Quenlin Blackwell is only 25-years-old, but has created one of the biggest internet empires over the past decade. As a creator, she’s managed to change and grow along with the internet. From her widely popular digital series ‘Feeding Starving Celebrities,’ to walking in the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, Blackwell has cemented herself as a major icon in the online zeitgeist.
If you’ve been a frequent internet/social media user within the past decade, you know who Quenlin Blackwell is. Initially rising to fame a decade ago on Vine as a teenager while living in Texas, Blackwell has been extremely intentional with how she’s grown and changed along with the internet.
Across both YouTube and TikTok she’s gained over 16 million followers. More recently, she’s been known for her popular digital series ‘Feeding Starving Celebrities,’ vlogs, magazine covers, cameo in HBO’s ‘I Love LA,’ and walking the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show last fall.
In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Blackwell reflected on the past decade and where she stands now in her career.
“I’ve had so many parasocial experiences where I understand why people think I’m their friend because I’ve been talking to you since you were 10-years-old and you’ve been talking back to me. So in the human mind, that means we’re friends,” Blackwell told the publication
In the modern digital landscape, the word “influencer” gets thrown around constantly, but for Blackwell, her true commitment is, and has always been, to entertain her audience with her boisterously genuine personality and comedic abilities.
This has led to not only the success of her series, but brought her into some of Hollywood’s biggest spaces like the Vanity Fair Oscars Party.
“I don’t think I’m an influencer at my core. I’m a creator. I think that’s why I’ve been able to sustain this career because I’m not trying to influence anyone. I’m trying to entertain people.”
When reflecting on where she fits in the world of comedy, Blackwell gave THR some of her biggest influences and inspirations:
“If you look at the greatest comedians of all time — Katt Williams, Dave Chappelle, Kevin Hart, all of the funniest people ever, especially Black people, it’s not that we were trying to find our voices in comedy. If you listen to it, it’s like a communal thing.
My comedy doesn’t stem from me trying to find where my voice fits. It stems from me trying to make my aunts and uncles laugh at the table and going toe to toe with the funniest people in my family and getting a joke off of them that I was funny. So then it was just like, let me tell these jokes that I tell myself in the way that I know how to tell jokes. And it just resonated with people.”
One of the biggest reasons Blackwell really stands out in a digital landscape that is overflowing with people trying to fit into creator/influencer spaces, is her authenticity. She’s never let her personality dim for the sake of fitting into a certain box, in fact, it’s her personality that’s allowed her to reach into so many different niches in the entertainment industry.
“I started creating on the internet before the terms influencer and creator were even conceptualized. … I think the reason people like watching me is because it doesn’t feel like I’m trying to optimize them or fit into whatever mold society wants me to be. It feels like they’re talking to a friend because I am just the friend on the other side of the phone,” Blackwell explained.
While Blackwell continues to expand into spaces outside of social media, she doesn’t see herself ever giving up the part of her career that exists exclusively online. She told THR that while she’s excited for how her career as an entertainer is evolving into more acting projects, she wants to make sure she continues to prioritize being a “place of solace for” her “community in whatever way that takes shape.”
Her series ‘Feeding Starving Celebrities’ is widely popular, and has cemented her creator career specifically on YouTube. The show itself actually started when Blackwell was in a place where she wasn’t posting videos that often, and wanted to push herself to create something for her followers.
“The show first came about because my friends Lil Nas X and Destin Conrad, both musicians, were like, ‘let’s go party,’ and I’m like, ‘y’all have music as a sustaining career. I need to make a video. I haven’t made a video because I’ve been hanging out with everyone in LA so much, I need to make a video. I need to give to the people who’ve got me in LA. I’m not doing anything except for making a video right now.’ And they’re like, ‘Okay, what do you want to do?’ I’m like, ‘I don’t know, cook.’
So they’re like, ‘What do you want to cook?’ I’m like, ‘I don’t know. I’ll just DoorDash Uber Eats some groceries. Let me just film it.’ And that was the first episode. …
There’s more episodes of me with friends than there is with me and people I don’t have some type of repertoire with. A majority of people I know from socializing in the entertainment industry. So it’s a really honest show,” only further proving that Blackwell’s genuine personality and authenticity is what really stands out to her audience.
“So many times people like salacious things, they like clicks, and that’s when you get a not-real person because they have all their defenses up. But on my show … I don’t want anything from you except for you to have a good time. I just want to have a new friend.”
Speaking on the future of ‘Feeding Starving Celebrities,’ Blackwell said her dream guests/friends for episodes are Inde Navarrette from recent horror hit Obsession, and Odessa A’zion, whom she’s already friends with.
“This is going to sound so crazy, but literally all of my friends that I have now, all of my friends that also have entertainment careers, this is how it starts. When me and Odessa met each other, I was like, “Oh my God, you’re crazy. I’ve seen videos of you on the internet and you’re such a talented person. We’re going to be best friends.” And then we’re best friends. Same with me and Larray.”
As such an experienced creator on YouTube, Blackwell explained why she believes the website has not only had staying power, but is growing even larger in a world that’s saturated with dozens of streaming services and social media platforms.
She talked about how the accessibility of the website/app is what makes it so popular, along with the fact that the possibilities are endless when it comes to the content uploaded on there.
“I think that’s why we’re seeing so many writers, filmmakers come from YouTube because they didn’t have to squeeze their idea because the studio said they had to fit some type of quota to make a certain thing to take the soul out of it. … I think YouTube is doing the best because it’s just the most honest format to create on.”
Recently, Blackwell got to use all of her content creating experience to play a dramatized version of herself on the new HBO comedy series ‘I Love LA,’ and work alongside her friend Odezza A’zion.
“It was a dream come true. I am forever grateful to Rachel Sennott for giving me the opportunity. I mean, to play a hyperbolized version of myself is a feat because that’s not me. That’s not me at all. I literally had an anxiety attack earlier thinking about how I could go and walk in public and be just normal. Like I’m a very anxious person, versus the character in I Love LA was like a queen bee princess. And it was just so nice to be able to drop my real self to give life to this character. And it made me learn more about myself too.”
Blackwell hopes to continue growing and learning as an actor after having such a positive experience in her debut. She described how growing up as such a popular public figure on the internet helped prepare her for the transition into television, and she hopes she continues to keep exploring acting.
“I love acting because I feel like if you grew up on the internet, you were not properly socialized in a way where you don’t have your first kiss because it’s time for you to have your first kiss. You have your first kiss because the media told you this is how you’re supposed to have your first kiss. … And I feel like acting puts you back into being a human. It puts you back into when you say these words, why are you saying them with this inflection? How do you feel about it? And that’s very nice for me. It’s like I’m learning how to exist kind of backwards.”
Regardless of her status as a veteran in the online world, this 25-year-old content creating all star is just getting started. Quenlin Blackwell’s commitment to entertain while remaining true to herself and close to the honest people around her makes her a true force. In a world of people telling you falsehoods of who they are and what they represent to sell a product or idea, Blackwell stands out as a genuine figure who’s always looking forward to what’s to come next.
“I think about where I come from, the people I love, the people that love me, what the child in me is excited about, my curiosity and my wanting to constantly be in play because it makes life seem worth living to me. That’s what makes me me.”
Eric Mastrota is a Contributing Editor at The National Digest based in New York. A graduate of SUNY New Paltz, he reports on world news, culture, and lifestyle. You can reach him at eric.mastrota@thenationaldigest.com.
