Maria Viktorovna Explained

Maria Viktorovna
Birth Name:Maria Viktorovna
Birth Date:22 July 1986
Birth Place:Lipetsk, Lipetsk Oblast, Soviet Union[1]
Nationality:Russian-American
Occupation:YouTuber
Pseudonym:Gentle Whispering
Channel Direct Url:user/GentleWhispering
Channel Direct Url2:user/xCreativeTouchx
Channel Display Name:Gentle Whispering ASMR
Channel Display Name2:Sassy Masha
Years Active:2011–present
Genre:Autonomous sensory meridian response
Subscribers:2.3 million
Views:1.14 billion
Silver Button:yes
Gold Button:yes
Gold Year:2017
Stats Update:18 June 2024

Maria "Masha" Viktorovna (Russian: Мари́я Викторовна; born July 22, 1986), known professionally as Gentle Whispering ASMR, is a Russian-American ASMR performer and YouTube personality. Her YouTube videos are considered to be among the most well-known and popular in the ASMR genre.

Early life

Maria "Masha" Viktorovna was born on July 22, 1986, in the city of Lipetsk, Russia.[2] She has an older sister, Olga.[3] During her childhood, Maria was active in theatre, and participated in several school plays.[4]

Career

Maria recalls her first ASMR experiences taking place while in kindergarten in central Russia, and says she felt similar relaxing and "ticklish" sensations throughout her life.[5] [6] [7] In 2009, Maria had depression and anxiety during a divorce from her husband. While watching massage and meditation videos to relax, she clicked on a video of a woman whispering that was recommended by YouTube's suggestion algorithm.[8] [9] This video triggered the same relaxed feeling she had experienced in her youth, and she continued watching similar videos to relax. Maria recorded her own whisper video in February 2011, deleting it soon after. However, she continued recording and publishing new content; by the year's end she had amassed 30,000 subscribers.

In 2014, Maria was working as an administrative assistant in a medical office, but by 2015 she was earning enough to treat her content as a full-time job.[10] Her channel reached one million subscribers in 2017, the first ASMR channel to do so.[11]

One of Maria's videos was sampled in the 2014 song, "Terrors in My Head," by Canadian electronic musician Deadmau5.

Reception and style

Maria's ASMR videos are recognized as among the best and most popular on YouTube. In separate articles for The Washington Post, feature writer Caitlin Gibson called Maria "the premier celebrity of a controversial but increasingly recognized phenomenon" in 2014 and "YouTube’s preeminent ASMRtist" in 2019.[12] Maria has additionally been described as "queen of the ASMR genre," and "widely known as the grande dame of ASMR." Her videos have been recommended by Irish Independent[13] and Thrillist.[14]

Maria has said that she tries "to protrude a motherly, comforting atmosphere in my videos," and make her audience feel "safe and protected."[15] She describes receiving thank-you messages from viewers with anxiety, stress, or sleep disorders.

Personal life

After divorcing her former partner, Maria met her husband, Darryl, through a Facebook group for ASMR content creators. The couple dated for five years,[16] and married in September 2017.[17] Maria gave birth to her first child, a daughter, in 2019.[18]

As of February 2020, she resides in El Dorado County, California. She is a certified massage therapist and formerly lived in Baltimore, Maryland.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Draw My Life :) ASMR. YouTube. August 9, 2020.
  2. Web site: Gibson . Caitlin . 2014-12-16 . GentleWhispering and ASMR: The voice that triggers euphoria and seven . 2019-01-28 . The Independent . en.
  3. Web site: 2023-02-20 . Pleasant Ear Exam ✨ ASMR Soft Spoken . 2024-06-19 . YouTube.
  4. Web site: 2013-05-10 . Draw my Life :) ASMR . 2023-09-26 . YouTube.
  5. News: Gibson. Caitlin. December 15, 2014. A whisper, then tingles, then 87 million YouTube views: Meet the star of ASMR. The Washington Post.
  6. Web site: Lopez. German. 2015-07-15. ASMR, explained: why millions of people are watching YouTube videos of someone whispering. 2021-04-10. Vox. en.
  7. Dickson. E. J.. 2020-02-20. An Oral History of ASMR. 2021-04-10. Rolling Stone. en-US.
  8. Web site: Miller. Jenni. 2015-06-08. Whispering on The Internet Is Paying This Woman's Rent. 2019-01-28. Cosmopolitan. en-US.
  9. Web site: Meet This Maryland Woman Who Makes A Living By Whispering. 2021-04-10. WAMU. en.
  10. Web site: Castillo. Michelle. 2017-02-19. Inside the bizarre world of YouTube ASMR videos. 2019-01-28. CNBC.
  11. News: CBC Radio. August 1, 2017. ASMR community, devoted to whispers and soft sounds, celebrates YouTube milestone. CBC News. April 10, 2021.
  12. News: Gibson. Caitlin. Feb 7, 2019. Why stressed-out pregnant women are turning to ASMR videos for relief. The Washington Post. April 10, 2021.
  13. Web site: White. Sophie. November 23, 2017. 'It's a kind of orgasm of the brain' - the new relaxation phenomenon. 2019-01-27. Irish Independent. en.
  14. Web site: Downs. Ella. Where to Find the Best ASMR Videos on YouTube. 2020-07-05. Thrillist. 26 August 2019 .
  15. Web site: El Dorado County woman whispers the world into relaxation with ASMR. 2021-04-10. abc10.com. 15 February 2020 . en-US.
  16. Web site: 2018-02-14 . How We Met Through ASMR Community and Our Awkward First Date . 2023-09-26 . YouTube.
  17. Web site: 2017-09-17 . Our Yosemite Wedding Getaway for Two . 2023-09-26 . YouTube.
  18. Web site: 2019-05-22 . New Mom Lessons Learned ‍♀️ . 2023-09-26 . YouTube.