YouTube Stars!

Silent Girl, who often appears in littleloca's videos, was kind enough to do an interview with me. I sent her 2 rounds of questions by email and she promptly sent me back her answers. In my dealings with Silent Girl, I have always found her to be very kind and friendly. Thanks, Silent Girl, for this interview! Much love and respect!

>>> Read more about littleloca and Silent Girl in this post from my blog. <<<

Hi, Silent Girl! Tell us a little about yourself, please.
Well, my real name is Monique. I just graduated High School with a 4.0. I am working full time and planning on attending college in the fall.

What is your relationship with littleloca/Stevie Ryan?
Stevie and I are cousins. We are actually closer than cousins. Our mothers are sisters so the two of us were pretty much together throughout our childhood. We love each other very much. She's always been like a big sister to me.

How did you come up with the Silent Girl character?
Stevie actually came up with it. I was always the shy one. So when she put me in her video I wouldn't talk. Sometimes we'd have to do a bunch of re-takes because I would bust up and couldn't stop laughing. She's very funny and it's hard to keep a straight face sometimes.

You and littleloca are very popular on YouTube. Could you please comment on why you think you are so popular and how you feel about it?
I think LittleLoca is so popular because she is so real. Real in the sense that she is tough but smart and funny. The two of us together are popular because we've known each other so long we can play off each other very well. It's like she really does know what Silent Girl is thinking.

There is also controversy surrounding littleloca and Silent Girl. There are some haters who comment harshly. What do you think of the controversy and commenters?
Well, there's always going to be people that don't like something. The haters don't bother me as much as the people that scream racism. There is nothing racist about it. Loca portrays a smart, 4.0 student who is proud to be a virgin. How is that bad? We've found the majority of people screaming racism are white. Growing up where we did many of our friends are Hispanic. They love LittleLoca and Silent Girl. So it's frustrating when people act like they speak for the whole Hispanic community.

How have your friends and family reacted to your videos?
They absolutely love them. Even our grandmother loves them. She made an appearance in one of our videos (the Mexico trip).

Will we continue to see you in litteloca videos in the future?
Sure. I love doing them and spending time with my cousin.

Do you have any plans to make your own videos?
No, not me. Stevie is the movie star in the family. I will be by her side and support her in anything she does. I will continue to be in her Loca Videos but that's it.

What do you think of Stevie's other YouTube characters?
The RealParis videos crack me up. People can get mean over there and she handles them great. Like in the first Paris video, some stupid people wrote, "You don't have any boobs." In the second video Paris says, "If I have to be fat to have boobs then I don't want boobs." Just funny stuff like that. Her other character Ooolalaa is really different than that. She is sad and heartbroken. When I saw it the first time and she's in her bed crying, I started to get teary. Just seeing someone I love so sad like that, it really moved me. This character also has a music video that I think is really cool.

What are your plans for the future?
I plan on attending college in the fall. My first goal is to become an English teacher. Then I hope to get a degree in journalism.

Last question - What advice would you give teenage girls about life and about YouTube?
I'm still learning a lot about life. I guess my message would be never stop learning. LittleLoca' video on teenage pregnancy was really good. I thought Stevie did a great job on getting her point across with a character and in a language that young girls can relate to. I think YouTube can be a positive thing for teenage girls if they use it for the right reasons.

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posted by KennyCrane at 6/27/2006 04:41:00 PM