Welcome to YouTube Millionaires, where we–in partnership with global creator company AIR Media-Tech–profile channels that have recently crossed the one million subscriber mark. There are channels crossing this threshold every week, and each creator has a story to tell about YouTube success. Read previous installments here.
If you think you see a Kardashian on TikTok, you might want to take a second look. It might not actually be Kim or Khloe. It might be Yuri.
On this week’s installment of YouTube Millionaires, we’re taking a slight detour from the “YouTube” part to spotlight someone who’s hit a million followers on both TikTok and Instagram: Yuri Lamasbella, whose pitch-perfect parodies of various members of the Kardashian clan have turned her into a full-time content creator.
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Lamasbella’s videos not only have her looking like the reality TV family, she also sounds like them: one of her main focuses as the self-dubbed “lost Kardashian” has been getting that Kardashian cadence down pat. Doing it successfully has brought the social media-savvy Kardashian fanbase her way–but has also pushed her videos out to people who aren’t necessarily superfans, but still find her content funny (and sometimes don’t realize her parodies are affectionate, not mocking).
While Lamasbella got her start on TikTok in 2021, she’s been in content creation for much longer. She started in the beauty niche on Instagram in 2016, and now–thanks to her success as pitches herself as a beauty/comedy creator who’s focused on multiple platforms–including growing her short-form success into long-form content.
Check out our chat with her below.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Tubefilter: If somebody’s reading this and doesn’t know who you are, hasn’t seen your content, can you give me a little bit of background about you, where you’re from, and how you got started making videos?
Yuri Lamasbella: I am Yuri Lamasbella, I’m from Tampa, Florida, and I started creating short-form content in 2021, specifically Kardashian parodies comedy. That’s really where my other platforms began to grow. Initially, I started in the beauty field back in 2016 when it was pretty saturated and everybody wanted to be like a beauty influencer, but beauty is always still something that I do on the side, and it’s definitely still a passion for me. I would categorize my content as beauty/comedy.
Tubefilter: Got it. You’ve started making content back in 2016. What kicked things off originally? Did you have a sort of renaissance in 2021?
Yuri Lamasbella: I was listening to a lot of Gary Vee. Of course, I wanted to grow as an influencer and as a content creator. I remember he would say in a lot of his podcasts to get on LinkedIn and TikTok because it’s probably the most organic form of growth that you’re going to be receiving, LinkedIn and TikTok. I just took a leap of faith and I joined TikTok in 2020. Then in March of 2021 is when I did my first Kardashian parody where it went viral and then I just kept doing it. All the other videos kept going viral too, and it just became something and that I’ve been able to perfect and people love it. That’s where really my growth came from in 2021.
Tubefilter: What draws you to the Kardashians?
Yuri Lamasbella: Oh my gosh, I’ve loved them my whole life. Their lifestyle, their personalities. I think they’re so funny and I think they are such intelligent businesswomen. You can’t tell me otherwise. I always try to tell people like, “Listen, I am actually a Kardashian fan.” You don’t want people to think I don’t like the Kardashians. I support them in everything they do. I don’t think that my parodies would be as funny and I don’t think I would be able to perfect their mannerisms if I wasn’t a fan, if I didn’t like them so much.
Tubefilter: Makes sense. I actually just interviewed, I don’t know if you know him, Colt Paulsen.
Yuri Lamasbella: Oh my gosh, yes. I love him.
Tubefilter: Yes. I just spoke with him. So you’re the second Kardashian superfan I’ve spoken to in a couple of weeks.
Yuri Lamasbella: Oh my gosh. Gay Man with a Spray Tan. I love him. We love each other.
Tubefilter: Yes, he’s cool. Very interesting to hear from his perspective. How did you originally become a fan of the Kardashians? Did you just watch their TV show when you were younger, or how did it get started?
Yuri Lamasbella: I would say my sister and I–So I have a sister, we’re really close, and we just always watched the Kardashians. Back then, I would say people wanted to see the flashy things. People liked reality TV like that. I think this generation now it’s almost less appreciated, or they don’t like to see, I would say, the glam life on reality TV as much. Back then, it was a huge thing. I would always watch their show Keeping Up and you just love them.
Tubefilter: Do you feel like the people watching your parodies are also fans, or do you feel like your parodies appeal to that broader audience of people maybe who don’t follow the Kardashians, but are aware of them?
Yuri Lamasbella: Yes, definitely the latter, definitely the broader audience. I do get comments where if I buy something like a Kardashian brand, sometimes people would say, “Oh, I didn’t know you were a fan, I’m going to unfollow you,” because they didn’t know that I actually do like the Kardashians. There’s still a lot of people out there that get the wrong idea.
Tubefilter: What would you say to those people? I still feel like there’s a lot of judgment around people who like reality TV show stars or who like the Kardashians. Why do you feel like it’s been a positive force in your life?
Yuri Lamasbella: For the Kardashians? Because I think they’re really intelligent businesswomen. I think you can learn a lot from them. I think that people just don’t want to have an open mind about it. I will not fight with anyone if they do not like the Kardashians. In my opinion, I just think that it’s what they want to do and I will not judge them, but they can’t judge me if I want to support them.
@yurilamasbella Kim in her Bread Era with the Kardashians #relatable #kuwtk #funnyvideos #comedy #kardashians ♬ original sound – Yuri Lamasbella
Tubefilter: I wanted to talk a little bit more about your Instagram content, but obviously, your TikTok content is doing really well. You have, what, more than 3 million followers in TikTok now?
Yuri Lamasbella: Yes, it’s at 3.8, trying to get to 4.
Tubefilter: In a year or so, right? A year and change?
Yuri Lamasbella: I would say, well, 2021, so a little over two years. When I first got onto TikTok, it was a lot easier to grow organically back in 2021. TikTok is totally different now in 2023.
Tubefilter: What are the differences between now and then?
Yuri Lamasbella: It wasn’t as saturated as it is now. Back in 2021, short-form content was still fairly new because TikTok really focused and pushed content like dance videos and that’s really what TikTok was in the beginning, trending dances, dance videos, and people like Charli D’Amelio or Addison Rae were really dominating in that field. If you would do a comedic video or a parody or something aside from the norm of TikTok, it would go viral and it was a lot easier to go viral back then. Gary Vee had said it was probably the best organic growth that you could have in 2021. He did predict, it’s not always going to be like that.
Usually, when platforms don’t have enough content, they will push the content that they do have. Now, for example, Instagram Reels, we can talk about my Instagram videos when we talk about Instagram, but when you don’t have a lot of content, you will push the content that you do have, the platform will push the content that creators are making, and it gives you a lot of opportunity to go viral and for people to capture new audiences and to reach new audiences. That’s exactly what it was in 2021.
In 2023, now I believe that short-form content is very overly saturated now and it’s being repurposed into Instagram Reels, into YouTube Shorts, into Facebook Reels. Now, the way the algorithm works for TikTok, it’s not as easy to go viral. Now if you would like to grow on TikTok and all these other platforms, I do believe that you have to stand out from everybody else that wants to do it too.
Tubefilter: How have you adjusted your strategy and how have you made yourself stand out in the wake of this new development?
Yuri Lamasbella: I always look for new inspiration. I always look to do things differently. If you see my first Kardashian parody from a Kardashian period that I did yesterday, you can see extremely big differences. Now, you can see that the framing is different, the quality is different, the audio is different, and you just have to cater to different things. I don’t think I would reach the level of success that I have on TikTok and the other platforms if I didn’t adjust to what is the form of content that is blowing up now, that is going viral now.
Tubefilter: I would like to hear about Instagram, too. I feel like a lot of creators have moved away from Instagram because they struggle a lot with feeling like their content is actually being seen by the people who follow them. You’re obviously doing really well on Instagram, so I was why you’re focusing on growing there? How have you been able to keep your foothold on Instagram?
Yuri Lamasbella: That is a very interesting take on it. I actually have no idea that people felt like that.
Tubefilter: Really?
Yuri Lamasbella: Instagram, yes, I’ve never heard that. What I would say is when it comes to Instagram, what Instagram has to offer for me is credibility. In the beginning, when you had 4 million followers on TikTok, and you only had 100,000 followers on Instagram, it didn’t really mean that you were some– You didn’t really have much influence. The follower count on Instagram always in my opinion, finds people more credible. If you have 100,000 followers on Instagram but 7 million followers on TikTok, to me, I would say it’s like– I really don’t know how to word this. What I’m trying to say is that I feel like Instagram gives me more of a credibility than TikTok did because people didn’t really take TikTok serious.
If you look at millennials back then in 2020, they refused to download TikTok. They’re like, “I’m not going on TikTok.” There was still some pushback. Now that TikTok is a big thing, it’s important to grow both platforms. That’s why I always made sure I was on TikTok. Even before TikTok-sorry, Instagram, it’s YouTube. YouTube used to be that credibility. I still think that YouTube has that huge credibility as well. What I think that Instagram offers me and why I keep doing it is because I believe it makes me more credible as a content creator, but that’s just my opinion. Other people might think differently.
@yurilamasbella Easter at the Kardashians #easter #comedy #kardashians #kuwtk #comedy ♬ original sound – Yuri Lamasbella
Tubefilter: Got it. You said short-form content is oversaturated and you feel like a lot of people are repurposing, cross-posting their content from TikTok to YouTube to Reels. What is your content strategy across platforms? Do you make TikToks and post to Reels? Do you have entirely separate content? Do you have half and half? How do you approach making content across multiple platforms?
Yuri Lamasbella: I would cater to the language. I would cater to the language when repurposing content across all platforms because you won’t get the same response from different platforms. Some videos will go viral on TikTok and they won’t do as good on Instagram. I think my content is very different though. My content, it’s comedy. It’s comedic. People love to laugh, people want feel good videos. I have heard about repurposing content and catering to the language of the platform. If you’re posting something on Facebook, add subtitles and headings because Facebook is more like millennials and millennials like text and wordy versus TikTok.
TikTok is like if you need to gain the audience’s attention within the first three seconds or else they’ve already swiped up, you’ve already lost them. The Instagram likes explanations, things like that. For some reason with my– I totally believe that. I think that if you want to repurpose your content, definitely cater to the language of the platform in order for it to do its best, perform its best, to give its best chance to go viral. However, with my content, it just goes viral, and I don’t do anything to repurpose it. I don’t really change much.
I would say what I could do on YouTube is probably make longer-form content in the videos that I make. With my content when I’m making the TikTok I always try to make it in 59 seconds. I always try to do it in less than a minute so I can repurpose it onto YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels, which are still only 59 seconds. I still have a lot of extra content when I’m creating that specific video. What I could do is repurpose it onto YouTube and making it into a longer form content as well for Facebook, but that’s just not something that I do, but it could be something that I could do in the future. For now, what I’m doing is working.
Tubefilter: Are you interested in getting into long-form content or is that just a maybe in the future?
Yuri Lamasbella: I would love to get into long-form content. It would be more difficult as what I’m doing now. What I’m doing now is it’s just me playing three different roles. If I had more of a cast, I think long-form content would do very well on YouTube.
Tubefilter: What is your current production process like? Do you have a set posting date for each platform per week? What are you doing on the average day?
Yuri Lamasbella: In the average day, my days are very fluctuated and on a schedule based on what I want to achieve. I like to post at least three pieces of content on TikTok for the week. Instagram is a little bit different. With Instagram, its posts, its Reels, it’s stories. I like to have stories every day on Instagram just to stay relevant. I like to post repurposed TikTok content as Instagram Reels. I do need to do a better job at posting, but I would like to post more on Instagram. My content strategy is focused on TikTok. TikTok is the center of it, and then everything else is repurposed on other platforms. The content is repurposed on other platforms.
On an average day, I would create content, film. I film probably two hours in a day. Sometimes it’s for Instagram, sometimes it’s for YouTube, sometimes it’s for TikTok. In the evening is when I will edit the content and based on the posting schedule, I will publish it. Also in that evening, I will have to create a skit if I want to film for the next day. Every piece of content that I have starts off with a skit. I like to sleep on my skit because it can change. I will write down a skit, sleep on it, then the next day, hopefully I can film it.
If the weekend comes along, that’s where I do the bulk of my work for the week. I will write three or four skits out and use those skits and film, all of that throughout the week. I’m always doing something. If I’m not writing my skit, I’m thinking of the next idea. I’m on TikTok for some inspiration. I’m editing, posting, replying to emails about content. My entire day is really surrounded about [crosstalk]–
@yurilamasbella Salad talk but with Avocado 🥗#Kiehlspartner #AvocadoEyeCream #relatable #kuwtk #comedy ♬ original sound – Yuri Lamasbella
Tubefilter: Do you have any interesting brand partnerships that you’ve done?
Yuri Lamasbella: Oh my gosh, so many. I’ve done so many. I have so much fun with all of them. My recent one with Urban Decay, it was so much fun because I love that Urban Decay, they let me leave with a creative and because it’s cosmetics and it’s beauty, it just fit right into the realm of what I want to do. I also recently finished a brand deal with Hulu. My content had to get approved by the Kardashians, like the actual family.
Tubefilter: Oh, that’s wild.
Yuri Lamasbella: I thought that was really cool. I thought that was really fun. I do a lot. They’re all a lot of fun. I have fun with it. I love to build the relationship with the brands and with the companies. It’s always a lot of fun when I get to do that.
Tubefilter: Do you have any plans or goals for this year that you can talk about?
Yuri Lamasbella: Yes. I have so many goals to just reach new audiences. I want my content to turn into long-form content like what we were talking about for YouTube, even Facebook. I would love to get into the longer-form content and also would love to have a little cast. Even partnering with other content creators like Colt Paulsen, Danny Gonzalez, just these big names, I would love to collaborate with them.
Tubefilter: Any projects in the works? Anything we should highlight?
Yuri Lamasbella: I do have projects in the works. You’ll have to stay tuned for that.
Tubefilter: No spoilers.
Yuri Lamasbella: Yes, no spoilers, but you know, we do anticipate having a lot of funny content, since The Kardashians is coming out in May.
@yurilamasbella Have we been UNinvited to the Met Gala?? #kardashians #kuwtk #selenagomez #relatable #funnyvideos #comedy #metgala ♬ original sound – Yuri Lamasbella
Tubefilter: Is there anything else you feel readers should know?
Yuri Lamasbella: If there’s anyone out there who wants to be a content creator and wants any tips or anything like that, I would say just stay consistent and be on a schedule. Take it seriously if it’s something that you want to do. If I did it, anybody can do it. I’d say that.
Tubefilter: It’s funny, you’re the second person I’ve spoken to this week who specifically said, like, “If I can do it, anyone can.” You guys are selling yourselves short here.
Yuri Lamasbella: No, it’s only because it sounds so cliche, but it was really just an impulse decision to get on TikTok and to make a parody of the Kardashians. It derives from an idea. It was just so small, as small as just an idea, into a video, into this huge following. All of this came from one video. It was crazy.
It’s funny because people were like, “You sound exactly like them.” Now that I look back at that video two years ago, I think it was March 17th when I posted, so almost exactly two years to the day, but I don’t think I sounded anything like them. I think I sounded a lot like them now. That’s how it’s been. I even look at videos from a year ago and I was like, “Wow, I’ve really developed this character.” I remember thinking then, “Wow, I sound exactly like them.” Then now I’m like, “No, I did not sound like them.” No idea.
Tubefilter: That just shows that your skills are improving.
Yuri Lamasbella: Yes, it’s fine looking back. You’re right you had said it’s interesting looking back. It’s always great to hear, and I think the best things are when I get positive feedback and saying like, “I was really sad today, or your videos got me out of a very depressive state.” That means the world to me. I could cry just reading these messages.
Lamasbella is repped by Viral Nation.
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