How Valkyrae Went From GameStop to Cannes Lions

Welcome to Renegades, Gold House’s editorial series spotlighting Asian Pacific luminaries paving their own path and defying stereotypes. At this year’s Cannes Lions, Gold House, Nielsen, and moderator Kai Gayoso sat down with global powerhouse Valkyrae to explore her meteoric rise of influence.

Rachell Hofstetter, better known as Valkyrae, has over 14 million followers, co-owns esports company 100 Thieves, and is the founder of Hihi Studios, a media company built around anime-inspired content, including short-form animation, comics, webtoons, and a mobile game currently in the works. Along the way, she became the first gamer ever featured in print in a Vogue property (a seven-page spread in Vogue Philippines), and has been named Gaming Creator of the Year by Adweek, Content Creator of the Year by The Game Awards, and 2024’s Most Impactful in Sports and Gaming by Gold House. Her journey serves as the ultimate bridge to the modern consumer, proving that when a brand successfully aligns with a creator’s authentic world, the impact on purchasing behavior is undeniable. Watch the full recorded interview here!

KAI GAYOSO: We ask all our Renegades: what did you want to be growing up and how does that compare to where you are now?

I’ve been gaming my entire life, and I’ve had a lot of jobs. As soon as I hit 16, I wanted to work. I wanted to raise money, and I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life yet, so I went to a community college, slowly got my transfer degree, and was working at GameStop. I was really bored and lonely [at work], so I started posting gaming content on Instagram and learned that people prefer my gaming posts over my selfies. I started posting more gaming things, and when I amassed 15,000 followers, I started building a PC to post on YouTube. And then my audience suggested Twitch, so I moved over there after realizing I can just stream and not edit the videos.

That was 11 years ago, and because of streaming, I’ve signed three YouTube contracts to stream on YouTube exclusively for five years. I co-own an esports company called 100 Thieves, and we’ve started Hihi Studios, my media company, where we intend to release all forms of media, whether it’s short-form, animation, or shows. Streaming has opened up a lot of opportunities for me, including working with brands, travelling, and doing stuff like [Cannes Lions].

KAI: When it comes to working with brands, how do you frame your value, and what kinds of partnerships are you looking for?

VALKYRAE: I need creative freedom. I need to be able to have communication, a conversationa real back-and-forth with the brand. They suggest their ideas, I suggest mine. I’ll be [upfront if] my audience is going to think their idea is cringe, since we all want us both to grow. Our partnership also has to be authentic: because people can tell when it’s fake. The audience can tell when you’re doing it for moneya quick payday, especially with live streaming since it’s not edited. They can see my reaction (and I’m not great at hiding my reactions).

A piece of advice I have for my content creator friends is that you have to be able to say no. Some people will sign with a brand for three years at the worst pay, or they don’t realize that saying yes to one brand means saying no to another. So, you have to be a little choosy and pick what’s going to work best for you and what’s going to resonate with your audience.

A lot of brands also have to understand that they are not going to know a creator’s audience better than the creator does. Over the years, I’ve rejected some really good deals because the fit wasn’t right. Saying no has gotten us to where we are now — we’re able to say yes to the brands that are willing to actually work with us.

KAI: Which brings us to the next question: when it comes to the work we do, how we leverage community and partnerships is a core part. So, how do you keep your community engaged?

VALKYRAE: I’ve gotten really lucky. It’s been 11 years of streaming across multiple platforms, and my community has been there with me through everything, including my dad’s passing. They’ve seen where I started, so I think people just get attached and feel like they’re part of the community.

For my future projects, I want to show more behind-the-scenes work and have the community vote on creative direction, like, “hey, what kind of anime do you want to see?” Because I know what I like, and I feel like I know what they like. Their involvement is important, because at the end of the day, I would not be here without the people that are watching. The audience makes us. There’s no brand if they’re not watching.

KAI: We’re seeing so many creators launch their own companies or product lines, [stepping] into this entrepreneurial role. Why was starting a company the right next step?

VALKYRAE: I mentioned earlier I had three contracts with YouTube to stream exclusively, and I feel like I won the lottery with that. It was life-changing, allowing me to take care of my family. And after that, I started thinking: what can I do to make an impact in this world? People tell me all the time that I inspire them to start streaming, to be more themselves. That’s wonderful. But I want to do more. With Hihi Studios, we’re going to give people jobs: hire animators and writers, create things that entertain people in the long-run and that I also genuinely want to consume.

KAI: What advice would you give brands on how to approach a creator partnership?

VALKYRAE: Be as communicative and excited as possible, and really listen. Listen to what the creator thinks will work for their audience, because at the end of the day, doing #ad in the title, slapping a giant logo on screen — that’s not going to get anyone to stick around or buy anything. It just has to be authentic.

I’d also say: don’t limit yourself to obvious pairings. You can work with a creator you wouldn’t expect and build something genuinely interesting together. Co-create. Find the thing that resonates with their audience in a way that also makes sense for your brand. It has to be creative, fun, and authentic. That’s it, really.

KAI: What’s overhyped in the creator economy right now?

VALKYRAE: Follower counts. How many of my followers have passed away? How many of them are bots? You would never know, right? Brands should be paying attention to the engagement that actually matters: views, comments, real interaction. There are creators with 100,000 followers who are better business partners and more cost-efficient than someone with 100 million. The number doesn’t tell you the story.

KAI: It’s been almost two years since Hihi Studios launched. What are you most excited about for the future of Hihi Studios?

VALKYRAE: The possibilities. We’ve been brainstorming, setting big goals — maybe one day winning an Oscar for animation. I know that sounds huge, but why not? Being surrounded by people who are equally excited about what we’re building is what’s driving me right now.

And honestly, the unexpected connections. I’ve been doing voice acting outside of Hihi, and it’s so fun and keeps leading me to people I never would have met otherwise. Those relationships end up feeding back into Hihi in ways I didn’t plan for.

The storytelling is what it all comes back to, though. My all-time favorite anime is One Piece, and what I love about it is that something in episode 1000 will tie back to something from episode 20. I want to build things that hold together like that. Obviously One Piece is legendary; I don’t know if we’ll ever compete with that, but that’s the goal.