Hi there! I’m Timothy ‘Tommylmao’ An- niche internet microcelebrity.

I was born in 2001 to Korean parents in New York and was raised in a little hamlet known as Valhalla. There, I attended school- discovering my love for digital media as well as all things nerdy along the way.

As the youngest of two sons, I predictably came to content creation out of a need to one-up my older brother. I made my first YouTube video while in middle school back in 2017 (definitely not my finest work) and in doing so, began my lifelong creative journey.

Historically, creative pursuits have largely not been looked upon favorably in Asian households, and mine was certainly no different. For me though, content creation was able to cut through the bleakness and mundanity of the culturally-normative Asian-American experience; though I was able to satisfy expectations by achieving academic success, I knew my passion lied in the creative field.

In 2019 I accepted a scholarship from Binghamton University (fun fact: got hit by a truck on the way there) and would eventually declare Cinema as my major. There I immersed myself within the creative community on campus, collaborating with other filmmakers on several artistic projects- one of which becoming an official selection of both the Cinema di Cefalù and Lift-Off Filmmaker Sessions.

In my junior year I was elected as Multimedia Chair of Binghamton University’s Asian Student Union, the largest on-campus cultural and advocacy group for Asian students- consisting of over 2,000 members. This was a truly humbling experience, and I put my best foot forward in representing and promoting the advancement of the Asian community. As Multimedia Chair I established myself as a pioneer of the digital medium, founding the organization’s first official podcast, “State of the ASUnion”. Additionally, I was offered a spot as lead writer and director of a short film presented at the largest multicultural organization’s event at Binghamton- Asian Night 2022. I can confidently say that the production and showcase of the film was one of the best experiences I’ve had, and further ignited my passion for creativity.

Throughout my senior year I was recruited as both a Marketing Assistant for the university, as well as Event Coordinator for the Film & Production Society at Binghamton University. Here I would begin to dip my toes into the professional industry by organizing and hosting panels on filmmaking, voice acting, and scriptwriting (notable speakers include Kira Buckland, Rachael Chau, and Richard Lieberman).

Fanart by shuun

It was around this time when my online presence began to take off! It only took 4 years and couldn’t come at a less convenient time, but I couldn’t have been more excited. YouTube for me was always an outlet for personal expression, and I had silently accepted that for the foreseeable future I’d just be posting to the same thousand-something online followers that inexplicably gave me the time of day. But all of a sudden, my channel was getting more than a thousand subs each day, and each new video that I uploaded became my all-time highest viewed one! I knew that now that I had finally gotten the once-in-a-lifetime chance to rise to YouTube stardom, I had to take it.

And boy did I blow it.

I mean I really really blew it. Looking back, I could probably point out enough ways that I messed up that I could teach a semester and a half worth of classes on it (the big one was working 2 jobs while being a full-time student while also trying to balance spending 10+ hours on each video). They say that there are always lessons in failures, which I would hope has made me oh-so-very wise by now. While I spectacularly fumbled that elusive once-in-a-lifetime chance, it still brought me just a bit closer to stardom; visible, yet still manifestly beyond reach- at least for now.

While at the time I could only see it as a setback, my channel’s boon still brought in all kinds of fascinating new opportunities. I used this new ‘clout’ to network with some extraordinary content creators and other figures in the fields that I loved, notably esports. Eventually I found myself working with creators like Fineokay, Zapman, Pandacat, Mako Sameshima, and SoloOrTroll!

Additionally, my interest for exploring different topics and content forms brought me to many fascinating areas of work, such as video essays and voiceover performance. Through the new areas of content creation that I explored, I was able to network and collaborate with many incredible talents who’ve helped me take my projects to new heights.

Nowadays I continue pursuing my creative passions, even after having earned my bachelor’s degree in cinema and masters in marketing. The education that I’ve received has been invaluable to my success in the fast-paced creative industry, as well as navigating the ecosystems of the business world. Of course, I’m always eager to apply my flair as a content creator to the various projects that I take part in, both in academia as well as in my workplace.

All of my past experiences have made way for an eagerness to continue my journey onward an upward. If you’re interested in taking that journey with me, let’s have a chat!