HabeshaLA sits down with the multi-talented Yonathan Elias, who shares with us his journey from Soul Train dancer to graduate student to TV host to going viral on YouTube. Elias gets real with resident fashion writer Hiwote Berhanu to share his inspirations, role models, and plans to take the entertainment industry by storm.
Hiwote Berhanu: So, you went to Howard University?
Yonathan Elias: Yeah, for grad school. I got my master’s there.
Hiwote Berhanu: What was your major?
YE: Mass communication and media studies. That was why I was able to become the first Ethiopian to host Howard’s homecoming with LaLa Anthony.
HB: How was the experience hosting the homecoming?
YE: Yeah. Howard’s homecoming is like the biggest homecoming that any HBCU does, so this was a homecoming that basically had started many, many rappers like big or small, it’s all these people, they started their careers basically, they performed there first. When I hosted, I brought out Big Sean, who else, Miley Cyrus and all of them were in the back but there were some issues that went on to where like we had to end it early. Yeah. We had Bone Thugs-N-Harmony. It was huge. There was about twenty thousand people there.
HB: How was it like going to Howard and getting your master’s there, knowing the history and everything it stands for?
YE: That was actually the reason why I went to Howard. I got my undergrad, my bachelor’s degree in Cal State San Bernardino. I went there and to UC Riverside. Being first generation in the United States, your family’s Ethiopian in origin, so you have that rich culture. You have that rich African culture. I’ve always been intrigued with that African-American culture and their history. That’s what I planned to tackle. I was the first in my entire family to even join a Black organization to try to start a legacy for my family, for my younger siblings.
That was the main reason why I wanted to go to Howard. One, of course, the networking, and the opportunities. I mean, Diddy went there. It’s like all these huge African American celebrities went to that school. That was one. It was also because of the history. They were founded in 1887. It was one of the first schools that they built for slaves to go to. The reason why they had that school built at the place that they built it at was because it was built on swamps, where no one even wanted that land. It was like swamps for the slaves to go to school.
It’s real powerful. Just to know that you’re a part of history, something that was built in 1887 for freeing slaves, and you’re going there to get your degree, and you’re going to be with people of your color. You see people that look like you dressed up in suits and ties and dresses and heels, with the same drive that you have. It was like the best thing ever. I loved it.
Going to HBCU was great. I mean, the administration building was kind of janky, but my experience there was great. I got a 4.0 there. Yeah. I took it real serious.
HB: I completely understand when you say, going to a school or an environment that you can totally identify with other people there, it means the world. I’m going through right now with my school, and it makes a world of a change versus going somewhere else.
YE: They’re different. It’s not only you but it’s the people that you are surrounded by. Growing up, you have your parents always saying, “Surround yourself with people who you want to be like.” Going to HBCU, you get that because these kids, they come from family that actually care about education. This is a private school. It ain’t cheap! To go there is like a privilege. I’m very thankful to be a part of something like that.
HB: After you graduated from Howard University, what did you end up doing? Did you take a break or …
YE: I was hosting my own music video account now on EBS, Ethiopian Broadcasting Service. While I was going to Howard. Basically, they heard about me. I don’t know. I moved to DC. I started doing viral videos. They would always have like, “Shit black girls say,” or “Shit white girls say.” There was nothing about “Shit Ethiopian girls say.” I did that. It was just viral videos on YouTube to where YouTube actually contacted me and wanted to monetize my account because I was getting so many views.
Yeah. This network, EBS, Ethiopian Broadcasting Service, was like, “We’re looking for a young guy that is interested in posting a show.” I’m like, “Okay. What kind of show? This is what I do.” They’re like, “It’s all on you. Give us a proposal and you got it.”
HB: Oh my God, that’s amazing!
YE: Yeah. Everything was on me. I put together a proposal. I was excited. I was like, “Mom, I’m about to,” because my mom was like, “Just don’t talk about politics and you’re okay,” because that was about the whole government issues. My path is music so I was like, “Let me do a music video countdown because I know there’s a lot of little overshot kids that,” … I mean, although the show is broadcast all over Africa and Europe, it’s still an Ethiopian network so I wanted to really focus on those kids that don’t really get a chance to voice their opinions or show their love for the arts because of course your parents want you to go another route, being doctor or a lawyer.
My parents, they weren’t really behind me when I first wanted to do entertainment. This was when I was like fifteen years old. I had to get my own car and take myself to auditions. I drove myself to Soul Train as a teenager every weekend. I became one of the main dancers on there. It’s like I did all that on my own.
Finally I was like, “Look, I’m going to get my bachelor’s.” I got my bachelor’s. “I’m going to get my master’s. I’m doing everything you want but I’m still doing what makes me happy.” I’m successful at it now so it’s like they understand. They support me a hundred and ten percent. That’s all I wanted. I know there are a lot of kids out there that feel the same way but they can’t really go about that route just because they don’t have the opportunities out there.
I was like I want to connect with the kids out there on an educational standpoint and also on an entertainment standpoint because those are both my passion. I was like, “Let me do a music video countdown.” I had a fan page where they can request videos and do a shout out to people, their girlfriend, their boyfriend, their family, whatever have you. It just like went crazy.
My viewers, my core viewers are youth from Africa. I have over twenty something thousand likes on Facebook. It may not be a lot to people but for me, the reason why I say it’s a lot is because these are Africans. Most of them don’t have Internet. You know what I mean? Having Internet is a privilege. That’s not a necessity. You know what I mean? That’s what like some of the upper kids have. To have twenty something thousand kids that like my fan page and constantly put request down and show support and all that, that means the world to me, over anything that I’ve done. That’s what I was doing.
After I graduated, I was like, “I want to take it to New York.” But I still have the show here, and then I started hosting 106 for a couple of times because I was in their running for being their new host.
HB: Listen. When you were on 106 & Park, I think we all had a little gathering at one house [laughs].
YE: Are you serious?
HB: “There is a guy on 106.” It was milestone for us. You know what I mean? We all went in one house and we watched it. Everybody that wasn’t there, we called on the phone, “Open BET. There’s a guy on BET.”
YE: That means a lot. If you ever watched the clip, I put it on YouTube too, and I said … Roxie was like, “How do you feel? How do you feel with what you did?” I was like, “It doesn’t even really matter. All that matters is that I’m a representative for my people.” Every chance out there, because we do not have anyone in the industry that can show face for our culture, except for … We’re coming up on rappers and models now but we don’t have a host. Just to represent my people, that’s all that mattered. With you saying that, that makes my heart just flutter. That means a lot.
HB: It was very touching. My sister was all like, “Did you see him? Isn’t he cool?!
YE: That’s amazing.
HB: It was a moment. I first actually discovered you when I saw your infamous video on the train on TOSH.O on Comedy Central.
YE: Yeah. That one was a little overwhelming. That was overwhelming because I actually had some random producer in London remix that video into a song to where they started playing it in their clubs in Europe. He put it on YouTube … iTunes and said that, “You can get half of it.” I donated my half to the children’s hospital in DC, because I was like, I mean, I wasn’t planning on making any money off of that video. That was my way of giving back. Yeah. That video.
YE: My mom was like, “You know, nobody’s going to ever take you serious now, right?”
HB: In your mind, you’re just making a video for a friend. You thought that was as far as it was going to get…
YE: Yup. That was all it was. Honestly, the story of that was I was leaving the studio from shooting. I was on my way to school. You saw me in my shirt and tie. That’s how I used to go to school every day, shirt and tie …
YE: I’m going to get on the train. I’m not really paying attention because I hadn’t talked to her in a while. The doors close. I sit down. I look up and nobody’s in there. I was flipping out. I was like, “It’s broad daylight, rush hour, nobody’s in my train. I’m about to do some stuff. I’m going to do some stuff and I’m going to send it to you.” I did my own little thing. I tried to send it to her as a text but the file was too big. I was like, “Okay. I’m going to put it on YouTube just so you see it.” I put it on YouTube, sent it to her. She was laughing. She shared it to somebody. I was like, “Oh, okay. Whatever.”
Two days later, I woke up to emails from Japan, Belgium, France, Israel, Canada, MTV Canada, NBC, all of them requesting interviews, and they did articles on me. I was like, “Wait, what is going on?” It was so weird. It was so weird. That just shows that this is my calling.
HB: That is an amazing story!
YE: Yeah. Now it’s like a million views and what not, others that have remade it, like all over the world. You have like girls in London on the train, saying, “Oh, we’re on the Metro.”
YE: It was right after they had that … I forget. It was some disaster that happened out there. They were typing in Japanese so I didn’t know what it was on there. I copied and pasted it, put it in the little translator, and it said, “After all this turmoil that is going on in our country, to see stuff like this really brightens our day. We thank you so much.” I was like, “What?”
HB: If you weren’t doing what you’re doing now, what would you be doing, like anything else?
YE: I can’t see myself doing anything else, honestly. Probably, like people used to call me Jamaican because I probably have the most jobs than anybody else has ever had. I’ve done serving. I’ve done banking to get me through school. I’ve worked with kids. That would probably be the next thing, just because I have a connection with kids, because I understand them and they understand me. I don’t feel like I’ve grown up all the way. We have that relationship.
We all have a little kid in us. That would probably, like something towards children. But other than that, I can’t see myself doing anything out of entertainment. Even if I couldn’t do on camera, I would do behind the scenes and I would still be happy.
HB: Where do you get you fashion inspiration? I see you do a lot of bow ties, which a lot of men are scared to do.
YE: Exactly what you just said, I do what men are scared to do. I do not want to look like the next guy. Whenever I wake up in the morning I dress how I feel, but at the end of the day I do not want to look like someone you know. I’m not one who is pressed for name brands at all. I’m a thrifter! I know all the days when you get discounts, on holidays you get 50%, on Mondays you get 25%. Cause I thrift, and I get stuff tailored. My whole family get pissed whenever I tell them I thrift because they think one, it’s disgusting, and two that’s someone else clothes go buy some new ones. I like the feeling of putting something together that you would never put together. Also, no one is going to have what you got if you got yours from the thrift store. I put so many people on thrifting, its ridiculous! People who would have never thrifted before, I got them thrifting on a weekly base. So, I have no fashion background, but I am aiming to become a multi media mogul. This means, I want to have a fashion line, restaurants. Fashion is definitely big and important to me, I love putting clothes together. Everyone thinks I am a stylist, and I have no fashion background. It’s
HB: Do you believe that you are a role model to your Ethiopian followers? That you’re like some sort of a father figure, a brother, a friend to them?
YE: There are, because there are a lot of people that have reached out to me. They look up to me. The way I take it is I want to be that role model. I don’t think that my personality and like what I do … Because sometimes … It’s a thin line. I’m close to crossing it. I don’t think I would be that father figure, but I think I would be that big brother figure, that big brother that is like, “Oh, God. There he goes again.”
The stuff I do, your father wouldn’t be doing, but your big brother would. Your big brother would have your back, would listen to you, would respect you, and would want that respect back. That’s what I want to be to our people. I want to be that person that they could relate to. Sometimes you can’t always relate to your father because there’s a big age difference. You know what I mean? But you could always relate to your siblings.
I want to be that person because I’ve always wanted someone that I can look up to in my industry and like ask them, “What can I do? What am I supposed to do?” Because I had nobody. I was all on my own. For me to be able to be that to anybody, whether it be in entertainment, school, family, whatever it may be, that’s just the type of person I am. I want to have that relationship with people. I would love for them to look up to me as a bigger brother, not a father. I don’t think I’m at the father level yet. I don’t think I’m old enough.
HB: Do you think it made you a stronger person?
YE: Yeah, okay. Having that close-knit family but still having them look down and say, “Look, I don’t think you should be doing this.” I had my uncle, my aunt and my mom saying, “I don’t think you should move to DC.” I was the first one out of the family to move out of California to go to school. “I don’t think you should do it. You barely have the money. You don’t have a place to stay. You don’t know anyone out there.”
I was like, “Okay. That’s exactly why I’m going to do it. I’m going to prove you wrong.” It’s not like, “Oh, I’m doing just in spite.” I wanted to do it to show them that they could trust me and that they don’t have to worry about me anymore. They could trust the path that I’m going, because they did not understand this entertainment thing. I swear to you, like it was the point where I had to sneak out to do my own entertainment thing but I wouldn’t tell them that I was doing it because they just they saw …
HB: Yeah, I completely understand.
YE: Yeah. They didn’t see it. For my mom to go back home to Ethiopia, she had to go. My grandmother, rest in peace, she had to claim some of her property out there. She was the representative for the family. For her to go back home and to see billboards of me, to see commercials of me, and to hear fans say, and for her to say, “Oh, my God. That’s my son,” and the cab driver not believing her, she was like, “This is real. You have made your family proud. You’re a representative of the Elias family. We couldn’t be any more proud.”
That is all I wanted. That’s what I was aiming for the entire time, while I was going to school, while I was thinking about my next step. I was like, I have to prove to them. That’s why I moved to New York, again, with nobody. I had my best friend, and that was it. I didn’t know anybody. Now I have two shows. You know what I mean? I just got an agent. Richard Prier’s daughter, her agent is representing me now.
HB: Did you always want to be in front of the camera, or do you want to do anything behind the camera as far as directing, producing, anything like that?
YE: Initially, in front of the camera was the only thing that I wanted to do. When I went to Cal State San Bernadino to get my bachelor’s, I also majored in mass communication. That allowed me to see the entire and the whole entertainment industry. I got to do radio work. I got to do camera work. I learned how to edit, which is like you have to know how to do that in this industry, especially being a host, a reporter, whatever have you. You have to know how to do those things. You have to be your own cameraman, your own editor, your own host, your own writer. I took all of those classes.
After doing that, I had a love for the industry as a whole and not just, “Oh, I want to be on camera. I want to be famous.” Now, I don’t mind being behind the scenes. I don’t mind. I produce my own show. I mean, I did my own proposal. I did my own, I did everything. I used to get my own desk. I was the producer, the executive producer, the cameraman, the editor.
I can do it all. I have a love for it all. Initially, no. I just wanted to be on camera. Yeah. Now, it’s actually real, like this is a career.
HB: Do you admire anybody within your personal life or even in the media industry?
YE: It might sound corny, my mom. She dedicated and sacrificed her entire life. She did not work. She could be a millionaire right now, but she didn’t do any of that because she wanted to make sure that we had a mom at home, to cook, clean, be home when we got home from school to help with homework. She registered me into my undergrad classes. She went to the orientation while I was asleep. Yeah. It’s like that. I mean, my dad, he always brought food home. Of course, I look up to him. But my mom, she was on it. She was there.
Even if she has it, if I get a chance to give her some money or just treat her, I’ll take her. I’ll just be like, “Mom, let’s go out. Let’s go.” I’ll just pamper her, get her a massage, pedicure, manicure, just because, and it’s still not enough. I definitely look up to her and my dad, of course, my dad too. She kept her last name. That’s how much of a boss she is. Yeah. She’s a strong lady.
Other people that I look up to in this industry are, Ethiopia Habtemariam. She is huge in the music industry. For her to be a woman and a woman at that and to be so successful, she like brought in Chris Brown, all of these huge artists. She’s definitely someone I look up to because she put the name out for us. She put us on the map. I would love to just pick her brain one day. I mean, I’m a man. But for her to be a woman and be that successful, that’s amazing to me.
HB: Do you have any words of wisdom to share?
YE: It’s just, all of this stuff that’s been happening, the only thing I do have to say, yeah, everything that’s been happening in my life, I went through obstacles. You know what I mean? I’ve gone through highs and lows, and I just want people to know that if they feel like they have a passion for something, regardless of what anybody has to say about it, to never give up on that dream, and to constantly pray, have positive thoughts, the law of attraction. I’m living the dream and I’m very thankful for it.
****
.