Today we’d like to introduce you to Erika Wallace.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
My husband and I were living in Yorba Linda, and we met our neighbors, whose kids happened to go to school with our kids. They ran a very successful YouTube channel called Trinity & Beyond. They encouraged us to start our own channel. Since my husband was working from home, and I had recently quit my job. We thought there was no better time to try. We really looked at starting a YouTube channel as a business. We filmed every day with our kiddos, and some of our content was terrible and some was great. After three months of posting videos consistently, we got monetized. It was huge, and now three years later we are still creating content with our kiddos. Youtube has been such a blessing in our lives. Both my husband and I do it full-time. We get to be home with our kids and get to have amazing experiences with them.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
This YouTube journey is a marathon not a sprint. We have had many ups and downs. Coppa happened in 2020 which changed the entire YouTube space. As well as the pandemic. Having all the kids home grew our channel super fast. We were on such a high, but then as kids started going back to school, or views slowed down. YouTube is very unpredictable, some videos go viral, and other ones that you poured your heart into barely get seen. It’s also challenging to constantly be coming up with new content. As well as the fact that we are a family channel. Some days your kids don’t want to film, and you have to be ok with that. Our relationship with our children is the most important thing. So sometimes sticking to our schedule is hard.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am the mom in our channel The Stella Show. I dress up as all sorts of characters with lots of wigs and uncomfortable costumes. We post around 3 videos a week on YouTube. It’s all family content. I am actually currently trying to grow my Instagram & Tik Tok presence. I am so proud of The Stella Show. We really want to show kids how to love one another and be kind. We love teaching lessons and being silly. We want our channel to be a safe place for kids to watch. I recently started a new adventure with Amazon Live. It’s been totally different from the YouTube space where a create content that we edit and post. Here I am actually live talking about my favorite products, and people can chat with me and ask questions. It’s been quite fun.
Are there any books, apps, podcasts or blogs that help you do your best?
I love my Bible, I try to read it every single day. As well as Audible & Scribd both amazing apps for listening to audiobooks. Watching lots of YouTube and Tik Tok has helped with creating content. We didn’t have a clue how to start a YouTube channel. So we looked to YouTube and that’s how we learned to do everything. Even editing videos, my husband taught himself from watching YouTube.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/ocwifey
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oc.wifey/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvs8YG-yhlHx9qiq8Akrgrw
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/user_details?userid=UE1wy2zcWU6lGxRB_blIaQ
Image Credits
Erica Wallace from Hazel Moments Photography (We share the same name, only she has a “C”)
