Quinta Brunson - She Memes Well: Essays

Copyright 2021 by Quinta Brunson

All rights reserved

For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to or to Permissions, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 3 Park Avenue, 19th Floor, New York, New York 10016.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Brunson, Quinta, author.

Title: She memes well : essays / Quinta Brunson.

Description: Boston : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2021.

Identifiers: LCCN 2020057705 (print) | LCCN 2020057706 (ebook) | ISBN 9781328638984 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781328637079 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH : Brunson, Quinta. | American wit and humor. | LCGFT : Essays.

Classification: LCC PS 3602. R 8626 S 54 2021 (print) | LCC PS 3602. R 8626 (ebook) | DDC 814/.6 [ B ]dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020057705

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020057706

Cover photography Sela Shiloni

Cover illustration: kostenkodesign/istock/Getty Images

v1.0521

To my family, and to all of the kids of the internet. Keep going!

Being someone that people recognize from the internet is quite the experience. The first time I was memed, strangers all over the world saw me making this face:

Its the face of a girl whose jaw hit the floor upon hearing that her date paid for BOTH movie tickets. A girl who could not believe she was just treated to a large popcorn from the concessions stand. A girl who was not used to the finer things in a life. A girl who was a character made up and played by me.

Was this how I expected to first get noticed as an entertainer? No. Was it hilarious? Yes, very much so. Not only was the video funny, but I still laugh at the fact that the role that pushed me into fame was a character that became known as the He Got Money girl. When I shot that video, I had no idea itd be my start in the industry; I was just fooling around with a camera phone, hoping I could get some of my Instagram followers to laugh. But even though I didnt have a solid plan for how to launch my career, I knew I wasnt just going to be the girl whos never been on a nice dateI had so much more to prove to the world.

Ive always liked making people laugh. I think it was because comedy was the thing that connected me to my four much older siblings. Thats right: my parents were active. Together, they produced Kalid, Njia, Kiyana, Kwei, and me, the appropriately named Quinta (which means fifth in Spanish).

Being the youngest and the smallest of the Brunson crew, I learned the importance of attention and how to get it quickly early on in life. Perhaps thats why I fell in love with the internet the first time I laid on eyes on it. Here was a place with endless opportunities to not only grab attention, but grab it on a global level. Whats not to love? Turns out, oh so much, but well get to that and more (including but not limited to my thoughts on Philly, models, boys, protests, Apple, and Black education). Welcome to my head, reader.

The truth is, its intimidating to go from the rapid-fire humor of the internet to pouring all of my thoughts onto physical paper. This shit is scary! It feels weightier, more significant, more permanent. I cant just delete a book like I can with a tweet that doesnt land. But still, I wanted to write this because I have a lot to say, and a lot that I want to share. Im hoping that my words bring you some of the happiness that Im always trying to put into my worknow just in a have-it-on-your-shelf, forever kind of format.

Although Im relatively new to the game, I came up during a crazy period in media and technology. Theres been a lot of evolution packed into my career as an entertainer. Creating stuff for the internet forced me to become my own writer, producer, director, actor, editor, you name it. All of this helped me make the seemingly impossible leap from messing around on the internet, to getting paid to mess around on the internet, to working in the traditional entertainment media space (and still messing around on the internet).

Watching the stuff Ive posted over the years evolve as more people share it with their own jokes and comments has been an incredibly joyful experience. People onlinestrangers, reallyhelped me multiply, expand, and become coded into the DNA of the internet. All this has taught me how to embrace the unknown, let go of full control, and finally open up to sharing more of myself with the world. After all, I believe recording our lives is recording history.

I owe a lot of my evolution to the people who have followed me since the early days of my internet-ing, back when I was uploading weird videos of me unenthusiastically singing the theme song to Space Jam and whatnot. Through your likes, comments, and shares, Ive grown more confident in my words, stories, and experiences. Ive learned that I do have something to say beyond a captions length. Youre the ones who shifted my perspective in a major way and motivated me to take up a little more space in the creative world. Thank you for that.

In return, Id like to utilize my experiences to teach you some of the valuable lessons Ive learned as a meme, as a woman, as a Black person, as a shorty, as a performer, as a Will Ferrell lover, as a whatever other label Ive been given over the years. The most important takeaway I hope this book will give you is how to embrace the act of evolution. Memes would not exist without their ability to morph and carry new meanings as they pass from person to person, and neither would I.

Speaking of evolution, Im a completely different person than when I first sat down to write to you. When I started working on this book, I was just leaving a stable job of four years. I peeled off my security blanket (BuzzFeed) and was naked in the dawn of change. (This is both a metaphorical and literal analogy. I actually do sleep naked. People say, But Quinta, what if theres a fire? And Im just like, the streets will be blessed to see my gifts.) I had no clue what the future would hold for me, but I was excited to push myself even further and see what resulted. Since then, Ive moved in with my boyfriend (who then became a fianc). Got a cat. Transitioned from my twenties and into my thirties. Earned some money and then spent too much of that money. Deleted Twitter from my phone, redownloaded it, and then got rid of it again. Lost friends to demons and gained followers through jokes. Went to Costa Rica. Celebrated my parents fortieth wedding anniversary. Got angry, got sad, got excited, and got motivated. Successfully gave myself passion twists. Uploaded, downloaded, cropped, and deleted. I sold a few shows and got a series regular job on HBOs ABlack Lady Sketch Show. Its been a whirlwind, and Im excited to share all of these experiences and more with you.

So... looks like were going to be hanging out together for a bit, and since youre about to invite me into your life, let me invite you into mine: Im currently sitting on my Crate and Barrel couch with my computer resting on my lap. Theres a lone Nike sneaker in the middle of my living room floor and my orange tabby cat, Jack, is eyeing me like I owe him rent. The sun is shining through my living room window because here in LA the sun is always doing shit like shining through windows. My jaw hurts for no specific reason, and I cant wait to play