Maria Viktorovna
| Maria Viktorovna | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Personal information | ||||||||||
| Born | Maria Viktorovna July 22, 1986 | |||||||||
| Nationality | Russian | |||||||||
| Occupation | YouTuber | |||||||||
| YouTube information | ||||||||||
| Channel | ||||||||||
| Years active | 2011–present | |||||||||
| Genre | Autonomous sensory meridian response | |||||||||
| Subscribers | 1.9 million[2] | |||||||||
| Total views | 716 million[2] | |||||||||
| ||||||||||
Last updated: 31 December 2019 | ||||||||||
Maria Viktorovna, (born July 22, 1986), professionally known as Gentle Whispering, is a Russian ASMR practitioner and YouTuber.[3][4] She has a YouTube channel called Gentle Whispering with over 1.9 million subscribers.
Career
In May 2005, Viktorovna moved to the United States.[5] In 2009, she watched her first ASMR video after experiencing depression while going through a divorce.[3] She worked in administration at a medical company[where?] before starting her YouTube channel Gentle Whispering in February 2011.[3][6][7] In her videos, Viktorovna often simulates different roles, including librarian, masseuse and hairstylist.[3] She is known for whispering in both English and Russian.[4] As of 2020[update], her channel Gentle Whispering has more than 1.8 million subscribers, making Viktorovna one of the most famous ASMR artists on the site.[8] It is estimated that she makes $130,000 a year from her videos.[9] Viktorovna generates money from Google advertisements that appear at the beginning of her videos.[10] She has stated that some of her videos take three days to create.[11]
Reception
Craig Richard, founder of the ASMR Research Project and a science professor at Shenandoah University, says Viktorovna has a maternal style.[12] Because of her immense popularity, she has been called the "the de facto public face of ASMR"[13] and the "Queen of ASMR".[14]
Personal life
Viktorovna was born on July 22, 1986 in Russia.[3][4] She first experienced ASMR when she was in kindergarten in central Russia, but did not know the cause.[15] She resides in Granite Bay, California, and formerly lived in Baltimore, Maryland until 2017.[15] Viktorovna gave birth to her first child, named Mila, on February 22, 2019. In August 2020 she discussed her experiences being trafficked in New York City upon her arrival to the United States in 2005, leading to her move to Baltimore, where she worked as a housekeeper at a Sheridan Hotel. [5]
References
- ^ ""Draw My Life :) ASMR". YouTube. Retrieved August 9, 2020.
- ^ a b "About Gentle Whispering ASMR". YouTube.
- ^ a b c d e Gibson, Caitlin (2014-12-16). "GentleWhispering and ASMR: The voice that triggers euphoria and seven". The Independent. Retrieved 2019-01-28.
- ^ a b c White, Sophie (November 23, 2017). "'It's a kind of orgasm of the brain' - the new relaxation phenomenon". Irish Independent. Retrieved 2019-01-27.
- ^ a b "My Troubled Arrival to the US • StoryTime • Lost Russian Students • Trafficking? - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved 2020-08-24.
- ^ Hood, Cameron (2018-05-31). "The Brain-Tingling Sounds of ASMR". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved 2019-01-28.
- ^ McKeown, Sylvia (October 2, 2018). "What is ASMR and why do some people react to it?". Business Live. Retrieved 2019-01-28.
- ^ Shah, Allie (February 7, 2018). "Scientists have found out why voices like Bob Ross' is so soothing". Star Tribune. Retrieved 2019-01-27.
- ^ Premack, Rachel (July 6, 2018). "There's a massive internet community that's obsessed with videos of 'brain-tingling' sounds, and the people who make them earn thousands of dollars a month". Business Insider. Retrieved 2019-01-28.
- ^ Miller, Jenni (2015-06-08). "Whispering on The Internet Is Paying This Woman's Rent". Cosmopolitan. Retrieved 2019-01-28.
- ^ Castillo, Michelle (2017-02-19). "Inside the bizarre world of YouTube ASMR videos". CNBC. Retrieved 2019-01-28.
- ^ Schonfeld, Zach (2018-08-30). "Inside the whispery, wonderful, inexplicably relaxing golden age of ASMR". Newsweek. Retrieved 2019-01-27.
- ^ Downs, Ella. "Where to Find the Best ASMR Videos on YouTube". Thrillist. Retrieved 2020-07-05.
- ^ Leclaire, Annemiek (November 22, 2014). "Fluistermeisjes". NRC (in Dutch). Retrieved 2019-01-28.
- ^ a b Gibson, Caitlin (December 15, 2014). "A whisper, then tingles, then 87 million YouTube views: Meet the star of ASMR". Washington Post.