Username: ay0_domo
Channel: https://dlive.tv/ay0_domo
Hello, OHANA!
I’m AY0_DOMO but I go by the name of DOMO! Former YouTube Partner, Twitch Affiliate & Mixer Streamer. Fellow Makeup Artist, Chef, FOOD-AHOLIC, music genius and goated on the sticks (I guess you can say) particularly with FPS!
Where do I even begin, it all started with…..
A friend of mine that I’ve gamed with for many years named Veko who gave me some crazy idea to stream my gameplays. I told him he was out of his mind because I never thought I was ever good enough. Me? A grown woman in her 30’s with a full-time career setting aside time to play video games and stream? It just sounded so absurd at the time but I gave in. I created a Twitch account back in 2016 and streamed on there for about a month. I was later convinced by a YouTuber known as K3 “Kor3aYn” who also streams Call of Duty, to join the COD community on YouTube. It felt good to feel like I made a home on YouTube! I grew fairly quickly there but I came across a lot of bumps down the road mainly with the audience. It wasn’t always peachy keen. I dealt with a lot of harassment that was instigated by other communities that frowned upon female streamers. The audience then versus now on YouTube is a lot different. There are many female streamers who are now well respected within the Call of Duty community. Back then though, it wasn’t a scene that I would ever wish upon any female streamer. It tested my patience and it made me question my purpose of why I even started streaming to begin with. It wasn’t what I signed up for and it put me in a dark place for a while.
I was on a crossroad of whether or not I wanted to keep streaming but I kept thinking to myself, if I stopped…. what would happen to my community? My OHANA, #DomoNation. I pushed myself and I gave in (again). I re-established my community on Twitch. I invested my whole self to a brand new platform. I was so driven with the 12-24 hour streams, the 191 days I consistently streamed and never missed a day in 2019 & the massive support by my audience. Although, well respected in my Twitch community and within other communities something was still missing even after 3 years. The spark was gone, I didn’t find excitement in streaming anymore. Something was lacking. It started to feel like a job. I’ve never allowed myself to take my passions and turn them into a 9-5. I look at my passions as my means of escape to get away and explore. That’s when I knew I needed to take a break from Twitch and do some soul searching. I took a break, spent a lot of time with family to find my “self” again.
I heard of Mixer, I didn’t know much but I was told that I’d fit right in. I gave myself a two weeks trial to learn and understand what Mixer was about. I was convinced and made my permanent move in March of this year. Leaving Twitch was hard, there were a lot of hours invested and friendships made but my heart was just not in it anymore. Although still brand new to the Mixer platform my community grew very fast within a couple of months. I never dealt with any problems that made me question whether or not it was the right move but even then something was still missing. When Mixer announced back in June that they were closing down their platform I was crushed. I could care less about what my numbers were, I was more concerned about my nation and where we were going. I felt like I was letting my community down by not having the answers on whether or not I was going to continue streaming or find my way back to my old platforms. I wanted to move forward and not backwards to what I once knew.
His name was Chris “Artifice”, a good friend of mine that I met through Twitch. During those few days I felt lost trying to find a new home for my OHANA, he brought up DLive. It was my last stream on Mixer and I remember titling it “Where do we go from here?”. I spent hours after my stream that evening to look up all available platforms to schedule two week trials to help me figure out my next move. I was nervous and it was unsettling not knowing where I was going to end up. My first day I streamed on DLive I met Nicolynn. I did not know who she was or how she found me. But I remember feeling so transparent with her and I instantly felt her compassion. I remember meeting other VPs during that evening as well such as DrooYoo, CosmicBliss88 and Cosmokitty which is very uncommon on streaming platforms. You never really get to communicate with higher tier streamers. I was welcomed with open arms and you don’t always get that right away on a brand new platform. I had no idea the amount of viewers who were coming in and out of my stream that very first night but I do remember how I felt, it felt like home.
It only took one day for me to make my decision about a platform. No questions asked, it felt right. I connected with Nicolynn through Discord and along the way I met Gem. She was the very first Guardian to reach out to me. She helped me get established within the DLive community and helped me understand what to expect from the platform. Utilizing the Discord I met other streamers who came from Mixer and other various platforms. I spoke with streamers who have been with DLive for awhile and others who were still brand new, one thing was the common denominator.
DLive is more than just a streaming platform.
It is a group of people passionate about supporting streamers they believe in, passionate about streaming games they enjoy and passionate about being a positive influence in the community. My transition to DLive from Mixer was very easy. The on-boarding process and getting set-up was quick. The Staff, Guardians and other established DLive streamers were available 24/7 for any questions I had. It couldn’t have been any more but comforting to feel-at-home so quickly somewhere so new. My experience on DLive has been nothing but positive. My drive to stream has been ignited again, I feel the sparks whenever I go live. There’s a certain joy that I feel even after I end a stream that makes me excited and look forward to streaming again. I have put in so many hours and invested so much of myself in the little time that I’ve been here on DLive. I am proud to say, I’m on the road to my next goal of VP. Just to have the opportunity to say that I’m working towards my road to Partnership & that I’ve been chosen to share my story with all of you makes me feel so grateful. I didn’t give up and no matter how many platforms it took me to get here, I’d do it all over again and change nothing.
Streaming to me is more than just the numbers and the spotlights. It’s about my urge to meet, connect and help be one of the driving forces of positivity here on DLive. DLive shows compassion to streamers of all levels on their platform. It doesn’t matter if it’s your first day of streaming or you’ve been on the grind a year in. Passion, they’ve built a strong “united we stand, divided we fall” foundation from. To my fellow streamers who feel lost after a hit like Mixer closing down or if you’re experiencing a plateau with your numbers or you feel like you don’t belong in this industry, don’t give up. If Streaming is what you love to do, don’t quit. If you don’t have it all figured out now just know you’ll get there and when it happens it’ll all be worth it. Be the positive influence for your community and show your transparency. My community is everything to me. I built my family from the ground up with some of the most supportive people I’ve met throughout my entire streaming career. To call DLive my home with them lets me know that WE are exactly where we need to be.
DLive = DLove💛,
DOMO
dlive.tv
