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If you are relying on your leads lists on social media to close numbers and you're tracking your numbers, never, ever, ever buy even one bot because you don't know what's going on on your page. And when you have some bots, it attracts more. It tells the algorithm that accounts like this low quality account are the accounts that like this account. So if you're trying to buy bots so you can get to 10,000 followers, that initial 10k, that what every. Every follower counts, but that initial 10k defines how the rest of your journey is going to be.
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You and I come from a profession of like, hey, we're on camera, we're performing, we're. We're selling a product, but we're selling it to gamers or a very specific demo. Talk about the challenges of being the way we look and, and growing up the way we did and using our superpowers and monetizing it, but also losing a little bit of our light in
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the process, I would say. And I think a lot of creatives can relate to this. My name is Rudy Moore, host of Living the Red Life podcast, and I'm here to change the way you see your life in your earpiece every single week.
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If you're ready to start living the
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red life, ditch the blue pill, take the red pill, join me in Wonderland and change your life.
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Welcome to another episode of the Living youg Legacy podcast, the Women in Power edition. Also the Red Life Edition. For Inside Success. I am Ray Gutierrez. Now that I've gone through the list of brands, the ultimate brand. Holy moly. Victoria Toplansky. Sorry, I'm looking at my phone.
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Oh, my gosh. You got it on the first try.
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Right on.
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And it's. And that's why I call myself Holly Treats, because it is. It's a mouthful. Victoria Toplansky.
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I see. I see kind of what you did there. And it's literally the first 15 seconds of the damn podcast. Yes, Victoria. Would you like to be referred as Victoria or. How can I. How should I address you?
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You can call me Victoria, but I like to be Holly sometimes. Holly is a safe name to call me. It's like my favorite nickname.
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Co. So Holly it is.
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Yeah.
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Holly, welcome to the show. We just finished filming your episode for Women in Power. How do you feel?
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Oh, my gosh. I am on cloud nine. First of all, you are such a good interviewer. You are so good at making, at, like, giving people space to get real and talk about, you know, stuff I wouldn't normally talk about on just any show, so I thank you. You're. You're adding so much to this.
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Right on. It's such a pleasure. Same here. Vice versa. This is why I'm like, we got to do a podcast together and keep the vibe going. What are folks going to learn about you in your Woman Empower episode?
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I think that folks are going to learn that I have a very unique take on what femininity is. I don't consider myself a feminist, but I consider myself to be in my divine feminine energy. And I think that that's kind of a concept that a lot of people aren't super familiar with. And I've also had quite an interesting hero's journey myself. On the topic of all the fun comic stuff, I've, you know, been through an interesting journey, and a lot of people don't know all the twists and turns along the way. That brought me here. And it was really fun, you know, unwrapping that with you.
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Same. Which is funny because this is my first segue. The Little Mermaid and Jessica Rabbit.
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Yes.
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Why did that come up in conversation? I'll let you take it away.
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My first childhood crush was Ariel from the Little Mermaid. It was the first girl I had ever seen wear a bikini. And it was just. I was. I was amazed. Like, I'm a huge fan, right? So. So she was my first crush, Jessica Rabbit. So, so hot. Also, big fan. I love a crazy redhead. I love it. But the most fun part of that,
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I saw myself in Roger, by the way. Roger.
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You see yourself in Roger?
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I was definitely Roger.
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So you solved mysteries?
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Yes, I definitely did. I solved mysteries. I was definitely the Roger Rabbit in that whole escapade.
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Oh, my gosh.
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Chasing Jessica Rabbit to the rest of my life because of that damn movie. You know what, though?
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You're not alone.
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But I would say I had a healthy upbringing. I'm like, that was healthy to be that boy at that age and go, huh? I feel funny when I'm watching something like that.
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That is healthy. It's healthy to have cartoon crushes. And it's not weird. I think that it's kind of weird that we've made it so taboo, actually. It's kind of like this is our first love. And then so much of our culture is based in cartoons. You know, you can get. Even if we're talking about adult cartoons like Family or Big Mouth, which also super inspire a lot of my comic writing and book. I always. When I think of my scenes, I think of them kind of in that animation style sometimes. Right. Just because it's had such an influence on me. And, you know, you can get cartoons to say things that humans can't say or it's funnier when a cartoon says it because we don't look at them and remember something that we're not supposed to. Supposed to. We have a clean slate because it's fantasy.
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Yeah.
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So I think it's healthy to have a cartoon relationship. Just kidding. Not maybe not a relationship, but a cartoon.
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A crush. I like crush.
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And to see yourself in the cartoons.
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Yes. That's even more powerful. I can go on and on about how unknowingly. Cosplay or larp. In elementary school, I was a Power Ranger. Like, my, my communicator would go off, my watch would go off and I'd raise my hand and go, oh, man. Just to get the girls to like go, oh, God, Frey's gonna fight Putties now. I was totally in a complete.
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Did it work though? Huh? They were like, all about it. Yeah.
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Yeah. Cause years later, I got to meet Jason David Frank, the Green Ranger, ex White Ranger, which is with the power coins that I have in my neck. And I know it's like mind blowing. I was the story director for Power Rangers, the mobile game which was called Legacy wars. And now I direct a show called Legacy Makers. So you want to talk about connecting the dots through my path, That's a whole different podcast.
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You know, the conscious collective and the flow of the universe is so. Or the unconscious collective, I guess, and just kind of like there, there's such a point to that. I've had so many times. It's not particularly advised to think of your life as a movie, but everyone is living their own individual movie. And sometimes you end up as guest star on someone else's life show. It's. It's important to remember that everyone else is in their own show. Right. But on that note, you know, the universe has a sense of humor with some of their lines that they drop, you know, where you hear something that was monumental that you remember hearing as a four year old and it pops back up again as a 30 year old in an extremely, like, powerful way. And you're just like, wow, there is a universe. Yeah.
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It goes beyond just wow. I've had that to me happen to me several times where it's the neck break moment, which is like, what? Holy shit.
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Do you realize what you just said? Yeah. And the other person doesn't. And that's what's crazy. They don't know what they just said. They haven't lived that experience with you kind of like. Yeah. And it's so crazy because it's almost like seeing your favorite movie and share and talk, trying to talk to it about. Talk to someone else about it. And then they're like, oh, I've never seen it. I was like, okay, well, if you did, it would be epic. Like, you had to be there. Yeah.
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So I got to go back to. Let's set this up. I've spoken to folks that have divine energy, that speak to God, that own islands. Shit. Daymond John. A whole hell of a celebrities, but none of them know the prestigious amazingness of what it is to be a cosplayer, a gamer, a nerd, a geek. I always like to say nerds are the folks that make the cool shit that geeks buy.
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Yes.
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Like, talk about that philosophy. You're very much a nerd. You're very much a geek, and talk about how that's made you successful.
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Something that I've had to learn is that there's so many different brands of nerd and geek. Like, for example, my brother is also a nerd and a geek, but we're very different varieties. We have our common, you know, our common ground. We both like Pokemon, we both love Nintendo, but he has his own, his own thing.
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Is he a Trekkie or is he a Star Wars? Is he a Lord of the Rings or is he a Harry Potter?
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He's all of them.
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All the above.
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Yeah. Not really Harry Potter, though, because that's not really his. He's a little older than me, so it's just not.
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I passed Harry Potter.
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Yeah. So it's just not as cool and I have to accept that. Or, or like, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Huge for him, not as big for me, but I know them. And it's like, I celebrate my brother's life. You know what I mean?
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I could see April o' Neil cosplay. I could totally see it. Yeah, absolutely.
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And, yeah, there were so many fun moments. And then I'm more of a nerd about My Little Pony and cosplaying. Like, I would cosplay before he did. I. Very specific on my video games. I, I, I get very intimidated in video games, and they'll lose me if the game changes too much. Like, I used to love Grand Theft Auto, and then they, I forget at which point they changed the console and the. And they started getting more sensitive.
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Oh, yeah.
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And I was just like, I can't enjoy this game anymore. It's too, it's too much for me. So, like, what are you gaming now?
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Like you asked me why we are nervous. I didn't give you a proper answer. I gave you this other answer. But what are you playing now, right now? And are you still playing video games right now?
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I haven't had a lot of time. I do a lot of generative AI stuff lately that specifically like this year, like the past couple of years. So I've been nerding out on creating my own stories and really understanding the technical side of AI and how all AIs work. But when I do get more time, I am so excited. I have a friend at my company who's like a full time professional in the video game industry and so he gets a lot of like hookups with stuff and we. Yeah, it's super fun. So I want to get a new Nintendo Switch and get all the new games on it. So I'm just. I'm just ready for it. I have the old one. I. I can still play it. It's not bad, but it's just like knowing that there's a brand new Donkey Kong out. It's just like, okay, well this one, it's fantastic.
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It's really good. It's like Mario 64 good.
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Oh my gosh, Mario 64. And then, and then every version of Super Mario World, I need to win and play and be like, I will go through that game and I. In like 10 games in 10 days for sure. And like sitting there like a goblin. Just. I loved Roller Coaster Tycoon growing up. I feel like that was monumental. I still have inside jokes with my bro about Roller Coaster Tycoon.
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Did your brother play like Starcraft and Red Alert?
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Yes. And Oregon Trail. Like we also had this weird. It wasn't called Operation. Like these weird niche games. Like, like there was this one. I don't even know. There's. It's not an American name, but it's like basically Mario is rolling around on a ball and picks things up.
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Katamari to Masi.
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Yes, it was Katamari. Yeah. Like, like that's a very niche game that a lot like you have to be a gamer. Yes. Yeah, you have to really like that kind of stuff. Kirby's all the rage right now. I love Kirby. I just didn't catch the Kirby bug when I was younger. But I'm kind of trying to catch the Kirby bug just because that's what the next generation loves. And I like to stay on top of trends and understand them. So. Yeah, those are mine.
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I was gonna say. I was like. I was just gonna say, like, I always lean into the gaming industry, because I come from the gaming industry, the music video world and gaming. But if you want to like a tap into the pulse of what's really happening day to day in entertainment, always lean on gaming. From music to art to poetry to fashion, it's always gaming. But gamers are always also very cynical, which is the reason why I'm leaning onto the nerdy geeky side. It's quite a superpower to speak to a very cynical taste making or taste breaking audience. From the alternative crowd to the gamer, they're very much in the same ballpark. You and I come from a profession of like, hey, we're on camera, we're performing, we're selling a product, but we're selling it to gamers or a very specific demo. Talk about the challenges of being the way we look and growing up the way we did and using our superpowers and monetizing it, but also losing a little bit of our light in the process.
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That was so big for me, I would say. And I think a lot of creatives can relate to this. Being the youngest person in a group and then doing art or expressing your creativity with people that are more experienced as a child, not as an adult that understands how to handle the situation, but as a child. I think a lot of people go through this phase where like, I guess I'm not creative, I guess I'm not actually supposed to be an artist. And then you go through this dark period of your life where you're not being an artist and feeling really weird. And I felt that way because my mom is an artist, my brother is an artist, and they're so good and so advanced and they're both older than me. So I went through this period of time where I was like, I don't want to do any creativity that even resembles their kind of creativity. And in the process, rejected actually my own creativity. I think I remember years that I introduced myself as, I'm not that creative. Just as kind of like a shield. I'm kind of like, okay, well if I say I'm not creative, then no one can say that my art's bad, you know what I mean? And feeling really unfulfilled and really fake, actually. And then creating really fake stuff and doing my graphic design for marketing, just be like, yeah, this is all just billboard stuff, you know? And luckily I've made peace with that. Came into my artistry and now learning how to relate with people and kind of assessing their creativity from the conversation. Because now I have so many nerds in My life where it's like, I can smell a Ren Faire nerd from a mile away. Like, I can tell when someone goes to the Ren Fair when they don't, or if they go to the gathering of the Juggalos. Right. You know what I mean? It's like, no, I'm not Ren Fair. I'm Juggalo. You know, it's like, that's. They're kind of nerd. They're kind of goth. You know what I mean? In their own way. So learning how to have those common interests and then learning that sometimes you are enjoying someone else's passion as someone in the audience, and you're learning about a new topic. And, like, for example, Spider man just doesn't do it for me.
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Yeah. I'm not a Spider man guy either.
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It turns me off. Like, everything about Spider Man. I'm sorry. It's just, like, I'm not excited. It doesn't tickle my fancy. But if you tell me about Batman, I am so there for it. I just. I might. I might see myself in him more. You know, it might be that kind of thing.
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I've got the Batman logo.
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Like, hell, yeah. I love Batman.
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And it was like, it's.
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And it's.
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It's intricately placed there because it's quite painful to get a tattoo there. So it's, like, intricately placed to have that Batman logo there. Anyways.
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And then also learning how much culture affects the generations with the nerdy stuff. Like, yeah, I think when I was younger, Kirby was considered. Like, if you played as Kirby in any of the video games, you're a girl.
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Yep.
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You know, like, that's just what you would assume. Same thing with Yoshi or whatever. But now it's like, no, you don't have to be the ugly character. Guys can be Princess Peach. Guys can be Kirby. Guys can be all the things, and it doesn't mean anything about you. So I think that that's a big thing that I've noticed. And then learning, you know, sometimes people, like, are nerds, but they like the sports games, and they identify as more of an athlete, even though they're a nerd. And. And they will flex on you like, oh, I'm the jock in school. Nerdy kid. And it's like that weird dynamic comes back out.
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So Call of Duty bro is what I like to call it. Yeah.
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Yes, yes. Where they're like, this is my real life now. I'm a warrior in Call of Duty. And I get it. I'm an Instagram. I'm a, I'm a model on Instagram, so who am I to say but, but learning how to not clash with the other nerds and not, not flexing about things, right? Like I've never been called a fake gamer because I present exactly how I am. It's like, yeah, I'm, I'm technically inclined, I'm in a tech, I am in a technical line of work, but I do a lot of really non nerdy stuff and sometimes I'm playing video games for the first time and I'm not very good and I own it when I'm doing that.
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Yeah, yeah, talk about what you're doing day to day today, like what is your North Star? What is your why? What's getting you out of bed?
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What's getting me out of bed every day is a lot of the work that I'm doing with the AI company. I'm very motivated a, because I'm passionate about tech and about AI and I'm using so much AI in my personal life that I'm just like, it just makes sense that, you know, this is just what I do. I should be getting paid to be this, to be doing this as much. What gets me out of bed is knowing that I am helping my talent, that that is under the OFM tech company umbrella and knowing that I'm delivering them a better experience than probably any manager has ever given them because I am in my niche. I'm very professional and experienced, not necessarily as management at all. I'm not going to stand up next to a lawyer at CAA and say I'm more experienced than you. But for my people, I'm very good and they're so well resourced and I really go out of my way. And what makes me so good is I've had a lot of my own traumatic experiences and as both talent as an entertainer and in tech and been taken advantage of in startups, been taken advantage of as a creator felt, you know, question my worth as a creative, question the value of my work and knowing that all the things that I'm doing and all the ways that I'm going out of my way for my talent is going to protect them from the experiences that I had and that's the only way I can kind of make them right in my mind. You know, there's really no way to like right those kinds of wrongs by just, you know, it's not a band aid situation, you just have to heal over time. But it is, it's been so rewarding and so healing in the process to be like, you guys are gonna eat my. The fam is gonna eat. And they're gonna be so happy. They're gonna be so protected. If they ever meet anyone, like one of the horrible people that I met, they're gonna know. They're gonna know and be like, no, you are nothing like the good people I know. I know to stay away from you. And so I hope to be people's first experience as much as possible.
B
But, you know, yeah, let's talk about content creation. And you mentioned AI folks are really, oh, well, you probably use vo use midjourney. I'm like, no, you've taken how you use AI to a different level. Let's talk about your AI journey.
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So my AI journey right now is I kind of the first ever experience that I had with AI was actually just manually setting a bunch of my automations in Dropbox to organize my content based on, you know, how much, how many bytes are in certain things. That's really hot. Yeah. So that was my first experience with it there. I still don't have any problems with my first. You know, I did it and it was accurate and I kind of took my time. And then I started getting into the generative AI stuff and I started looking at producing my comic. And I do draw. I can physically paint and do all the things, but sometimes it's just easier. Right. And some of this AI is really high quality and impactful and it honestly can do a great job. And I want to see what it can imaginate. Right. And it can also help me organize my thoughts and my thinking. So I don't work with consumer AI. When I'm producing ip, I hire contractors and I know exactly what they're doing with AI and I know what rigs they have and I know, you know, I have control over their technology situation a little bit. And I'm not at risk of fighting with ChatGPT or Elon Musk about the ownership of the content. That's the risk that you run when you use consumer AI to fulfill your visions in ip, you have to make the original ip, you have to defend it from people saying that these AI, it's not your original content for sure.
B
For sure.
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So anyway, getting involved with this video game company and watching my ideas come to life, learning how to give them information, that's always been a huge thing. The reason we talked about this in our interview, but I've been yelled out of a dev room before for just talking, for just bothering. Unbeknownst to me, the eng team that was busy engineering and coding and doing stuff, and I barged in on their heads downtime and didn't know. So again, that experience taught me the delivering of information not only, you know, not only solidify, like, reduces the risk of it not being high quality, but it also will just keep everyone in a good state. So now flash forward. I. It's kind of like the student becomes the master. I'm looking into getting a. I'm an. I'm a. An Apple person. Like, everything's an Apple. It's such a nightmare to me to use a PC, but I really want to start using Flux and I really want to just teach myself how to do all that stuff.
B
Good for you.
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So I.
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Here we come.
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Yeah. So I'm trying to buy a really cool gaming PC right now that has enough GPUs to handle all the GPU, all the GPUs that can handle all of my visions.
B
And then 4080, I guess. I don't know, 4090. I'm just throwing numbers at you. Go ahead. I'm sorry.
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Yeah, I'm not that cool yet. I just. I just know the assignment. Right.
B
I'm just teasing.
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You're gonna help me. This. And this is why you make friends with nerds who are nerdy in different ways for sure. Because you know the numbers. You know the numbers. So that's really exciting. And that's just kind of where we're at so far. Figuring out other. Constantly looking for things that are menial tasks that people constantly fall through on and don't really want to do and figuring out how to automate those things.
B
Things.
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Because there's a lot of important things we need people to do. It's not like AI is going to do these jobs and then no one's going to have a job and we're going to be bored. There's a lot of jobs we need to do that we need people to be prepared for in medicine and all these things, even though AI is not replacing humanity. Right. So we need to get educated and get educated on how to harness this amazing power that we have.
B
So a couple talking points. I want to talk about how you've. I've been doing this gig for about eight to nine months, and I've maybe spoken to 300, close to maybe 350 folks. You've dated 50,000 men and less than that. Tell folks how you did that.
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Well, I will say not everyone is in real life. I do meet with men virtually, especially when I don't have the Highest expectations. You know, it's kind of like, hey, we can handle this. Not in a Zoom, but in a FaceTime. Right? Because FaceTime's personal.
B
It's way more personal.
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It's like, this is a date. If it's FaceTime, if it's on Zoom or meet it, we're having a business meeting.
B
All these revenue streams. I love it.
A
I know, right? I also go to conventions a lot and all. And festivals. And I'll just walk around and I'll be like, hey, what's your horoscope? Hey, what do you do for work? Hey, what are some pros and cons about you? If you were in the dating space? If I wanted to date you right now, just, like, start. I know it's. I know it's weird, but I'm collecting research. This isn't. You know, if you're trying to date people, spend more time than just one running around asking what you sign. But. But for the. For the research, It's. It's what we have to do. And I'm also not gonna lie. We have the crush matrix show.
B
There it is.
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Because I need. I need backup. I need my girlfriends to tell me about the guys that they're hooking up with and get their astrological signs and their jobs and add some more men in that way. Because 50k is a lot of people.
B
Yeah, that's a lot of data.
A
It's a lot of data. And then even though I. I'm only. I'm only having sex with a fraction, I promise, but, you know, even then, it's just a lot of people to. You know, it's like being Neo. Like, you're, like, fighting, dodging bullets. I'm dodging other kinds of bullets.
B
Yeah, I saw you, what you did there.
A
Yes.
B
Let's talk about, like, understanding the alternative demand, like, creating content for such a unique Taboo audience, but understanding that that Taboo audience is everywhere. It's very prevalent. It's just masked different. With different brands, different names. Talk about the elephant in the room.
A
I mean, I would like to start out by saying that every culture has a different definition of taboo. How raw are we allowed to get on this podcast? Are you, like, do you have an unfiltered version?
B
Or, like, you can go as raw as you like?
A
Okay, cool.
B
Yeah.
A
Like, for example, you go to. So I grew up, growing up in Southern California. We're super close to the border. It's very dangerous. Ill advised to do this. But growing up, we would just go to Tijuana and go to a strip club.
B
Sure.
A
At like underage, right? Because why not? And I, I don't know how we lived, honestly. Thank God we did. Thank God we didn't end up for sale in these strip club, right? Like, who knows? But like, you'll just casually see a woman like squirting her breast milk into a man's mouth as a part of the dance, you know what I mean? And it's like as an American where we're much more conservative than that. Like, you really. That would be taboo to see in an American strip club. That would be like, oh, my God, this place is the most ratchet. But in Mexico, you just see it all the time. If you go to India, that's a huge thing that people do. It's not weird for them, right? Or even, you know, in Asia, they have their maid cafes and.
B
Cafes, sure, yeah.
A
Or they have any themed cafes, right. And that's just kind of like an expected cool thing. And honestly, I want to go. For me, that's not taboo. But that's definitely like, we don't have a lot of that, you know what I mean? So I think so much of these taboos are that or even the tentacle thing, there's so much lore about, like, where did the tentacle thing start? Was it an ancient form of torture? Or is it because it's censorship? And that's how they show, you know, that's how they show that within the law, right? So who. So we really don't know sometimes where these things come from. But I would say that the important thing is a, to be sensitive. If you're taboo, you need to think of yourself. You might not be a therapist, but you need to think of yourself as a therapist because you have such an intimate connection to someone else's mind, especially as a content creator. We are magicians. We can influence people. It's not pretend. And we have to have responsibility with that and be like, hey, I'm not going to give you a weird fetish that's going to go make you break the law one day. You know what I mean? Like, I'm not. I'm going to have sensitivity. Or when I provide content to allow you to explore this part of your mind, I'm going to be sensitive to it and deliver it the way they want. Now, some people want to be humiliated about this stuff, right? Some people are there for the humiliation. It's like, please don't be nice to me about this. You're kind of being weird, right? Like, if you're like, okay, is this okay with you? Like, shut up. You're weird, right? Like, I'm weird. Why aren't you treating me weird? Then you. Then you have other people that are like, no, I want you to think it's weird. And that's part of what I'm enjoying.
B
Right on.
A
You know, and so consent is always huge. And discussion. So you can consent is huge. Because a lot of situations that happen with consent are really just miscommunications. And then people leave a situation and wish they had said their truth and didn't know how and then are angry and resentful and feel like they need revenge. Honestly, sometimes it can be bad, right? So I think discussion and promoting healthy discussion without feeling like shame is the answer. It's super important. I remember one time I was talking about just common in, well, just interests with a new person and I was like, we were talking about cartoons and I was like, yeah, honestly, I still love My Little Pony. Like, oh, do you have a My Little Pony fetish? Right? I'm like, no, I actually like My Little Pony and I'm not sexually involved at all when I watch Search. Friendship is magic. Why are you weird? But you know, like, why are you being weird? Friendship is magic. But I think that that's the kind of behavior to avoid is the hypersexualization of people's interests and, and trying to make things taboo that aren't. When that's. That's the balance is respecting the psychology.
B
I guess what I'm trying to land on here is there. Is that the extreme. You know, there's clearly sex everybody everywhere.
A
Yeah.
B
It's a thing where it's like, make it more sexy. It doesn't mean go topless or go full front on nude. It just means give it that, that, that cir. Quoi, that taste, that little twist that gives that extra special attention. With that being said, talk about the difficulties or not the difficulties, how rewarding it is for you to create content and kind of live in that part of folks's mind. Be a male or female where you're like, you're cosplaying. And my connection is entrepreneurs are doing that. You know, entrepreneurs are living this, this reality, this, this, this other, other individual that is not quite real. And they're paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to be coached in how to create an alter ego to thrive and survive. Talk about how you kind of do this almost every single day and how you perform well.
A
When I first started. This goes back to when I first started modeling and I was someone making Photoshop ads for Irvine Company mall events. Right. I was. And advertising random niche businesses that were our clients on our websites and social media. So I didn't really identify as beautiful. I didn't really identify as hot. And although I started my journey doing the hot girl things, yeah, I wasn't really like buying into it the way the audience was buying into it honestly. And I had to with a problem. When you are a face creator and you're using your image is what happens in here will show up on here. And you have to control this part to get this part to do what you want, to get the body to do what you want and get everything. You become so aware that this is controlling everything.
B
Oh yeah.
A
And that you can't hide from this either. You can't be like, I'm fine. And then, you know what I mean? It's like, no, you're not fine. So I, from a very, very early on I just remembered channeling Samantha Jones from Sex and the City because I especially now that I'm 30, I just like I was channeling Samantha Jones in my early 20s, but I, I just remember seeing her. I remember episodes where she like ran into her sugar daddies like wife and like wasn't allowed in restaurants anymore. And it's like this woman's like still the hottest PR agent, most like the popular chick of adults in New York City. And she walks in, she's just like, well like someone, she'll walk into a club and like a 20 year old club and, and the girls will be calling her old and she'll be like, well, you just don't have taste like, like it's just like so amazing. You know what I mean? And she has more confidence than I could have ever had on my own, you know. So Samantha's been with me this whole time teaching me how to be and my actually a huge character arc for my life recently I had a huge. Us Weekly actually wrote about my crush matrix experiment. And I spoke to the amazing writer Ryan who did the, who did the article and she just decided to refer to me as the modern day Samantha Jones. Not knowing my background. And I just read it and I was like, this is an ultimate moment for me is someone else telling me that I am this. And that was like the ultimate like my masterpiece has come together as a creator when it's like, yes, I didn't need to tell you. You get it. And it's really validating as a creator to, to feel that way. Especially when it wasn't, you know, I didn't have this confidence I didn't have this. This true grit. I didn't have the true grit of Samantha Jones until very recently. So it's cool.
B
So Holly Treats.
A
Yes.
B
Where does that name come from? Where did you build this alter ego?
A
So not to sound too, too analytical, I love double letters, and I like the name Holly a lot. I am from la, and I do feel like I'm Hollywooding when I. I feel like I'm Hollywood. I feel like every hot blonde woman I've ever met is named Holly. And every hot blonde woman who's doing hot girl things in the public eye is, like, named Holly at some point. And I just honestly didn't really feel comfortable going as Victoria to Plansky, because that's just a very complicated name. And I went. I think my original username on, like, Stream was Holly's room with a Z. Like, it was just so, like, Holly's Room, so leet. So it wasn't even Holly Treats yet. And then I became Holly Valentine because I'm like, oh, I'm kind of, like, lovable or, like, adorable or whatever. And then I was Holly Unicorn Candy, because the raver in me just vibed.
B
Sure.
A
Even though I'm sober, it was like my way of. Of plurring, I guess.
B
Love it.
A
And then eventually, I think I got my Instagram deactivated. I was like, on Instagram number seven or something like that. And by the way, this is not my. My first rodeo with Instagram. I've built at least 5 accounts up to 500k. 800k get deactivated. Yeah. So. So this accounts. I. I do this. I do this kind of a thing.
B
Yes.
A
And so I was coming up with a new username, and I was asking my fans in this chat what should I, like, name myself? And they were like, oh, just call yourself Holly Treats because unicorn candy is a lot of words and, like, you're not really a swinger. And I was like, listen, I like unicorns. Please don't misrepresent me. Right. Like. Like, just because I like unicorns doesn't mean I am a unicorn. Unicorn. But flattered.
B
I love how you use that voice. I already pictured you, like, in front of, like, an audience of dudes going, this is what we think of you. You're just standing there waiting for affirmation. That's what I saw when you were using that voice. Is that what all your fans sound like?
A
I imagine that it depends. They talk with an. They type with an accent sometimes, I swear. Oh, my gosh. I can tell.
B
How does one Type with an accent.
A
Show me Bob's bb. Show Bob's bb.
B
Oh, okay. Yeah.
A
You know, you know what? Accent?
B
Yeah, I was just like, I just, I just had that triggered.
A
You show Bob's. Show Bob's.
B
Got it.
A
So you have people who are speaking in accents even though they're not talking.
B
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
A
I can tell when someone's kind of Russian or kind of whatever, you know, by how they mix up their like thes and ifs. And all those little words are actually how you can tell how fluent someone is. Yeah.
B
How slick they are.
A
Yeah. I'm actually bilingual. I speak Spanish and the first thing that goes is my grammar.
B
Really?
A
Yeah. First thing that goes.
B
Do you think in Spanish or still like think in English?
A
I think in English, but get confused in Spanish.
B
I see.
A
Yeah.
B
Very, very cool.
A
Yeah.
B
So how can folks learn more about you? What is your day to day hustle? Folks that are listening or watching, like, I want to work with her. Like, how do they get ahold of you? What is entailed when you all work together?
A
That's a really good question. So these days I used to be way more gunsling and just in my DMs being like, yes, you. Yes, yes.
B
It's literally
A
I will answer every single thing and every comment and everything. Yeah. But now I don't because life got really unhealthy with that. So what I do is I have my qualifications of what I'm looking for. For example, there's certain niches I don't want to work with. Like if you're under 25 years old, I think that, you know, unless if we are working on a common project together or we're like starring in something together, I'm not just gonna collaborate with an 18 year old because I think that they have their own niche, you know what I mean? And I don't. It needs to make sense. You know, I had this. I had such a sweet girl slide into my DMs and I looked at her, I was like, wow, you look so much like me. Like, I was like, so she's gorgeous. You know what I mean? It was so cute to see someone who's like 18 or 19 sliding into my DMs being like, you're beautiful and I've always wanted to work with you and I really wanted to respond, but honestly, like, I don't totally know how old this girl is and I don't totally know what her. She's. She is a stranger in my DMs and I don't know, and I just don't know. Right. So I felt bad because I didn't respond to her, but I hope that she's out there killing it. And I know I'm gonna see more from her one day, but for the most part, I either. Usually I like it when I slide into your DMs. It's kind of one of those things where when Holly wants to talk to you, she will. But I am receptive to being reached out to. I do just make people go through a process. I make people meet my co workers that I work with every day. We work together in the content creation space. So unless of it's. If it's not a Holly treat specific thing, I do want to try to figure out how to maximize our potential business together by having it be a corporate thing, but I need other people to verify them.
B
Sure.
A
Something that I've been noticing coming up that I think is like, a really important, helpful tip to people is have a company email and don't just be. Especially when people are talking about paying you. I know people pay on WhatsApp. I know people pay with Bitcoin in other countries for all sorts of things. I know it's not that weird, but at this point in my career, I've been scammed enough that, hey, no one's ever scammed me with a company email like this. And that kind of follows this process. So if you can make it through, we're gonna do business. Everything checks off. That's the verification process. But the people who are like, oh, can you text? Can you WhatsApp? It's like, no, I can't. No, no, I don't. You fail. You know what I mean? You haven't really had a real job, and I can tell you, go make an email and go learn how this works. We're done. You know? And so I think learning those things is huge.
B
It's. It's kind of like it's the proper way of the balance, the equilibrium of how energy and frequencies kind of work. It's simple things like table manners, opening a door, just gestures of eye contact, holding someone's hand or anything. It's just those little tells is what really makes, like, life fun and interesting. When you can start, like, recognizing those little details of life. Gosh, I feel like we can jump into all sorts of galactic questions.
A
The world is our oyster.
B
Yes, it is. How can people find you right now? They're gonna turn this off and they're gonna Google you. Or like, is there a dot com?
A
Like, you can absolutely Google me. I'm a very googleable person. I get a lot. I. I bear a lot more on X because I'm allowed to do more. And I get hyphy sometimes. I'm. I'm savage in the comments on X.
B
Does it work when you get savage? Like when, when you start sipping that tea, do you start to.
A
It depends the context. I avoid specific topics and I avoid specific interactions. Like if I can tell that this is someone that literally knows me and hates me in real life and is using a puppet account.
B
A puppet account.
A
Like, I mean, I know, I know what people do. It's like, this is balls, you know, from. What's that movie from Dumb Money.
B
Oh, no, I don't know what you're talking about.
A
You never saw Dumb Money?
B
Dumb Money? No. Is that the one with.
A
It's about Roaring Kitty and Wall street bets.
B
Oh, yeah, totally.
A
I. Yeah. With. Yeah. So remember when it's like, like this guy's like trolling him in his chat, he finally learns it's his brother and he's like, you're balls. Like, that's like. Literally, I have that with so many people. I had this guy who was like pretending to be bilingual and like really threatening me. Wow. And then I finally name dropped who I thought it was and he never did it again.
B
Wow.
A
And so I'm like, you can't hide behind your pretend account, man. I do this for a living. I know when I'm talking to a real life hater.
B
I was gonna say how many followers you have on Instagram just to paint folks a picture right now I have
A
collectively because I have multiple pages. I have one point, almost 2 million, like 1.9 ish.
B
These are authentic real people.
A
Yes. In fact, I. Bots, not farms. I. I actually have statements about that. There is not a good reason. If you are relying on your leads lists on social media to close numbers and you're tracking your numbers, never, ever, ever buy even one bot because you don't know what's going on on your page. And when you have some bots, it attracts more. It tells the algorithm that accounts like this low quality account are the accounts that like this account. So if you're trying to buy bots so you can get to 10,000 followers, that initial 10k. That initial what? Every. Every follower counts, but that initial 10k defines how the rest of your journey is going to be. And I've actually burned through accounts on TikTok because I accidentally went viral for the wrong niche. And then the page doesn't do What I want it to do, it has women and I'm selling guys stuff.
B
So where were my, my, my line of questioning here? Thank you for, for asking the question within the question was that's a large follower count, which requires a lot of discipline. A lot of like housekeeping. A lot of. You have a team that takes care of you. No, you do this all on your own.
A
Literally. That's. It's such a problem looking for a team and I can't trust people. And bad things happen every single time I've had a team in there. It's really crazy. I really hope they can help. I know that they're coming out with a lot of features where you can third party administer for accounts without actually having to log in. Kind of the way Facebook works. Like, you can design, designate someone as an administrator and then limit their. Their access, but it's still really new and they're not totally there yet. I'm very excited for that day. It. It's very stressful having this page. Right. Because you have to not only post every day. The algorithm's not forgiving. They don't really care about your mental health, even though they say they do because they have a platform to run. It's not personal, it's just they have a platform to run and there's. There's other people. On a day that you're too depressed to post, there's billions of people who are not right. And you're just dealing with that. Right. So you're just inventory. You're just inventory. Right. So you have to continue to do that, and you have to go beyond social media and invest in your career. Make sure that you understand pr. Make sure that you understand live streaming. I got, I've gotten a huge amount of my. I got my first 75k from live stream streaming. So that's the other thing too. They don't like it as much when you're not. So being conscious of that. My engagement's down and a lot of these people found me from streaming. Maybe I should stream and they will like it. Right? Or.
B
But sorry to interrupt, but I want to make this like, I want to point this out. There's a huge difference between streaming and Cami.
A
Yes.
B
Talk about that. Like, because folks will be like, oh, she just means Cammy. I'm like, no, no, no. It's a huge difference.
A
Huge difference. There is, but there isn't both.
B
Like, live streaming to me is the experience. Like we talked about live streaming, a home, a house. But then Cammy is just like Straight and dirty.
A
You're not taking people into private shows when you're streaming.
B
Bingo, there it is.
A
You are working on the public chat, you're working on getting as many views as possible. And then some people do have ways to monetize. They have a tip thing, they have a comment thing where people can pay to have their comment read out loud. There's all sorts of ways to monetize those things. And it's very as a result gamified and not as much. We're not personally connecting. You are personally connecting as a streamer I and a camera by the way, on both ends of the spectrum. I remember people's names, especially if they spend money. I remember their usernames, I remember who their, what their dog's name is.
B
If they tell me spending habits, what they like. Yep.
A
Make a moment, make a point to remember them. Make a point, point to remember. If they see you on another platform. These are some of the most engaged people you could ever ask for. Right. And it's the same with camming. So what's different about camming is then you have to add in that money factor of do I leave the public chat where. And then you have to. So I think the biggest thing is you have to decide your objective before going in because you can get a lot of different things out of camming or streaming. And you have to decide am I in it for the views or am I in it for the money or am I in it for the views somewhere else? And that's going to dictate your entire strategy because you can't do them all at the same time. And my, you know, say I am a lot of girls follow me who are cam or who cam and want to know the secrets of the trade. You need to learn how to pop. And this is the same thing on Twitch. You have to pop off, off that feed. You have to have a good thumbnail. Your first two minutes has to look visually pleasing and interesting. Your end screens and on your. And all that stuff has to be cool and top of the line and engaging. I have a, I have a girlfriend who has like one of the most elite live streaming studios in her garage and with like full blown cameras like that as her cameras. Right. And then crazy computer like just like insane.
B
Can I tell you why they spent all that money on that tech? Because it works that and it's just energy. It's just like if you're going big, go big. I'm not telling you to get a red camera if you're shooting this Kind of content, but really like something I profess here. It's like the studio. You should be able to eat off the floor.
A
Right.
B
It's really the way you carry your energy and the profession that you do.
A
Right.
B
So more power to her for having the right equipment.
A
And her mindset is exactly. If I want something and I can't afford it, I just make more money. And I like, literally, money is energy. Right? Money is energy. And so no one understands that. Like streamers, because you watch the enter. When you come to your stream with bad energy, they can tell. And the money doesn't go. When you come there and you're like, hey, guys, what's up? Oh my God, I missed you so much. What is up? They just start. The money starts raining down.
B
It's funny because it's just exactly like sales.
A
Yes.
B
It's. You're just there wearing literally a different bat costume that day. You've gone from armored Batman to just underwater Batman. But it's the exact, exact same funnel. I know.
A
I think a big thing too is not switching up your personality on screen because of a person in your chat.
B
Oh, sure.
A
I think for everyone that's one of the biggest hurdles to overcome is because you've hecklers, right? You have mean people or you have people that are just off topic and kind of ruining the chat and moderating your chat and all that.
B
And then they'll clip that moment and that's the moment that becomes.
A
They're like, oh, look, I caught you being racist, I caught you being sexual, I caught you being inappropriate, whatever. Yeah.
B
And then it kills the vibe, it kills energy. And then you can't sustain it. Your mental health starts depleting and then you burn out. And then you take a seven year sabbatical like myself, and don't post again until someone pays you enough, until you care enough.
A
You know, I feel for people like us, obviously, but also like Justin Bieber who gets a camera shoved in his face, like, why are you acting so weird? Why are you acting so weird? Why are you, why don't you act normal for the fucking camera? And it's like, oh my God, this is a form of torture. You know, he's not gonna be okay. No one's okay when you do this.
B
And then you've got like the ninjas of the world, these streamers, all these folks that have made names for themselves on YouTube, you know, the, the pewdiepies, they eventually become family, then they eventually grow up and they go, well, that hustle was fun. Like, to me, I understand my next rise will be for another five years, but I've already given a time frame because I. I kind of want to do more than just those five years. Yeah, that's another topic for another podcast.
A
Yeah.
B
Gosh. I. I'm kind of curious of how we can wrap up here because there's so many.
A
It's open ended. I'll definitely be back. For sure. Yeah, I think probably we'll have a game day or something soon. I want. I would love my next. I'm. I'm hoping to be able to throw themed balls here too, as well. I've had some interest in people in New York. I'm trying to get together a good team of performers and figure out, like, what the format of the show is. But I'm gonna be back, so we can. We'll have so much more to talk about by the next. By the next one.
B
Yes. It would be awesome if we collaborated together on Murder Palace.
A
I would love that.
B
That would be a lot of fun.
A
I actually have a pink prop gun with bows.
B
Sick.
A
Yeah, I'm ready for this.
B
Right on. So drop your Instagram or the easiest way folks can discover you.
A
Easiest way to discover me Instagram is Holly Treats. That's H O L L Y dot treat treats like treat yourself and my handle on X is Holly. Same thing, but underscore treats and you can. You can find everything else from those two, really. So.
B
Right on. Well, this is Holly Treats and I Murder palace for inside success and good night.
Episode Title: From Model to AI Storyteller: Building a Viral Creative Brand
Host: Rudy Mawer (with guest host Ray Gutierrez)
Guest: Victoria Toplansky aka “Holly Treats”
Release Date: March 30, 2026
This episode is a lively, wide-ranging conversation between host (and ad king) Rudy Mawer, guest host Ray Gutierrez, and entrepreneurial multi-hyphenate Victoria Toplansky (“Holly Treats”). The trio dives into topics spanning creative brand-building, the evolution from modeling to AI-driven storytelling, content creation for subcultures, and the realities of making (and monetizing) a viral online persona. Victoria shares insights from her journey as a model, cosplayer, gamer, and now tech entrepreneur, opening up about self-acceptance, AI as a creative tool, the power of alter egos, and practical advice for aspiring creators.
Beware of Buying Followers
Niche Audience Success
Childhood & Pop Culture Influences
The Power of Alter Egos
Struggles with Self-Acceptance
Understanding and Serving Your Community
Integrating AI Into Storytelling
Building for the Future
Working with “Taboo” Topics
Volume of Connection: "Crush Matrix" Experiment
Defining a Strong “Why”
Operational Wisdom
Real vs. Fake Engagement
Protecting Mental Health
On the dangers of fake followers:
On pop culture’s influence:
On labeling yourself (or not):
On subculture authenticity:
On performing and alter egos:
On responsibility as a creator (especially with taboo content):
On money & energy:
| Timestamp | Segment | |------------|---------------------------------------------------------| | 00:00 | Why you should never buy bots/fake followers | | 03:09 | Childhood pop culture crushes & their creative impact | | 07:34 | The power of nerd culture; different “brands” of outsider identities | | 11:58 | Challenges of growing up creative in a talented family | | 15:55 | What drives Victoria daily (her “North Star”) | | 18:10 | How Victoria uses AI in her creative/management process | | 22:20 | The “Crush Matrix” – dating thousands for research | | 24:12 | Taboo audiences, cultural sensitivity & responsibility | | 29:11 | Channeling alter egos & the importance of the inner monologue | | 37:30 | Screening, qualification & protecting oneself online | | 41:54 | Mental toll of running large social accounts solo | | 43:36 | Key differences between streaming vs. camming | | 46:04 | The energy-money connection in live content |
Victoria (“Holly Treats”) offers a masterclass in evolving as a digital creator: blending authenticity, adaptability, technical skills (AI), strong boundaries, and a playful embrace of alter egos and alternative audiences. Her insights are actionable and honest, especially for up-and-coming creators seeking to balance personal passion, commercial success, and mental well-being. As she says, “The world is our oyster”—and she’ll definitely be back for more episodes, bigger ideas, and bolder collaborations.