Today we’d like to introduce you to Courtney Revolution.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Courtney. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I always knew I wanted to move to Los Angeles after first seeing Kenan and Kel on Snick – the Saturday night block on Nickelodeon. My passion for entertaining developed once I discovered the internet, and one of my first loves – YouTube. After briefly falling in love with fashion and turning down my acceptance to FIDM (my dream school at the time), I refocused, I…took community college courses, decided to take a semester off to intern at Disney World, and it was there that I realized that I had a special knack for communicating with the guests. Although I was actually awful at food service, my gift of gab TRULY saved me from basically being fired.
After returning home from my internship, I finished my degree and packed a car and road tripped to Los Angeles. It was here that I truly understood the definition of hustle – dreams simply do not work unless you put in the hard work. I worked in retail, I asked ‘Bread, apple, or chips?’ at Panera, and made vegan nachos for some of our favorite celebrities in the valley until I stumbled upon a job listing that felt as though it were created for me – a host was needed for a pop culture debate show on YouTube – my FIRST LOVE. I met with the bosses at Hollyscoop, and my entertainment hosting career began. Using the knowledge, I’m learning at my job, I’ve started my own live pop culture show on YouTube ‘A Kiki With Courtney Revolution’ as well as a podcast with my best friend Phylesha Hiers, called ‘Overheard in the Pantry’.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
The road has been about as smooth as a Nestle Crunch Bar truthfully. I’m sure it is cliché to say, but LA is an expensive city! With what I want to do career-wise, the competition is absolutely CRAZY! Everyone wants to be a star, everyone wants ‘the job’, so many people want to be ‘the best’, and as a black gay man, opportunities don’t come as frequently as my white counterparts. However, I use the moments that I am thought of or included or involved, to always attempt to knock it out of the park and to do my absolute best. One thing I’ve learned about Los Angeles and the people who live here is that anyone can look excellent on paper, but you cannot fake true charisma and energy. I always try to remember to be humble and grateful even when life gets stormy because I know one thing to be true – the clouds HAVE to part some time!
We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
On my live show ‘A Kiki With Courtney Revolution’ I love to talk hot pop culture topics and have discussions with my audience – The Rebels of The Revolution. Throughout the show, I may be discussing a story and glance over in the chat and see a perspective that I would’ve never thought of – that’s my favorite thing about what I do, getting to see how others think! I think some of the magic in what I do is I’m unafraid to say what I believe in! I’m going to give you advice like I would a friend. I’m going to tell you to ‘eat the damn fries’. Although I’m not the most popular YouTuber or personality in terms of the numbers, the value of the people I have in my online community is priceless. On my podcast, Overheard in the Pantry, my best friend and cohost Phylesha discuss everything under the sun – celebrities, horoscopes, falling in love, death. I equate it to listening to two friends talking on the phone. In this day and time that we are living in, connection is so important. I’m always trying to think of different ways that my content can be entertaining but make you feel like you’re part of it. I think both my show on YouTube and the podcast offer the person engaging with it two different experiences.
What were you like growing up?
Growing up, I definitely was a kid that loved to talk. I was definitely the one that had the ‘too social during class’ comment on ALL of my report cards. I usually always said what was on my mind and I loved to be around people so it was no surprise when I did a lot of the afterschool clubs and still found time to snowboard weekly! My biggest interest were writing, reading, fashion and entertainment. I used to write my own short stories and animated series concepts. Maybe one day I’ll be able to bring one of those older ideas to life!
Contact Info:
- Website: YouTube.com/CourtneyRevolution
- Email: CourtneyRevolutionSays@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/courtneyrevolution/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/courtrevolution
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