KaleiRenay joins FaZe: From \u201cbrand risk\u201d to \u201cFaZe Kalei\u201d FaZe ClanKaleiRenay is joining FaZe Clan. A Twitch star, a Warzone demon, and one of the wildest Twitter follows around \u2014 it was only right that we spoke to her about how she got here (among other topics, like possums and \u201csimp management\u201d). Kalei is gifted with the Kar98 and an absolute danger on Verdansk. Her Twitter game is also pretty strong and\u2026pretty dangerous to open at work. While others have worried that she\u2019s a \u201cbrand risk,\u201d FaZe say she\u2019s just \u201cbeing unapologetically herself.\u201d We spoke to her about what being herself means, especially as a female content creator in the male-dominated gaming space. From growing up on FaZe, to mental health and future plans, an array of ground was covered. But first, some quick facts\u2026 The quick facts Favorite animal? Probably a possum. I love possums. – Least-favorite animal? Dogs\u2026I don\u2019t like dogs. They smell. – Favorite song right now? \u201cSo High\u201d by Doja Cat. – Favorite artist of all time? Korn. – Go-to Warzone loadout right now? Kar98 and XM4 or Bullfrog. – If you were a fish, what kind of fish would you be? Probably a clown fish. My entire life is a meme, it\u2019s fitting. – Moving onto bigger fish, how did you first get into streaming? \u201cI knew about YouTube because I grew up watching a lot of the people that I\u2019m now joining, but I had no idea about streaming. My friends introduced me to the CoD league over on MLG and that\u2019s where I originally started watching streams like Scump and FormaL. And FormaL had a girlfriend, SJ, and she was one of the first Twitch streamers I started watching. She was super inspiring to me and I give her so much credit for my journey because she\u2019s the one that started it off. Watching that entire side of the community, I wanted to join it so I saved up, I got a PS4, I got a camera for my PS4, and that\u2019s how I started streaming.\u201d Were you always talented at games or was there a point when your skills started ramping up? Honestly, when I started streaming I wasn\u2019t the best at games. I kind of just did it because it was fun and I was bored and I had a lot of friends that did it. I didn\u2019t really start popping off on games until Warzone. When Warzone came out I felt eager to get better. I surrounded myself with some of the best players in the world and we constantly force each other to improve. But I started off as a content creator. You should\u2019ve seen me in Fortnite. I was awful. I was . I was a Minecraft streamer for the longest time \u2014 I thought Minecraft was my game until I got back on CoD, tried Warzone out, and was like \u2018no way, this game is for me. I need to get on this.\u2019 So I started grinding, started getting better, started surrounding myself with people that just play this game constantly. That\u2019s where I started seeing the improvement and overall growth. some clips from today’s stream \ud83d\ude33 i really am unstoppable with any sniper pic.twitter.com\/WkAzGRnp5i \u2014 Kalei (@KaleiRenay) May 21, 2021 Is that because Warzone suits your competitiveness? Yes, yes, yes. I have an urge to compete and to prove myself and\u2026Minecraft, you can\u2019t do that with Minecraft. Speaking of competing, what Warzone skill are you most confident in? Sniping. Warzone skill you want to improve? On the competitive side, probably how I push things in 2v2s. It used to be kill races, but now more competitive scenes are switching to 2v2s, so I need to start grinding out wagers and getting better at that. What\u2019s it like being a female gamer in a male-dominated space? I feel like I have to prove myself a lot more than other people would have to \u2014 which kind of sucks, but at the same time it helps you improve a lot. And I\u2019ve proven I\u2019m able to compete with some of the big guys. In a male-dominant scene, it\u2019s the biggest thing: I just have to literally prove myself 10 times more than other people have to, which can get mentally exhausting. You seem to handle your\u2026variety of followers really well, do you have any \u201csimp management\u201d advice for upcoming streamers? Honestly, muting is your best friend. That\u2019s the best thing that I can say: just mute people. If you\u2019re having a bad day, then just mute, don\u2019t respond. That\u2019s been my biggest journey \u2014 like maybe two to three years ago you\u2019d see me fighting on the timeline with random incels. And that got so exhausting. Because at the end of the day, not everyone is going to like you. It\u2019s exhausting trying to make everyone like you. So just be you, play your game. You\u2019re going to have haters no matter what, so muting is your best friend. Know you\u2019re big on music and hiking, how important are hobbies like those to maintaining mental health? Music is my escape. I don\u2019t play music on stream, I don\u2019t share it with the world. Music is my safe space. and that is what gets me going. If I\u2019m having a bad day I\u2019m not gonna sit on the timeline and bitch. I\u2019m going to go play my piano or play my guitar. That\u2019s where I go to maintain my mental. And hiking? Oh yeah. Just getting out of the house, sometimes it\u2019s nice to be able to disconnect and not have to worry about what people are saying about you. It\u2019s nice to be able to escape and go outside. As a big advocate for mental health, what\u2019s something you think people don\u2019t realize enough about it? People don\u2019t realize until it\u2019s too late. People like to joke about mental health, but it\u2019s a real thing. I\u2019m sure everyone has lost someone due to mental health, I personally have too \u2014 and we\u2019ve lost a lot of streamers to mental health as well. My thing is: there\u2019s always signs if your streamer or YouTuber is tweeting something concerning. And watching people just sit there and meme \u2018oh you\u2019re a streamer, you\u2019re a YouTuber, you have your life so easy.\u2019 It\u2019s shit like that that can spring someone off the edge. And I don\u2019t think people realize that mental health is such a real thing. No matter the amount of clout, no matter the amount of money \u2014 that\u2019s not going to cure someone\u2019s depression. On the\u2026brighter side of tweeting, you\u2019ve had some pretty wild ones. What are some of your favorite personal tweets? This one I tweeted on Mother\u2019s Day, it was simply \u201cHappy Mother\u2019s Day, who\u2019s trying to make me a MILF?\u201d Sweet, simple, straight to the point. Nothing more, nothing less. You go through my timeline, there\u2019s some crazy stuff like \u201cpisses on you cutely,\u201d you know, random shit like that. It\u2019s super funny to me. Are there any tweets that you think the timeline slept on? Oh, definitely. \u201cSqueeze me like the little ketchup packet I am.\u201d That one was definitely slept on. So\u2026has FaZe asked you to tone it down at all? No, no, no way. In fact, they actually encourage it. I\u2019ve never felt so welcomed, whether it was a community, team, management in general \u2014 I\u2019ve had management teams that are like \u2018seriously, Kalei?\u2019 and I have yet to get a text message, a DM, an email like \u2018can you\u2026seriously, Kalei? Seriously?\u2019 No, I have yet to get that, they encourage it. And I love that. I love that. How hype were you when the FaZe signing started taking form? I didn\u2019t believe it at first. I literally did not even believe it at first. I was like \u2018no way, no way this is real.\u2019 Because I\u2019ve just been thrown in the trash basically. I mean, believe it or not, a lot of people don\u2019t believe in me. I have my community that believes in me, but it\u2019s always like \u2018oh she\u2019s never gonna get this sponsor\u2019 or \u2018she\u2019s never gonna join this team because she\u2019s a brand risk.\u2019 Because she\u2019s like this, she\u2019s like that. And it\u2019s just like\u2026it\u2019s not a persona. This is my personality. I can\u2019t turn the switch on and turn the switch off, this is who I am. So when FaZe initially contacted me, I was like \u2018no f**king way,\u2019 and at first I was scared like this is just gonna be another thing where they\u2019re gonna look at it and they\u2019re gonna go \u2018oh, just kidding!\u2019 I\u2019ve had stuff with G2, Mutineers, certain teams like that where they just took a step back and they were like \u2018yikes, nevermind.\u2019 So for me to get as far as joining FaZe now, it\u2019s like \u2018holy shit, wow.\u2019 It\u2019s insane. who wants to sniff my chair after this clip pic.twitter.com\/qDMNLivChY \u2014 Kalei (@KaleiRenay) May 18, 2021 You watched a lot of YouTube coming up, so did any FaZe members or pieces of content come to mind when they first contacted you? Yep, growing up watching Rain, Adapt, all of them, it\u2019s so surreal. I grew up watching their content. Literally, FaZe Rain would upload right as I got home and I remember watching him and then switching the channel onto Pamaj because they uploaded around the same time. And it\u2019s like, I\u2019m on a team with these people, I grew up watching them six, seven years ago, that\u2019s insane to me. Looking forward, are there any projects you\u2019re excited to work on as FaZe Kalei? Honestly, I\u2019m just excited to grind stream in general. With this huge FaZe announcement, I think it\u2019s really pushing me more to create better content. Whether it\u2019s getting better at the game, creating funny content with my friends and stuff like that. That\u2019s what I\u2019m excited for, this initial announcement and seeing how people are reacting, I just don\u2019t want to disappoint. I want to use this opportunity to my best.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KaleiRenay joins FaZe: From \u201cbrand risk\u201d to \u201cFaZe Kalei\u201d FaZe ClanKaleiRenay is joining FaZe Clan. A Twitch star, a Warzone demon, and one of the wildest Twitter follows around \u2014 it was only right that we spoke to her about how she got here (among other topics, like possums and \u201csimp management\u201d). Kalei is gifted […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52574"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52574\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}