Ask anyone about Jenna Marbles and you’ll get a variety of responses.
“She so funny I love her!”
“Oh I like... used to watch her videos.”
“Wasn’t she a stripper?
And so on. For an Internet celebrity, she is one of the most well-known, but for those that don’t follow her regularly, she is also one the most misunderstood.
Yes, she is funny.
Yes, she is still relevant as the top woman (AKA, the Queen) of Youtube.
And no, she was not at any point a stripper.
Early on in her YouTube career, Jenna was most well-known for her satire and foul-mouthed humor. Her video "How to Trick People Into Thinking You’re Good Looking" went viral and today has over 62 million views. Her channel has over 15 million subscribers. But Jenna’s content has evolved.
Her videos are more positive, sillier, and especially weirder (in the best ways). Jenna has been extremely open on social media and her podcast that she doesn’t enjoy pandering to her audience. While challenges and other tags are simple to make and always fun, she sees the most popular, yet overdone videos as stifling to her creativity. She wants to create the content she loves and make videos that make her laugh. Jenna just celebrated her 29th birthday but shows no sign of changing her hair back to a natural-human based colors.
In Jenna’s own words, she gives no Fs, but at the same time she exudes positive energy and love for her family, friends and every fan she meets. Negativity, while sometimes funny in the short run, results in nothing but more anger and cynicism. Sure, her language is as raunchy as ever, but the messages she shares are about her own flaws (like how apps are ruining her life) or how being silly or weird makes her a funnier person. The rants are gone and in their place are extremely Internetty but highly entertaining songs like "Everything is Glue."
Her audience has matured and evolved with her, as well. The trolls are mostly gone, and instead a community has formed in their space. Millions tune into Jenna’s videos every single Wednesday (or sometimes Thursday) to see what she has to say. I have as well.
Through her boyfriend Julien’s vlog channel, her followers have been able to get a closer look into Jenna’s day-to-day life: how she lives, breathes, eats, and plays with her amazing dogs. She lives in leggings and Fit Flops, not bikinis, though her Google image search wouldn’t agree.
Contrary to what many people think, Jenna Marbles (Mourey) is far from a trashy, uneducated former stripper. She graduated with a Master's in Education in Sports Psychology and Writing. Yes, Jenna Marbles has a Master's. She worked as a blogger, and for a time a bartender and go-go dancer. She learned how to use video editing software, and through her trademark humor and amazing branding skills, became the operator of top YouTube channel run by a woman.
Jenna shows nothing but love to her fans and fellow colleagues in the Internet sphere, even as YouTubers struggle to earn respect from the traditional entertainment media. There is a reason she was able to become friends with late-great comedian Joan Rivers. The way she runs her career and her life is an inspiration, if anything because it shows people how to love life and people every single day.
