Eugene Lee Yang

“I would walk down the street and people would scream from their cars at me and, generally, I'd turn around and it's a 13-year-old girl. And it's funny because that is the audience that I think big studios are always trying to target.”

“My time online has shown me that the viewers will respond most to authentic storytelling.”

“We have to express ourselves in the most true and authentic way.”

“I was a very insecure, self-conscious kid, and as an artist even more so.”

“A lot of times I go to a comedy show, I sit there and wait for the comedian to run out of ideas and look at me and make an Asian joke. Which is very different for blacks and Latinos. You can't say certain things because everyone is cognizant of when things are and should be offensive. Asians don't have that luxury.”

“I really did hate who I was.”

“How do we innovate and make things that challenge the notion of being stuck in a place of just being popular?”

“Even before BuzzFeed, Asian-American faces and voices were so prevalent online as huge YouTubers.”

“I haven't really spoken openly about my experiences with depression, especially, not ever having the chance to be in any way clinically diagnosed but I think that I certainly have a naturally depressive personality.”

“I think that there's a lot of different factors that played into the coming out process I've had with the public. You know, it's always gradual and very individual for each queer person.”

“The viral landscape is shifting and changing.”

“I think as you become a more open person and let others in, just in your regular life, you'll be surprised by how much you find and how you can then incorporate that into the work you put online.”

“The strength of the platform that I am privileged to have is that I reach a massive group of diverse people.”

“One of the first things that I found audiences related to me on outside of my identity was just my general cynical depressive worldview, which, surprisingly a lot of people share!”

“Even if it's just the smallest thing, like what label I go by, I think to find the truth and express it with full confidence.”

“YouTube opened up the types of voices and alternative ways of viewing ourselves that would never have been greenlit by a Hollywood studio.”

“I am a proud, gay person of color and I will not be intimidated into mediocrity or legislated into conformity!”

“Digital content is it's own industry that is going through it's own growing pains as with any other industry.”

“We have the right to be angry about our representation in the media. It's just not a reflection of how we live our daily lives.”

“I'm most concerned with committing to characters that contribute to more complex, modern and dynamic Asian-American representation on screen.”