Profiles in Diversity: SpringSims
Welcome to Profiles in Diversity, our blog series featuring interviews with the recipients of our Creator Diversity Fund. This week’s Q&A session is with SpringSims.
Q. You are not new to content creation. Can you tell me about your history as a creator and what led you to Twitch?
SpringSims: I’ve been on YouTube for nearly ten years where I create content based around The Sims franchise through storytelling, builds, and creating new sims. It was around April of 2017 when I was watching RoryPlays on Twitch and I saw how much fun she was having streaming with her community. I was inspired by her to give it a try. After doing my first Twitch stream, I enjoyed being more connected with my audience in real-time with streaming. The first game I streamed was The Sims 4 when I was doing a RoryPlays build challenge.
Q. What is the vibe of your channel like?
When people enter into my streams, they can expect a family-friendly atmosphere accepting all people no matter who they are. Typically my streams are very chill with me playing a lot of simulation or story-rich strategy games with a little laughter and random jokes.
Q. Your channel has a very distinct look. What inspired the art direction?
A: It’s inspired by my community (Spring Squad) and my passion for the color yellow. I started creating content to build a brand name for myself, and I wanted my channel art to reflect my personality.
Q. What have been some of the challenges you’ve faced as a streamer?
Now and then, I mostly deal with trolls spamming slurs and insults into my chat just for being black. I can always depend on my mods to be there to remove trolls from my chat. I do find it hard to see slurs in usernames or different languages appear in my stream when my motto is to welcome anyone into my community. However, I believe that it is important to continue to be the positive/welcoming person I am despite those who do not want to match my energy.
Also, when first starting, it was hard to diversify my content to bring in more people into my community and not just be known for streaming The Sims.
Q. What is the most moving experience you’ve had on stream?
A: When I held a month-long charity event for Hope For Haiti with a couple of my streamer friends in September. Towards the end we broke our fifth original goal of $10K and in total, we all helped raised over $11K for the Haitian community at the end of the month, which resulted in 11 one-year college scholarships to students in Haiti. It was life-changing and wonderful seeing all our communities coming together and making a huge impact.
Q. Your passion to help Haiti is awesome. Can you talk a little about where this passion comes from?
It was back in January 2010, around my eighth-grade year, when Haiti had a massive earthquake, and hundreds of thousands of people died and lost their homes. At the time, there was a music video called “We Are The World 25 for Haiti” on YouTube. When watching it, I got emotional and wanted to help in any way I could. I’ve always had a passion for giving back to the community in any way I can, whether by giving money, word of mouth, social media, or hosting an event.
I told myself that one day I would go to Haiti and help. Fast forward ten years later, I have a following on social media, and it was my chance to use it for good through charity fundraising. I contacted Hope For Haiti in regards to doing a Back To School campaign in September. After a couple of months of planning, I put together a team with a group of friends ( Risshella, NowInTechniColor, Christpiracy, YeenFinnaDoThat, HeyItsGarret, and FitnessToCosplay. After a month of fundraising, we raised $11,250, which is 11 $1000 college scholarships for 11 students in Haiti, we helped. When thinking about Haiti and the Haitian people, they are all about helping each other in their community. As I said before, community and building a safe place for others is my passion.
Q. You also have another event coming up. Can you share more information about it?
The Hike For Haiti challenge is going into its 3rd year, where the Hope For Haiti team challenges people to virtually hike Marre à Coiffe in solidarity over the month of April 1 — May 2, 2021! This is because in Haiti’s rural community of Marre à Coiffe students and families climb the equivalent of 200 flights of stairs from the bottom of a mountain in order to access clean water, healthcare, and an education.
If people want to get involved with Hike For Haiti, they can do so by going to the event page. If you want to get involved with Hike For Haiti through streaming, you can set up a campaign through Tiltify by choosing the option to “start fundraising” for Hike For Haiti 2021. The event officially starts on April 1 and runs through May 2, 2021.
Q. Anything else you would like to add?
I am forever grateful for this opportunity and can’t wait to see all the changes this will do for all the chosen people. With the impact that StreamElements made with their decision, I look forward to seeing other companies do the same.
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For profiles of other Diversity Fund Recipients, click here.
