I didn't know that in flag football, you're supposed to get the flag. You're not supposed to tackle everybody. So obviously when I tackled this guy, he like pushed me away and he when he pushed me away, he hit my eye and I was just like, "What's going on?"

Going on. So we're here at Young Hollywood. Where's my latte? I want it in a mug. I'm so sorry. Hey, guys, it's Tracy in the Young Hollywood studio and if you don't know who this girl is that I'm sitting next to, then you've pretty much been living under a rock for your whole life. Lele Pons, how are you?

I'm good. I'm good. Thank you for having me.

First of all, I have to just just throw out some stats for a second. You are the number one most-watched female person on Vine.

Yes.

You were the first person to reach a billion loops.

Yes.

Is that like when that happened, did you even know that you like actually did something, like made history?

Yeah. Yeah. You know, that's when I knew I was going in the right path and that's how I got more recognition. Like people said like, "Why is she so viewed?" Like, "Why are people like her stuff so much?" So they would go to my page and be like, "Oh, this is why." Uh, usually what happened is that I in my Vines, I would do something at the end of my Vine that like freaks people out or like makes people be like, "What the hell just happened?" So they would go back and watch it again and watch it again.

So you always show you're falling or hurting yourself or doing something.

Yeah. So that's why they would go back and see it again.

The whole story of how you even got started on Vine is it's funny cuz you say you were like not big on social media.

No, I didn't have any social media at all. So it was like Vine um was the first social media that I got into because everybody was getting into it at the same time and I wanted to join in with everyone. So I would I I did it with my friend. My best friend told me to start a Vine and then she showed me how to make one. And uh she was like, "Just record your life." So my first Vine that I did was just me recording me failing in in science class.

So you literally did it in school.

I did I literally did it in class my first Vine.

Did you do like the full 6 seconds? Like you didn't probably know how to like do the whole editing thing at that point.

Yeah. I didn't know how to do the editing, so I just like filmed it like school. Yeah. Uh, yeah. It was like if you see my Vines now and you see my my first Vine, it's it's so different.

How do you actually Cuz I never understand like how like cuz it's 6 seconds. You have to come up with like a storyline in 6 seconds and make it hilarious, which you do. And something.

Yeah. The beginning, the middle and an end. It's it's hard. It's really hard and uh I just have to think of a quick idea that is easy to to show. Sometimes I speed it up. I I I cheated and I speed it up so and then I film it and then it's going to be long when I film it and then I shorten it. I try to edit it and shorten it as as small as possible that I can and then also I don't talk much. I just show my my emotions and that's why my Vines I can put like 10 clips in my 6 second Vine.

Right. You say that with language, like it wasn't like your strength.

I had a problem like talking or communicating with people. I was dyslexic. I didn't know how to read. I didn't know how to speak in English. I had I came here in the United States and I had to learn how to learn. Right. And then I learned everything else. So I was a little excluded from a lot of people in the beginning.

But what's so amazing, I think, you know, the fact that you're so relatable. I mean, firstly you're hilarious. Like I literally sat and watched like a hundred of your Vines in a row and I was just crying, laughing.

Thank you.

So now you've written a book called Surviving High School, which is so it's in your voice and it's like you even start off saying it's like theness. It's like the essence of you.

Yeah. It's so relatable. I read this and I was like, this is me. When I entered high school, the first day, I got a black eye. I I went

So is it true? Like all the stories that you tell?

Yeah, everything's true.

All the stuff that you tell? Obviously. That is true.

Went my pirate outfit, it's true. Um, I have a picture. I showed you the picture.

Oh, yeah. She I have to read the quote actually from the book cuz it was so funny. The way you describe everything and like the characters are just like they're amazing. The frilly white blouse, black pants, and knee-high boots that Rihanna had pulled off so effortlessly had me looking less like a pop star and more like a pirate. It's true.

Exactly, but

You just thought it was like a cool out. You know what? That's because the theme of the homecoming was um Pirates of the Caribbean. So I wanted to win more spirited. That's you. I I can't believe that pirate. Wait, wait, but this was your first day or this was on homecoming?

Okay, so you were like Freshman. Yeah, yeah. One of my first like my second week.

Wait, what happened with the black eye?

The thing is that okay, I wanted to play flag football. All right? And uh I didn't know that in flag football, you're supposed to get the flag. You're not supposed to tackle everybody. So obviously when I tackled this guy, he like pushed me away and he when he pushed me away, he hit my eye and like it's funny because it wasn't black in the beginning. It was just like growing and I was just like, "What's going on?" Going on. You know, my friends from like the first day that I met, they were like, "Oh my God, isn't that Lele?" She's like, "I'm already going home." But I really was the biggest target in my in my school when I was in freshman year because okay, how do you not going to target the girl that that is has a black eye and is wearing a pirate suit? I like I would've targeted myself too. Freshman year you want to fit in and that was not my intention. So, so I got bullied in that like sense, like they would throw food at me and they would call me names. Yeah.

How are people I just don't understand like I mean, you know what it is? They were probably just like insecure and jealous.

Maybe they were. Maybe they were. But then

And now look at you.

No, I know all of them. And then right now, they're they're trying to be my friends. And you know what? I'm going to be their friends. I'm not going to like hold a grudge. You know.

And what is like your advice to people watching who, you know, might be struggling with, you know, fitting in exactly like you said, like trying to be themselves.

You turn all the negative things into positive things and you have to believe that something good is going to come out of that negative that's happening in your life. You know, this is right now this is happening to me, but it's going to turn around eventually. And it did like maybe three years after but it did at the end, you know.

And then getting back to your Vines because I mean, you're doing so much stuff right now. You were with Michelle Obama a few months ago. Ladies, better make room. I saw her. How did that come about? That's so

That was amazing. That was amazing. What a great like I thought, you know what? When you go to the White House, you've already accomplished life. Oh yeah. Like you're you're good. You're good to go. Like, oh yeah. Um, but I was very I was very proud of myself that I got to where I was and um my friends were too and my mom and my dad. I brought my mom. She was crying. Oh. And yeah. And it was it was great meeting her, you know.

Is there someone that you haven't collaborated with that you like are dying to? Like who's your dream?

Shakira. I want to do a Vine with Shakira. It's going to happen.

Can you do it here in the Young Hollywood studio?

Oh, yeah, for sure. I just have to contact her.

We're going to make that happen. Shakira, shout out. Um you're going to have to come make this happen. Surviving high school is clearly a tough thing, so I need to get your tips on a couple things. How to get your crush to notice you?

Well, first of all, like let's say let me tell you my experience. Get a black eye. Get a black eye and then maybe he'll like, you know, like he'll grab you and be like, "Are you okay?" You're a hero. Um, I was really like the best friend of all the guys in my school. I would just be I would just be you. Yeah, I'll be myself, honestly. But sometimes I would I would use my friends to be like, "Hey, like don't you think Lele's pretty today?" And I would do like, you know, like I would know when they were saying it, so I would just say.

So you're secretly

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, so he would look at me and he would be like, "Oh yeah, you're right." Because I would do it in the moment. You know when when you know that someone's watching you in the in the corner of your eye, so you're like being all you just only. All right. I'll see you over there. That's how it that was how I would get my crush to notice me.

Um, and then how to handle not being the most popular girl in school, which I think you pretty much talked about already. But what would be your number one tip?

Well, I would stick with my friends all the time. I would, you know, um it was tough. I cannot say that I was like, you know, like, I who cares about this? But I would uh thanks to my friends and thanks to my family that I was able to like get through that. Because at the end of the day, it's like that's not going to end up mattering in life, right?

Yeah. There was one part in the book that really killed me. I was dying, laughing, was you talking about lunch cafeterias. Because they really are she's like, they're like American Horror Story. It's like a nightmare that they deserve their own series.

They are. They are. And and it was like, "You know what?" How do you survive it? I wouldn't go to the cafeteria sometimes. I would just go somewhere else. Yeah. I would go somewhere else and I'll find new friends. Kindergartners, but, you know, somewhere else. I say that I was at at the end of the year like the most popular, but I still sat alone at lunch because they was scary in the cafeteria. It was scary.

I remember in high school, yeah. It's like cuz there's so many people too. You're like, where do I go? Like when you sit and then you know what? It's so awkward. It's awkward.

Yeah. That is true. High school is awkward but you know what? At the end of the day, you look back on it and the memories you make. It's such a small part of your life exactly. And you know what? Like makes you who you are, right?

Yeah. And you become the most-watched Vine girl in the world.

Yeah. But just relate to people that are going through the same thing. You have to check out her book. It is I'm not even it's called Surviving High School. It is the funniest, I'm not kidding. Like the first few pages, I was crying. I love that it showed too how you actually made your Vines. Yeah. And it shows that all the stories, all the.

Yeah, like how the follows kept on increasing and how my social media kept on growing.

You see a lot of things like you wouldn't like notice for me right now. Like when I talk about being insecure with my body, boys are not like that cuz I do a lot of Verses, boy versus girl. Yeah. So, uh for boys, it's more it's more like uh about the fighting and like who's like has bigger muscles for the girls like all about like who's like skinnier and like she has like the like you see a girl and you want to be her. It's like when your friend was trying on your clothes. Yeah. When my old one tried on. And that's why

And she looked so much better than me. So pretty. Can I try it? No. Shake that thing. Miss. Can shake. You like it? No.

Yeah. That's the worst. She's so skinny, my best friend.

A lot of things to learn from this one. If you need to survive high school, you got to read this. Yes. Awesome. Well, thank you so much.

You're welcome. So we're here at Young Hollywood. Where's my latte? I want it in a mug. I'm so sorry. No, that's not. Okay, that's not.