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Molly Burke describes herself as \u201ca typical sushi and makeup loving millennial girl who just so happens to be blind!\u201d\u00a0 After meeting Molly, I can tell you that there is nothing typical about this fearless 24-year-old who will inspire you to #dowhatyoucant \u2013 in partnership with Samsung, who also featured her in a commercial that aired in the Oscars in 2018.\u00a0 How many other people do you know that celebrate their ten-year anniversary of being blind (she was diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa at just 4 years old)?\u00a0 She bravely took us through her journey in a ten-part series that Samsung partnered with her on.\u00a0 She is the definition of the word survivor after being bullied for years by her classmates and overcoming the obvious obstacles and becoming a successful YouTuber.\u00a0 She is approaching almost 100,000,000 views and has more than 1.8 million subscribers \u2013 a major feat no matter what challenges that you have to face in life.\u00a0\u00a0 DIVINE had the chance to sit down with Molly in March to find out more about her plans and hearing more about her journey.<\/p>\n
You have had so many instances of bullying in your young life – from being abandoned in the woods by your “friends” at 14 to having to even deal with it at a school for the blind.\u00a0 You weren’t really helped by your schools, so how did you emotionally cope with the trauma?\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n It bothered me a lot and I felt a lot of anger and a lot of resentment.\u00a0 I had to hit that rock bottom and pick myself up.\u00a0 I had to love myself enough to know that I deserve better.\u00a0 Luckily, I had an amazing family supporting me, an amazing medical team supporting me, walking that journey with me when I couldn\u2019t support myself and didn\u2019t believe in myself.\u00a0 I went to therapy with professional psychologists.\u00a0 I worked with a nutritionist to fuel my body with healthy foods that empowered me.\u00a0 I worked on finding spirituality.\u00a0 I worked on my physical health too with exercise, yoga and Pilates. I worked to fuel my passions as an outlet.\u00a0 We all hear that there is a reason for everything, so I need to find my reason.\u00a0 For me, it felt like my reason was to take my story and share it use it to create change and positivity.\u00a0 All of those things helped me walking in my journey towards recovery.<\/p>\n What advice do you have for other teens going through situations like this \u2013 especially since it seems like bullying has become an epidemic.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n Unfortunately, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s going anywhere so we have to empower people who are being bullied to overcome it.\u00a0 I never stopped being bullied.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t as bad as my experience in grade 8, but it continued all through high school.\u00a0\u00a0 In grade 12, they would literally throw garbage at me when I walked down the hallway.\u00a0 The bullying never stopped, but what stopped was my mindset.\u00a0 One of the things that I talk about a lot is the power of acceptance, and not seeking acceptance from others, but accepting yourself.\u00a0 For so many years I tried to wear the right outfit or listen to the music that was popular, but none of that was me\u2013 this is what I was told to do to make friends, but it didn\u2019t work.\u00a0 It got to the point where I still wasn\u2019t making friends and was still being bullied, so I thought, I may as well dress how I want and listen to the music that I want.\u00a0 Once I started doing that, I liked myself so much more \u2013 I was being authentic and it actually opened me up to finding friends that were interested in what I was.\u00a0 People were meeting Molly and I liked myself more because I was being genuine.\u00a0 When you accept and embrace who you are, it doesn\u2019t matter if someone else doesn\u2019t like you, because you like you.\u00a0 I believed in myself and was driven whatever the bullies had to say didn\u2019t affect where I was going.<\/p>\n What does YouTube mean to you?<\/strong><\/p>\n As a teen, I no longer had girlfriends to hang out with on the weekends or to go shopping with, so I filled my time by watching girls on YouTube.\u00a0 They were all around my age and loved makeup, fashion and beauty \u2013 all the things that I was interested in.\u00a0 It felt like they were my sisters or friends.\u00a0 That was a huge source of support for me.\u00a0 It empowered me to think that I could still do my makeup and I learned how to put my makeup on without a mirror by listening to them.\u00a0 I could still know what was in fashion, even though I couldn\u2019t read a magazine. It was a big part of rebuilding my life as well.\u00a0 It made me realize that I\u2019m still Molly.\u00a0 I can still love tattoos, coloured hair and makeup.\u00a0 I just have to experience it in a different way.\u00a0 I\u2019m so honoured that I get to do that for a living.<\/p>\n Your channel is so successful \u2013 how did you grow your audience?<\/strong><\/p>\n I think a lot of people get discouraged.\u00a0 I hear from some YouTubers that \u201cOh, I only have 100 subscribers\u201d \u2013 that\u2019s actually really good.\u00a0 It\u2019s tough \u2013 it took me a year to get 5,000 subscribers, another year to get to 10,000 and 4 \u00bd years in, I have almost 2 million.\u00a0 At the end of the day, you have to get into it for the right reasons.\u00a0 People think they want this job and are attracted by things like the free PR packages.\u00a0 That isn\u2019t why you should get into it.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It\u2019s super cool and a lot of it I do use and love, but that\u2019s not a reason to get into it.<\/p>\n People are also attracted to the notoriety but then you get stopped by 30 people when you are getting coffee and even that is a different experience.\u00a0 It\u2019s great, but some days if you are feeling sick or going through a breakup, or haven\u2019t showered in three days, you don\u2019t want to be noticed.\u00a0 I\u2019m grateful for all of these things.\u00a0 You have to make sure that you are passionate about creating content, inspiring and building a community.<\/p>\n I was a full-time speaker, I didn\u2019t need to be a creator, but I wanted to find other ways to share my story and I\u2019m so lucky that it worked.\u00a0 There were challenges, for example, 4 \u00bd years ago, there weren\u2019t any creators with disabilities.\u00a0 It\u2019s a small community and there still are not a lot of people in this space.\u00a0 No one was searching for this content because they didn\u2019t know it existed.\u00a0 It is hard to build when you are such a niche.\u00a0 I love it though \u2013 it allows me to stand out to my audience and to brands.\u00a0 Now, what started out as a challenge being niche is what sets me apart.\u00a0 The disability community on YouTube has come so far.<\/p>\n What YouTubers do you gravitate towards? <\/strong><\/p>\n I like people that are authentically themselves and even a little controversial at times.\u00a0 I love Jeffree Star.\u00a0 I think what he is doing is amazing.\u00a0 He is saying that you can be a creative, weird, alien creature and be successful.\u00a0 You don\u2019t have to conform and apologize for being yourself.\u00a0 I love James Charles for being the first male Cover Girl.\u00a0 I love Shane Dawson, who is someone who has been on this platform for over ten years and continues to evolve and change.\u00a0 He was an obese poor kid and made it and said I deserve a place.\u00a0 As someone who was also in a minority group, discriminated against, told you are not meant for this industry because you don\u2019t fit the mould, I love all of the people who are doing the exact same thing that I am trying to do.\u00a0 It\u2019s breaking that mould in this industry, saying that I deserve a place on this platform and not apologizing for who I am.\u00a0 It\u2019s saying that I am going to make and build space for other people like me to make it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"