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Jenna Marbles is your best friend on YouTube. Get to know her a little better with these facts.
Jenna Marbles is YouTube's reigning Queen, no contest. Now, she's getting her own statue of sorts. Jenna Marbles (along with YouTube superstars the Smosh Brothers) is getting her own wax figure at Madame Tussauds Museum in New York. And why not? Jenna is hilarious, empowering and she speaks her mind. Plus, she's earning serious cash thanks to 14.9 million followers. So, just how did a young girl from Rochester, N.Y. become the hottest entertainer on YouTube?
After graduating with a bachelor's degree from Suffolk, she took her education to the next level and received a Master's in Education from Boston University. She even came up with some super fun ways to use that oversized -- and unfortunately underrated -- piece of paper.
After getting her master's degree, Jenna stayed in Boston and worked at a tanning salon and as a go-go dancer to pay the bills. She struggled finding work in her field for a while, until she got a life-changing call from Dave Portnoy of Barstool Sports.
"How To Trick People Into Thinking You're Good Looking" hit YouTube while Jenna was working as a video character/coffee gofer at Barstool Sports and everyone lost their minds. This video had amazing views in its first week and solidified Jenna Marbles as the funny yet honest female voice that was, at that time, scarce on YouTube.
The success of "How to Trick People Into Thinking You're Good Looking" prompted Barstool owner Portnoy to give her a shot at running Barstool's new female site, StoolLaLa. She was helping the female fan base flourish, and Jenna had no plans of ever leaving StoolLaLa. But things don't always turn out as planned.
Startups are a volatile business. Even though Jenna was pouring everything she could into the StoolLaLa blog, Dave Portnoy made the choice to discontinue the site under the Barstool brand, which meant Jenna was in danger of going back to go-go dancing. Instead of taking that U-turn, Jenna made more YouTube videos, striking gold with "How To Avoid Talking To People You Don't Want To". Assuming she was making enough cash, her old Barstool boss threatened to withhold previously promised severance pay and things went sour.
In a Reddit AMA, Jenna discussed the end of her time at Barstool with a lot of emotion. "I really enjoyed working for Barstool, every second that I got to work there," she said. "I will never take for granted the opportunity that he gave me and it's something I will always remember. But at some point I think it was inevitable for me to move on ... I'm upset about the way that it ended, but I think it was a blessing for me because I am much happier now and doing something I really enjoy doing."
Jenna has 1.5 million subscribers and over 1.7 billion views, which makes her a really big deal. Only the coolest of kids get their own wax figure at Madame Tussauds Museum in New York! She and the Smosh Brothers are the first YouTube stars to receive this honor. Marbles' figure will be taking a selfie, naturally, and will be the first figure to do so.
Wax figures are great and all, but they don't pay the bills. When it comes to cash flow, though, Jenna is doing just fine. She earns an estimated $84,900 - $1.4 million on YouTube each year. Yeah. That's serious cash. (Estimate from Social Blade)
So far, Jenna has won a James Joyce Award and a Bram Stoker Award. Add to that her upcoming wax figure, which is basically a life-sized selfie trophy.
In April 2015, Jenna signed on with big-time entertainment and sports firm Creative Artists Agency. CAA handles a wealth of huge clients, such as Dakota Fanning, Jennifer Aniston and Jennifer Lawrence.
Because of her skyrocketing career, Jenna transplanted herself from Rochester, N.Y. to Santa Monica, Calif. Talk about westward expansion!
Jenna has three "well-behaved" pups: Kermit, Mr. Marbles and Peach. Kermit and Mr. Marbles even have their own line of dog toys: Kermie Worm and Mr. Marbles.
Don't watch one of her videos in the presence of children. Jenna says what she wants about whatever she wants. We effing love her for that.
Patti Stanger of Millionaire Matchmaker enlisted Jenna to set some bachelors straight before their dates.
You didn't think her last name was actually Marbles, did you? Jenna's real name is Jenna Mourey. She's a fan of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Spider-man, so basically she's just like you. She's 28 going on 29, and when she was a little girl, she wanted to be a veterinarian or perhaps a soccer player. Fortunately, neither of those professions would come to be as Jenna went down the path to becoming the YouTube femme phenom we know and love.
She broke up with fellow YouTuber Max Weisz (MaxNoSleeves) in late 2012. About a year later we learned she had a new beau: Julian Solomita, her bodyguard.
Inquiring viewers want to know, and that's the truth. Her hair color has changed so many times, but she started out brunette.
So, to recap: in 1986, Jenna Marbles was born. In 2005, YouTube was born. Five short years after the birth of YouTube, the two found each other. Jenna has been building her fans and making lots of cash on YouTube ever since, and it doesn't seem like that's changing any time soon.