New Experience: My First Time Live Streaming

Yesterday, my dear friend, Su-Style, and I hosted a live zoom cooking session for Ralph Lauren. We had so much fun! That was a huge surprise to me.

When Su-Style asked me to demonstrate how to cook a Chinese dish over Zoom to her co-workers as part of Celebrate API Heritage month, I said yes without thinking about it. It was only after agreeing that I remembered, one of the main reasons I didn’t start an income-generating recipe blog was that I likely needed to make videos for it to become successful. And I always cringed when I watch myself on video.

For example, my wedding video, I maybe watched 10 minutes of it when I first got it. Currently, I don’t even know where it is nor would I go seek it out.

But this is Su-Style, someone I cherish and admire greatly. She is more important to me than my aversion to being recorded. Additionally, I sold myself on the idea that even if I did terribly, it was going to make a fun story for Su-Style and me to tell in the future.

What I Learned From My First Time Live Streaming

• It’s really hard to be someone you are not in front of the camera. For example, I had hoped to come across as someone who is sophisticated and serene. That maybe lasted two minutes if I even managed it for that long. 🤣
• When I stopped trying to be someone I’m not, and then fully discarded any expectations of being sophisticated and serene, I started to really enjoy interacting on camera. This happened around 15 minutes into the live stream.
• Some of my favorite parts were when Su-Style and I were conversing with each other like we normally do when there aren’t cameras around.
• My favorite part was when I realized I made a cooking mistake – I forgot to use the shrimp seasoning I made on camera on the actual shrimp. So I called attention to it and reminded the viewers that this was a mistake, and then laughed it off. It’s my favorite part because I regularly make cooking mistakes and laugh them off. I find that when I don’t seek perfection, I’m not bothered by mistakes.
• Cooking on camera came quite naturally to me. Likely because cooking is something I do daily so I didn’t feel pressured.
• It’s great that Su-Style and I are similar in height. The camera can be placed at a flattering angle to both of us because of that.

How to Style Yourself for The Camera

• Pick bold colors and patterns. I loved Su-Style’s outfit in person, but not so much on camera. Conversely, I didn’t like the dress I was wearing in person too much but thought it turned out great on camera.
• Style yourself from head to toe just in case. Su-Style and I had thought that we didn’t need to care about our footwear because the camera was only going to capture the upper half of our bodies. But we forgot there was a second camera that was top-down and showed our footwear.
• Wear slightly heavier makeup than you normally would or else you may come across washed out. I wished I wore brighter lipstick.

I started thinking about why I enjoyed cooking while live streaming but hated having Mark record me for cooking videos. My conclusion is that Mark would have kept wanting me to do the same action until it comes out correctly for the camera. And because Mark is a perfectionist (he’s actively working on not being one going forward) that would mean I needed to pretend to be enjoying doing the same action for the 10th time when I most certainly am not.

Having a Support Network

It meant a lot to me that some of my dear friends and therapist were able to find the time to join in. Especially when I gave them very little advance notice. I literally told my therapist the morning of the event.

Because even though I wanted my therapist to see me do the cooking event to witness my growth, I didn’t want to take up her time. Our formal relationship as therapist and patient ended in December 2020. All the help and support she gave me afterward is pro bono. I’m so touched that she wants to remain in my life because she sees me becoming someone amazing.

My therapist emailed me this afterwards:

It was wonderful and I learned so much about nuances of the ingredients, options one can do and you provided SO much information that was educational and useful. Thank you!

You look great, relaxed and competent because the knowledge is IN you. It showed.

Thanks again for inviting me. SO proud of you. Now I will go try cooking this……

My return email:

Thank you so much for your kind words. It is extra meaningful coming from you.

I couldn’t have been the person I am today without you so generously sharing your wisdom and knowledge with me.

Meeting you was one of the best things that ever happened to me.

Thank you so much for being in my life.

Additionally, I also want to thank both Mark and T-800 (Su-Style’s husband) for spending their personal time in helping Su-Style and me succeed in this adventure. And to my dear friend Nala for actively participating throughout the zoom session. ❤️❤️❤️

P.S. I was exhausted after the live stream. All I wanted to do was to be a couch potato. Instead, I encouraged myself to work out so that I will have more energy in the future for more new life experiences. So I worked out for 30 minutes. The good news is that exercising actually gave me more energy! I’m pleasantly surprised.