Last Friday, thanks to the University Program Board, Internet sensation Jenna Marbles visited Slippery Rock University to speak about her experiences and give advice to the students in the audience.
The 32-year-old YouTube star has been big on the platform since 2010 when her first viral hit, “How to Trick People Into Thinking You’re Good Looking,” was made.
“When I started, it wasn’t any type of viable career path–you couldn’t make money doing it or anything. I was just uploading things into the abyss that I thought only my friends would see,” Jenna said of her rise to fame.
Held Friday night in the Aebersold Recreational Center, Jenna Marbles was UPB’s first speaker of the year. The event was moderated by assistant professor of communication Brittany Fleming. Jenna spoke about education, the beginning of her online career and, of course, her dogs Kermit, Marbles and Peach.
“I’m an education pusher. I think for those of you in school, you guys are doing something really awesome and rad for yourself. I think it’s really important,” Jenna said. “It’s like, the last time you’re really gonna be surrounded by all your peers and figure out where you fit in and who you are. I don’t think I figured out who I was until I went through college.”
Before her YouTube fame, Jenna attended graduate school, and had convinced herself that was the path she would be on for the rest of her life. Then, when she was 22, she decided she would take a year off and “go where the wind blows.”
“Within that year, I started working for a company called Barstool Sports,” Jenna said. “I started going on this different path, and I made a YouTube video that went pretty viral and I have just been on that path since.”
The event was clearly geared toward fans of Jenna Marbles, with many people giving her gifts and some even going as far as to dress up. When asked about her fans, Jenna stated, “[My fans] are really, really cool and really awesome, and I get a lot of messages from people that are like, ‘I was going through something really hard and difficult in my life and just watching you paint your face like a chair just made me forget about my life for a little while,'” Jenna said. “They do that for me, as well. Because I’m a human being, I have ups and downs, but someone will tweet me the weirdest drawing of Kermit I’ve ever seen, and it just makes me happy. It’s a two-way street, and it always has been.”
The event ended with a meet and greet with select members of the audience. If you’d like to see more of Jenna Marbles, check out the video above, or on our YouTube and Facebook page for the full interview.
