Katherine Berry is a YouTuber who recently graduated from the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California. On YouTube, her main channel is Katherout and in such she discusses her college experience, offers advice, and talks about her lifestyle. During an over the phone interview I asked Katherine about college, her plans for her channel, and her life post-graduation.
*This is a transcript of our conversation, responses have been lightly edited*
Neftali Cabrales: Thank you for allowing me to interview you today. Before we start I would like to congratulate you on reaching 100,000 subscribers on your channel. Now, what was the inspiration behind this channel? Why talk about college? Why share your experience with your thousands of subscribers?
Katherine Berry: Thank you so much! Well, at first my channel wasn’t about college. I was still in high school and it was more of a lifestyle channel. It was when I started applying to schools and looking into colleges that I noticed that there wasn’t a lot of information out there about the experience and what it was like and so I would say that was what inspired these videos. It wasn’t something that was talked about very often and so I wanted to make videos on what it was like to be in college, what it was like to make friends, and the social life because it wasn’t something I had but I would have loved to watch.
NC: Now that you have graduated what are your plans for your channel? Will you continue making videos?
KB: Definitely, I would focus more on vlog videos moving forward. I have thought about creating a podcast, I think that would be fun. I will be starting my job and I will talk about that as well. I think that as I continue to mature so will my channel.
NC: That sounds interesting, I look forward to seeing what you do with your channel. Could you tell us what your major is and how you choose that major?
KB: I majored in Business Administration. I always knew that I wanted to do something in business. However, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed Business Administration which wasn’t what I had originally thought of. It is a Bachelor of Science Degree, it involves a lot of analytics, logic and math.
NC: While in college you were a part of the USC marching band, you had to manage your school work, your job, and your YouTube channel. Did you ever feel overwhelmed? How did you find the balance between all these things?
KB: I definitely felt overwhelmed at times. I always want to do everything, I don’t like to sit around and waste time. I learned that organization is key, on my Google calendar I always have all the events and things that I need to do. Staying organized helped me find a balance between it all. When it comes to my YouTube channel, I would work on it and make videos on my free time. I like to make the most of my time and so I check my calendar when I am free and I work on my channel on those days, YouTube is my hobby and I love it.
NC: Now, throughout your four years at USC I’m sure you have learned many lessons, but what is one piece of advice you have for incoming college freshmen?
KB: I have two things I would tell every college freshmen if I could. One, I would tell them to not compare themselves. In college, you are surrounded by people with the same interests as you, the same career goals, and the same group of friends, its is this perfect environment and so it becomes very hard for you to not compare yourself with others and their achievements. When you begin to compare your journey with that of others you tend to loose track, and you forget to enjoy the moment and the reason for why you are doing things. Secondly, I would tell them to be comfortable with being alone, to not miss out on opportunities/events because they don’t have a friend to go with, even at the dining hall, it is okay to be alone.
NC: I agree, even outside of the college environment it is difficult to not compare ourselves with our friends. Lastly, could you tell us what your life is like now that you have graduated?
KB: Well, I just graduated and I won’t be starting at my job right away so I am taking this time to travel, to San Francisco, Palm Springs, Colorado just to name a few in the U.S. and I plan to visit Europe as well.
NC: That sound amazing and like a lot of fun! Thank you for taking the time to interview with me I appreciate it.
