Creator Playbook: How V Spehar balances their work as a creator and journalist

Consuming news is no longer a matter of opening the newspaper or turning on television. Now, more than ever, the number one source of information from America is social media. But in a sea of ​​infographics, how should you find sources of trust?

V Spehar, perhaps better known under their Underhedesknews handle, provides in-depth and informative news in a comforting set.

While V used to take new shots under the security of their office, they left under the office and encourage their audience to do the same. To no longer be afraid of the world and get out of the hiding place. As a journalist and content creator, V made a promise to his audience to provide news in a safe way to protect everyone’s emotional health. Almost five years of work, they still hold their end of negotiation while the news cycle becomes heavier every day. In Vidcon 2025, we sat with V to discuss how they increased their platform without losing public confidence.

In 2020, V Spehar pivoted culinary content to news and Underhedesknews was born.
Credit: V Spehar / Røde / Mashable

I would love to know what the creation of Freedom content has given you as a journalist?

All my life, I thought that if I could simply get this work in the industry, I would be ready for life and that I would be comfortable. I would have done something. And when I was director of the impact of the James Beard Foundation, I felt like I made it. But I didn’t do it. When I obtained the work of the big girl, I did not feel super comfortable or taken care of. When I started to do content, I had no expectations. I just did it to start. And now, I have in fact created life for myself and the financial structure for myself that no quantity of doing it in the right way gave me.

I hear that many creators. I think that content creation gives people a feeling of empowerment.

It is just as difficult for me to be a content creator and to own Spehar Entertainment, which is the LLC as everything happens. And we have chosen entertainment, intentionally making fun of Fox entertainment, because I was afraid of saying myself: “I’m not going to settle as media company. It’s so scary. I’m just going to be entertainment.” I work just as hard, but I have more control of myself and my time. And I come to discover that I like to work with people. I don’t like to be in a business structure.

You are a source of essential news for so many young people. How does this affect your approach to content creation?

Because I entered this a little older and I had already established prosperous companies before, I knew that the thing I had to start was a promise to the public – what am I selling? What is the product? And the product and the promise is that I will give you the news and the events of the day in a kind way from a safe space. I will give you current political subjects that center [on] Your emotional security to learn. And it is the northern star and the ethics and the border and the gutters of everything I do.

I talked to many creators about how they feel like it is really important to find a niche. Do you have the impression that it was this under-dess format that gave it a certain angle?

I think it was a visual representation of the promise. And over time and I gained their confidence. I have not been physically under the office for over a year because the atmosphere is still there, the promise is still there, under the office. It was a compulsory visual representation of what I promised, and I had to be good on this promise long enough to get out of this box. I always like to be under the office sometimes, and if something is really sad, then we go back under the office.

When Trump was elected, I said, “Ok, I will do the first 100 days under the office.” And I did it, but it made people a little sad, because they said to themselves: “Oh, we are hiding back.”

When I started to go out in public, and I started talking about concerts or doing on television or doing different things, people were really upset by me standing physically. It would take them a while to adapt. And so I was like getting used to everyone to the fact that I have a full body, and that I could be straight, because even the physical angle is so different. So I’m glad we were released under the office. There are so many people that we have to visit, and I would not be able to do things like speeches in Springfield, Missouri for queer communities that are never seen.

The news cycle is heavy at the moment. How do you take care of yourself and avoid professional exhaustion as a creator?

I rely on other people who make an incredible news creation. So let’s say that I do not do any news, because Aaron Parnas does it every 15 seconds. There is a skill and a group of people who want it, but I don’t feel like having to compete with it. We know that there is a 40% cross between my audience and his, that if they obtained this story, I move on to something else.

Before Trump was president, I could report on things that were going on, even if they were difficult. For example, the fall of Afghanistan was incredibly difficult, but it happened, and I could believe that what was reported with the Pentagon was factual. We could watch it on television or on social networks.

Now, I must hear what the White House or the Pentagon said, check it in fact against my sources, then also convince the public that I am right. For example, when Pete Hegseth said he was sending 700 camp navy Pendleton to Los Angeles, my contact was like: “It is not the Camp Pendleton; these are the palm trees of Twentynine, and civilians may not know, but there is a big difference between the Pendleton camp, which is fundamental.”

We are talking about 17, 18, 19 years old. And Twentynine Palms are navies, which are 22, 23, 24, so they are still young, but they are full marines. So I was like, ok, I’m like, they are not from the hangleton camp, they are Twentynine Palms, so that’s why they are formed, the control of the crowds and the riots. And people were like, that’s not what Hegseth said. I say that I know, but I also know that I am right.

The intention of the Trump administration, often, is to sow chaos and division and to bring people to work on something so that they can continue to pass with things that do not happen. So I tend to try to be like, OK, Donald Trump has signed an executive decree saying that trans women must go to male prisons. Well, it has already been disputed, and it has already been won in court, and it never happened. So let’s be calm on that one.

Have you ever felt tensions between you and the public when they arrive with really intense panic energy, and you have to defuse while recognizing their concerns?

So I definitely did this more. I think there is like a journalist, and then there is a creator, and the creators take care of the public, emotions and thoughts. And journalists are supposed not to do it, so it is very difficult to travel this line, so I will give a little of both. So something is happening, I will be like, it’s actually screwed up. If you have the impression that it is screwed up, it is because it is the case. And here is what is likely to come afterwards. And then I can tell the truth this way.

And I have to do it much more than I want, but you have to do it because this idea of ​​objectivity or simply say the facts, well, they do not provide facts, so you really have to fill it with historical evidence. Sometimes I have the impression of making more history than telling them what is going on now, so that we are all caught up.

As a creator, what was your experience in winning an audience? Was it a video that really took off or a slow and regular construction?

I started as a culinary creator. So I was doing cheeseburgers, all the different types of crazy cheeseburgers and things you could use from things in your pantry.

So I thought to do that, just to try to give me something to do in pandemic. And I first obtained culinary follow -up. So I was like famous food, before going to the news. I never looked at the number of followers. I always looked for return customers. I think I was trained for this from a culinary point of view. It’s like when you look at how many covers you have tonight in a restaurant. We had 700 tonight. This is what it means for my staff.

But I would be like, “Oh, Lisa will be here tonight. I love her damn”. So I treat content like that. I’m still looking for my regulars.

When did you decided to cover the news full-time?

When I was dismissed from the James Beard Foundation. So I was on leave first, so I really thought that this dream work that I had accomplished and spent so much time working. And there was a time when I realized that it was not going to come back. And also, it was no longer the same thing either. I had seen too much how devalued I was for them. And then I was doing consultation work for food. I worked, like, how, we were going to have the veterans delivered from the veterans when they were accommodation without housing during the pandemic.

It was only when I was asked to be a star creator at Vidcon. I certainly did not know what a star creator was, and I had no management or anything. I introduced myself here just to make a sign or something like that. There were around 70,000 people who came to this first vidcon I attended. And that’s where I started to be, like, it’s a job, a job.

Daniel de Palette Management was at my first vidcon. They were new at that time – I don’t even know who they had signed. And he was like, “Hi, we hoped to speak to you.”

I was like, okay. And he said: “Where’s your manager? I said to myself:” What do you mean? “And he said to me,” Are you here alone? Oh my God, oh no, don’t be alone. “”

For content creation tools, what are the essential elements you use?

Røde microphones. And I have no partnership. I don’t make money. But I spent so much money for so many different pieces of equipment. So I had all the different types of lights, from those who go to your phone to the big pancake lights. Now I have a studio light. I have it all. I have all these different things, and I had all these different types of microphones, and the only ones to have really worked were the others, rechargeable headphones

I’m going to buy a car, but I won’t buy, like a $ 149 microphone. And Daniel ended up buying them for me with my money. So I started to use them, and there was something in sound quality and the way it felt, then I felt like I should give them this superior sound.