Valkyrae explains how she tuned out the haters and built her own multi-media empire

Rachell ‘Valkyrae’ Hofstetter is a household name in the streaming business, but she’s keen on branching out from her niche as a top-tier broadcaster to pursue even more ambitious projects.

For example, she launched her own media company, ‘Hihi,’ in 2024 — and just a year later, it’s already rolling out original series like the webcomic ‘Bad Influence’ and fantasy/action manga ‘Apollyon.’

She’s also stepped up as the co-host of fellow streamer QTCinderella’s podcast ‘Wine About It,’ and notably began multi-streaming on both Twitch and YouTube after her contract with the latter ended earlier this year.

As if that wasn’t enough, she even appeared as a special guest in an episode of State Farm’s ‘Gamerhood,’ a competition show that pits some of the net’s most popular streamers against each other in a series of challenges to raise money for charity.

We got the chance to chat with Valkyrae about her experience taking on so many projects at once on top of maintaining her streaming schedule, as well as what it was like being on the set of Gamerhood in the midst of her transition into multi-streaming.

Valkyrae says State Farm’s Gamerhood is a “win-win”

For Valkyrae, competing with her besties to help raise money for charity is a “win-win” scenario, and one she wishes she could have participated in more.

“ I was only there for one day, but seeing how extravagant the set was and all the different activities, it looked like so much fun. I had a blast the day that I was there, but I just loved seeing how much effort was put into it,” she said about Gamerhood.

“ It’s a win-win situation. I get to be competitive and play a lot of really fun games with a lot of people, new friends and old friends, and also raising money for a good cause. There’s no losing here. Well, I guess you could lose in the tournament, but at the end of the day, it’s a win.”

Valkyrae says switch to multi-streaming was “very difficult”

Her guest appearance on Gamerhood coincided with the first few months of her foray into multi-streaming, where she broadcasts on more than one platform simultaneously. The practice gained traction in 2024 as numerous top streamers’ contracts with sites like YouTube and Twitch came to an end.

For Valkyrae, multi-streaming has been a big challenge fraught with eye-opening realizations and unique difficulties for both herself and her audience, which she admitted came mostly from YouTube.

“ It’s very difficult, because I don’t really have anyone to look up to in this sense,” she told us. “I feel like I’ve been one of the pioneers in getting signed to YouTube, and then it’s like, ‘Oh, my contract’s over. Now what do I do? Do I go back to Twitch when my main audience is on YouTube?’

“There’s no harm in trying, so I tried it, and I hated it at first, because there’s so many pros and cons to streaming on YouTube versus streaming on Twitch. But I feel like my situation is a little unique, because I kind of blew up on YouTube after the whole Among Us thing happened.

“A lot of my audience discovered me on YouTube, and then a lot of them were telling me, ‘I don’t have access to Twitch. I’ve got too many ads over there.’ Or, ‘The chatting experience on YouTube is worse, or there’s better quality on YouTube.’ There’s so many pros and cons.

“At the end of the day, I was like, ‘You know what? Sure, my audience will be split, but I’m reaching more people overall by multi-streaming. I just gotta add the two numbers together and it’s a lot of people. It was difficult, but I think I’ll be multi-streaming for a very long time.”

Valkyrae opens up on the end of Press Esc podcast

While Valkyrae joked to us that she plans on streaming until she’s 90, she found herself wondering what’s next for herself after spending ten years as a dedicated broadcaster — a query that ultimately resulted in the formation of Hihi.

“I’ve been streaming for 10 years and kind of thinking, ‘What’s next? What am I gonna do?'” she admitted. “I’m always trying to search for other creative outlets, and I’ve always been into cartoons. I love animation. I just love being entertained, obviously, ’cause I love video games. I was thinking, ‘Well, I’ve got this YouTube contract money. I wanna invest in something that would be entertaining for a lot of people.'”

Hofstetter told us that Hihi plans on expanding beyond just comics and wants to produce both short-form and long-form animated series and TV shows in the future — something she’s working toward while also helping co-host QTCinderella’s podcast, ‘Wine About It.’

Her presence on the show came after her own podcast, Press Esc, came to an end when she and her co-host, Alythuh, found it increasingly challenging to coordinate times for filming together.

“It got a little difficult because she’s long distance, and it was tough trying to coordinate times and flights. We couldn’t really backlog episodes, with the traveling, without it being outdated,” she explained.

“We ended up parting ways. I mean, she has her own business, Tiny Protectors. I support her and we’re still friends, but I planned on taking a break and maybe coming back solo or finding a new co-host in the future, maybe a year later.

“But then QTCinderella and her co-host Maya parted ways. QT comes to me and she’s like, ‘Hey, do you want to combine?’ And it was just the perfect timing. I couldn’t believe it. We joined forces just a couple months later and now I’m on Wine About It, and I couldn’t be happier. It’s been perfect.”

Valkyrae gives advice to female streamers: “Do what makes you happy”

Valkyrae is one of the most popular female streamers on the net, often brought up in the same conversations with names like Pokimane, Emiru and IronMouse — but being a woman on the internet comes with its own special set of challenges.

We asked the streamer how she handles being a public figure while juggling fans’ expectations and critics’ complaints, and her advice applies to anyone making a name for themselves in any industry.

“ I’ve been here for a long time. I’ve been gaming my whole life. It’s a hobby. I enjoy it. I love it. And then when I started streaming, obviously you get a barrage of every horrible comment you’ll ever see,” she revealed.

“They’ll be spreading slander and lies, and they’ll be calling you the worst things. At the end of the day, if I were to listen to these people telling me to not do this and that I suck and that I’m a fake gamer, then I wouldn’t be where I am today. And this is why I continue to do be online, is to show people that.

“Honestly, you have to ignore that vocal minority. I feel like the only people who’s opinion of you that you should worry about are people that you’re close to, your friends. What are they saying? These people don’t know you. They’re projecting whatever it is they’re going through. Maybe it’s a tough time and it’s an outlet for them. Just do what makes you happy, because this is your one life you’re gonna live.”