By Dan Murphy
For many of the readers, and writers, of Yonkers Rising, there is a lack of understanding about how young adults can make money by posting videos online. This reporter is one of those who needs more understanding, but thanks to my 18-year-old daughter and some research about the topic, we highlight a Yonkers woman who has been able to become a popular entertainer on YouTube.
Stephanie Matto, known as Stepanka online, lives in Yonkers. She is 29 years old and moved to the U.S. from the Czech Republic when she was 7, with her mother. Stephanie explained, in one interview, that she had trouble making friends when she first came to Yonkers because she could not speak English.
Since then, Matto has found an audience of people who enjoy her videos, or video blogs, and like thousands of others, created a name for herself and a community of like-minded people who enjoy watching her videos on YouTube.
The topic of Stepanka’s videos vary, depending on what she is doing, or what is on her mind that day. “On my YouTube channel, I do videos about my life experiences, I do traveling videos, fashion videos, I just kind of like to dabble in a million different things,” Stephanie explained in her confessional, one part of popular YouTuber’s shows.
Matto has 351,000 subscribers to her YouTube channel, which according to the other YouTube channels, is a pretty big following, according to my daughter.
“A lot of her videos have ‘clickbait thumbnails,’ which basically mean the thumbnails on her videos look super dramatic and sexual, but when you watch the video it is not as serious or dramatic as the thumbnail portrayed it to be,” writes Katie Murphy. “A lot of youtubers use this technique to get more views on YouTube without actually doing all the work. This technique usually works on younger people (age 11 o 14) since they are young and pretty naïve.”
According to YouTube channel watchers, once a channel gets 100,000 subscribers or viewers, they can begin to make money from advertisers who want to post their ads alongside that person’s videos. This has enabled Stepanka to earn a decent living as a YouTuber.
Now Matto has taken her career to the next level, by appearing on the TLC show “90 Day Fiancé” with her first episode airing last Sunday, March 8. In the show, which will have several episodes of Matto and her girlfriend Erika, the two have become “90 Day Fiance’s” first same-sex couple.
This has brought additional notoriety to Stephanie and her online persona Stepanka, with more people watching her videos. Some published reports have Stephanie concerned because her mother, who she still lives with in Yonkers, does not know she is bisexual. Whether this assertion is true or an attempt to produce more drama on the show is up to you. The very first episode of her “90 Day Fiance “show has the two girls meeting each other for the first time.
Yes, that is correct, they fell in love online, with Stephanie in Yonkers and Erika in Australia. Matto flew to Australia to film the show.
Like all celebrities, Stephanie has her supporters and her critics. One YouTube watcher emailed us several months ago, asking us to investigate Matto’s claims that she has aplastic anemia.
“She made a video about it in 2016 and has also released a ‘teaser’ on her channel for a documentary she is making about her illness,” wrote one critic. “The illness is apparently life-threatening and even a common cold could potentially kill her. The Daily Mail wrote an article about her experience with this illness and how serious it is. Some believe she is faking this disease, however, for attention and for more YouTube fame and money. How could she both have the disease and travel to Australia to film a TV show?”
Titled “Long-Distance Love. 90 Day Fiancé,” TLC sent out the following to promote the show:
Stephanie Matto and Erika Owens will make history as the franchise’s first-ever same-sex story line.
Stephanie found a community for herself after she started vlogging. Erika is an “amazing, fun, quirky, gorgeous, hilarious woman,” Stephanie described. She’s 24 years old and is a photographer who lives in the Outback of Australia. “We are both bisexual,” Stephanie explained.
How did Stephanie and Erika Meet? “I began talking to Erika a little over a year ago,” Stephanie continued. “She watched my YouTube channel and she just casually started up a conversation with me. We went from talking a few times a week to every single day to me confessing my feelings to her and letting her know that I was falling for her.”
Why is Stephanie traveling to Erika? During a scene with friends, Stephanie explained why she was the one who was flying halfway across the world to meet Erika for the first time in person. “I’m just not ready for her to meet my mom yet,” she said. “My mom doesn’t know that I’m bisexual.”
She further explained why she hasn’t told her mom the truth. “Even though I have been with women before, I’ve kept my bisexuality a secret from my family and most of my friends,” Stephanie said in her confessional. “I’ve never felt brave enough to come out to my mom because she does have these grand ideas of me marrying a doctor or a lawyer – a man, above all else. I know that I need to tell my mom the truth about Erika. I’m not going to live my life in complete secrecy forever. It’s just finding the right time to tell her. If I were to not get her approval or she were to disagree with my bisexuality, this whole trip could fall apart before it even happens. It would crush me.”
This is how online fame and, for some, fortune happens. Stephanie has created a name, and even a brand of herself, that people enjoy watching on their phones or computers at varying times of the day and night. She provides an escape from reality for some, and, yes, she curses and talks a lot about sex – but all in all, it is OK for young adults to watch, in my view. I’ve seen much worse online.
Congratulations, Stephanie Motto, and if any of our readers want to learn more, perhaps watch the show on TLC and on demand, and then if you want more, visit her YouTube page at https://www.youtube.com/user/itsmeSTEPANKA
