133. Kirsten Dirksen, From TV Producer to Unexpected YouTube Success

Kirsten Dirksen, An Unexpected Career as a YouTube Home & Lifestyle Content Creator

Show Notes:

Kirsten Dirksen majored in economics and math, but found creative writing to be her passion. She decided to become a magazine writer and interned at the NBC affiliate in San Francisco, where she worked for free for about nine months.

Working at NBC and Moving a Women's Network

After her internship, she went to work with the NBC elite, which was the old chronicle enterprise. Kirsten became the music person, interviewing bands and creating unique stories for interviews. She eventually moved to New York City to work for Oxygen, a women's network. She then worked freelance in New York City and for other networks, including MTV, where she did music-themed stories. She worked freelance for a while, and the Sundance Channel took her to Spain to do an interview with Javier Bardem. She later met her husband in Barcelona.

Reality T.V. and Early YouTube Videos

Throughout her career, Kirsten has been passionate about storytelling and experimenting with different topics. She started working with an old Oxygen producer in Spain to film weddings for a reality show called The Knot. They traveled to various locations, and Kirsten edited the shows which took around five weeks to complete. However, when her husband started a website about environmental sustainability, together they made videos and put them on YouTube. The first viral video was about a  micro apartment in New York. The video was picked up and shared on La Republica's homepage. This led to the story being picked up by Good Morning, America.

We the Tiny House People and 20 Million Views

After videos going viral in 2009, Kirsten and her husband continued posting YouTube videos. Since then she has done about five or six documentaries, with one being a taste-style documentary about the tiny house movement. The other two are family-based, chronicling the tiny house movement and the summer of family love. She has also done documentaries on homelessness, focusing on the experiences of homeless people in California. Kirsten's videos have gained popularity, with her first one being called We the Tiny House People, chronicling the tiny house movement. The second one, Our Summer of Family Love,  was a road trip across the Pacific Northwest and West for the summer. Her other documentaries have focused on homelessness, focusing on solutions and solutions for those living in small homes. Her videos have gained attention and have been viewed over 20 million times on YouTube. She has also been a guest on the show The Tiny House People,  where she shares her experiences with tiny house movements and the challenges faced by homeless people.

From Documentarian to Author

Kirsten  began in a formal documentary unit in San Francisco and has since focused on documentaries and tours of tiny homes. Her book, Life-Changing Homes, is titled after these homes, which she believes sum up the stories they tell. The books are categorized into 10 chapters, each with a theme that focuses on simplicity, slowness, impermanence, elevation, restoration, underground survival, resurrection, and future. The book covers a variety of houses, from simple to large, and features thought-provoking chapter headings that cover two or three different houses that fit that theme. Each chapter covers about two or three different houses that fit that theme, and Kirsten interviews the owner. The focus is not on a specific category or type of house, but rather on the story itself. Kirsten's work has been praised for its stunning photos and focus on eco-friendly designs, making it an attractive resource for those interested in living in tiny homes. The book is expected to be a valuable resource for those interested in exploring these unique and sustainable living options.

The People Who Live in Non-Traditional Dwellings

Kirsten discusses the experiences of interviewing people in non-traditional dwellings, such as those in Ontario and California. She highlights the importance of considering what one truly needs out of a home and what skills they have. Some examples include a widow who built a dome home in Ontario, where she had a refrigerator that pops up like a gadget in Willy Wonka's factory. Another example is a chiropractor who bought land near the border of Oregon and started building a tree house and an earth ship along the way. He has a community of people living there. She also mentions the chief architect for Apple who has a small, open home in Sonoma County. He lived on the land first, but then went camping to find the best place to live. He bought two prefabs and kept everything small, with only the bathroom having a bit of a door. His wife and kids enjoyed the openness and connection to the surroundings. Kirsten emphasizes that it's not just about affordability, but also about making the most sense of the space. Sometimes too big houses can be worse than not having the views or being in touch with the surroundings. This is why she came back to the idea of living in a small, open space.

The Importance of Simplicity 

The conversation turns to Thoreau and his way of thinking about time in nature, simplicity, and well-being. Kirsten discusses the importance of simplicity in her life and how it can impact her content creation. She also mentions a couple who live in the woods called the innermost house, which they call a place to reflect and experiment in simplicity. She talks about the connection between simplicity and high thinking, as seen in a woman who lived in a tiny house in her backyard in Santa Rosa, California back at a time when it was rebellious to live in a tiny, mobile home. Kirsten mentions how the woman found too many possessions cluttered her mind. 

Viral Videos and Duds

Kirsten shares her experiences with videos that go viral and which ones are more of a dud. One example is a story with a young architect living in a 12th-century mansion in Spain. Another example is a video with Special Operations, a flying car from an off-grid home, which has had 700,000 views in a week. The title of the video is "Special Operations," which is about a special operations vet who lives on land at the top of a mountain and works as a rescue mission and firefighters. Kirsten shares her experience of becoming a content creator and how it has changed her outlook on life and making a living. It wasn't something she planned; however, it has given her a lot of freedom and afforded her an income that allows her to make a living.

Plain Living and High Thinking

The conversation turns to the process of making a video, including filming, editing, and producing the perfect thumbnail. Kirsten and her husband usually spend two to three hours at a house or location.  The couple also film themselves during their stay, going on runs and shooting in the morning. Kirsten shares stories from many of the productions and the diverse and interesting people she has met along the way. She talks about what motivates and inspires these people to think and live differently.

Influential Harvard Professors and Courses

Kirsten discusses her experience with Verlyn Klinkenborg whose direction inspired her work back then and today. 

Timestamps:

02:22 Internship at NBC and Early Career in Television 

06:26: Transition to Freelancing and YouTube 

11:03: Growth of YouTube Channel and Documentary Work 

11:14: Discovering Unique Homes and Themes for Documentaries 

11:36: Impact of Unique Living Spaces on Individuals 

30:59: Challenges and Surprises in Content Creation 

42:58: Balancing Work and Personal Life 

43:09: Influence of Harvard Professors and Writing 

Links:

Book: https://www.abramsbooks.com/product/life-changing-homes_9781419771897/

Press page: https://faircompanies.com/media-kit/

Channel https://youtube.com/kirstendirksen

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kirsten.dirksen/

YouTube:

Summer of (Family) Love https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Iti4JU5ObU

We the Tiny House People https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDcVrVA4bSQ

Trapped in paradise: how we got the homeless situation (part 1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5XIljwl5hI

 

 

Featured Non-profit:

The featured non-profit of this episode of The 92 Report is recommended by Eleanor Stafford who reports:

“Hi. I'm Eleanor Stafford, class of 1992. The featured nonprofit of this episode of The 92 report is Literacy Volunteers of Massachusetts. LVM is a statewide organization that trains volunteers to provide free, confidential and individualized tutoring to adults in basic literacy and or ESL. I have been the lead basic literacy volunteer trainer for about 20 years now, and have managed the Boston affiliate for the past two years. You can learn more about LVM's work at lvm.org and now here is Will Bachmann for this week's episode.”

To learn more about their work, visit: www.lvm.org.