Izzy Perez and Emma Fuente are the stars behind the YouTube channel turtlewithhat, and they started their social media while they were both just film students in a long-distance relationship. The duo has been filming videos together since they were in middle school, and their shared passion for content creation led them both to attend college for film. Their rise to fame as turtlewithhat happened in 2022 with videos much like the ones they still make today. The topics of their YouTube videos vary, but mostly revolve around the two of them doing different activities such as vacationing to upstate New York, creating a giant Spongebob figure out of cardboard, or ghost hunting in the woods with friends. It doesn’t matter what they’re doing, people stay for how entertaining they are and of course, their admirable relationship.
When Izzy went to NYU and Emma attended RISD, they started to do some work in the field together and plan to continue to do so in the future. Just last year they were working on a short film for Emma’s student thesis film named ‘GIRL DINNER’.
Their passion for film is what they say drove them to create their YouTube channel and social media pages under the name turtlewithhat. At first, they intended to have their content be more thought-out skits and be very intentional with the things they were putting out on the internet. However, now they post things on the fly, as they’ve found the most success when they are their regular comedic selves. I also really enjoy when they suddenly break out into a very planned out skit, as it is the complete opposite feeling of their easygoing lighthearted content. In the moment too it’s interesting to see how their ideas bounce off one another, or if one starts doing a bit the other will join in immediately. Their energetic personalities produce an infectious sense of joy that helps them retain their loyal fanbase.
The two individually are incredibly hilarious, as evidenced through their own personal social media pages. But when the two come together, it’s a whole other story. Their sense of humor is so unique, as well as their personalities, that seeing their connection to each other leaves me wondering how someone could find their perfect pair. I’ve been watching their content for almost 3 years and couldn’t help but binge-watch all of their YouTube videos when I found out they had a channel. There isn’t one thing I would choose to change about their content. I have even been contemplating buying their YouTube membership that provides the glorious gift of one extra video per week so that I won’t have to spend all of those torturous days waiting for their single weekly upload.
I would not recommend this channel to viewers who enjoy more serious or traditional YouTube videos. They tend to bounce around topics and it can at times feel like three different videos in one. Going along with their unique content style, I feel like their sense of humor can at times be awkward and something some groups from the younger generations may understand better than others; for example, they call their fans “turds.” Oftentimes, their fans overlap with those who enjoy the podcast Emergency Intercom, YouTubers Slushy Noobz, and the sibling duo Sinjin Drowning. Those who enjoy any of these creators will surely also enjoy turtlewithhat.
Izzy and Emma have been able to build their own “turd” community over the past few years. It sounds like millennial humor but they can make anything sound funny. The turds have a strong sense of loyalty, with many viewers creating fan pages dedicated to both Izzy and Emma individually and also to their admirable relationship. As two lesbians, they have often been praised for their content revolving around their relationship, as it’s not everyday people part of the lgbtq+ community are given spaces to speak out or be heard. Their videos’ comments often include the phrase “relationship goals”, as many of their young queer audience members hope to find themselves in a relationship like theirs.
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