1 Million Subscriber Party My Thank You Speech to YOU
Rachel: I recently celebrated reaching one
million subscribers.
You helped me get there.
So in this video I’m gonna share scenes from
the party where we celebrated in New York
City.
As many of you know, back in September I reached
one million subscribers, and then in December
YouTube threw me a party where I got to meet
some of you.
It was an amazing night I loved every minute
of it.
And as a part of that party I gave a presentation.
A thank you presentation to my fans, my friends,
and my family.
And you have been an integral part of my channel
growing, so I want to thank you too, and I
want to show you the presentation that I gave
at my party.
Now of course, any time an American is speaking,
it’s possible that an idiom or a phrasal verb
will come up.
And as I watched my presentation, I realized
that I used some of these.
So while you’re watching the presentation,
when I use an idiom or a phrasal verb, I’m
going to stop the presentation and we’re going
to talk about that, we’re going to teach that,
so you’ll learn idioms and phrasal verbs that
come up naturally in American English conversation
as you watch this presentation.
Thank you so much for coming.
So what I wanted tonight to be about was thank
you.
I’ve put together a little thank you presentation
and I’m going to be thanking three groups
of people: YouTube, my fans, my friends and
family.
So to start, YouTube.
That’s an obvious one.
YouTube is awesome and they have I feel like
really taken the time to invest in me … YouTube
Youtube is awesome and they have I feel like really taken the time to invest in me, which has
been special.
I’ve been in two different YouTube programs.
They gifted me some technology, some cameras,
but the biggest gift they gave me was friendships
of other YouTubers, which is what grew out
of the program that I was in, was getting
to know other people and more than anything that is why I’m still doing this really are
those friendships.
And also, I don’t know if Matt is here.
I wanted to thank Matt and NanaAmma for helping
me plan this event.
And Matt has managely ran the first YouTube
program that I did like six years ago and
works in this space, worked in the old space
and has just always been a friendly face.
So thank you Matt so much for just helping
me feel like a part of the family and helping
me feel like very welcomed at YouTube.
Matt: Of course.
Rachel: Thank you.
Matt: Thank you. Rachel: Okay. Thank you YouTube.
Oh yeah.
So I almost forgot this part.
It’s a good thing I put together slides.
So now I’m going to tell you my YouTube story
in two minutes.
Or a little bit longer, depending on how longwinded
I get.
Or a little bit longer, depending on how longwinded
I get.
Okay so it all started with this guy who I
actually haven’t been in touch with since
before I even started my channel.
I think it’s probably time for me to reach
out to him.
His name is Giray and he’s Turkish and we
were living in Germany together studying German.
And so he was interested in language, and
Hollywood is this amazing exporter of the
American accent and he was interested in sounding
more American.
So you know, me being one of the few Americans
there, he asked me to help him, and I was
giving him some tips.
And he said, “Oh, you’re really good at that,”
and I thought, “Really?
Okay.”
I’m not even really sure what inspired me,
but I got home and I started making videos.
So this is in my dorm room.
You can do the next slide David.
This is in my dorm in Germany.
It’s the first video I ever posted.
And you can see it was 2008, like over nine
years ago, and I shot it on my laptop and
like the fan is spinning and it’s like right
by the mic and it is horrible.
This video is no longer on YouTube, like no
one can see it.
But just for fun we’ll watch just five seconds
of it.
Video: And V is voiced.
Make it sound with your vocal cords.
Rachel: So thank god I learned how to smile on
camera and thank god for increased production
value.
So, when I left Germany after my time to study
was up, it was 2008 and like many people in
the world at that time I lost my job as the
economy was sort of going south.
And so what do you do when you’re not sure
where to live and you’ve lost your job?
You live with your parents, which is what
I did.
So for the next 10 months I worked full time
on Rachel’s English and I chose this beautiful
set of closet doors to be my backdrop.
And so this is where I really kind of dug
in for 10 months doing it full time.
And it was during this time that something
amazing happened, which is people started
watching my videos.
So that was about here.
This is the year I was living with my parents
and it was like hundreds of people a day where
watching these videos.
I couldn’t believe it.
And of those people some of them were actually
contacting me and saying, “Could you help
me with my accent?”
And so I started teaching some people on Skype
and from there it just sort of built.
I made some videos, I taught, and it was in
the teaching that I really learned what I
was doing.
It was not in front of the camera.
It was with the students.
And so then they gave me more ideas about
a better way to teach something or what might
be hard for somebody, so I made more videos,
more people came, and it just sort of went
like that.
And another thing that started happening is
I started paying really close attention to
what Americans do, which people never really
do that with their own native language unless
they’re a language teacher maybe, and I just
started realizing why Americans are so hard
to understand.
And like when David and I started dating and
I would point these things out, he would just
be like, “Oh my god.
How can anybody learn English?
It’s insane what we do to language when we’re
speaking.”
You can go the next slide.
And so I started having more fun with language,
noticing what was happening and a couple years
later at Kmart, which is a major retailer
here in the US, came out with an ad where
they were using like as the main point of
their ad campaign a pronunciation joke.
And I was like, “This is incredible.”
Of course, I thought it was the funniest thing
ever, and so I made a video explaining why
the pronunciation joke was funny.
And let’s just watch a little clip.
Video: In the commercial, Kmart takes advantage
of our use of stop consonants in American
English.
They use the word ship to sound like the word
shit in the idiom to shit your pants.
Rachel: So I started having more fun with
it and I think the videos just become morefun, I became more relaxed and I got to know
more and more what I was doing.
So that is my YouTube story in two minutes.
Was that longer than two minutes?
It probably was.
You can go, hit to the next slide.
Okay, Yes.
So this is the story of my channel, slow and
steady.
I never had a viral video.
It’s just always been learning from the people
who were learning from me to understand how
to better teach and relate to students and
that kind of thing.
So, now slow and steady after nine years got
me to a million people, which is incredible.
So now I just really want to take a minute
to thank the people in this room who … raise
your hand if you are not friends and family.
You only know me from my YouTube channel.
That is amazing.
I don’t even know what to say.
I mean just incredible thanks to you.
I recognize that time is the most precious
resource we have and that you guys have chosen
to spend your time with me, your educational
time with me, just to say, “This person
knows what she’s doing enough, I’m going
to subscribe, I’m going to come back and watch
another video,” is just, it’s incredible.
And I can’t thank you guys enough for doing
that.
So I just want to get to know you guys a little
bit more here in the moment.
How many of you maybe found my channel somewhat
recently, and maybe you’ve been watching for
like a year or less?
Wow.
Anyone one to two years?
Two to three?
Three to four?
Anyone in here watching for over four years?
Wow.
That’s awesome.
I also just want to acknowledge that I know
that some people had to travel a little bit
to be here.
So well, first of all, raise your hand if
you live in one of the five boroughs because
you guys know I’m jealous because you know
it’s my favorite place on earth.
What if … Did anyone have to travel a little
further like two, around two hours or three?
Anyone travel three to four hours?
Anyone travel four hours?
Five?
Where did you come from?
Speaker 4: Egypt.
Rachel: You came here?
You came to this?
Wow.
Are you doing anything else in New York?
I hope so.
Okay.
Egypt and did anyone else travel like from
another country?
Wow.
Okay, where did you travel from?
Speaker 5: From Montreal.
Rachel: Montreal.
Are you the one that I was emailing?
Speaker 5: Yes.
Rachel: Okay, awesome.
Okay, who else was from another country?
Speaker 6: From Saudi Arabia.
Rachel: Saudi Arabia.
Did you come here for this event?
Speaker 6: I came here for an exam and I was
lucky to have this event.
Rachel: Okay.
I’m glad it worked out.
I’m glad it worked out.
Who else is from another country?
Speaker 7: From China.
Rachel: From China?
Speaker 7: Yeah.
Just for the party and just feel like
Rachel: Just for the party.
How long are you staying?
How long are you staying?
Speaker 7: Three days in New York.
Rachel: Three days.
Okay, and then you’re going to travel around?
Speaker 7: Yeah, a little bit.
Rachel: A little bit.
Awesome.
Welcome.
Thank you.
Where were the other country hands?
Who else came from another country today to
be here?
Where are you from?
Speaker 8: From Canada, Toronto.
Rachel: From Toronto.
Awesome.
Welcome.
Where there a couple of other hands?
I don’t want to miss anybody.
Speaker 9: Australia.
Rachel: Austria or Australia?
Speaker 9: Australia.
Rachel: Australia.
Oh my god.
That is an incredibly long flight.
Did you come just for this?
Or you were in town and it worked out?
Speaker 9: I will be here for about four weeks.
Rachel: Okay, awesome.
Welcome.
Did I miss anybody?
It’s like it’s kind of hard to see you.
I might need some like serious waving going
on.
The lights are right in my eyes.
No?
Okay, well.
Wow.
I do not know what to say.
Well, first, I will say in case anyone’s wondering
there is going to be a moment for meeting
me everybody after this, so know that that
is coming.
So guys, thank you.
I’m not sure what else to say other than thank
you.
You spend this precious resource with me and
you uplift me with your comments and so thank
you.
This is really a celebration of you, one million
of you, so …
Speaker 10: I’d like to say thank you.
Rachel: You’re welcome.
Okay, so let’s get real.
I think that one of the things that makes
my channel special is that I use real English
conversation in it.
And so I need to thank my friends and family
for that because I’m not very good at having
an interesting conversation by myself.
I need to have other people there as a part
of it.
And so to my friends and family who are here,
raise your hand if you’re friends and family.
Beautiful people.
So to you guys I just want to say look to
everyone who is here and just know that these
are the people who you have made a positive
impact on their lives by doing this.
And behind me now is a reel of videos.
So one thing that I do every so often for
the past several years is I’ll do a video
challenge where I will ask people to make
me a video on a certain topic and send it
to me and it’s the ideas you practice your
English.
I put them all together and then it’s a way
for us to get to know other people in the
Rachel’s English community.
And so not only are the people who are physically
present here, people you’ve impacted, but
these are also the faces of people in whose
lives you’ve made a change.
So when I made a video announcing I was having
this party, inviting people, I got an email
from a student of mine in Florida who said,
“I can’t be there.
I wish I could.
But would you please read this email out loud.”
And when he gets towards the end, it’s spot
on.
I really appreciated what he said about my
friends and family.
So, If you would let me read this letter.
My name is Ulises Goznalez Horta.
I’m originally from Cuba, but since 2016 I’ve
lived in Miami.
I will always follow you because you teach
all that nobody does.
You never do like in the normal English schools
where they try to teach a language with slow
and fully pronounced videos that a normal
or advanced student is able to understand.
But later when you get home and you turn on
the news, you realize that is not the same
English you learned in school.
I see the way you interact with your friends,
your family in our videos, and yes, that’s
American English in real conversation.
My grandpa was an English teacher in Cuba.
He taught me a lot of English, but of course
he failed to teach me the American way to
speak or listen to the language.
So I came to this country and I was able to
read the newspaper or a book, if people talk
to me slowly I was able to understand, but
all of you know that is not the way it works.
People on the street talk at a normal speed.
So this is my history.
I was unable to understand TV, and the worst
of all, was when someone talked to me by phone.
That was a mess.
After studying with Rachael for one year,
and of course having other resources, today
I’m able to understand TV, listen to people
from different states of the US without big
troubles, and furthermore, today I give remote
phone support in a call center.
This sounds incredible but it’s true and 70%
of this is due to Rachel’s videos.
Each time I see you in a video with your loved
ones, I guess they should be a little bit
upset because I think you push them to be
in the videos and act … and act in a normal
way, and it’s possible they don’t want to
do it.
So I want to ask for one round of applause
for them right now.
So thank you friends and family.
I’m going to start by thanking my parents.
Okay mom and dad, where are you?
There they are.
So not only did they teach me English many
years ago, but they let me live with them
when I was working on the channel and they’re
always game.
They never made me feel bad about pulling
out my video camera to get a little bit of
footage to teach this concept, to teach this
idiom, or whatever.
So you guys, thank you so much for being in
my videos.
Speaker 11: Welcome.
Rachel: Okay, next.
David’s family raise your hand.
I think David’s family did not know what
they were getting into when he brought me
home for the first time.
But you guys are so positive and you know
you live with such good energy, so vivacious,
and you I feel like have welcomed me and my
camera into like family vacations and it’s
just so supportive the way you also don’t
make me feel bad about trying to get this
shot, making the video about family and relationships,
and just, yeah, just recognizing that it’s
part of my work of what I’m doing and thinking
that that was important.
So thank you guys so much for being in my
videos.
HaQuyen, raise your hand.
So HaQuyen is amazing because not only is she
native in Vietnamese and English, but she
also speaks French and so she’s a really fun
person to like have language nerd jokes with, and
on top of that she has definitely helped me
understand a little bit of the Vietnamese
perspective, challenges they might have.
We’ve talked through some things that could
help me be a better teacher.
So HaQuyen thank you so much for being in
my videos.
Laurie.
Hey Laurie.
Laurie was in one of my all-time favorite
videos.
It’s the Lower East Side.
I’m wearing this rubber horse mask and we
were like, “Horse idioms, let’s just look
them up.
Maybe there’s a couple.”
And we could not believe how many horse idioms
they were and it was like each time we discovered
a new one that was good, she would just would
like all this energy, be like, “Oh my god,”
and it was just so fun.
So Laurie, thank you so much for being my
friend.
Mark and Hill, is Hillary here?
All right, yeah.
Crazy zany, the camera loves you.
Speaker 12: God no.
Rachel: No, but you guys also let me bring
my camera to your house.
You’re having parties.
I’m like, “Let me get that shot,” and
you were always open to it.
Also, just such a positive energy in the videos
and willing to taste chili on international
television, so thank you guys so much for
being here.
Vicki!
Is Vicki here?
Oh Vicki.
She was going to come but maybe she’s tied
up in traffic.
Well Vicki actually lives very close to me
in Philly and so we shoot these videos in
her house.
And guys she has a YouTube channel called
Simple English Videos.
It’s very good if you’re not subscribed
so check it out.
But it’s so fun to shoot with her and her
husband Jay because we shoot in the living
room with this green screen, and like a city
bus will go by and we have to stop because
it’s too loud.
And then in post she makes these amazing things
happen with the green-screen.
She has a lot of video editing skills.
Vicki, I’m sorry that you’re not here for
this right now but thank you so much for being
in my videos.
Okay Lynne, hi Lynne.
Okay, Lynne is the number one most requested
person on my channel.
Whenever she’s in a video I get comments,
“Who’s the blonde?
She’s so friendly.
She’s so bubbly.
She’s so cute.
We want more of her.”
And Beads, it’s true, you bring your vivaciousness,
your bubbly personality, you bring them to
my videos and just the videos that we made
in that Prospect Heights apartment are just
some of the best videos ever.
Pick it a turkey.
I mean like she lets me bring my camera to
Thanksgiving.
So Beads, Lynne, thank you so much for being
in my videos.
Renee.
Hey Renee.
Renee, I have some news for you.
When I was putting this reel together I realized
you have only been in one video.
Renee: What?
Rachel: So I am coming for you with my camera
today.
For this video and all the future videos you
will be in, thank you Renee for being in my
videos.
Sarah, I had to put this together this morning.
Thanks to Renee who had miles to donate, Sarah
took the red-eye here last night, surprised
me.
So she lives in Portland and when I was putting
these reels together I was like, it’s so wrong
that Sarah is not gonna be here because we
lived together for several years and so we
made tons of videos together and not only
was she on camera but she was like the steady
handed camera lady who was always willing
to shoot with me.
And so it was … I’m just, I’m just so tickled.
Thank you Renee, thank you Sarah for making
the effort, that you were able to come.
What a friend.
Thank you for being in my videos.
I don’t even remember who’s next.
Oh gosh, Tom and Julie.
I nearly killed Julie with a straight dart
in my hit the bull’s eye video.
Thank god she survived.
And Tom, a lot of you know I’m sure if you’ve
been watching my videos for a while, Tom has
been in a bunch of videos, he’s been behind
the camera in a bunch of videos and he’s created
concepts for videos, he’s written some of
the videos.
He’s a wonderful actor here clearly in the
job, in the job interview series, and he’s
also a fantastic Rachel’s English teacher.
So Tom, for all that you’ve done for me with
Rachel’s English, thank you so much and thank
you for being in my videos.
And last but not least is David.
This is actually the first video that I ever
introduced him.
He’s definitely more comfortable behind
the camera than in front, but he does recognize
that sometimes I need people in front and
he’s always game to do that.
And you know I don’t make any big decision
without talking it through with him, and more
than anyone else, especially in the last few
years you just really nurtured what I’m doing
and helped me do it, and still be a person
and be a mom and all of that stuff.
So for all of the support you’ve given me
in so many ways, thank you, and thank you
for being in my videos.
Okay so just one last huge thank you to all
of you.
Over behind where this black curtain is, around
to the corner there, there’s a camera set
up and Cindy is there.
And because I might not … There is Cindy
waving.
Because I might not get tons of time with
each person, I want you guys to know that
there is a camera there.
If you want to leave me a video message, I
will watch all of them and I would love to
know a little bit more about you, if you’re
comfortable doing that, tell me a little bit
about your story so I can know you.
That’s going to be going on there all night
and yeah, that is that.
Matthew: Hi everyone.
I’m Matthew and this is Josh from YouTube.
On behalf of YouTube and all of you it is
our honor to present Rachel with this one
million subscriber gold plate.
Rachel: To those of you that were there, I
can’t thank you enough for the effort that
you made to be there.
And for those of you who couldn’t be there,
I still can’t thank you enough because I feel
your presence even though I didn’t get to
meet you.
So for all of the support you’ve offered me
over my nine years of being a YouTuber, thank
you.
That’s it and thanks so much for using Rachel’s
English.