At age 26, journalism graduate Rebecca became the face of a YouTube channel that would quickly go viral. Exploding to six million subscribers in under four years, “The Channel” was, at one point, the fastest growing in Canada. However, with great visibility comes great consequence. Rebecca’s journey into the perils of social media algorithms is, at times deeply amusing, and at others utterly terrifying. What seemed like a dream job would soon turn into a hard-learned lesson in the price of internet fame.
By the time she turned 30, Rebecca experienced “creator burnout” at its most extreme. Deciding one day to up and quit her job with nothing lined up, and very little cash in the bank, Rebecca would begin a seven-year-long process of trying, and often failing, to untangle herself from the internet.
Episode 1: Escape Velocity / Freedom places us in Rebecca’s heel as she walks out of the door and away from her public career.
