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Escape reality: How Twitch streamer Tiffae found purpose through gaming
Tiffae’s career in streaming has continuously evolved throughout the years. Read on to hear her story about her journey to get where she is now.
An escape from reality
2012 - College student Tiffanie Hsu is seen rushing out of her University class, simultaneously checking messages and missed calls from family and friends as she begins prepping the mental shift from being a student, straight into waitress mode. Throughout this entire fast-paced stretch of constant work, there wasn’t much to think about every day other than feeling lost and unhappy with her current path.
Tiffae
© Marv Watson/Red Bull Content Pool
Gaming was always my escape from reality.
“At the time, I was struggling because I was in school working full-time and wasn’t passionate about anything,” Tiffae shared about her life before streaming. “I was miserable because I was not enjoying school then and constantly worried about money and what my future would look like."
It was an honest conversation about being lost during this period in her life. Tiffae’s schedule was jam packed working long nights as a waitress while balancing her studies as a full-time college student. Yet, through all this stress, gaming was always that constant in her life that brought her happiness.
“Gaming was always my escape from reality,” TIffae said. “I remember just playing games in whatever time I had because it just made me happy. It was a hobby of mine that brought me a lot of joy.”
This natural passion for gaming eventually transformed into a love for streaming back in 2012.
Tiffae’s initial interest in streaming began in 2012 when Twitch was in its early days. She remembered being inspired by female streamers like Becca and Hafu, because of their ability to be honest on stream.
Tiffae at Rise Till Dawn in Chicago, Illinois on June 11, 2022.
© Kena Krutsinger / Red Bull Content Pool
“Seeing these lovely ladies popping off by doing their thing and enjoying themselves stood out to me,” Tiffae shared. “I always had this love for gaming, and the idea of being able to be myself and play games is what got me initially interested in streaming.”
At first, streaming was purely something she was doing for fun. There was no money involved nor were there any other incentives apart from it bringing her immense joy to her busy life. She continued that every day, where she would begin to notice her stream starting to grow and viewership and eventually start to be able to turn that hobby into a secondary source of income.
The risky decision to become a full-time streamer
Every parent wants their kid to be safe. They want to make sure that they have a secure job with a steady income so that they no longer have to worry about survival. As a result, the initial discussion between Tiffae and her parents about becoming a full-time streamer was met with much pushback at the start.
“When I first started streaming full-time, my parents didn’t believe it at all,” Tiffae shared. “They told me that I was wasting my time and should be going to school because streaming can’t put money on the table.”
Truthfully, Tiffae admitted they were right in having their concerns at the switch. At the time, and still, even to this day, streaming isn’t what one would consider a viable career path that provides a lot of stability. For most, that risk does not pay off.
Tiffae at Red Bull Campus Clutch World Finals in Sao Paulo, Brazil in 2022
© Fabio Piva / Red Bull Content Pool
Yet, despite all of this pushback and noise telling her that it is a “waste of time,” she kept pushing for this career because it was something that no amount of money could buy: happiness.
“There wasn’t anything else in my life that made me as happy or less alone as streaming does for me,” Tiffae said before relaying how much more it adds to her overall growth. “It gave me something productive to do when I was really lost.”
Now, she looks back on those moments very fondly as there is more direction nowadays in her career aspirations.
Evolving and growing
Tiffae’s career in streaming was a complete shift from her days working as a full-time waitress and college student. Similar to those earlier days, she remembered multiple 12-hour streaming days and the countless amount of days spent trying to grow on Twitch more. In truth, she was putting in more hours of work compared to her days before she became a streamer. Yet, the difference between the two different workloads was that streaming 12 hours a day was something that was done purely off her own passions and not out of fear.
Tiffae poses for portrait at Red Bull Media Day in Los Angeles
© Rick Rodney / Red Bull Content Pool
Now, she is happy that the path to becoming a streamer isn’t as taboo as it was back when she pursued streaming as a full-time career.
“Back then, it was extremely risky to become a streamer because content creation wasn’t a stable career,” Tiffae said. “But now, the generation is evolving to where anything is possible. Some people are innovating and finding unique ways to create content which only inspires me to get better at what I love every day.”
In her final closing remarks, Tiffae was asked what, “her primary goal was moving forward in her career,” to which the answer was very simple: to be “happy” and “healthy.”
Tiffae poses for portrait during Red Bull Media Day in Los Angeles
© Rick Rodney / Red Bull Content Pool
“My goal is just to be happy and have a healthy mindset every day,” Tiffae said before elaborating more. “I like being able to see what positive impact that has on other people’s lives.”
Tiffae’s career in streaming has continuously evolved throughout the years. Now, the next steps are all about making sure every day is in check.
Related
In 2023, Tiffae’s schedule continues to be busy. She’s gone to Dreamhack in Dallas as part of a Content Creator showdown, taken part in late night VALORANT Champions Tour watch parties - where her org Team Liquid competed in Japan - and even took place in Red Bull New Game’s second episode - where and her friend Pipluptiny will square off against Disguised Toast and Sigils. However, it’s packed with things that all bring her joy. With a supportive group of followers and a career that genuinely brings her “happiness,” Tiffae is ready to move forward into the next phases of her career as a full-time streamer.
