Hi, AAM FAM! My name is Derek, and I hail from New York City. I work at a video entertainment company called DramaFever (now Warner Brothers), but some of you may know me better as Derek from Magnetic North. Like most everyone here, I'm a fan of Angry Asian Man, as well as Usher, and this little-known show called Game of Thrones. If there were ever an episode of GoT starring an Asian Khaleesi riding a dragon singing Usher's "Let it Burn," well damnit that would be a dream come true.
Speaking of dreams, nearly everyone at one point is faced with that career decision of passion versus practicality -- the dream job or the job that, you know, actually makes money. Once you start down the latter path, the harder it becomes to ever do anything else. Comfort and responsibility really set in and the courage to leave that behind tends to dwindle away... But for my cousin Andrew, he refuses to let that happen.
He's always doing new things every time I see him. When I moved to New York, Andrew was working at TIME magazine. A year later, he was making and selling t-shirts out of his apartment. Then he opened up a tea and dessert cafe in Union Square. After that, he got married, popped out a kid (well, his wife did that actually), moved to California, and got a job at Google.
Two years deep, he decided to have yet another career change. He was deciding between tornado chasing (really, that's a thing!) and starting a kid-friendly YouTube channel called ToyRap. He ended up doing ToyRap (thank goodness).
It's rare for someone to go from a cush job at Google to something like making YouTube videos. "I'm more productive and passionate when I'm working for myself," Andrew said. "I wanted to do something creative and a bit out there."
So, why videos for kids? "My son Ben was really into watching these toy videos on YouTube and I thought, 'Hey I could do that! Maybe I could do that better, with Ben!'"
But getting into the YouTube game is no easy task. Andrew wasn't used to being in front of the camera, and he had no editing experience when he started out. But like with everything he sets his mind to, he finds enjoyment in what he does and strives to master his craft. "And even if it's not successful at all, Ben and I have a lot of fun making these videos. It's good memories with Ben."
See for yourself! Be warned: Ben is one cute kid!
You can check out the rest of Andrew's videos here on his YouTube channel.
