Stacy and Artem Odnovol on Their Nastya Artem Mia YouTube Channel and Finding U.S. Success

With their Nastya Artem Mia YouTube channel, siblings Stacy, Artem and Mia Odnovol, originally from Russia, are currently taking the U.S. by storm.

Made with help from their mom Elena, their unique videos are designed to teach and entertain all at once, and they have quickly attracted a lot of fans. The trio has more than 15 million YouTube subscribers across their various channels in 12 different languages, and what they do is seriously different than anything else we've seen on YouTube.

After diving into their repertoire, we simply had to learn more—and we got the opportunity to ask the two eldest siblings, Stacy and Artem, all about their channel and its incredible success.

Sweety High: What made your family decide to make a YouTube channel? What types of things did you decide you wanted to showcase there?

Stacy and Artem: When we first moved to the United States, we started to make travel vlog videos that we posted on YouTube for our family and friends back home in Russia to watch about our adventures as we traveled around America. Then we decided to make lifestyle videos about our everyday life to meet new friends and posted them on our first YouTube channel, Nastya Artem Mia. In Russia, Artem was always bullied for wanting to be artistic and to act and sing, but the feedback and comments we got from viewers were phenomenal and supportive right away! After seeing this, our mom suggested that we try to produce and film fun, educational and entertaining scripted videos for kids, and then the channel started to grow fast right away.

 

SH: Would you say that each sibling has their own individual role within the group? If so, what role do you all play?

Stacy and Artem: Of course! We all have unique talents and our own personalities and roles. Artem is our older cool brother and is the responsible one, but always still a fun teenager. Also just like Stacy, Artem helps our mom, Elena, with creative and production aspects of the show. Stacy is a vibrant, energetic and colorful force in our videos, always pushing the limits of acting and roleplaying. Our youngest sister Mia is just a happy 3-year-old and brings originality, cuteness and childhood curiosity to our videos.

SH: What's the most fun part about being huge on YouTube? What's the most challenging part?

Stacy and Artem: The most fun part of being popular on YouTube is that we made a lot of new friends and we meet a lot of people from all over the world from different countries and cultures. Also, we always work hard on our acting chops and creative skills, which allows us to grow artistically. It is also a pleasure to see that children learn and have fun with our videos and it makes their lives better. The most challenging part is that it takes hard work and dedication to make our videos—but we enjoy it a lot as we are always together and it is fun to film new creative storylines every time.

 

SH: What would you say are the biggest themes on your channel? What kinds of people do you see as your fans?

Stacy and Artem: Almost all of our videos are primarily educational and inspirational where we teach, learn explore and create through inspirational scripted screenplays with the help of games, activities and toys. We consider our fans not simply as people who watch our channels, but rather as our friends. We are watched not only by fellow kids, but also by their parents and grandparents who also enjoy our content. That is so rewarding to us.

 

SH: What has it been like to move to the U.S. to pursue your dreams here?

Stacy and Artem: It has been very exciting and fun. In America, society promotes and advances individual expression and creativity—especially in acting and performance arts. In the beginning, it was a bit difficult because of the language barrier and missing our friends and relatives back in Russia, but it only gave us more determination to pursue our passions of acting and singing, and soon we made many new friends in America. We really love living here!

 

SH: Were you surprised with how quickly your channel was able to grow after that?

Stacy and Artem: We always loved to act and perform even as little kids, but such growth has been a surprise even to us. We knew right away that the viewers would like our videos because of our dedication, but did not expect such success in such a short time. We are very appreciative and humbled by the response from our new fans and friends.

 

SH: How has the content on your channel had to change in light of the pandemic?

Stacy and Artem: Because of the pandemic, we realized that our viewers are most likely to spend more time at home, and need content that is more educational, diversified, and personal, as well as more based on teaching values (as schools are closed), and we adjusted accordingly. We are making more videos where we can teach kids not only traditional school aspects but also about proper behavior, self-expression, respect and kindness. The pandemic limited our travel options to film in new locations, but we improvise as much as we can by improving stage design and using various studios and our home.

 

SH: After moving to the U.S., has it been weird not to be able to travel everywhere?

Stacy and Artem: We used to travel a lot in Europe, since so many different countries were just hours away. Now with the pandemic, school and filming, time is limited—but we do enjoy traveling through the United States and we have visited many states—even going on long family road trips to explore the history and culture throughout the country. We just spent the Christmas holidays in Colorado and a few months ago went on a road trip through all of the northeastern states.

 

SH: What do you think is the biggest misunderstanding about you and your channel?

Stacy and Artem: The biggest misunderstanding is that some people think that it is easy to become popular on YouTube and to be an actor creating videos—it is not. It takes dedication, preparation and a lot of discipline and organization—just like making a TV series or a Hollywood movie. We make three to five videos per week for our channels and have to be very well organized in order to do well in school and our acting and singing classes— and still have time to spend time with our family and friends. Thankfully, we really enjoy what we do and we have a strong and supportive family.

 

SH: Is there anything else you'd like to add?

Stacy and Artem: We are very excited about our recent success and especially the joy we bring to our fans through our videos and creativity. It is very humbling when we get recognized by kids and parents at the mall for example, and they thank us for what we do and we become friends. We are also excited about our future as we will continue to perfect our performing skills and to produce content not only for YouTube, but also for new platforms. We are already getting inquiries about new opportunities in show business that are within our reach and are possible only in America. Now we realize that we are living an "American Dream."

 

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