26: Emma Nicole on Building Playnist & Being Forbes 30 Under 30!

In this episode, I'm joined by Founder and 2025 Forbes Under 30 Europe Lister Emma Nicole. She's a U.K.-based gaming content creator, with over 750,000 followers across social media. Known as @hiEmmaNicole, she shares content on games like "The Sims 4" to educate users, give tips and tricks about the games, and increase inclusivity across the gaming industry.

We dive into the evolution of the creator economy, how she stays grounded while building a global brand, and the major vision behind Playnist and its future in 2025. Emma also shares how she balances creating, building a platform, and staying inspired through it all.

Join the waitlist for Playnist!

Be sure to follow along with Emma Nicole's journey and the future that she is building!

Want to help spread the news about the Hello Spring podcast? Please give us a 5-star review and tell your friends to subscribe. You can listen to this podcast directly on ⁠YouTube⁠, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Episode Transcript

(00:08):
Hey everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Hello
Spring podcast. I'm your host Steven, Julie
Works and today we are hanging out with someone who's been
absolutely crushing it in the creator space and a fellow
Forbes 30 Under 30 Lister, My good friend Emma Nicole, who is
an award-winning and gaming content creator of the year, a
Forbes Starting Under 30 Lister on the Europe's list of 2025.

(00:31):
And the founder of the new social platform called Playnist,
a platform for gamers who want amore meaningful and community
driven way to discover, organizeand share the gaming
experiences. So we're going to be diving deep
into her journey of where she started and where she's at now,
the glow up of her career and the pressure and excitement that

(00:51):
comes with the recognition and everything she's building next.
So definitely sit back, relax and enjoy the episode because
you, my friends, will be left inspired.
Emma Nicole, thank you so much for coming on my podcast for
Hello Spring for Season 2. I am very, very, very excited to
talk to you about everything, about you as a creator, your

(01:15):
achievements over the years, Forbes 30 Under 30, your new
project playlist. I want to know all things about
it. Well, that was thank you so
much. I am so honored to be here.
I cannot wait to chat with you, go into detail, talk about
everything. Yeah, thank you so much for for
giving me the space to to share all of these exciting projects.

(01:38):
Yeah, no problem. I'm I've always been a big fan
of your content. When I found their content just
randomly on the YouTube Shorts. I'm like, this person has a lot
of insight and it's very informational.
Like there are things in The Sims that I did not know and
I've been playing this game for so many years.
I find that to be such an incredible part about being a

(02:00):
content creator because I have that exact same experience all
the time. And you think as a Sims content
creator, we kind of get the feeling we know the game inside
and out, but I am still probablyon a weekly basis learning
things about the game that are not new features.
These are old features. They are features that have been
around for years. It's crazy this game is already

(02:22):
11 years old. Sims 4 is at least.
Yeah, crazy. 11 years, We all thought it was going to end at
at five years, notes Loving. Years are still going strong.
Still going strong and still innovating.
Still so many new ideas. Yeah, it's really interesting
actually to see where it's goingto be in like 5 years from now.

(02:42):
Oh my gosh, will I even still bemaking content?
Yeah. I hope.
So I hope so. I really hope so.
I hope so. Just to kind of introduce you to
the podcast, can you tell everyone who you are and what
you do? Of course.
So I am Emma Nicole. I go by Hi Emma Nicole.

(03:04):
I am a Sims content creator kindof first and foremost, but I
guess over the years I found myself exploring all the other
fun life simulation games and then kind of tapping into a few
other cozy casual gaming genres.I started on Twitch in January
of 2021. It was kind of middle of

(03:25):
lockdown and you know, it's quite a familiar story.
We were all kind of looking for community and connection.
And I was just introduced to theworld of live streaming and have
never looked back. So yeah, that was a pretty,
pretty important discovery. And then I think very quickly
you kind of find yourself acrossall the platforms.

(03:46):
So TikTok and YouTube and Instagram quickly followed.
And I've been doing that for thelast well over 4 years.
But it has flown by. I mean, the, the social, the
world of social media has changed a lot in those four and
a bit years. But yeah, in terms of timing, it
really has just felt like overnight.
I still feel like a newbie just kind of figuring out what I'm

(04:06):
doing. I mean, honestly, I think we all
are at the end of the day learning how to navigate this
crazy, crazy world of the Internet.
And we never expected to go as far as as we thought it would be
and making our full time career.It's like, I just did this
because I was like either bored,wanting to show something or

(04:27):
just lock down. And it's like, what how we make
money on the Internet? Like, that's weird.
It's so weird and I you're so right.
I don't think anyone really goesinto it thinking, you know, I'm
going to make this a, a, a real professional career.
Because there's still even now, four years later, there's still

(04:48):
a little bit of a sense of, you know, what even is a content
creator? How do you make money?
Like it still feels a little bitkind of like the Wild West, like
we're all just figuring it out. Like it's not a legitimate job.
It's maybe somewhat of a perception still.
But I mean, yeah, it's been, it's been just such a steep
learning curve, figuring it out,trying to find ways to make it

(05:11):
as legitimate as possible, trying to, you know, making that
jump from it just being a hobby to a career, I guess.
Yeah, we're we're all still trying to figure that out.
Yeah, that is very true and I think it it all it takes is if
you have the will and the passion for it, then anyone can
really be a content creator at the end of the day.

(05:31):
I, I love that that's, that's one of my favorite parts about
content creation is that we can all just do it from the phone
that we have right now in our pocket.
Literally phones are advancing every single day.
They just launched the new iPhone.
I mean I'm a Samsung user so I feel like cameras are just
advancing. People make movies out of their

(05:52):
from their phones alone. It's incredible.
And yeah, with short content, I mean, you really are not
expected to have any kind of like fancy set up and it's not
even expected. I feel like the content that is
just doing better is the contentthat is kind of scrappy and just
kind of thrown together in 10 seconds.

(06:14):
I don't know if you find the same thing that I have, but if I
spend like several hours on a video and I'm feeling super
proud of it and I feel like it deserves, you know, to be seen,
that video will always flop. It's the video that like takes
10 seconds to throw together. That's the video that we'll end
up doing well. Yep exactly I remember not to

(06:35):
talk about me but I feel like when I I posted a video on
January 1st of this year it was just a random like 9 second
video that I just edited randomly of my SIM child getting
whisked away from CPS and then my kid died.

(06:55):
So it was crazy it all happened so quickly and this was like
around The Sims for like life and death updates and and things
so I couldn't actually play him as a ghost because he was just
gone. And that video, Oh my God, has
like I think over 800,000 views or something like that.

(07:15):
Oh for 9 seconds, that is hilarious.
It's wild. I, I, I don't understand.
People love shop values. I'm like, oh hey, I'll keep
doing it. Keep doing it.
But then it's funny because thenI'll like try to recreate, you
know, I, I feel like I'll just about understand what does well,
and then I'll try to recreate itthinking I've figured out, you
know, the, the, the step by stepprocess and like, you know, be

(07:40):
very quickly humbled that you, you, you actually don't know
Emma, you really don't know. You think you know, you don't
know. Yeah.
So what inspired you to start your journey as a concentrator?
So I guess let's rewind to 4 1/2years ago and, you know, we were

(08:01):
all kind of confined to our space, our home, our apartment,
and I was having a lot of free time.
I was kind of working freelance,but the industry that I was
working in before was really impacted by COVID.
So actually the work that I was able to do was very slow.
So I had a lot more free time. And I guess that meant a lot

(08:22):
more gaming. So I was spending a lot more
time playing The Sims, and I wasintroduced to Twitch from my
brother who just saw, I guess itwas kind of the rise of social
media during those two years of lockdown.
TikTok was having its boom. Twitch also was really kind of
taking off. And I was not aware of any of

(08:43):
this. And he introduced me to these
worlds. And I was, I think at first I
was hesitant that there would even be any Sims content on a
platform like Twitch. And I was wrong.
There was actually already thriving communities of simmers,
content creators of playing games that I really love, like

(09:04):
Animal Crossing. And Oh my God, I was obsessed.
It was just being just a community member at that time on
Twitch was it was really precious because we were all in
the same boat and we all just kind of were living through each
other, you know, connecting withpeople around the world,

(09:25):
connecting over like the same passion of the whatever game it
was. And yeah, it was just honestly a
bit of a it was a bit of a bubble because you know what was
going on in the in the wider world, but it was important to
have that kind of escape, I think for a lot of us.
So yeah, I was totally obsessed and yeah, it honestly the

(09:48):
transition of being a community member to then deciding to
stream was a bit of a blur. I actually don't even remember
the thought process, but I thinkit was just like one day
thinking I would love to do this.
I would love to share my game and my passion with other
people. So yeah, I just, I guess one day

(10:08):
I decided to, I mean, my setup was basically just my my iPhone,
which was my camera plugged intomy MacBook.
So it was the very raw stripped back setup.
And yeah, that was kind of whereit all started.
And if I told, if I told Emma now what this would become, she
would never believe me. But yeah, it kind of makes me

(10:29):
emotional. I think that's really kind of
special that I went into it super naively and as we said,
just kind of like a hobby, neverthinking it would turn into
anything else. Yeah, And I think like when you
don't overthink and you just do it, it's it's like the most
thrilling, but also like the most scary at the same time.
Yeah. And it's like we like we just

(10:50):
start and we hope for the best and it grows and grows and
grows. The more that the more
comfortable we get. Sure, like every single day,
Like when we turn on that camera, we are still nervous
because it's a camera and we have to do at least something if
we possibly can. And we just don't know how it's
going to be perceived. But as long as we're like
showing up for ourselves and like making sure that we are OK

(11:14):
and everything else kind of falls into place.
It's so true. I completely agree.
I feel like if you take the pressure off and you just do it
because you enjoy it, then you can go to sleep at night feeling
proud of yourself, feeling accomplished, feeling like
you've just shown up and just, you know, done the best that you
can. And that is really all that you

(11:34):
can offer the world. And I think when I put I think
I've noticed this section the last four years when I put too
much pressure on myself for something, whether that's like
to deliver the best video possible or, you know, to stream
with a certain level of energy and make people laugh.
I it just kind of sucks the fun out of it.

(11:56):
It just like the pressure is nothelpful.
So if you strip it back to its kind of raw ingredients of just
gaming Sims fun, then that really is just that's that's
just the best kind of way that you can start.
You just jump straight in and I think it's just a nicer

(12:18):
experience for anyone. Yeah, it definitely is.
Like you just got to start with the bare basics and go right
then and there. Don't break the bank.
Just use what you have and then eventually once you feel like
you are ready, then you know, upgrade your stuff.
Investing in yourself like you're not just spending money
to have the biggest setup, you are investing in your future.

(12:40):
Totally agree, totally agree. It keeps it casual and then also
it kind of gives you that headspace to figure out if you
even like it. So if you don't like streaming,
you can stop and you know that you haven't spent X amount of
money on a hobby that you no longer enjoy.
So it's definitely like streaming is not for everyone in

(13:00):
the end. You know, I, I wasn't, I think I
streamed for maybe 2-2 and a bityears.
And then I was then I kind of went on a hiatus and now don't
stream anywhere near as often. But yeah, for streaming, if
streaming is not for everybody. So if you make that financial
investment so quickly, then I think the pressure comes too
fast. So yeah, definitely just always

(13:22):
take your time and see if it's even something you enjoy.
Yeah, that's true. And I think when it comes like
growing your, your audience, growing your platform, there can
be a lot of challenges of like trying to figure out what works,
what doesn't work. How can I make this video like
the best it could possibly and make it better like than the
last one. But also how can I stay true to

(13:44):
myself And how can I just continue to stay with the trends
that keep popping up every single day, whether it's on
Tiktok or YouTube or even Instagram, and they're and
they're changing their algorithms constantly.
But like what are like some of the the biggest challenges like
you faced when you were like building your platform like 4
1/2 years ago? I mean, I think the big word,

(14:09):
well, the big word that comes tomy mind is uncertainty.
I feel like that can be applied to several different things.
Just the entire landscape as a creator was extremely uncertain
and still is. I mean, there, as we said
before, there's still a little bit of a lack of legitimacy with
the job. And I mean, personally, I, I was

(14:30):
asking myself questions like, amI going to be a content creator
for forever? Like what is, what is my
relationship now with, with my job?
And you know, is this going to be something that I'm going to
be doing for years? How much investment do I make
into it? So I, I mean, I was asking
myself and still am asking myself those questions about
kind of the legitimacy of my joband the wider landscape is a

(14:55):
creator. As you said, just every day is
so different. I mean, we are kind of like one
man bands trying to just do it all and it's a lot on our
shoulders. And if we're not kind of sat at
our desk working, then, you know, we're not earning and
we're not growing. So there's a lot of pressure to

(15:15):
show up everyday kind of best foot forward and navigate this
really uncertain job and uncertain economy and just yeah,
try to make it as stable as possible because we're, as you
said, even the social media platforms are unstable.

(15:36):
So it just makes everything feelreally kind of, yeah, uncertain.
Oh, that's a very like it. That's a very good word to
describe it. Like the uncertainty of the
Internet, the uncertainty of just like being a content
creator. Because then like you said, like
people are still trying to understand what is a content

(15:59):
crave? Like, what does that actually
truly entail? Like we make content online, but
what do you actually do? And I think when you solidify it
and like go back to your bare roots of like, understand, like,
why am I doing this? Like who am I as the creator?
When you put yourself in you, your content, then it becomes
all clear. At least that's what it was for

(16:20):
me. And I feel like that's also for
you, like you from like looking behind the scenes, like on my
end than walking your content. I see a lot of you in your
content and like you're putting your authenticity and your
realness and your rawness into the reviews, your short form
content and now doing so many big things out in the world.

(16:40):
Like it really goes to show likewhen you put you in your brand,
it makes it shine. Oh, that is honestly, that is so
nice. I I really appreciate that.
I I feel exactly the same. By the way, I feel like there's
some incredible content creatorsin kind of The Sims world and in
the gaming world. I guess that like the true

(17:04):
passion for what we do shines inthe content.
I mean, we, you could, we couldn't fake it.
We couldn't play these games forhours and hours and hours if we
didn't have like a underlying just love for the games that we
play. And I think what's also amazing
is that the games that we are talking about, like The Sims,

(17:24):
they're so creative. So it's such an outlet, like a
creative outlet for us to to do what we love and then share that
with with the community. So I totally feel the same way
about you and so many other Simscontent creators.
And that's, I guess the amazing thing about social media in

(17:44):
general is that it provides people with a platform to just
share what they love and maybe turn it into a full time job.
But that's absolutely not necessary.
But for the most part, it just is a platform for us to kind of
share what we love. And like, that's just such an
amazing feeling to be able to dothat.

(18:07):
Yeah, it is. And like you, you started
streaming on Twitch a while backago and there was like a huge
presence around that time because everyone was like doing
it. But I remember it was like way
back in like 2016, 2017. There really wasn't a Sims
presence back then. So he was steadily growing over
time of trying to understand howwe can we make The Sims bigger

(18:31):
on Twitch. And like, there wasn't really
that many people. I, I, I just know like it was
like me, Andrew Arcade and Curtis Parity and James and Deli
and and Simsie and like a few other people.
It was just like a very like close niche kind of community.
And then of course, as Twitch started to recognize that Sims
is like, it's a legit game. It has been, it's the biggest

(18:54):
franchise, I would think in the world.
And like, there was like this one person on Twitch who was
like who worked at Twitch and kind of like navigated and like
spearheaded all these like SIM campaigns.
And so there were a lot of different ways to promote The
Sims on Twitch on a bigger scale.
And then I think as the game evolved over time, so did the

(19:17):
community on all the platforms. And I think it's only made us so
more creative and so more inspired to do different things
that we could take The Sims intolike a real life aspect, like
turning Sims into real life people or turning houses into
real life houses. And it's like a whole thing.
And I, I find it so nice to see like the anticity of how people

(19:45):
navigate this game everyday. And we learn so many things and
watching your content. I've learned a lot of things
like with businesses and hobbies.
I've recently watched one of your shorts and I honestly
forget about those small features about that game And
it's so new. And I'm like, Oh, well, then let

(20:06):
me just go ahead and try this now.
And it's, it's just great to have have that.
And how would you say like you've navigated?
A balance of like short form content versus long form
content, because it's like totally two different things.
Great question. I feel like it's it's been a
fairly new Well, it's no, it's not been new, but it's not

(20:30):
something I dealt with from the beginning.
So at the beginning it was like long form couple of tik Toks and
streaming, but you know, short form content has really
overtaken all the other forms and you know, it's totally just
like an entity on its own. I, I definitely found a love for

(20:52):
short form form content more than, you know, long form, for
example, I really feel like it'skind of a fun challenge to kind
of portray whatever you're trying to portray, whether
that's like an educational videoor maybe it's entertaining.
I kind of enjoy the challenge oftrying to convey that in 45
seconds. And I think that the, the, the

(21:16):
content that I consume myself ismore short term short form
content. So in a way, I'm kind of
surround, I'm in that world. I'm learning from all these
other creators. I'm feeling, you know, what's
working on me personally, what kind of content I'm enjoying
consuming and trying to bring that over to my own content.
So yeah, the, the, the battle between short form and long form

(21:40):
is kind of ongoing, but at the moment still really enjoying the
short form and kind of the challenge of, you know, making
turning an idea into a short 45 second clip.
I think the, the times where I felt like I've been able to
really find the perfect harmony is when I think I, I learnt this

(22:02):
a couple years ago, I saw that someone was taking a long form
video and then chopping it up into several short form videos,
you know, seem to be like one piece of content dissected into
10 smaller pieces of content. And I wasn't doing that.
I was kind of doing it the long way.
So every piece of content I was filming specifically for, and

(22:23):
then I had this like kind of Eureka moment where I was
thinking, Oh my God, I need to completely overhaul my, my
workflow, simplify it in terms of my time and have one kind of
filming session and then break that down into long form, I
don't know, 5 short form and maybe a couple clips that I
could put on Twitter or something.

(22:45):
And that kind of was pretty gamechanging for me.
It really helped me streamline my workflow and I was then able
to have more dedicated content sessions, I would say.
So it would be like Monday and Wednesday would be a content day
and then maybe Tuesday, Thursdaywould be the editing day.
And I guess that's just part of finding your flow as a content

(23:06):
creator. So you know, some people really
enjoy the editing parts and spend days and days editing.
Others maybe really enjoy filming or streaming.
I think there's probably a big part of trial and error.
We just got to figure out what we like, what we don't like, and
then adapt and evolve our workflow.

(23:28):
And yeah, constantly just, I guess, honestly, we're also just
responding to the trends. So I'm kind of scared what's
coming next. I'm I'm learning that these
really long, I think they're called like living room YouTube
videos are popular, which are over an hour long.
Oh. My gosh.
I cannot imagine, I cannot imagine how that would work in
like the gaming world over an hour of a of a YouTube video.

(23:51):
I don't know. Do you watch long videos like
that? I it depends on certain types of
videos. Like for me, I gravitate towards
a lot of like cleaning, decluttering type videos.
They're very relaxing. I love them and for SIM videos
it really depends on like if I'mlike ready for that I mean

(24:14):
plumbella I if if you've seen her her iceberg videos, I'm
still watching those because they're like over an hour long
and I love it and I love Sims solike the lore is like what draws
me in build videos yes. I think there was a video that

(24:34):
she did was like 3 hours long and like I need to digest all of
that and take it bit by bit. It's definitely a lot.
But like what are you? What are you?
What are you like for like long form?
Like how long videos? Oh, so well, at the moment my my
YouTube algorithm is loving documentaries.

(24:57):
You know what I'm going through a I'm going through a
construction documentary phase like.
Building. Building these like incredible
homes and like big projects around the world.
I'm in that phase right now. Same I live, I don't know if
you've seen the video but I was just watching a video I think
that was like over maybe like anhour or so minute long of

(25:18):
someone turning a school into a livable house.
Wait, I would still watch that. I'm going to.
I'm going to find that video. It's so interesting because like
a school that was abandoned or it was in session, then
abandoned and then someone like bought it and then turned into a
house. I'm like, that's a lot because

(25:38):
you have to like tear up a lot of things or move a lot of walls
and figure out how to make it livable, like the stairs and the
bathrooms. It's it's a whole thing.
And I just, I love those type ofvideos because when they go
fully in depth and especially when it takes them several
months to complete the whole thing to see the highs and the

(25:58):
lows. Oh my God, I love that.
I, you know what that's such an interesting point because I do
consume videos where it clearly has taken them months and months
and months to do to produce 1 video.
And I actually met someone the other night who was telling me
that they spend months and months on just one video.
It's like research and meetings with their team and it's, it's a

(26:21):
whole production just for one YouTube video.
And in, in contrast, I was just thinking my videos, you know, I,
I, it takes me a couple days. I do not have kind of the
research sessions, you know, or the meetings that go into these
other videos. So it's just interesting how
YouTube is, I mean, the scale and the spectrum of different

(26:42):
types of content is very vast. You have everything from like, I
mean, I'm sure some videos take years.
And then on the other end, you've got like things whipped
up in a few seconds. That's true.
Like well, like for example, like Mr. Beast, his videos I
feel like are on a whole other scale and like vastly different.

(27:03):
He does a lot of really good in the world and it's like so
amazing. And it takes him probably
months, years to do all these things, but it's like so
fascinating. Where's like versus, I feel like
Sims creators, it takes us like maybe like a day or a couple
days or a couple months, depending on like what kind of
content we're making. Like yesterday, at least the

(27:26):
tenant were recording this. This was yesterday.
But for anyone that's new, they just dropped the gameplay
trailer for Adventure Awaits. I swear.
That video was great and I'm notjoking.
I got up at 8:00 in the morning,sat down at the computer, filmed

(27:46):
by Intro, and then I watched thetrailer dissect the whole entire
trailer, the blog post, and the EA app everything.
I filmed and edited all in one day and uploaded it the same
day. Never again, no.
First of all, congratulations. So impressive.
I feel like that that whole process would overwhelm me, but

(28:06):
you executed that and that's incredible.
It's. Stressful.
But you know, what's really interesting is I feel like with
gaming, you kind of this sounds like you've maybe have a similar
experience to me. You really have to be quick.
You have to be so reactive to announcements and trailers and,

(28:27):
you know, new packs dropping. It's really it's because people
I guess they want or not even want, but I guess it's just a
reaction because of it's a trend.
You know, people are searching for videos and you kind of want
to be in that loop at the initial rush of of people
looking for content on a specific topic.

(28:47):
And as a result, we just kind ofget conditioned into thinking,
OK, we got to do it. We have to be the quickest or
like one of the quickest. We have to just, you know, edit,
film upload, post, schedule, allof that within like 24 hours.
Yeah, yeah. But Lordy Lou, that stuff is
definitely a rush. Like you said.
Look, we have to be quick and ontop of like the trends with with

(29:09):
gaming, because it's changing soconstantly in the gaming
industry as a whole has changed dramatically with different
genres coming up, different games popping up, whether it's
indie games or AAA games from game studios.
And I find it so fascinating because every game developer,
every game studio is vastly different on how they create

(29:31):
their games, whether it's through skin tones or hairstyles
or building features. It's so interesting how they do
it and how they market it and who's like how they grab
people's attention for it. You're so right.
It's, it's probably one of my favorite parts actually, is

(29:51):
being able to, I like, for example, I play more games now
than I ever have before because I, I, we're fully in that world.
So as you said, we're exposed to, you know, all these
different games online and you're so right.
It's so interesting to see how every game does it so
differently. And, you know, there's some

(30:13):
parts of a game that you love and then obviously there's going
to be parts of a game that you don't love.
And there is really no perfect game, at least, you know, in my
opinion, there's, you know, there's not been a perfect
experience yet. Every, everything has its ups
and downs. But yeah, it's such an evolving
and fast industry. And I mean, yeah, I'm really

(30:33):
intrigued to see where the gaming, maybe specifically,
specifically the life simulationgenre is going to go in like 5
years from now. Yeah, especially with The Sims
and like Enzo and Pair Lives andall these other life Sims like I
am very curious how can they still carry the same message
that they've started with, but evolve with the ever growing

(30:56):
economy of video games and trends and new audiences?
Because everyone falls out of love with gaming every once in a
while when a game has like that one core thing that's like, oh,
I remember this feature, I remember this type of like
feeling, I want to get back intoit.
Like for example, when The Sims re released The Sims one and two

(31:20):
that changed so many people's like like perspective.
I would think in The Sims, like as a whole, because it's such an
old, old game and people probably played The Sims one and
two at at least once in their life, were heard about it and
couldn't really buy it. And then when they were released
and like, they just tapped into a new audience, but also older

(31:42):
audiences that couldn't pick it up anymore or just were like,
let's do it again. So true and I, I think Sims is
so rooted and nostalgia anyway, you know, the music, the the,
some of the characters, the, I don't know, the, the, the look
and feel of the game. It's so nostalgic for so many of

(32:04):
us, like the re releases where it was just, I think a great
move. And I occasionally find myself
playing The Sims 3 and I yeah, I, I, I mean, obviously The Sims
4 has come on, you know, really far since The Sims 3 and there's
been some great advancements andimprovements, But there's just

(32:25):
something so magical about kind of re experiencing these games
that we used to play back in theday.
They're just like little time capsules.
And I think there's no other medium that fully makes us feel
the kinds of emotions that gaming does.
It is so it like emotive I think.

(32:46):
It, it, it definitely is. I, I go back to The Sims 2 and 3
all the time because of how I felt in that moment when I was a
kid and how I played. And it's something I will always
remember for the rest of my lifethat I will cherish.
And I feel like I wouldn't be where I am today without The
Sims, realistically, because I feel like The Sims really shaped

(33:08):
me as a creator and a storyteller.
And it gave me like that Ave., that position to be more
creative with my everyday life, whether it's art, writing or
directing or acting. I feel the same.
I feel like it has really shapeda lot of us in our childhood,

(33:29):
and then how amazing that we getto kind of carry that forward
even as adults. Yeah, that is very true.
And I feel like with gaming, it will always be with us, no
matter how old we get, it will always be there whenever we need
it. And with the gaming industry
evolving, there's always new awards happening and it shows

(33:52):
happening all around the world. And I feel like when you got the
opportunity to and one Gaming trader of the year in 2024, like
that was a huge moment. I will say like that's a very,
very huge moment for the creatorAwards.
Like what? Like what was the moment you

(34:14):
realize like how big that achievement really was?
Like, did you know about the award show before or was this
like your first time just hearing about it?
Can I assume that you have to apply for it?
Yes. Well, thank you.
Thank you so much. I, I did know about it.
It's especially well in the UK. It's kind of a award show that

(34:36):
every year I see kind of kind ofpopulate my Twitter feed and I
see like creators that I really aspire to across all different
industries, you know, fashion and beauty and lifestyle and
culinary. I see them, you know, where
they'd be posting about it. Never in a million years,
though, would I even have the thought 01 day.

(34:57):
I would love to do that. Like that was just really not in
my in my kind of mindset. But my, my manager is, you know,
I owe a lot of credit to my manager who really does an
amazing job at keeping me in theloop about awards and nominating

(35:19):
and applying for things. I think that I've learnt to be
my biggest advocate and you know, don't just to not just sit
and wait for someone to nominateyou.
You know, it's, it's got a, you know, not always, but it's got a
kind of at least the energy at least for it has to come from

(35:40):
you. And now I'm the biggest believer
in, you know, being my biggest advocate and just nominating
myself for, for things, whether I, you know, ever think in a
million years that it's kind of on my horizon.
It doesn't matter. I guess every application is, is
its own thing. And I, you know, it's fun to
apply. You take that moment to kind of

(36:02):
reflect on your career and it asks you questions about
yourself and your intentions behind things.
And I think that whole experience is just fun to do
Anyway, So I, I was aware of it.I was, I had applied and then
was really excited to get an e-mail to say that I had been
shortlisted and was invited to the award show in London last

(36:24):
year. Now, what's really funny about
this, this story is let me tell you that I, I was so convinced
that I was never gonna win, So convinced that I in the, in the
e-mail to us, they said, you know, just, you know, just maybe
prepare a speech because you don't, you don't know if you'll
win or not, but just could be good to have that in your
pocket. I didn't even prepare a speech.

(36:47):
I was so convinced. I saw the e-mail and I was like,
I don't need to do that. I'm just gonna go, I'm gonna
have a glass of wine and I'm just gonna have fun for the
night and just be so grateful that I even have the opportunity
to go to something like this. So I'm sitting at this in this
beautiful location surrounded bythese amazing creators kind of
in La La land, honestly, just taking it all in.

(37:09):
And my jaw dropped when I heard my name.
And I, I had like 15 seconds from the time of getting up from
my chair to walking to the stage.
I had 15 seconds to think of what I was going to say.
And I was like, I had a million words going through my mind.
I was thinking, oh, God, Emma, you, you like, what are you

(37:31):
going to say? You're just going to fumble your
words. You're going to make it full of
yourself and embarrass yourself.It was a blur.
I managed to pull something together.
I can't even I couldn't even tell you what it was because it
was a blur. But I, I said something up there
and I was just kind of in shock and so speechless and so
grateful and definitely have learnt from that experience,

(37:52):
which is, you know, just go intothose experiences thinking that
there's maybe a little bit of a possibility, have something
prepared so you don't like have a freak out.
But it was just an incredible experience.
And I'm so still to this day, just so grateful to have been,
yeah, selected by the judges andthe community to win.

(38:16):
Oh, that's really cool. I think that's honestly the
coolest story ever because you never know.
Like, no, it's like you apply and you just don't worry about
it. You get stuff and it's like, OK,
is this real? Is this happening?
Is this fake? We don't know.
And then you get there, it's like, oh, something's happening.
I'm worried. I would be so scared if I was

(38:39):
like in an award like room and they called my names.
Like who? That's fake.
That's not. Real.
Yeah, that's not, surely that's not my name.
Having an out of body experience.
Like, no, that's not me. I'm not Emma.
That's like that. That's not me.
I'm I'm Janice. That's my name.
Tonight, I'm Janice. And so with all that theme to

(39:01):
said like that is a very huge achievement and like you were
brought back next year for to beon the judging committee
committee and so for the same award show, like what does that
truly entail with being on the judging committee?
Like how does it all work? And like I want to know.

(39:22):
So, so cool. So yeah, the the invitation came
after I had won and they asked if I wanted to be part of the
judging committee, which was really interesting.
Now to get like the other perspective of it feeling again,
like I'm totally not deserving of that opportunity, but you do.
But I'm, I'm, I mean, it's, I'm just grateful and it's actually

(39:45):
really, really cool to be able to kind of in a way give back to
like the next, the next generation or like the next
cohort of, of creators for this year.
So yeah, the experience has beenamazing.
They basically I get to go againto the award show, which is in
October and they will, I guess they'll give me a category and

(40:09):
then I have, you know, I'll be alongside other judges for this
category and and the judges are.Experts from the industry,
they're maybe owners of agenciesor PR specialists or other
creators. So they're getting a really kind
of diverse range of voices in inthe kind of creator economy.

(40:31):
And then we get our one category.
And then, yeah, over the next couple months, those I guess a
bit of a research process that goes into learning about all the
different creators. And it's amazing because I'm so
into the gaming creator world and I'm going to have to be
learning about a totally different kind of niche of

(40:51):
creator industry. So it won't be the gaming that
I'll be kind of judging on. It will be something else.
And I'll get to learn about likemaybe I don't know the lifestyle
or the culinary kind of creator economy.
I don't actually know what the category is yet.
But yeah, it gets to kind of do a full deep dive into whatever
the the category is that I'll beselected for.

(41:15):
And then and then, yeah, in October, I guess the results
will be revealed and I'll be so excited to celebrate with
whoever wins. Well, that's really fun.
And honestly, being able to judge like a different category
that's like not in your niche expands his like your portfolio
and your knowledge of those creators and like that whole
industry as a whole. Because cooking, culinary

(41:36):
fashion, lifestyle makeup is like so different and it's
evolved so much over the years. And like, we thought gaming was
like, complicated, but no, culinary makeup.
Fashion is a whole other thing. And fashion evolves.
Makeup evolves, cooking styles evolve over the years.

(41:57):
And new genres, new niches come up that we're like, when was
this a thing? And they always say it's always
been a thing. It's like, Oh well that's nice.
So true I feel like that's that's actually an experience I
feel like I have semi regularly.I just get transported into this
new world on TikTok. You know, the trying to think of

(42:19):
an example, but it just like every every few weeks I just get
thrown into this new kind of niche that yeah, I just, it's so
different to the world's that we're in, but it's so
interesting. It's really like there's there
is really a community for absolutely everything nowadays.
It's pretty incredible. It really is and especially how

(42:39):
creators of all all different niches tap into the trends.
Like on TikTok for example, I'veseen so many iterations of the
Jet 2 holiday trend and and I'm like, so.
Funny, it's. Like it wasn't even a trend, it
was a commercial and then they added in.
Oh my gosh, I forgot the song but it's an iconic song and I

(43:01):
love the artist but the brain the name escapes me.
Either way the the jet hood holiday that whole thing was
fun. Me as ever and I'm just like.
Wild. People tapped into that, like
very quickly. I, I have a question for you.
Do you, do you feel like the gaming communities and the
gaming content creators? I feel like in general, I'm

(43:25):
pretty happy and proud that we're slightly less kind of
trend focused. I feel like we don't hop on to
trends as fast or as much as other niches do.
And I like that. I like that we kind of at least
don't have to react so quickly to the thousands and thousands
of trends and sound effects and all of these things that are are

(43:47):
happening. Honestly, I'm kind of glad that
we don't like, we're kind of like we're lesser on like the
trends because when I feel like trends don't always correlate to
does this work for ourselves, our brain, our community?
And if it doesn't, we don't haveto do.
It so true, So true. And it's like, is it worth it?

(44:07):
No, sometimes yes. It really it's all about, I
think from for us, it's about timing.
If the trend dies, but what we're doing now and it works for
that sound or that trend, then we'll do it.
And it kind of like researches after a couple of years or so
with most of the time, like certain trends have happened

(44:30):
like musically dead and gone, but people are like slowly
bringing it back every so often.And it's becoming more of a
trend of making musically style content and shorter form content
like Vine. And it's definitely nice that we
don't have to be in like that trend hardcore mode unless we

(44:51):
want to. I totally agree.
I think that we in general prefer longevity rather than,
you know, reacting super quicklyto trends.
But then, you know, there's definitely been some hilarious
trend focused Sims videos when the crossover does happen.
It's hilarious. It's really it can be so funny.

(45:13):
I love when there's Sims like trend memes happening.
I'm like yes, and I'm like give it to me right now.
Like the sound just works for this and we have to go with it.
So true, like when you listen toa sound effect and you can just
picture like Bella Goth and you're like Oh my God, this is a
good gem. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

(45:36):
And like, I am so excited to see, like, The Sims community
evolve even more. Like, the fact that we're
getting a Sims movie by Mark Robbie is, like, so exciting.
Yeah. I'm just like, it's getting
better and better every single day and I'm here for it.
Oh my God. Wait there.
Has there been an update for that?

(45:56):
Actually? I feel like that's fallen off my
radar for the last few months. There actually hasn't been an
update. I haven't seen anything, at
least on my end of if there has been like, I mean, all I know is
that we know the director and weknow the writers and the
producers. We know that Amazon MGM is like
backing it somehow. They have some involvement with

(46:18):
Prime Video and what whatever. And then The Sims team, you know
that they are going to be involved.
But that's kind of about it. We don't know about the writing,
the casting. We don't know how long it's
going to be, if it's going to beanimation or live action.
Yeah, OK. A lot of big questions still.

(46:39):
Hopefully we get information soon because I don't even know
if we have a timeline yet, but Ijust know as a community we're
going to have some opinions. I feel like our bar for this is
really high. So good.
Luck to them. Good luck.
To The Sims team, because we're already like, we're critical of
The Sims, but when you're putting our love, our child on

(46:59):
the big screen, we're going to have an opinion on that, yes.
Oh yes, and also we're, I feel like we've had two years, I
think roughly about two years since they announced this or
maybe a bit less. We've had two years of time to
think about it. I've seen some amazing Twitter
threads of like Dreamcasting andyou know, storyline ideas like

(47:21):
they maybe they've been reading things in the back end that
would be really interesting if they were kind of seeing how the
community responded. Yeah, like the way I want it to
end. Like basically make it The
Truman Show but The Sims. I love the Truman Show.
I think that's my dream outcome of this.
It's so good. It's like the the SIM or like

(47:44):
the the a real life person is inThe Sims world and like doesn't
realize it until something actually happens and decides
that you know what, I'm going tostep out and then the camera
pans all to the sky. But somehow that person was
actually a SIM that kind of glitched in the system and like
left. And so we are basically in this

(48:05):
computer screen of like this person.
It could be, it could be Will Wright if we wanted to, saying,
oh, gotta go Dag Dag. And and that's the end of the
movie. That is so good.
That is so good. Dag, Dag.
That is amazing. I'm all for it.
Yeah. We, we need more.
I'm excited for the trailer. I'm so ready.
I I have so many theories and ideas of like what they could do

(48:29):
and I feel like what they shoulddo.
And instead of like casting likethey need, if they're gonna make
a Sims movie, they gotta add in simmers into the movie like they
did for the Minecraft. Movies.
Please, please they gotta. Include us somehow, some way.
I feel like with your backgroundand with your experience, you
definitely have opinions on this.
You probably have all of like the you just the insider.

(48:52):
You know what, what would work, what wouldn't work.
They definitely need to to hook you up honestly.
I got to. I got to find a way in.
You have to find a way in. We got to make it happen.
I'm going to contact EA right now mid.
Podcast. Yes, like, wait one moment, I'm
just going to e-mail EA from Hey, let me in your writers
room. Emma says that you that I need

(49:14):
to get involved, so let's make it happen.
Yes, I mean Emma, Nicole knows everything all about the same.
So knowledgeable and said I should be in it.
And also is the Forbes 30 under 30 a Europe blister?
Like hello, now we got to, we got to, we got to talk about
that. Because I think for me, I don't

(49:37):
know how you felt, but for me looking at that like you are a
simmer. I don't, we've never had a
simmer on like that big of level.
And I'm just like, if Emma can do it, anyone can do it.
And so like, like, what was yourreaction to that?

(49:58):
Because I, I know I've seen videos online, like you apply
and then you get an e-mail, but like take us through the whole
thing. Totally crazy, honestly to even
talk about it. It was a very similar experience
to the B Creator awards. So it was just kind of like, you
know, suggestion to apply, nominate myself and along with

(50:20):
my manager and you know, that whole application process.
I really enjoyed it. Really it was actually, you know
what, it was a little different to the BE Creator nomination
process because it's Forbes. It was asking very business
related questions and I honestlydidn't have an answer to a lot

(50:42):
of these questions. I did already know I was
launching Plainest. So I remember thinking, yeah.
And I remember thinking at the time of my, when I was applying,
you know, this is definitely going to be something that I
think they might find interesting.
So like, let's make this a bit more of the, the feature, I
guess of my application. And, but it, but obviously it

(51:03):
was completely pre launch. It was so early.
I, I had a little idea at that point that's all it was, but I,
I had an, I had a purpose behindit.
I had a story behind why I was launching Plaintiffs.
So I was really just kind of sharing my full experience of,
you know, the journey of being acreator to then, you know,
hopefully soon launching this platform.

(51:25):
So I was really talking about that in my application, but I
had, you know, there was some questions about funding and
raising money and all of that, which I had obviously no answer
for. So I didn't exactly have the
best feeling after submitting the application, but enjoyed the
process nonetheless. And I think maybe a couple

(51:46):
months later I got a follow up e-mail asking a couple more
questions but again, didn't really think anything too
serious was going to come from it.
And then honestly woke up to thee-mail and I found out the
morning that it was it was announced.
So there was no kind of like prepreparation that I could do.

(52:10):
And I woke up, I think my alarm let's say went off at 8:00 AM
and I was like half asleep. I still closed kind of swiping
onto my phone and I saw I had ane-mail and I'm checking the
emails and I saw this e-mail from Forbes and I, I completely
lost my mind. I was like, am I still asleep
right now? What is happening?

(52:31):
My like immediately this kind ofadrenaline, almost like fight or
flay response kicked in. I just like had to quickly jump
up out of bed and started pacingaround my apartment like what is
this e-mail? And I was like threw the phone
at my boyfriend like please helpme dissect this e-mail.
Like, what is this even saying? And then we clicked on the link
and it was just, it was there. My face was there.

(52:53):
There was a description. And they in my application, I
had told them like, I'm not announcing plainist for a while.
So there was no mention of plainist.
I was actually nervous at the time.
I was thinking, Oh my God, are they going to write something
about my gaming platform on here?
But thankfully they hadn't. So I, I didn't need to.
Yeah, otherwise I would have been sad that they were, they

(53:13):
would have announced it before Ihad the opportunity to announce
it. But it was just such a surreal,
honestly, like a surreal few weeks following that experience,
I, I had talked about kind of doing a little celebration,
doing a celebratory stream, evendoing like a little celebratory
party with my friends where I live.

(53:35):
I in the end, I didn't do any ofthat.
And it's really funny if I thinkback now to why I didn't do it.
And it wasn't because I didn't want to do it, It was because I
just didn't feel like it was real enough to do it, if that
makes sense. No, that makes a lot of sense.
It was just like totally an out of body experience that I felt
so undeserving of and oh, what'sthat called where you're kind of

(54:02):
feeling like you where you don't?
Like you're an out, like having an out of body experience or
like imposter syndrome. Exactly that one imposter
syndrome. I think it was an imposter
syndrome situation. Thank you.
And I and I ended up not really kind of celebrating that moment

(54:22):
in the way I feel now like I wish I had, but at the time I
just I wasn't ready mentally. I just couldn't, I just really
couldn't have that kind of attention.
Felt like I, I just didn't even know how to answer if people
were were asking me about it, I didn't really even know what the
answer to that would be. So it was a very bizarre few

(54:43):
weeks following it, but now I'vehad time to process it.
I'm extremely grateful and what an incredible opportunity to be
given that platform. But yeah, it's it was an
interesting experience. Well, that's good.
I mean, honestly, Forbes, that'sa, that's a very, very, very big
brand. Like everyone knows Forbes, at
least somewhere in their life they heard about it.

(55:05):
And I'm really proud and happy for you that you got the
opportunity to be on the list, especially in Europe.
And hopefully more, bigger, bigger things come your way
because you're just getting started.
I still have to. So nice, so nice.
Thank you. Anytime and I I feel like with
Forbes like it comes with so many exciting opportunities and

(55:28):
like for your career, has there been any big things that has
happened to you since being on Forbes 30 under 30?
I feel like one of the biggest kind of impacts that I think has
had from from being on the list and associated with Forbes is I
guess the, the credibility that it would, it does give.

(55:52):
And it's like what we were saying at the beginning,
sometimes being a content creator feels a little bit like
it's a relatively new job. And you know, sometimes it does
feel, you know, people aren't don't necessarily take it
seriously. That is getting better.
But what platforms like Forbes do is they really kind of
amplify creator voices and there's a few other platforms

(56:14):
that do it too. And but they really just kind of
recognize the power, the impact,the kind of, I guess, momentum
that creators have on community and on like pop culture.
And I think, yeah, having the kind of credibility of Forbes 30
and a 30 has at least really helped me see that that, you

(56:37):
know, it helps give a little bitof kind of credibility to the
content creator world in generaland honestly The Sims community
in general as well. I feel like yes, I would, I, I
feel so proud at least to have kind of introduced Forbes or or
at least not introduced necessarily, but at least had
them kind of do a deep dive intothe world of The Sims community

(56:59):
through like my application, forexample, where I was talking
about, you know, Sims community being on Twitch and at Twitchcon
and all of these things. So at least being able to share
that story with them. I think it's been really cool.
That's good. And I think a lot of the times
people are still understanding, like what The Sims is, what are
content creators, what what which is as a whole and just

(57:21):
overall this understanding this new side or this other side of
the world that they're probably not familiar with, but they
probably have heard, but just not too sure if it's legitimate
at the end of the day. So yeah.
And it's it's nice that there people are now seeing that this
is, this could be sustainable. This could be a longevity type

(57:43):
of career for a lot of people, whether you're just getting
started or you've been in this for a very long time.
People who have done corporate jobs left their corporate job to
be a content creator because they have like that general
background knowledge that they could utilize to help educate
others in this new front of society with social media and

(58:05):
analytics and trends. And it's nice to know that you
have learned that on, on, on that end and being able to
utilize that to tap into something more creative and more
exciting and plainest. When I found out about it, when
you announced it, I was so excited because I feel like a

(58:25):
lot of the times there's so manylike platforms out there and
they're all so confusing or they're just not really geared
towards a very specific niche. Like Steam is great, Reddit's
great, but plainest feels more like home, at least for me.
And like the way you said it in your initial like announcement

(58:47):
e-mail, you made plainness as a way for a social catalog
platform and a space to celebrate all kinds of play.
And it's like games aren't just products we consume their
experiences we remember and reminisce on.
And we were saying this earlier,how Sims is, it feels like the
experiences we have, we rememberand we'll always remember those.

(59:09):
And I like that playness is a place for all people and it's
just good. And so kind of just take us back
to how you initially came up with the idea of playness.
I mean, you came up with the idea that last summer, but what
is how did you like really solidify like the idea that you

(59:33):
wanted to do this and make it a legitimate thing?
Well, honestly, firstly, I feel like I could not have just said
that as best as as better as youjust described it, you fully I
feel like I've just encapulated,encapulated all my thoughts.
And I am so, so glad and grateful that you like really
resonate well with the product and the messaging and yeah, that

(59:56):
you'd see a need for it. So super appreciate that.
Thank you. The OK, let's go back to yeah,
the idea plainest, I guess as you said last summer I was kind
of getting more into other typesof games.
I was playing my Switch and I was playing lots of different
cozy games and I was following all these new creators on TikTok

(01:00:17):
and they were recommending so many amazing games.
I was really kind of branching out and with every new game that
I was playing, I, I was kind of lacking that kind of big
celebration moment of like, that's another game that you've
played that you've enjoyed, you know, or not, you know, maybe I,
maybe it wasn't such a great experience, but either way, I

(01:00:38):
was kind of lacking that conclusion of finishing a game.
And in parallel, I was having similar experiences reading, you
know, I'm, I'm on Goodreads and I actually am part of a book
club. So with every book that I
finish, I was kind of celebrating and I was writing a
review for it. And I was talking about it with

(01:00:58):
my book club. And it was just, you know, a
much more kind of special momentto finish a book.
And then I was thinking, this iskind of, this feels wrong when
I, you know, gaming is definitely my biggest passion in
life. And I don't have that same kind
of moment for my gaming experiences.
So that kind of seed was plantedand I was feeling like there was

(01:01:20):
definitely something missing. And then I guess, yeah, over the
last four years, I've just really been it just my eyes have
been open to the power of gamingcommunities.
So a lot of the games that I play are solo games like The
Sims. You know, I'm very much in my
own little world building and being creative.
But even though the games that I'm playing are solo, the best

(01:01:44):
part of them for me is sharing them with others, whether that's
like sharing a bill that I'm proud of or, you know, Twitch
communities coming together to, you know, watch someone play and
talk about the new pack. And, you know, the, the, the
part of the social aspects of gaming are so powerful.
And I was really just feeling like there's a platform that

(01:02:06):
hasn't fully provided us with a space to do that yet.
Kind of just kind of fragmented.You know, you've got like maybe
your friends are on Discord or Twitch and then maybe kind of,
as you said, the reviews are on Steam and then kind of the quick
reaction type commentaries on Twitter.
But it's like 5 or 6 different platforms.

(01:02:27):
And I knew that it could all be brought together to one kind of
safe, I guess, like centralized space.
And yeah, that's, that's how Plaintiffs was born.
And for me, it was just an absolute no brainer that it was
going to be genre focused and kind of learning from the

(01:02:47):
mistakes of the other platforms who maybe have things like
moderation as a kind of, I guessa second thought, as an
afterthought. I knew that I needed to create a
space for the communities that I'm part of and that I'm proud
to be part of. And yeah, that's, that's the
life simulation genres, the cozygenres, you know, really

(01:03:09):
supporting our female gamers, all the different marginalized
groups. Like moderation is going to be a
big part of the platform as it scales.
And I'm just learning from all of the mistakes that the other
gaming platforms have made. Yeah, that's very true.
And, and I, I like that you, youbuilt this and it's made by
gamers for gamers. And, and it's definitely

(01:03:32):
important to uplift and showcaseunmarginalized communities and
female gamers. Because for me, I feel like the
industry as a whole, like being a male content creator, it it,
the industry is like just weird and toxic as we all know.
And I feel like you need to havelike that central place where we

(01:03:53):
can feel like ourselves and feellike we're not being judged for
what we play. And like with The Sims and like
a lot of other cozy games, just games in general.
I, I think having one singular platform, 'cause I feel like
creators and just gamers and just people are, are being
stretched too thin with so many platforms coming about,

(01:04:16):
Especially having a place where we can do like reviews and kind
of commentate and like share our, our general excitement and
experience of what we're playing.
I think having this, like you said, like think of Goodreads,
but for gamers. And I think playing this is
very, very important. Something that we've all been
needing for a very long time. Because I'm not joking.

(01:04:39):
I love me some Sims but this newgame and I don't know if you
played it Tiny Bookshop that game.
Stop. I am.
So I haven't played it yet. I'm desperate to play it.
I have it downloaded. I'm wait, you know, I think I'm
waiting for the right moment. Maybe this weekend is that
moment. Yes.
Oh, is it all I can say? Yes.

(01:05:00):
Get all your work done that you you can.
That doesn't feel too stressful because you're going to be
locked in. That game is so good.
What I love about it to not spoil too much, but I feel like
what's so good about it is that the books are real life book
titles. Oh my God.
I think I've seen that. So like you can actually have

(01:05:21):
the experience of knowing what maybe a book is about and who is
a good buyer for the book. OK, that's a great idea.
It's so cozy and so heartfelt and it's like there are book
titles that I recognize like Heart Stopper and Pride and
Prejudice and War and Peace and it is just so fascinating.
You will love that game. It's definitely made for anyone

(01:05:44):
that loves book reading or just loves cozy, simple games with a
story. OK, adding adding that basically
clearing my diary for the weekend and adding that to the
top of my list. But you actually said something
which I found really interestingand I totally agree with you
said about like, how is Sims players sometimes on these other

(01:06:06):
gaming platforms? I mean, at least in my
experience, I've definitely had my fair share of comments from
people kind of invalidating The Sims being a game, or at least
me being a real gamer because I play these games and I just, you
know, there's going to be no space for that on playness.
That's, that's kind of, I guess where the root of why playness

(01:06:30):
was born, because I really feel like we need to completely
change the narrative of what it means to be a gamer.
Because, you know, and I know that The Sims is as much as the
game as, I don't know, whatever game they might be playing,
whatever they're comparing The Sims to, we know that The Sims
is equally as much of A game. Yes.

(01:06:53):
There's yeah, there's just been a yeah, just been a rise of
communities that really could try to invalidate our
experiences as a gamer, and I think that's really sad.
Yeah, I know. And I feel like it was the
gaming culture was a lot better of like celebrating everyone no
matter what we play and how we play and whether we play just

(01:07:15):
solo or multiplayer or whatever it might be.
I think at the end of the day, we are playing what we love.
And I think that's something that I like about plainness.
Like in your mission at the veryend, you were saying like we're
softening the sharp edges of gaming culture because gaming
culture is like very like sharp and scary.

(01:07:36):
And you're just softening those edges where like, hey, if you
need a place to be, you can do it here.
And like everyone needs moderation and having a way
where they can feel safe, heard and feel happy about what
they're doing. And I like that it's connected
and very inclusive at its core. And it's very important to have

(01:07:57):
a place where you can do that. And it's all about community
collection. And for me, all I know I'm going
to be obsessed and I'm going to say it now, y'all are hurting my
wallet because these games you are going to be playing.
So many games, the recommendations, they're going
to be coming in so hard. And Oh my God, I feel like,

(01:08:21):
honestly, you, I'm really feeling proud of plaintiffs.
The way you're describing it, how you, you clearly totally get
it. You're seeing straight into my
brain and my thoughts and my story and I'm, yeah, I'm
feeling, I'm really proud. This is this is kind of the
outcome of all of our gaming experiences over the last four
years as a content creator and just kind of knowing we we all

(01:08:44):
know what's missing and where things need to be fixed.
And we're going to, we're just going to do it one, one step at
a time. Yeah, and I always say this
every time, like if you don't see it out there, create it.
Love that. I love that.
That's what I've always been taught by my parents, like if,

(01:09:05):
if there's something out there that that doesn't represent you,
then you make it how you want and you and you did that with
plaintiffs. That's amazing.
I totally stand by that actually.
Yeah. And sometimes it's like without
even realizing it, you kind of just feel maybe it's like a
frustration of like not feeling either represented or not
feeling like you have the tools or whatever you're looking for.

(01:09:28):
Sometimes it just happens naturally and that's that's so
cool. Yeah, it is.
It definitely is. And I think that's what we
always have to think about at the end of the day at our core,
that we, if we want to create something, we got to make it
ours 1st and then really think about the bigger message of how
we want to represent this to theworld.

(01:09:50):
I love that. Yeah, and I think it's it's
just, it's great. It's just great.
So I'm really excited when playness officially like comes
out and people can join and be in it and just have fun and just
kind of just giggle and have a great time with all the perfumes
and the games that they're goingto share.

(01:10:12):
But to move forward to your future plans, like where do you
see yourself and your brand playness?
Hyam and Nicole everything in the next 5 years because I know
it's a big question and I feel like, oh, teachers acts.
It's like where do you see yourself in five years?
Like, I don't know, but you never know.

(01:10:33):
Oh wow. Actually, it would be really
funny to go back and see what weall answered for those kinds of
questions. Oh yes.
Wow. OK, five years I think.
OK, Well, the backdrop of the gaming industry, the creator
economy, I think that the world is moving very fast.
It's moving scarily fast. I don't like it.

(01:10:54):
But I do feel like, you know, we've got a scary few years
ahead of having to kind of adaptand react and evolve.
And, you know, it's it's we got to take it one day at a time.
But I'm kind of kind of preparing myself to for that
experience. I guess me personally, I'm kind

(01:11:14):
of going into that with the mindset of making sure that I
don't allow myself to get fully kind of lost and immersed in
this really crazy fast world andstill making sure I give myself
the space to breathe and be creative and to be kind of

(01:11:36):
present. I definitely feel like at the
beginning of my creator journey,I struggled with that balance
and I'm not going to let that happen again.
I'm really going to make sure that I continue to find balance.
You know, I really, I've startedenjoying working out this year.
All of these things help me to be the best creator that I can.

(01:11:57):
So it's so important that I invest in that too.
So yeah, in five years, I see myself continuing to find that
balance between my, my life, my,you know, my health, my
happiness, and then sharing my passion, you know, of gaming
with the world. And then also plainest, you
know, building plainest this really exciting big project that

(01:12:19):
it definitely feels overwhelming99% of the time.
But then that 1% of the time, you know, I, I'm feeling like
I'm excited for this challenge. But yeah, I just, I want to make
sure that I don't kind of lose my, my, my personal space in the
meantime. And I still find a way to
balance that, you know, health and happiness as I'm building

(01:12:42):
this big project. So five years from now, I hope
that I have found the perfect balance between all of the fun
creative projects and myself. That's good.
I think it's important to find that balance, especially for the
future, because it's very uncertain of like what could
happen and you just got to play it by ear one day at a time and

(01:13:05):
not overload yourself. But we are human and we are
growing and learning every single day, and we just have to
enjoy it while we can. But I will say it's really cool
and so amazing to hear about your journey from the very
beginning and to your new endeavors that you're doing

(01:13:26):
right now is playing this and your judging committee and
Forbes. And just overall just excited to
see what could possibly happen for you in the next five years.
And I'm just excited. I'm really, really excited.
Yeah, and you're so. Nice.
Yeah, I honestly, I'm all about hyping people up because

(01:13:47):
sometimes we as people, I feel like you feel the same way.
We are our own self critic and we don't really care ourselves.
All the hype and praise that we deserve.
And you deserve all the praise and hype because what you're
doing is really, really awesome.So, so nice.
I, I really, I really appreciateit and I do totally agree with
you that we are our our worst critique.

(01:14:10):
So it's nice to be, it's nice totalk with somebody who's who's,
you're completely in the same world that I am.
And we, you know, watch the samethings and see the same things.
And yeah, it's really, I really appreciate hearing your
perspective on everything. Yeah.
And what would you say like for the next 5 years?
Like as as life goes on, like what would you say is like, what

(01:14:34):
if what are your tools and resources that you have been
finding the most valuable in your career that you want to
continue to use in the next fiveyears or.
So, oh, OK, love that question. I think that I spoke a little
bit about it in the, in the podcast as well about kind of
like finding my my workflow. So I was speaking specifically

(01:14:57):
about kind of the, the breakdownbetween long form and short form
content. But now I'm in this kind of new
phase of building plainness. I'm now trying to find my new
workflow just with like creator versus kind of founder.
And I'm finding tools like Notion to be so valuable and
really kind of helping me breakdown my day, my calendar,

(01:15:21):
my to do's, my tasks. But then also Notion gives me
the ability to have kind of multiple.
They're not, I don't know if they're called Notion pages, but
like the channels, I can have multiple of them.
So I have like 1 entirely, Emma,Nicole dedicated one, and then
one dedicated plainest 1. And I can keep those two worlds
separate and it keeps it really kind of clear and organized

(01:15:44):
about what needs to be done and when and where.
And I think Notion is an incredible tool and it's free,
which is amazing. I love free 99 and that's why I
love notion like like when it's free, I will take it and it's
worth it. And I I've been using notion for

(01:16:05):
so long and I found it so helpful because I separate, like
you said, your Emma Nicole and your Plenus team spaces.
I have one for this podcast, my twitch stuff and like my
personal and. Amazing.
It is so helpful, especially keeping track of all the
sponsorships and analytics and updating like media kits.

(01:16:26):
It is like a one stop shop of whatever you want to do.
It's open-ended, which is scary,but you make it how you want.
Yeah, and you're you're right. It's open-ended.
You can kind of customize it. You can have it kind of very
visually representative of whatever world that you're
you're creating it for. But I had AI don't know where I
saw this. I feel like it it was probably

(01:16:48):
Twitter. Someone said imagine you wake up
1 morning and someone had deleted your notion.
Oh my God, the fear that. That that that triggered.
Me, I don't even like. I feel like half of us would be
we'd, we'd be like walking around like clueless.
What do we do? Where's all my stuff?
What's next, What's coming that I just don't want to think about

(01:17:11):
that. Oh, I could cry for that because
I'm like, I can't do, I can't live without my notion.
It's like my, it's my everythingis where I I bind all of my
tools and yeah. Oh.
No thank you. No thanks.
No, no, no. No, no, no, no, no, no thank
you. Well, to end off the podcast, I

(01:17:31):
do this for all of my guests. Some rapid fire questions that I
want to ask you. Fun.
OK, next big personal goal. Personal goal, Oh my God.
Oh stop. I'm so bad at these these quick
fire questions. Personal goal is I want to I

(01:17:53):
want to start eating healthier. OK.
I've not got the best diet. Need to do why coolest project
on your plate right now? Plainest, the coolest project.
Also the definitely the biggest project, but my God, we got a
very exciting few months ahead, so definitely plainest.

(01:18:14):
I am very excited for that then hardest lesson you've learned
building your platform in plainest.
The hardest lesson I learned, oh, OK.
The hardest lesson is that I don't have all of the skills.
So, you know, I am a creative person.

(01:18:36):
I absolutely live for community building and I live for
connection. But I do not have technical
skills. I really know nothing about kind
of product design, building a tech product, coding.
I was very humbled at the beginning of that experience.
So yeah, the the hardest lesson I've learned is you just really

(01:18:57):
have to except that you really don't know everything and you
need help in in a lot of things,most things, honestly.
So yeah, that's been the hardestexperience.
OK. And favorite creative tool you
can't live without other than Notion?
Favorite creative tool? OK, this is not that creative.

(01:19:25):
OK, I'm going to say, I'm going to say Premiere Pro because I,
I've never been into cap cut as in, you know, the, the editing,
editing videos directly in my phone.
I've just never really agreed with it.
And Premiere Pro has just kind of been there for me for my
pretty much my entire journey. So I've really kind of learned

(01:19:48):
all the features through YouTubeand self-taught all the
different things on Premiere Pro.
And I'm, you know, it was a steep learning curve.
It feels overwhelming at the beginning and now I feel like me
and Premiere Pro are friends. So I'm going to give credit to
Premiere Pro. Yes, and I've just found out
they're actually going to be releasing Adobe Premiere Pro on

(01:20:08):
the Apple and Android store at some point soon 'cause they're
digging away Premiere Rush. Premiere Pro is going to be on
mobile now, which is very exciting.
Huge. That's.
Huge. OK, that's amazing.
And I'm like they announced thaton the 4th.
Can I have it now? Because like, that's really so
helpful. That's so helpful.

(01:20:28):
That's always been something I wanted is to be able to at least
do some editing on the go. I'm writing that down to go and
put that in my diary somewhere amazing.
Yes. And last and final question,
what piece of advice that you can give to someone wanting to
start as a creator? Oh OK, piece of advice to

(01:20:50):
someone wanting to start as a creator.
I would say go into it looking for connection and community and
creating bonds with people because once you have that,

(01:21:10):
everything else just becomes so much more enjoyable.
And when you have the ability toconnect with people and learn
from them and find out what their what their wants are, what
their likes and dislikes are, creating content is so
rewarding. So go into it wanting to build a

(01:21:32):
lovely community that you connect with and people that you
feel like you know you are friends with and then create
content for them specifically. That's very good advice for
sure. Well, Emma, thank you so much
again for being on my podcast for Hello Spring.
Yes, it was so nice to talk to you about everything under the

(01:21:56):
sun and I hope to see you again very soon.
Actually, I will in Ohio. You will countdown.
Is it a month? Maybe even less than a month.
I think yeah, less than a month at some time.
At the end of this month, September, I will see you.
I'm so excited we have, I feel like we have so much more still
to talk about. So I'm excited that I get to see

(01:22:18):
you in a few weeks. But thank you so much for having
me. Yes, anytime and if you ever
want to be on the podcast again and yap some more let me know.
I am more than happy. I'm so down.
Yes. And so where can the people find
you on the Internet? I am at high Emma Nicole across
all socials Emma Nicole and if you would like to follow

(01:22:42):
plainist, follow the journey. See learn more about the world
of plainist and see what we get up to up until launch.
Then you can also follow us on Plainist PLAYNIST across all
socials or just plainist.com. Awesome.
Well, I will put those all down in the show notes below for
people to check out and get and sign up.

(01:23:05):
And then again, yes, but then again, thank you so much and we
will see you all next time. Well, my friends, that was the
end of the episode with my good friend Emma Nicole.
I hope you all really enjoyed it.
I definitely sure did. Because learning more about
Emma's journey about being a content creator from where she

(01:23:26):
started to where she's at now and just understanding the
history around plainest and knowing that is a social
platform for anyone and everyonewho wants to have a more
meaningful and community. Different way to discuss,
organize and share the gaming experiences of what gaming means
to them, but also finding games that you know that they might

(01:23:46):
like as well. And for me, I have so many games
and playlist came at the perfecttime for me and I'm so excited
to dive deep into it and really organize and personalize my
gaming catalog the way I've always wanted to do.
And so if you ever want to checkout playlist, I will link all
the show notes down below. Definitely sign up for the wait

(01:24:07):
list and get your yourself in because you my friends will be
left inspired. So this episode left you
inspired and excited. To know more about Emma Nicole's
journey of being a creator, a Forbes 30 under 30 Lister, and
new founder of playness, definitely check out all the
social media links in the show notes below.
And when I tell you play, this is going to be the next social

(01:24:29):
platform that will leave you inspired, excited and
celebrated. I truly mean it.
It's going to be a place where you can organize, personalize
and discover new games for new experiences for you, your
friends, and anyone that wants to have a place where they can
feel like they belong. And honestly, I sure enough do.
But with all that being said, I hope you all enjoyed today's

(01:24:50):
episode and I will hear and see you all next time.
Bye.