Hey guys, it's Tracy with Young Hollywood, and we're here at South by Southwest in Austin with these ladies.

Hi, Justine, and Lizzy Velasquez. How are you guys? iJustine: Good.

Huge YouTube star. You've done done it all pretty much. And we were just talking about South by Southwest and you've been here a million times, right? iJustine: Especially with the growth of Interactive, and now they have gaming here. So it just gets bigger and bigger every year. That's so up your alley. I love it. I'm so excited. Gaming, Tech. That's like everything. It's heaven. Especially to be here with Lizzie this year. This is so much fun.

And you're doing a movie together. I mean you're producing iJustine: Well, I mean, so her I mean her movie's done. It's amazing. It's so good. Like I'm I'm going to start getting emotional just crying because it was just

Oh, we're going to be crying all day today. Because this is like our first time to talk about it together and it's just so crazy. iJustine: I know. I'm so I'm so happy for you. Like. But I have to say, it's a great way to start off my South by experience.

All we had know all my life was that I had a syndrome where I can't gain weight. At the time, I thought everyone looked like me. I couldn't recognize or tell that they didn't look like me. This is what I'm meant to do for the rest of my life because I like to think that I'm not only telling my story, I'm telling everyone's story. One of the biggest things that when I first signed on to do this movie, I didn't want it to be just about me. I wanted it to be my story in my face, but I wanted people to be able to watch it and say, "That's me. That's what I've gone through. Or I know how you feel." And it's come across. And so far, people are liking it. iJustine: Because it's really good.

On the first day of filming, I told Sarah our director, "I'm just letting you know. I'm not going to cry on camera." I don't show that side of me. After the first couple of questions, that went out the window, and I was crying

And I actually saw that you you cried because you did a Kickstarter, right?

Yes. Oh my gosh.

You were crying when you actually went through, right?

I couldn't believe it because it's people like donating their hard-earned money that they work for. It was so emotional.

And how did you guys meet? What sort of drew you to Lizzie? iJustine: So, one of my friends took a picture with her on Instagram, like years ago. And then I started following her. And then one day she posted this picture and I I left a comment. And then I was freaking out. I was freaking out. I was the biggest fan of hers. I literally stood on a bar stool in my kitchen and was freaking out. And then I was freaking. I'm like, "Choma. Lizzie just wrote back to me. Like this is awesome."

I was like, "Justine knows who I am." This is going to be so great. I don't know if I'll ever meet her. But it still counts. iJustine: It's like a bunch of goals right here by the way. What we were saying too is we're doing a panel here at South by, and I think it was maybe two years ago? Yeah. And I'd never met her, so I was like, "Hey, come watch this panel and we can say hi and hang out." And then we met at a panel and now we're doing a panel together. So that's

And it's my first panel. It's amazing.

Your story is just so incredible, and I actually remember when your video came out from the Ted Women talk. I saw it cuz it went viral, of course.

Am I going to let the people who said, "Kill it with fire." define me? No. I'm not sure what it was about the Ted Talk and like I said in it, but it changed everything. She did a Ted Talk that knocked me out. Please welcome, Lizzie Velasquez. I've actually been a motivational speaker for almost eight years now. And for the TedX talk, I was so excited for it. I had it actually planned out for weeks in advance, and as I walked up on stage, I was like, "No, I'm going to throw that out the window." And walked up on stage and just spoke from my heart. And the fact that it went viral was one shocking and two amazing because people are loving me for me and just me speaking from my heart.

That was a last minute decision just to change everything?

Yeah. That's kind of crazy. I know. There's a part where I forget what I'm talking about. And it's because I was just winging it.

But it's amazing cuz bullying these days is such a huge topic.

It was afternoon. I decided to go look for music on YouTube. And that's when I found it. I don't even know why I clicked on it, but I did. And that's when I lost it. Calling me a monster or asking why my parents didn't abort me. Kill it with fire. I wish you were dead. Just pick up a gun. In my life. People are mean. Like it's a whole different world of bullying.

You know, I feel like with social media and the internet, like you've probably experienced, you know, on YouTube and stuff, you know, people experience it on all different levels. iJustine: Oh yeah, cuz it's so easy because people are behind a keyboard. And the other thing too I think a lot of times you don't know what those people are going through either. You know, they're having a terrible day. They're going through who knows what. And their outlet is to just try to tear somebody else down.

Yeah, absolutely. And I think what's so good about being friends with Justine is that we both know what it's like to be on that side of being attacked online or having not so nice things said about you. And if you're willing to put yourself out there, it's going to be not so fun. But you have to be willing to let it roll off your shoulders and keep going.

And then you have a book coming out, right? iJustine: I do. Yeah. Oh, I'm so excited. It kind of also sort of tells like my story too, which there's there's some bullying in there. First chapter will be revealed where some kid was kicking me in sixth grade, but I took that passion of him kicking me. I made a website about it. So taking something that was like, "Oh, this is a terrible thing that happened." And now I found something that I really loved out of it.

I can't wait to read it. iJustine: Oh my gosh. I'll get you a copy of it. Okay. We'll be authors together.

And then lastly, just, you know, there's so many people out there watching who you know, whether they're a teenage girl going through, you know, so many things, I just feel like, you know, now everything is all about let's take selfies, and it's like a self-obsessed culture. What is like the one thing, you know, people should know just to how to keep going and stay strong?

You have to love yourself first. You can't be okay with anything else unless you love yourself first. I've said it so many times, but you're your own biggest influence in your own life. And you have to be able to block out the comparisons and the judgments and the doubts. I think that's my biggest advice. iJustine: Yeah. I think don't be afraid to fail. And and you never know what you're going to learn from these different experiences.

I love it. Well, congratulations to both of you guys. And have fun in Austin. iJustine: Thank you so much.

Thank you. iJustine: Enjoy.

Thank you. iJustine: Yay.