From YouTuber to Disney Star: Like Nastya’s Full Story

Nasya is in the Young Hollywood Lounge. Global superstar, global YouTube superstar, and now global Disney superstar. That's a great title. Tell me all about that and when did you find out? How did you find out? Where were you?

Okay, so first, of course, I did the audition for Disney. And I somehow got in. I was in my bedroom and then my mom came in and she was like, "I have some exciting news." And I'm like, "What is it?" And she's like, "You're on Disney." I was screaming in the whole house. I was running around. My dog did not know what's going on. My friends did not know what's going on. I was crazy. And the thing is, I couldn't tell anybody at first. So I was like, "Oh, I'm bad at keeping secrets." I was really scared, but I was so happy and I'm super grateful.

You've worked really, really, really hard to even get the spot to audition. So talk about like when you first started making YouTube videos. Could you ever have imagined now Disney was calling?

Um, well, I did start when I was two and a half, which is really amazing. And I was a really small creator. My mom filmed me and I was literally just opening toys, doing stuff that kids like. And then as I grew, I was like, "Okay, I'm actually doing this as a job." And I never thought quitting or something, so I just kept going with it. And then when we got more and more subscribers, I'm like, "Oh, they're just like AI fans or whatever. It's fine." But then I realized that there are so many of them and I actually have 450 million subscribers on all over my channels. I'm I'm super excited.

Now, take me back to those early days of all those videos on YouTube. Now that you're older and you can see what you were like when you were younger, are there some of those videos that just make you like, "Mom, Dad, why did you post that? No!"

Well, no. There are some funny embarrassing ones, but as a funny one. And I'm like, "Oh, Mom." Okay. But and I'm really grateful for my mom because she actually made me who I became right now. So I never have a thing, "Oh, Mom, why'd you post that?" Because I just love what she does and she really helped me out.

At what age did you start having some input on what the videos were like?

I think about like seven, eight years old. Of course, I was little, but I was like, "Mom, I want to do this. Mom, I want to do this." And she took that and she combined our ideas and then we actually got a lot of views on that. And now as 12 years old, I still help her out a lot and my production team and everybody, we all work together and they're like, "Nasya, what do you want to do?" I tell them my idea and we post it. That's super fun.

Now, take me into the world we don't get to see on camera. Tell me about you, what you like to do when the cameras are not rolling.

Well, I just want to say, I'm a normal person like everybody here. But what I like to do, I actually like to do videos for my friends. I'm like, "Okay, guys, here's my makeup routine or whatever." And I post it to my friends. And all my friends like post videos to each other, send them. And it's not always how I have to be on YouTube. I really like posting like things. So of course I like sending them to my friends and be like, "Oh, I have this. Oh, I have that." So it's really fun.

Now that you are going to be part of the Disney family, is there one movie or TV show that if they could redo it, you're like, "I want in."

Well, I would really want to be in The Zombies cast because already Disney already knows about it. I love zombies. But of course, my show is also really good. So a lot of people will like that, too. But I would really want to be in there because I feel like the people, like the cast, is so nice. And I'm going to say, maybe I'm meeting some soon. Maybe. It's a secret. Maybe. Um, but yeah, I'm going to be meeting some of them. And I'm just really thrilled about them. I feel like they're such nice people and just like the movie like, it's so inspiring for me because I feel like I can see how they act and take some out of their emotions to like be like, "Oh, that's a new emotion. I can add that to me," you know?

And you mentioned performing, of course. You're actually going to be back in Los Angeles in a few months at the Wiltern. How exciting! You're going to like own a stage at one of the most iconic venues in Hollywood.

Yes, I'm super excited. But also, for my live concerts, it's November 23rd. And I'm just going to be here. And also, I think I'm going homeschooled in January. So if anybody wants to collab after that, I would love to. But yeah, I'm going homeschooled because I want to take on Disney more serious, singing, everything like that more serious and go more on events, get more famous somehow. So I'm really excited about that and I'll be like living in LA then in my house, then LA. So I'm really excited for that and yeah.

So you're in South Florida now, right? Near Miami?

Yes, we have a lot of pavilions, we have a lot of houses, we have a lot of filming house things in general. I film on Saturday and Sunday every day from like 10:00 to like maybe like 5:00, 6:00, sometimes 7:00. Like a lot, it depends on the video. And I'm always like really excited because I'm like, "Oh, what house am I going to? Like, what am I filming there?" So it's really fun.

Since you're talking about making cute videos, I want to do a little game with you right now. Is that okay?

Yeah, sure.

Okay. I have three bags. Close your eyes. Close your eyes. Okay. They are labeled very simple. One, two.

I really love peeking, but I'm not trying.

So, what you're going to do is, you can open your eyes, pick a number, and then I'm going to tell you when you take the item out of the bag what you have to do with it.

I'll have one because that's my lucky number.

Okay. Pick number one. What do you see inside?

Uh. Sunglasses.

Sunglasses. Okay, so I want you to put the sunglasses on and pretend that you are on a Hollywood red carpet and you are making a grand entrance.

Hello. Oh. Hello.

Gorgeous. Gorgeous. Okay, I love this game. That was over the top, but I love it.

You are over the top and I love this. I love you.

Okay, one is done. Would you like two or three now?

Um, let's not go in order. I'll pick three.

Okay. What is this? Can I take all of them? Of course. Wait, why are they pom-poms?

Oh, pom-poms.

Pom-poms. I want you to make a up a cheer for Young Hollywood.

Oh. Okay. Hey, Leslie, can you help me with this one? Give me a Y. Y. Give me an O. O. Give me a U. U. Give me an N. N. Give me a G. G. Give me a Hollywood. Hollywood! Yay!

I love that. That one was great. Um, perfect. This is for Wait, but and we still have one more bag left.

Really?

Yeah. This one, I think you're going to like.

A mic. Oh. I love mics.

Okay, picture this. You've just won an award. You get to pick which award it is and I want your best acceptance speech. Go.

Thank you guys so much for this Grammy. I just wanted to thank my mom, my friends and everybody here because they gave me the inspiration to sing and I love you guys so much and I'm super, super grateful and there's new songs coming out very soon. So yeah, bye. Yay!