Today we’d like to introduce you to Jerry Chu.
Hi Jerry, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Hello! My name is Jerry Chu aka VibewithChu (: I was born and raised in Taiwan until I was seven years old. Growing up, I was mainly raised by my grandparents as both my parents were entrepreneurs. Since my parents were always busy with their shops, I made friends with all the neighbors. I was the brat of the neighborhood 😛 My dad expanded his business and built a factory in Shenzhen, China in 2002. He took me with him and sent me to a Military Boarding School. I would spend five days living in school.
Fast forward in 2005, my parents dropped me off in Torrance, CA where my uncle and one of my grandma that took care of me lived. During that time, my parents had to tell me that this was a vacation trip. You already know I was telling all my friends how excited I was to tell them all about America and bring back souvenirs lol I believe till this day, none of them knew what happened to me. When we arrived in the US, we did go on a big family road trip up to Norcal, visited some relatives in San Jose, explored San Francisco, and went to Yosemite. When we came back to Torrance the next day, they had taken an early flight and left a note on the table. On the note, it said how much they loved me and will miss me. This was for my own good; they wanted me to learn English, go to a good college, get a good job, etc.
I was ten years old that had no friends and did not know any English other than ‘I’m Jerry’ and ‘Thank you’. The first few years of being in the US was tough because of cultural difference and language barriers. I had to become independent pretty early. Grandma was the closest person to me. She took care of me and made sure there was food on the table at any time of the day. Her food sparked my interest in cooking. The hardest thing for me was to navigate through it all without parental guidance. Unfortunately, my grandma couldn’t provide that aspect in my life. It took me about 3-4 years (till 7th grade) to fully adapt the language and culture. A lot came from music (mainly r&b, Rap/hippop, and 2000s alternative rock like falloutboys, blink 182, linkin park, etc) and movies. I was very outgoing, loved being out with friends to adventure off, and loved to dance, so I joined a bboy crew, loved playing video games, and going through all kinds of phases when the time was much much simpler haha.
One of the biggest turning points in my life was towards the end of my Sophomore year in high school. During that time, I was unsure where my life was going. I knew that school wasn’t for me because nothing reciprocated. If you ask me what I learned from high school, it was not anything from the classes that I took. It was the confidence I built from extra curriculums. I cared for the relationships and the connections with people. I cared for making a difference in the community and contributing to a cause. Things that actually make an impact. This is when I met Mr. Pioch who at the time was a teach, volleyball coach, and ASB director. He took me under his wing and guided me to find myself. I learned about who I am and what I wanted in life during that time which was to accomplish what my parents had sent me here to do, build and nurture connections with people I come across, and make a difference in the world.
Since then, I set a daily goal for life, which was to make a least one person smile a day because smiling is contagious. I joined a bunch of clubs and was board member for a few of them including becoming ASB president my Senior year. I ended up graduating high school with a 3.0 GPA and got accepted to UCRiverside where I got my bachelor’s degree in Marketing. College was a chapter in my life where I learned all the social skills and most about myself. I joined a frat called fresh off the boat fall quarter of my freshman year and did all any college frat kid would do, had a blast! This was when I started experimenting, where I also started smoking weed. This is when I realized I was able to ‘highly’ function on cannabis.
Fast forward to my Senior Year of college, I was lost in terms of career. I had no passion for marketing, but was too late to change major. At that point, I just wanted to get out of school. I ended up getting myself into this deep hole of unknown and made me felt very uneasy. I begin soul-searching on my own, diving into my passions and what brought me to who I am in the first place. I at some point in my life thought about becoming an actor because they had one of the most influence in the world to make difference. I wanted to become someone that inspires others like how I was inspired by Will Smith. After I graduated college, I went right into the path of becoming an actor. I picked up a waitering job like any other actors/actresses in the industry and took classes to craft my art. First year was definitely the hardest, I was hardly getting any auditions. By the second year, things picked up a lot and I was booking at least once a month and I was taking more theatrical classes as I was getting more theatrical auditions. At this point in my life, I am fired up! I see the progress and saw what I can possibly become.
Then COVID hit and life got put on pause. I was unemployed for ten months before I realized I was getting comfortable and wasting time. I wanted to get back into acting but the motivation was just not there without in-person classes. I got a regular 9 – 5 job as a funding specialist at a small business firm. It was fully remote. I hated the job with a passion… It was just a really bad working environment, I felt like I was wasting my life away. I ended up with another job as a Client Success Specialist at a software company three months after. At the same time, I picked up another gig with these YouTubers. I finally started to see everything aligning again. The 9 – 5 job provided me the security and created time for me to do whatever I wanted. Working with the YouTubers inspired me to push myself outside of the box and made me realize there are other ways to inspire millions around the world. This is when I started my channel @VibewithChu, the stoner that cooks. This was two passions that went hand in hand together!
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Starting the channel was a huge challenge. Smoking weed on the internet was a big deal for me during the time, I knew once I put it on there that there was no going back. I was worried about my parents/family in Taiwan knowing about it. In Taiwan, weed is the devil’s lettuce. They don’t have any understanding of its benefits. They really treated as if it is heroin. I wanted to start this channel without anything holding me back because I saw the potential this idea had, I wanted to give it all! The only thing that would hold me back would be my parents’ disappointed in me. I ended up giving them a call and let them know what they’ll be expecting from my next chapter.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am a stoner that creates content based on home cook recipes and travels! Most recipes, I aim for easy accessibility, meaning you will be able to get the ingredients at any market. My channel is very niched because I tap into the cannabis industry as well as the food industry and that’s how I set myself apart from others. When I started the channel on 4/20/22, I was one of the few content creator in this world that smoked on camera and taught recipes. I was the only Asian stoner that did cooking content. I am most proud at the fact that I can be in touch with different communities and bring them into one on my channel. The fact that I can share my passions and connect with others based on those fulfills me!
Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
Marc Pioch – First mentor that showed me the path of finding myself. He was the very first school faculty to have gotten out of his way to find out who I was and cared for me. He took me in and showed me ways to inspire others as well as give back to the community. Very well-liked person in the community!
My friends (I would name everyone but there’s a whole list of people, lol) – They supported me from the start of my journey and always loved being part of the process!
TFIL & Overnight Youtube Channel – These are the YouTubers that inspired me to create my channel and changed my life! Elton Castee which I consider my mentor now, brought me on board to work with him which got me connected to his circle: Ginger Duran, Corey Scherer, Martti, and other influencers. He’s pushed me outside of my comfort zone and my box to push myself beyond my limits.
Stella Kim – First influencer that found me when I barely started at 15k followers on Instagram was so kind to offer support and guidance on how to monetize myself in this industry. She opened my eyes to all the possibilities out there as food influencer.
Calvin Kang – Just met him in January of this year (2023), but our connection runs very deep! We were bound to meet each other at some point in our life. He became one of my closest friends that is also in the same industry as me have helped me navigate through things that he has already experienced before.
Michel Xangyavong – If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t have been connected to a lot of the influencer friends I have now. He has helped me put my foot through the door of connecting with other people within this space. He is also a close friend of mine!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @vibewithchu
- Facebook: facebook.com/vibewithchu
- Youtube: vibewithchu
