Image via Youtube
There are a lot of things I watch on Youtube. I am a great waster of time. For the longest time, I watched Tested. It’s a company featuring Adam Savage, from Mythbusters, and it covers media, technologies and filmmaking.
But, one of the best episodes featured a young builder Simone Giertz (pronounced Yetch). She collaborated with Adam to build a popcorn eating machine. I immediately subscribed.to her channel. She has also since joined Tested.
She dubs herself the “Queen of Shitty Robots” (A title she has since given up to focus on other things). She builds different robots with varying degrees of success. But, they are always fun to watch, especially because she’s self taught and mostly self educated. She doesn’t have a degree, but she’s learned about, and teaches about, robots.
She has also had one of the most interesting lives, including trying to become an MMA fighter and she was on a Chinese sitcom. Her videos are full of interesting stories. She’s also trying to go into outer space and she created her own astronaut training program.
She’s funny, entertaining, and intelligent and I’ll watch a video nearly as soon as it’s posted.
Since I first subscribed she’s blown up.
Perhaps her biggest project was when she decided to make her own Tesla truck.
This series was indicative of everything that’s great about Simone. She has an idea and instead of wishing it comes true, she goes out and gets it done.
She thought, “Wouldn’t it be great if Tesla made a pickup truck?” so she bought a Tesla and makes her own. She also has a willingness to try new things whether it’s learning metal fabrication, moving to China, or trying to become an astronaut, she jumps into full force, which is super inspiring.
She’s a modern example of rugged individualism. She reminds me of stories you heard of mountain men who could do everything. With little formal training, Simone has become proficient in carpentry, welding, fabrication, and many other skills. It’s fun to watch as each video she’ll display a new skill. As someone who is basically not allowed to touch power tools, it’s pretty impressive.
When I first started watching she was figuring out how to program simple machines, and then next thing you know she’s hacking off the back end of a high end vehicle.
She’s also inspiring on a personal level. Last year, she had a brain tumor and had to have it surgically removed as well as having radiation therapy. She faced it with grace and humor, and it was something to behold. If you’ve ever known someone who’d gone through radiation, then you know what a harrowing experience it is. And she was brave enough to share her experience with her followers. She remain upbeat even through it was obviously scary, especially when it was discovered that they had to do another surgery. It was humbling to see someone go through this and handle it so well. I mean she turned her radiation mask into a piece of art.
She’s also inspiring on a professional level.
We are essentially the same age, and every time I don’t think i can accomplish something there Simone will be doing something else incredible. I mean the first time I saw her she was already working with Adam Savage one of my childhood heroes. And since then she’s given tech talks, worked with major brands and corporations, and tons of different creators.
Perhaps the coolest thing about her is the variety of things she’s done. As someone who has far too many interests it’s cool to see someone just jump on interesting opportunities, like heading to Weta Workshop to help build costumes, or doing voice over work for cartoons. You never get bored with what she’s doing.
She’s an inspiration and I can’t wait to see what she does next.