COVID changed things for our industry. Lockdowns meant millions of people suddenly found themselves at home with time to burn–and they spent that time both watching and making record amounts of digital content. With TikTok storming onto the scene, overnight virality became the achievement du jour, and glowing news coverage of instant sensations seemed to tell creators, Hey, if you don’t become a hit with your first video, just give up.
But Sheila D Yeah doesn’t give up.
If you look at her social media stats now, it’s clear that Yeah–a comedian and improv actress–is quite the burgeoning talent. She has ~363,000 followers on Instagram, ~50K on TikTok, and ~30K on YouTube. She also recently signed with Viral Nation.
Subscribe for daily Tubefilter Top Stories
Getting here, though, was a long road–and Yeah wants people to know that.
“If you look at my Instagram, which I usually post everything on, there’s 546 posts,” she says. “Only 20 of them are regular posts. The rest of them are skits. It took me 530 skits to get someone to pay attention. When people read my story, I want them to know to never give up. It took me 530 skits before I found someone to listen, and I had to prove myself.”
Yeah, who’s 36, has always been into performing. She went to a performing arts high school as a teenager and as an adult picked up some background roles in Hollywood productions. She also rapped, producing her own songs and starring in music videos.
She ended up in a business and technology program career-wise, however, and it wasn’t until 2022 that acting and comedy became her primary focus–and the centerpiece of her digital presence.
View this post on Instagram
It was “a series of unfortunate events” that led her to begin posting comedy content on socials, Yeah explains.
“All of my family essentially passed away in a little bit of time,” she says. “It was really my mother’s passing–she had brain cancer and it all happened within six months, from her getting her diagnosis to her dying, and it was super traumatic.”
Yeah began coping through comedy. In 2023, she started posting skits to her Instagram.
“They were just little goofy videos online to help my mental health out,” she says. “And they started going crazy, like more than my music ever did. The first video I put up had like 5,000 views.”
Now, Yeah’s content can bring over 10 million views–but at the time, 5,000 seemed life-changing. So she committed to what would be a grueling road, posting videos almost daily. She says this is where her experiences with Hollywood productions and music videos came into play. Being a background actor “essentially showed me how the cameras work, angles, lighting,” she says. “I was paying attention to everything–the dynamics, where people were standing. And I think that really helped me with my editing and doing comedy.”
And after being in music videos, she was “so comfortable being in front of the camera,” she adds.
Having both on- and off-camera knowhow was her foundation–and the rest was improv.
“I don’t even like reading scripts,” she jokes (or, well, kind of jokes). Her skits are all improv–and Viral Nation is now parlaying that experience into booking Yeah for stand-up gigs.
Paul Telner, Viral Nation’s Head of Programming, describes himself as a “recovering stand-up comedian” and has glowing words for Yeah.
“Chloe Morris, the Head of Creator Relations at Viral Nation, was the one who brought me Sheila,” he says. “She was like, ‘You need to check her out.’ And I did, and I was just like, ‘Holy moly, what is going on with this young lady? She’s a genius!'”
Yeah makes sure to mention that she first got in contact with Viral Nation because of her longtime BFF turned logistics manager, Falen Ghirmai. Ghirmai “believed in me enough to relentlessly prospect, send emails, and open doors until the right people saw my work,” Yeah says. “She’s been by my side for nearly 23 years, ever since we met back home in the DMV, and she’s also a former TV personality herself. Beyond being my best friend, she’s an essential part of my day-to-day life, helping me stay organized, manage my schedule, coordinate emails, keep up with appointments, and make sure everything keeps moving as my career continues to grow. I truly wouldn’t be where I am today without her belief, support, and dedication.”
Telner adds that when he was introduced to Yeah’s cast of self-made characters, which populate her skits, he immediately saw they were “original and edgy and funny. She’s breaking barriers and doing a lot of stuff that no one’s really doing on social.”
View this post on Instagram
He and Viral Nation, which has been throwing serious effort into developing digital content creators and their IPs for broader distribution across mediums like TV and film, leapt at the chance to sign her.
“Sheila is an amazing human being,” Telner says. “She’s been through everything. She’s seen everything. And she pulls funny from that. Funny comes from a hard place, from a dark place, from a place where you’re like, ‘How the hell am I going to survive and make this work?’ And Sheila’s overcome all that and she’s fought, she’s really fought.”
Once Viral Nation brought Yeah in, Telner introduced her to Kevin Healey, Chief Creative Officer at Media Trifecta. Previously Healey ran Kevin Hart‘s Hartbeat Studios, and he also created SyFy‘s long-running prank show Scare Tactics.
“He’s sold a zillion shows,” Telner explains. “When I sent Sheila to him, it wasn’t a ‘Maybe.’ It was a ‘Let’s go.’ You have it or you don’t, and Sheila’s got it. So for us, it was a very easy move to rally behind her.”
Now, Yeah has developed a show with Viral Nation, Healey, and Media Trifecta, and they have plans to take the project out soon. Details about the show’s potential content are under wraps for the moment, but we can assume it showcases Yeah’s sharp improv skills and builds on the sort of content her dedicated digital audience already loves.
Thanks to their backing, “I’m not scared anymore,” Yeah says. “We’ve given my show to everybody who could listen, and now we have people who are like, ‘Oh my god, we believe in you. We love what you’re doing.’ It’s a great thing.”
Viral Nation is a Tubefilter partner.
