It’s been another eventful year for OfflineTV. The content creator group featuring personalities such as Imane "Pokimane" Anys, William "Scarra" Li, and Jeremy “Disguised Toast” Wang has been busy creating some of the most popular content in the industry — from anime music videos to PG recreations of Squid Game. 

Since their 2017 launch, the company has grown into one of the most recognizable content groups in the world. This has required more and more people behind-the-scenes to keep things smooth. Of those people, one of the most interesting stories is that of Yvonne “yvonnie” Ng.

OfflineTV’s House Manager has also had an eventful year — a couple of years, in fact. Since 2018, Yvonne has gone from managing popular streamers to becoming one herself. Her story shows us the unique opportunities in the streaming age, the value of balance for content creators, and the importance of always seeking to improve.

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Although not entering the industry immediately, Yvonne always knew she wanted to work in video games. She streamed on the side, but her viewership usually remained in the double-digits. She livened up her office day job with dreams and aspirations of working at a company like Riot Games or an esports organization. Not long after, in 2018, she joined OfflineTV as what was essentially a support staff position.

“In the beginning, it was strictly a lot of house things, social media, and just whatever they would need, because OTV was very small at the time (still small, but not as small as it was back then). So I had to do a lot of things more hands-on: prepping for shoots, and just making sure everything runs smoothly. And then other stuff that’s more behind behind-the-scenes—a lot more back-end company things.”

That was three years ago and at first, it looked like that was how it was going to stay. Streaming was not a priority upon joining OfflineTV. “When I got to LA, I didn’t stream at all, because I was just trying to make sure everything with OTV was going well.” She didn’t expect what was to come. 

Yvonne’s jumpstart into streaming is proof of how different this was from older, more traditional forms of media. On-camera work wasn’t her aspiration, but she got sucked into the vortex nonetheless, drawn in by the gravity of some of Twitch’s biggest stars.

“It wasn’t expected. It was more like when I got here, I got pulled into streams through people in the house.”

Yvonne settled well into her role as a streamer alongside her responsibilities at OTV, and started streaming more seriously. Her enjoyable personality, promoted and uplifted by her star-studded colleagues, helped her grow from a two-digit viewership streamer to 500K+ subscribers in three years.

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Once in the real content creator game, Yvonne had to pursue the natural expansions, and one should note how genuine her YouTube channel is. Between the algorithm-friendly titles and well-edited stream highlights, her vlog stands out as a unique type of content, different from other big vlog channels you’ll find. They don’t play like a constant hodge-podge of as many eye-catching and flashy clips as possible. They’re soothing and personal — almost like a time capsule only to share with friends. You can tell it’s more than a streamer’s side-hustle: it’s a legitimate passion project. 

“... I think I just wanted to be able to do something creatively that was more of my own thing. And I think through vlogging, I actually found something that I really personally enjoy doing consistently. And although it's not a very unique thing, it's something that I feel like I do in my own way that I can express creatively that I'm happy with.”

The appreciation of the personal and intimate is a trait that appeared often as I spoke to Yvonne. With her constant invites to big events and functions with the industry’s largest personalities, one would expect her to have an exciting answer to what her fondest memory over the past year was. Her answer? 

“Hanging out in the living room with the house. That's something that's very small but happens to be one of the most enjoyable things throughout the year. Kind of makes me feel the most comfort. [...] We literally just sit in the living room and we talk. Or we watch something on the TV, or we watch people play TFT and just hang out with everyone or eat together. It's just very simple, but it's so fun whenever we do it. It just feels so relaxing and comforting.”

She also appreciated Offline TV’s recent outing to Joshua Tree National Park — a company trip that on the surface doesn’t seem as beneficial as something like TwitchCon or Worlds. Yvonne, though, understands the benefit for people of her age taking the time to experience such things.

“I just don't know if that's something that people will go out of their way to do. But I think if they are open to it, they should definitely go outside and unironically touch some grass, or just be out in nature and just experience it all. Because there's so much that you feel out there that will make you feel so much better. And then a lot of the problems that you had on the internet, or that you have that seems so big initially, it kind of grows a lot smaller when you see how big the world is. It definitely helps with perspective." 

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The desire to improve isn’t special — it’s natural, in fact — but Yvonnie radiates a different aura, drawn from her desire to not just help herself, but others too. Yvonnie’s quest for self-improvement and being her best possible version is less about egotism and more altruistic. 

Reflecting on the year, she stated “Yeah, I would say there were a couple of mental battles for sure. I think that happens super often in this space. It's very prone to falling into pit holes or difficulties in terms of motivation, or self-confidence. I would say that's something that I've particularly had a problem with for a while now — which is confidence. So that's been a big challenge. But I think when I started thinking that it could potentially hinder or affect the people around me, that's when I felt like I had to stop putting myself down too much.”  

The year 2020, in particular, was a tough one when it came to “mental battles” — the hardest of her life, according to Yvonnie’s 2020 reflection video. She had to overcome family death, sexual harassment from a former co-worker Federico "Fedmyster" Gaytan, and all the regular struggles of the global pandemic. With the support of family, friends, and therapy with HealthyGamer’s Dr. Alok Kanojia (known as Dr. K), however, Yvonnie is now confident in the process of discovering and improving herself. 

“I was feeling all the emotions, and I didn't know how to convey it, or how to say it, and he [Dr. K] just did everything for me. [...] I think he's actually just helped me enough to a point where I actually feel like I am pretty good, right now. And that's kind of hard to say for the past few years — I haven't felt that way,” Yvonne says. 

A mentally stronger person, the streamer is now ready for new challenges. Her representative,  Josh “Caru” Glodoveza, sees in her the perfect storm to make for a AAA entertainer. 

“She's highly independent and heavily in tune with her community and the current gaming culture. She's a natural. Her vision and dreams for content and streams she wants to curate and also her love and passion for games, I can see why she keeps thousands to millions of people to tune in and on their toes on what she does next.”

There is no end in sight for Yvonne’s streaming career and with the continual rise of OfflineTV, her climb to stardom is nowhere near the peak.