Johannesburg - The Financial Bunny, as Nicolette Mashile is popularly known, has managed to build a name for herself through the insightful money advice she has been giving people the last few years.
Mashile, a YouTube Black Voices Creator Class of 2021 alumni, was also part of the YouTube Africa Creator Week last year where she received training on how to diversify their revenue streams and increase their income.
While she can now be considered a pro when it comes to YouTube content, Mashile did not quite understand the video platform’s impact at first.
“I started my YouTube channel because when I was on Facebook a lot of people were saying they wanted to consume my content but they weren’t on the popular social networking site. They suggested YouTube, but I didn’t understand how YouTube worked at the time and to be honest I was learning on the job. I jumped on and the subscriptions were rolling in. For moments I panicked because I didn’t know what was expected of me, so I fell into a content trap. I kept on making videos and that was my YouTube success story, no great equipment, just my iPhone and a burning passion.”
Mashile is a TV presenter and a financial literacy expert. She uses her channel to help others with their finances and give tips to people on how to navigate money.
“For me, storytelling is being able to be authentic in what message you want to put across to people. Most facts can be questioned because they are heavily reliant on one’s interpretation.”
“But your own story cannot be questioned as it's your lived experience. It doesn’t have to be validated by anyone, it’s your own story, your reality and those who are open to it may relate to you through storytelling and that’s community.”
“Nothing Is more satisfying than getting a comment like “I liked before I even watched”. Storytelling especially for an educational show such as mine is how you lessen the burden of going to read up on facts - it's painting the picture on a different canvas.”
Mashile’s educational channel has served her well, expanding her audience to an international level.
“When I started, I never thought there would be a reason for anyone in Kenya, Nigeria, Botswana, USA or Japan to be listening to me.”
It was when she was in New York City in 2019 that she really understood how big of a platform YouTube was.
“I was with a friend for his birthday, walking on one of the streets and I heard someone say, “Financial Bunny”. I could not believe it. I was the Financial Bunny, that’s my channel name. This person knew me from my YouTube channel. She went on to tell me how I helped her buy a house. I could not believe that someone from New York was watching my YouTube channel but not just watching it, she was using the content to better her life. That’s how I knew YouTube had really stretched my voice to reach corners of the world that I could never imagine. I’ve been in boardrooms, classrooms, lecture halls, even in families that I will never ever ‘know’ because of YouTube,” she said.
Mashile appreciates the authenticity of YouTube and how people who watch her channel enjoy valuable content.
“Good Quality content is key don’t get me wrong, but YouTube says come as you are. Another thing I like about YouTube is the immediate feedback loop. You will know what people like on YouTube and what they don’t like. If the audio is too loud, or there is an echo, or you waffle too much, speak too fast, your subtitles are incorrect, you are unashamedly promoting a product, they will point it out and they will not forget anything. There was one guy who told me to go fix my teeth and I did. I wore braces for 6 months, as hurtful as that comment was, it helped me because now my teeth are straight.”
African content creators have been given the chance to expand their content creation and through the Creator Week initiative, they are celebrated and supported.
“It’s important to stay curious on YouTube. Don’t be the person that knows everything and wants to beat the algorithm. You will not enjoy YouTube like that. More than the money, YouTube is an experience. You basically have created your own channel where you dictate what goes into it. As someone who previously worked in advertising, plans and buys advertising space for my clients on TV stations and proposed shows for TV, I understand why and how significant creating a channel is.”
As part of the YouTube Black Voices Fund 2021, Mashile received the award for “Most likely to land a huge brand deal”.
“It’s insane because that’s been happening because of my YouTube channel. Brands want to work with the Financial Bunny. We are honoured and privileged but I want to work with other Financial Education content creators. I want Financial Bunny TV to become a fully fledged multi creator channel. I cannot wait. We teased this out last year and it can work. Let me let you in on a secret I found out – I spent last year tracking income from one of my two bed apartments vs income from my YouTube channel. Which one do you think came out tops? You’ll see the video on my YouTube channel or perhaps maybe the calculation in my new book,” she said.
Mashile's channel has 166k subscribers