting in there with nail polish.

Mandii
Get creative.

Rebecca
Yeah. Well thanks, you guys. Thanks for chatting. It’s really fun to just hang out with you guys.

Mandii
Yeah. It was fun chatting.

Jessii
Of course. Thanks for having us.

Rebecca
Yeah, and I hope your listeners will be interested in hearing a slightly different side — a more casual side, I guess, to you both. Because I mean, YouTube — you do have to get your performance vibes on, right?

Jessii
Oh, yeah. Especially my main channel. It’s all very professional. My vlog channel is more chill. But we’ve never done a podcast before.

Rebecca
You haven’t?

Jessii
No.

Rebecca
This is your first podcast?

Jessii
Yeah, and it’s great. It’s so relaxing, it’s so conversational and chill.

Mandii
Yeah. I love it.

Rebecca
Although, have you heard this about podcasts? That actually the auditory, just that, is very intimate for people?

Jessii
Oh, like ASMR?

Rebecca
No, actually, that is very intimate though, isn’t it? When you just hear someone’s voice, that sort of experience. I guess it is sort of like ASMR.

Jessii
Yeah, it’s a relaxing experience.

Rebecca
But just that you feel like you have access to people in a different way. Because you can’t really hide.

Jessii
Yeah, totally.

Mandii
You’re like the fly on the wall as a listener.

Rebecca
Yeah, that’s why I’m thinking maybe people will be like, “Oh yeah, we really heard them in a different way.”

Mandii
They hear our secrets!

Jessii
Unedited.

Rebecca
Well, we did hear about your book, Jessii.

Jessii
That’s the first secret I’ve never told, so…

Rebecca
Well, that’s amazing. Cool. Well, I hope you enjoy the rest of your day. Post a picture of your new hair, Jessii.

Jessii
Ok, I will.

Rebecca
Mandii’s artwork.

Jessii
Yeah, for sure. I’ll have to.

Rebecca
Ok, cool.

Jessii
Thanks for having us!

Mandii
Yes, thanks for having us!

Rebecca
Thanks for chatting! Bye guys.

Jessii
Bye!

Mandii
Bye!