How does a young creator go from starting her YouTube channel at 13 years old to interviewing executives at consumer tech giants like Google and Rivian?
In this week’s episode of Earned, CreatorIQ CMO Brit Starr sits down with Jacklyn Dallas, powerhouse YouTube creator and CEO of Nothing But Tech.
To start, we dive into what inspired Jacklyn to start her YouTube channel at just 13 years old, and how she’s since become a seasoned interviewer of tech industry giants. Jacklyn shares how she turned simple tech tutorials into engaging dialogues with leaders from Rivian and General Motors, highlighting the impact of creator-led media in today's democratized media landscape. We learn the art of building community through interviews, drawing insights from renowned hosts like Sean Evans and Stephen Bartlett. Jacklyn reveals her techniques for crafting engaging interviews, balancing meticulous preparation with the magic of spontaneity. Switching gears, Brit and Jacklyn unpack the realms of AI, health tech, and space advancements, as well as the ethical considerations surrounding safety and privacy. Jacklyn emphasizes the importance of strategic partnerships and the role of creators as tastemakers in this ever-changing landscape. To close the show, Jacklyn reveals some future aspirations and what is coming next for her career.
Check out highlights from the episode below, or or tune into the podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen!
The following interview has been lightly edited for concision.
Jacklyn Dallas on Conversational Chemistry in Interviews: “The art of a good interview is the art of a good conversation.”
Brit Starr: I'd love to hear what excites you the most today about the conversations you're having about the state of technology and the work you're doing. What gets you up, other than coffee? I know you're a big coffee fan, but what else gets you up and gets you going?
Jacklyn Dallas: The coolest thing about doing interviews is that you prep for it all day and with every interaction you have. The art of a good interview is the art of a good conversation. If you're having a lot of conversations with people, then you have the ability to have conversational chemistry with anyone. Most of us care about a lot of the same things, and so even if your personalities are entirely different or your lived experiences are different, there's fundamental human things you can connect on. Ultimately, everyone wants to feel good and be excited about things. When I look at my favorite interviewers of all time, whether it be Sean Evans or Alex Cooper or Stephen Bartlett, they all have this ability to uniquely understand what makes the other person excited and what unique knowledge that person has to bring to the conversation. I'd say conversational chemistry is important, but from a viewer perspective, I don't love watching interviews that feel like they’re reading through a script. I don't want to watch and be like, ‘oh, I know that they're trying to get this person to say xyz.’
I think that there's a place for that, and I think you can still ask really hard questions, but you can frame it in a way where you give them the space to actually give you a good answer versus trying to make a debate. The last thing is asking follow-up [questions]. For example, what I think is most exciting in technology right now, would be space tech, aviation tech, health tech, ai, wearables. Every category is so exciting and I think that all of them interlink, but there's also fairly a lot of safety concerns and things that we're gonna have to consider with things like privacy and jobs getting taken by it. There's a balance where you want the conversations to feel deeply researched but also energizing.
Brit Starr: I totally agree with everything you're saying. For me, I actually don't think about this as an interview. I think about things as a conversation. I'm just genuinely interested in people. If I think you're fascinating and I can connect with you, I am interested in a conversation and I really hope it's valuable for other people..
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