May 10, 2021 [[read-time]] minute read
We’re peeling back the curtains with our series, Work Diaries, where you can experience the inner workings of YouTube. How do decisions get made? What goes into a product, feature or policy? We’re asking YouTube employees to give us the low-down during a five-day period.
Featured today: Chanel Tyler is the Creator Lead for Beauty & Communities Partnerships. She specializes in developing and executing the beauty strategy across the creator ecosystem, managing a portfolio of top endemic beauty creators, and leading a team of Strategic Partner Managers (SPMs) who focus on ensuring YouTube is equitable and inclusive. Chanel is also launching YouTube’s first-ever Beauty Festival, alongside Head of Fashion and Beauty, Derek Blasberg.
Premiering on May 14, #BeautyFest celebrates all things beauty and features appearances by Patrick Starrr, Michelle Phan, Shalom Blac, Hyram, Manny MUA, Gwyneth Paltrow, Addison Rae, Jessica Alba, Millie Bobby Brown and more.
My workspace
7:00 a.m. — This is typically when my alarm goes off. I start my day with a cup of decaffeinated coffee with French vanilla cream and turmeric while I boot up my computer and begin catching up on any emails that came in the evening before. Since we’ve been in the pandemic and working remotely, mornings have become my jam. It’s quiet, with almost zero disruptions, making it easier to get things done.
10:00 a.m. — Work chats are starting to get lively, especially our #BeautyFest team group chat. We’re all checking in with status updates and plans. As you can imagine, when on a production schedule, you deal with all sorts of hiccups and snags. I do my best to keep the Creator team in the loop and aligned on key priorities. One of the tougher things about leading a team of Strategic Partner Managers (SPMs) is that big events like #BeautyFest are secondary to the core day job, which is partner management — myself included. Therefore, #BeautyFest priorities have to wait until the end of day. I know how hard everyone is working and I never lose sight of that. I feel privileged to work with such incredible people!
12:45 p.m. — We have our daily all-hands meeting for #BeautyFest, where we gather to solve complex problems and challenges that come with planning such a large-scale event.
Some of those challenges include: developing new segments for the program, like our Drag Queen segment, because we have interest from creators who want to partner with us on this. We’ve been fielding a ton of requests from people who want to be involved, which is a great problem to have!
Everyone on the team has an excellent sense of humor, which keeps even the more serious things light. We game plan, and then, in 15 minutes, we’re done. The efficiency is next level! Due to the fact that we are down to the wire, I’ll review the project plan and list of key deliverables, assigning each person on the Creator team a list of tasks to lead. Derek and I have to focus on media planning and marketing support to ensure #BeautyFest is a success on launch day.
Today’s highlight: It was 71 degrees today in Chicago (I am typically in NYC), and for the first time in months, I was able to throw on a t-shirt and take a walk on the boulevard outside with my hubby. We even grabbed a couple scoops of black walnut ice cream.
9:00 a.m. — The big focus this week is our PR announcement of #BeautyFest on Thursday, which I personally could not be more excited about! Derek and I were both interviewed for the exclusive with People.com, and it’s beyond exciting to be featured in such a major publication. We’ve been preparing for the launch of the festival since December so watching everything come to fruition has been challenging but also magical. I needed to prioritize getting the word out to our top creators and their teams, especially those that are included in the press announcement. A core part of my job as an SPM is to advocate for and amplify the profiles of my Creators, so this is a great opportunity to show them some love and drive attention to their channel.
2:30 p.m. — The majority of our team meetings happen on Tuesdays, so there were a lot of exciting check-ins. In our Communities team meeting, we reviewed “5 Principles for Creating Visibility of Your Work,” led by my colleague on the Communities Team. Those principles are:
You Need To Know Yourself
People Need to Know You
Communicate with Confidence & Clarity
Imposter Syndrome Is Real
Create Visibility For Others.
These principles truly resonated with me, and held so much relevance and weight for how we all navigate our careers.
Today’s highlight: I was able to squeeze in a 30-min intervals-and-arms workout today. It felt like such an accomplishment, since being physically active is limited these days because of low-energy levels. But this one was so good and I felt the burn!
8:00 a.m. — I didn’t sleep well last night. The woes of being 8-months pregnant are creeping in and everything is super uncomfortable, including sleep. Between the hourly bathroom runs, the back pain, and general challenges of finding a comfortable resting position, I got maybe 3 hours of sleep. So starting the day off a little rough! My go-to as a pick-me-up is a raspberry leaf pregnancy tea with ginger and honey. It always helps me feel better.
2:00 p.m. – This year we are celebrating 15 years of beauty on the YouTube platform, and the main segment highlighting that for the Festival is the “History of Beauty,” which is a montage of creator clips spanning from 2006 to present day, narrated by none other than the original beauty creator, Michelle Phan. We can’t use the clips without creator approval, so I developed an outreach strategy for our team. We partnered with other SPMs to get usage requests out. This is no easy feat, as we have hundreds of clips, and it requires a lot of alignment and organization from comms to tracking! We are hopeful most of the creators will want to be included in this major moment
12:00 p.m. — Our exclusive announcement with People Magazine just went live! We got excited all over again, and this gave us even more motivation to keep pushing to the finish line. Our entire team is pinging back-and-forth with joy and excitement. Lots of exclamation points are flying around!!!
Today’s highlight: I had my 33-week prenatal check-in with my OB, and for the first time in my pregnancy, my husband was able to go with me and experience the ultrasound. This was a huge deal for us! He has not been happy about missing all the appointments to date.
Rehearsal time!
12:00 p.m. — Our entire team went through a dress rehearsal today in preparation for the big day, testing lighting, sound, location, a whole checklist of things. This is the first time I’ve been involved in a production of this scale. It’s so exciting, but also a bit nerve-racking because you want it all to be perfect (as you can see by my very serious face). We work with such a fantastic production team. I have to say, unlike our incredible creators, the majority of us are used to being on the other side of the camera managing the behind the scenes! Mic check, 1-2, 1-2.
3:00 p.m. — Just realized I haven't eaten lunch today. It’s been one of those Fridays. Ordered some Thai food and bubble teas, which I’ve been craving. Hoping to wrap up work in the next couple hours, so that I can start my weekend. It’s definitely been a long but very productive week. I find myself especially grateful for the team today. Everyone’s hard work is paying off and our “work baby” comes to life!
Today’s highlight: This weekend it will be in the high 70s, and I have been dying to do outdoor things. Today we were able to get our deck power-washed and painted, so we can enjoy the warm weather. I plan on making some mocktails, applying SPF (must protect that glow!), throwing on some cute shades and basking in the sun.
Interested in a career at YouTube? Peruse through open positions here.