Social Media Spotlight: Shira Lazar
YouTube Star Shira Lazar's Life Offline
Lazar talks about her split from CBS, her personal life, and What's Trending's future.
by April Newell
Shira Lazar, Tubeathon Red Carpet.
"Yeah, it's been crazy in the office lately. But April knows it's like finals week in here every day so she's used to it amiright?" said Shira to a producer as we sat down in her corner office. "Now April, what can I do for you?"
My inner almost-graduated-college-student self wanted to say "a paying job, please" but instead, we talked about the challenges of her life as an entertainer, a woman in the entertainment journalism industry, and of course, dating a fellow YouTube star.
Growing up in Montreal, Canada, Lazar always loved a good story. Shira graduated Emerson College with a BA in Communications and moved out to Los Angeles afterwards to chase her broadcast dreams.
"I interned at CBS during my last year of college. And I specifically remember covering a story about William Hung from American Idol and I was like yep, entrainment is for me," said Shira.
Lazar worked for CBS News after college, where she founded her company, What's Trending, which eventually became a separate enterprise. Shira opened up to me about the traumatic series of events that caused the company to split.
Shira interviewing Larry King on CBS News' What's Trending.
"Oh boy, splitting from CBS was hard. Hard and dramatic," said Shira. "There was what we now call the 'Steve Jobs' incident. I’d been at CBS for awhile, and then WT came to be. We launched with them in 2011, unfortunately right before 9/11. Things were rough in the studio for awhile, but when we did re-group, I got caught up in the machine and spat out."
Shira Lazar for CBS News.
"There was a call into the office from The Hollywood Reporter that Steve Jobs had died, and he definitely hadn’t. I told my editor to 'get on it', meaning to research the rumor. Instead, one of my blog editors tweeted that he died without fact checking, and the very next day CBS sent me a termination contract. It was awful. I've learned a lot since then, Thank God."
Fortune Magazine wrote a scathing story about the incident, slamming Shira and saying that Edward R. Murrow must be turning over in his grave.
"It was an awful mistake, during an awful time. I was just starting to get taken seriously as a journalist and then that sh*t happened. So we separated, and What's Trending started flying solo."
Overcoming the split from the news conglomerate CBS took a toll on the company, but left room for What's Trending to grow in new ways. The company started over in a new building, hiring writers, producers, and a whole new website.
Since 2011, WT has grown on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Live.ly, Instagram, Music.ly, and Snapchat. With thousands of followers on each platform, What's Trending's reach has expanded immensely.
Over the past year, Shira even met a YouTube star who now she happens to be in a relationship with.
Shira and Bart at the Streamy Awards.
"I actually met Bart because I interviewed him on What's Trending hahaha," said Shira. "I had a boyfriend at the time, well actually he was my CEO of What's Trending, oops, but we had the same friends and when I found myself single, me and Bart just kind of happened."
I asked Shira if she ever felt pressured by her fans (and Bart's fans) to act a certain way, or portray their relationship differently than it is. Bart Baker is a YouTuber best known for his parody videos.
"There is always that little voice in the back of your head saying 'he didn't tag me in that picture on purpose' or something silly like that. We live and breathe social media, and that addiction takes a toll on you. Sometimes I just have to take a step back and get offline for a few minutes and just be in the moment. It's a balance for sure. Overall, I think we lift each other up, but there is always that competition. But its healthy, it allows us to share audiences and we inspire each other."
Over the course of Shira and Bart's relationship, she says they have merged audiences, and that almost all of Bart's fans are extremely supportive of her (there's always the one that sends hate mail and obsession letters to Bart).
"I do feel like our relationship is on public display- like if we ever broke up it would be really hard in front of all these people. So that aspect is hard, but you cant doubt the relationship you're in that much. I just be myself, and that’s all I can do. Bart doesn’t like it (displaying their relationship), he likes to control the image and I don’t. That’s probably the biggest difference in our broadcast style."
Bart and Shira broadcasting on Live.ly
Last week, Shira and the What's Trending team partnered with the streaming apps Live.ly and Music.ly to participate in the first ever 24-hour live-stream for a #GivingTuesday. All donations went to The Paplove Foundation. The organization is campaigning to raise money for children living with cancer. Last Tuesday, Shira hosted the Live.ly and had over twenty YouTube stars and musical guests participating in the show including Austin Mahone, Sophia Grace and Bart Baker of course.
"I'm excited to see what's next for the company," said Shira. "We are at a point where we aren't small, and hopefully we are going to get big enough to really have a prominent platform. My goal is to have enough credibility to make a difference discussing issues that matter. To me, that's when celebrity is important. You want to have the microphone when it matters most."