Rachell ‘Valkyrae’ Hofstetter tells PEOPLE she fell in love with gaming at 6 years old and now has over 11 million followers across platforms
Credit: Yu Tsai
NEED TO KNOW
- Rachell ‘Valkyrae’ Hofstetter turned a childhood love of video games into a full-time career after realizing her streaming income had surpassed her traditional jobs
- What began on Twitch grew into financial freedom, allowing her to retire her mother and expand into acting, fashion and executive leadership
- Now, as the head of Hihi Studios and a co-owner of 100 Thieves, she’s focused on building lasting creative projects far beyond the screen
At 34, Rachell "Valkyrae" Hofstetter can still trace her career back to a single moment from her childhood.
“I was 6 years old. I was at a babysitter's house,” Valkyrae tells PEOPLE exclusively, noting that the babysitter’s daughter handed her a controller, and something clicked. “I just got addicted ever since. Just never stopped.”
What began as a pastime eventually became the foundation for a life she could not have imagined — but long before she was leading companies or walking red carpets, Valkyrae was juggling shifts. She worked at a bank, an arcade, a carwash and waited tables, all while enrolled part-time in community college. A job at GameStop, however, felt closer to her interests, as did her small gaming Instagram page, where she posted about new video game releases.
When followers suggested she try live streaming on Twitch, the idea immediately appealed to her. “That sounds easier. You just go live. You don't have to edit anything,” she remembers thinking. “You just play the games and people hang out and chat. And that was 11 years ago.”
Credit: Valkyrae/Instagram
At one point, Valkyrae was balancing three jobs while going live on Twitch whenever she could. For a while, it was simply something she squeezed in between shifts, until one day, she checked her bank account and was shocked by what she saw.
“I was just looking at my bank account. And the money I was receiving from streaming just started overtaking my 9-to-5 jobs that I've had,” she recalls.
“I realized I was like, 'Wow, I could probably quit one of my jobs,' ” she adds.
Despite quitting her job at the bank and the car wash, Valkyrae continued working at GameStop for a while, as it complemented her online world. “It just worked so well,” she says. But eventually, she faced the realization that she didn’t “need this anymore” and within two years of starting, she was streaming full-time. Now, Valkyrae has over 11 million followers across platforms.
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Credit: Valkyrae/Youtube
Gaming, however, did more than replace a paycheck. “It's insane how much it's changed my life,” Valkyrae tells PEOPLE. “It's literally made me who I am today.” With her earnings, she was fortunate enough retire her mother. “All of her bills and everything I pay for…she's completely covered,” she reveals, noting that she also bought her mother and sister homes.
Opportunities soon extended beyond streaming. Valkyrae’s first major fashion moment was a seven-page spread in Vogue Philippines, an experience she still calls surreal. Voice acting roles followed, including work on the animated film Goldbeak and an appearance in The Family Plan alongside Mark Wahlberg. Each project widened her reach, but she never lost sight of the medium that started it all.
In 2018, Valkyrae joined 100 Thieves as its first female creator and later became co-owner. Today, she also leads Hihi Studios, the media company she founded to develop original projects across comics, webtoons, film, television and gaming. “We are working on a video game, which I'm excited for,” she tells PEOPLE, hinting at what’s ahead.
Credit: Yu Tsai
Still, her ambitions stretch far beyond the screen. “One of my long-term goals, before I die, I would love for my company to be part of a project that wins an Oscar or an award someday,” she shares. Whether it’s an animated feature, a short film or something entirely unexpected, Valkyrae wants to help build it from the ground up. “What's great about Hihi Studios is that since it's a media company, we can do anything,” she emphasizes.
While her name recognition has helped launch all these ventures, Valkyrae is increasingly drawn to the creative engine behind them. “I want to be more behind the scenes,” she explains. “I don't even want to be in it. Just be part of something really cool and creative.”
What started with a 6-year-old holding a controller has grown into an ecosystem of businesses, storytelling and financial freedom. For Valkyrae, gaming was never just a hobby; it was a door.
“I know this is just the beginning,” she tells PEOPLE. “I'm gonna do this for the rest of my life.”
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