Patterson, aka Cupahnoodle, admits it’s a realization she came to when she started her journey down the path of content creation. However, her words are never empty. She always has something to say. A natural storyteller and captivating wordsmith with the ability to take 50,000 followers on a daily journey complete with the peaks and valleys of a well-produced story podcast. “I am me, and the content I create is just me. If you catch me any other day, then you’ll see it’s still me. No matter what I do, I want to stay true to myself,” she said in a phone interview with Lifewire. “There’s a simplicity in that… it’s a reminder that I’m human.”
The Girl Who Wanted Everything
A Southern California native, her childhood was characterized by moving around Los Angeles County. From Compton to Inglewood, the connective tissue was the family dynamic her accountant mother and small business owner father had cultivated between themselves and their children. From music to sports, she was a precocious little tomboy who recalls always tagging along with her older brother. “He was just the coolest person ever. I always say if it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t be playing these games. I just remember playing Mario poorly and playing games with him, and no matter what I wanted to do, he always let me tag along,” she said. She maintained a broad interest throughout her years. With a detour in anarchism as a teenager, her so-called “rage against the machine” era laid the foundation for the current, more responsible Patterson with a million little wisdoms to share. Her interests in fashion and music stayed with her throughout her life, but after hitting an impasse due to the unaffordable reality of college, she took another path. Patterson said working a day-to-day job in the field of supply planning allowed her to grow up. It was those years that forced her to shed her rebel without a cause disposition and blossom into this business-minded, harshly realistic streaming force. It was a slow burn to stability, but she cultivated the mindset necessary to succeed. Spontaneity is the name of the game. The possibility on Twitch proved more suited for her specific talents in the arena of content creation compared to the edited reality of success on YouTube. Though she eventually found herself on YouTube, her launch on Twitch was necessary to fertilize that soil. “Most of this is 90% personality because I’m not a professional player or a speedrunner or in Esports. Everything is banking on me and who I am. It’s like staring at a mirror for too long… it starts to get weird,” she laughs.
This Cup Runneth Over
A little-known facet of the Cupahnoodle brand is the studied business savvy Patterson has pursued over the years to ensure optimal success. She didn’t just stumble into it. Everything she does is with intention. She jokes the younger her would probably hate who she is now. Yet, precisely who she is now has allowed this fairy tale life she leads to be possible. From hosting branded engagements for Twitch to being a part of the streaming giants Safety Committee, it’s all come from her hard work. She’s always moving forward to achieve something new, but not just for herself—representation matters. Opening doors and holding them open for others is one of the guiding mantras of Patterson’s model of success. “I don’t ever want to do anything where I salt the earth behind me as I continue. That’s my main goal… to finish the story and do a great job to allow other people the opportunity to get in,” she said. “I’m just happy to be able to say that everything we do genuinely opens doors for others.” Patterson comes off as a tough streamer with a comic edge, but under that surface is a heart of gold. Although she says she admits she’s “not a nice person,” she is a good person. One of her proudest moments illustrates the care she puts into her community, having saved over the course of a year to send all of her volunteer mod team on an all-inclusive trip to VidCon as a show of her appreciation. “While this is a business, this is supposed to be fun,” she said. “I hope everyone is having fun in this space. I think that’s the most important thing. I don’t think anything is worth doing when your love for it leaves you. That means it’s over. I don’t know how this party is going to end, I might be 102 still sitting here yelling, but I’ll know the love is still there.”
