Story & Lesson Highlights with Ellie / MopGarden of Victoria, Australia

Ellie / MopGarden shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.

Ellie / MopGarden, so good to connect and we’re excited to share your story and insights with our audience. There’s a ton to learn from your story, but let’s start with a warm up before we get into the heart of the interview. What is a normal day like for you right now?
I wake up around 8am and start to get ready for work. I do my makeup, make a high-protein breakfast, and then get ready to begin work/stream for 9:30am (though I am usually late hehe, whoops!)
I stream from 9:30-4 Monday to Friday. I then go to the gym and work out for 60-90 minutes, depending on the day. I get home, shower, and eat dinner with my wonderful partner. We usually wind down the night with some TV and then wake up and do it all over again! 🙂
On the weekends we do a lot of house work. However it is Summer in Australia so we try to go for walks or do something to enjoy the nice weather, like go to the beach.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I have been streaming on Twitch for 11 1/2 years now. I began streaming way back when I was fresh out of University because I was spending a lot of times playing games anyway. On my first stream I met an amazing amount of people and it was actually successful, so I kept up with it. My online name is “MopGarden” and I play a wide variety of games, but I love indie games and shooters the most.
If you are unsure about what Twitch is, it is primarily a gaming platform that is live. Think of watching big gaming YouTubers, but being able to interact with them in the present. It’s a super fun platform and I have loved my years on it and getting to meet so many amazing people.
I think streaming on Twitch as a full time job is super unique because not many people can create a sustainable income from it. I have been very lucky in that I have an amazing group of supporters who have made this dream become a reality for me. (A dream that I never even knew I really had until I had it!)

I am currently working on improving myself physically and keeping up with my fitness. I recently ran my first half marathon and love discussing fitness, moving, and health with my community. I think the gaming community can sometimes use a positive outlook on fitness and healthy eating and I love to have discussions with them around those topics. For work-wise, I am forever looking to grow my channel and my following. I love the size of my community because it feels very intimate and friendly. I would love to keep growing in that way and bringing in new friendly faces and awesome gamers.

Okay, so here’s a deep one: Who were you before the world told you who you had to be?
I used to be a social butterfly and was friends with *everyone* at my school. I moved schools in grade 6 and thought I had some amazing friends there as well. It turned out that I had a theme song about me being fat and smelly. It broke my heart and I don’t think I have ever trusted people the same way that I used to when I was young. I think I had become very jaded from this for many years, looking in to the worst about people and not trusting them. I became very self-conscious and didn’t believe any of my friends could actually be my friends.
Now that I am in my 30’s I have finally gotten over a lot of that trauma. I no longer believe everyone is takling behind my back, and if they are, I have realized that that is not my problem. I think I learned a lot from being bullied in grade 6 and it shaped me a lot as a person – originally negatively, but I think now positively.

When did you stop hiding your pain and start using it as power?
I started using pain as power when I began to have a platform to do good. I think having people that trust you and look up to you is super powerful. I have tried to speak to others about fitness, health goals, and healthy living. After being really bullied about my body when I was young I have had body dysmorphia for my teenager and adult life.
I think being able to discuss this in a positive light with my community has hopefully helped others to feel more positive about it as well. I think also being open and honest about it has really helped me as well to process it instead of hiding it and wallowing on it. It has helped push me in my gym and running goals and has pushed me farther than I ever thought I could.
I have signed up for my second half marathon in October and I look forward to pushing myself to further these goals and to show how powerful our bodies can truly be.

Alright, so if you are open to it, let’s explore some philosophical questions that touch on your values and worldview. Is the public version of you the real you?
Yes, absolutely. I believe that you being your true self is always the best option. I am on stream, live, for 6 1/2 hours a day and I think that is way too much time to be fake to yourself and to your viewers. I have always said that if you be yourself, someone will find you and enjoy you for who you are – there is really someone for everyone.

Thank you so much for all of your openness so far. Maybe we can close with a future oriented question. Are you tap dancing to work? Have you been that level of excited at any point in your career? If so, please tell us about those days. 
I do a lot of the time! There are some amazing moments in my streaming history that make me so happy and proud.
The first one I can think of is getting partnered on Twitch. Back about 7 years ago it was really difficult to get partnered on Twitch. I got it and literally did do a weird kind of tap dance in my apartment when I got the email.
I have also been really proud of all of the charity work that I have achieved. I have raised over $18,000 for various charities over my years of streaming through many platforms and I think making that change is incredible.

Contact Info:

Image Credits
For the Dreamhack photo – Nick Watson (https://x.com/ItsNickWatson)

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