A CANDID confession of feeling like a loser in her early thirties led to one woman receiving generous donations and brand deals.
Akouto Von unexpectedly went viral on YouTube when she vented about her failed career and marriage.
Von, 33, who lives in California, had been posting videos about fashion and celebrities when her content dramatically veered off in a new direction nearly a year ago.
On October 24, 2023, she posted a clip titled “I’m a 33-year-old woman with no life. (my advice to young women).”
“I feel like a loser,” she added on the thumbnail.
Her candid confession clearly struck a chord, and she racked up over 2.5 million views.
But it wasn’t just viral fame she achieved: Money and brand deals started coming in, and she found a community she didn’t have before.
Von turned to YouTube after struggling to get a media job after she graduated from college.
“I didn’t find people that looked like me in journalism,” she told The U.S. Sun.
“Not just Black people but to be specific, dark-skinned people that looked like me back then.
“All I saw was blonde, white women on TV and I was like, there is no way I’m gonna be able to get a job as a journalist on camera talking about the latest celebrity gossip.
“So I decided, instead of doing that I’d go behind the scenes to produce edit, create.
“And even with that switch, I still had a hard time finding a job.”
After using student loans to get by, Von started working in customer service — hardly her chosen career.
Her romantic life wasn’t exactly what she wanted, either.
Though she had tied the knot with a man she met in college, the relationship “didn’t feel good anymore” after a few years and they parted ways.
With her family living in Illinois, once her ex left, Von began to feel “depressed” with stress from bills and feeling like her dating life wasn’t progressing.
A chance encounter with a filmmaker at a train station in southern California inspired her to share her “broken” feelings online.
“He showed me his account and I was like, ‘Oh my God,’” she said.
“At the time I met him, he had over 950,000 subscribers and I was shocked. Right now, I think he has over 2 million.”
He offered her tips for growing her own YouTube, teaching her that clicks were more important than subscribers.
And he urged her to be raw.
I was like, if I can get 500 people to click on this video, I will be very happy.
Akouto Von
“Throughout our friendship, I kept complaining about how poor I was,” she said.
“I didn’t have any friends and felt isolated. He said, ‘Just talk about that and see what happens.’
“He said people really like raw stuff on YouTube.”
Von recorded over 30 minutes complaining about her life but edited it to just 12.
At the time, it had been a month since her last job contract ended and she didn’t have another role lined up.
She wasn’t convinced that the confessional would go viral, but within a week of speaking candidly about feeling like a loser over 1 million people had watched it.
“I felt like I had nothing to lose,” she said.
“I was like, if I can get 500 people to click on this video, I will be very happy.”
Von waited until 20,000 people had watched the now-viral video before sharing it with people who knew her personally.
“I’m one of those people that don’t like to say things until it’s completed or I have something to prove,” she said.
“The first person I sent the video to was my sister and she was like, ‘What is going on, what are you doing?’
“She was very, very surprised.”
Von’s life changed “very drastically” as the video continued to rack up thousands of views.
“I went from being lonely, vulnerable, isolated to almost overnight instant virality,” she said.
“It was a very overwhelming experience and I was not prepared for it.
“I was making a lot of money and I’d never made so much in such a short amount of time before.
“I was getting so many brand deals.
“I got so many emails and the best part was although I was feeling alone, the views and the comments on the video showed I wasn’t alone.
“When you go on Instagram, you see everybody is rich, traveling everywhere, gorgeous homes, and things like that.
“But I didn’t realize a lot of people were also isolated, lonely, didn’t have jobs, and had a hard time making friends and had hard marriages.”
Von said it wasn’t her intention to make money from the video and she was shocked when someone offered to set up a fundraiser on her behalf.
Donations totaled $550 but the majority of the money she made came from the video’s views.
Despite the viral success, Von said she’s now almost back to where she was before making the video.
“People ask me for YouTube advice all the time and I always say, don’t bank on virality,” she said.
“It’s good, but it’s not sustainable. I’m kind of back where I was last year.
“I’m not as isolated anymore because I do have an amazing online community of people and I’m thriving emotionally, but I’m still broke.
“When you’re creating YouTube videos, you don’t know how much you’re gonna be making in a month.
“I had to recalculate all my funds again.
“I’m working as a barista just to make ends meet because a lot of the money that I made on YouTube has gone to paying my bills.”
Von spends up to 40 hours a week working on her YouTube channel with editing taking up the majority of her time.
She focuses on the video-sharing platform more than any other social media app.
“I don’t really want to be an influencer,” she said.
“I just want to go on YouTube and talk to people about my favorite things and my dreams and goals and stuff like that.”
She encourages other people to pick up a camera and share their personal stories.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re from a small town or a big-time superstar, if you have something to say always say it because you never know who could be listening,” she said.
“You never know how they can relate to you.
“Always tell your story no matter what it is or how little it feels, I will always tell people that.
“The main goal shouldn’t be how many views can I get with this video.
“It’s how can I inspire, how can I get people to click? How can I get people to be curious?”
