…One of our mottos here at The Normies is to never make somebody feel alone. I think smiling at someone, extending a helping hand, assisting an elderly lady with her groceries, or making somebody feel comfortable stepping into your building goes a long way. Even just offering a smile matters. We should never make anybody feel alone in this world because I think society sometimes lacks that, especially with everything going on right now. It is about showing that you are human, I am human, and we are all in this together. The world is our community, not just the secluded or isolated place where you live. We are all part of this world. Like our motto says, never make anyone feel like they are alone. You really do not know what someone is going through or what kind of day they have had. Be the good in their life. We are a very positive group, I will say that…
I had the pleasure of talking with Rana Mohammad. At first glance, the concept of watching other people watch television sounds almost absurd. But that’s until you realize that it has evolved into a massive industry. At the forefront of this digital phenomenon is a diverse group of friends based in Indianapolis known as The Normies. With over a billion views and a subscriber count crossing the one million mark, they have spent the last decade turning the simple act of sitting on a couch into a global community. But for Rana Mohammad, one of the foundational members of the group, this online empire was never part of a master plan. It was simply a way to kill time on a Sunday.
Rana’s journey to the center of the reaction video universe was anything but a straight line. Born and raised in Sacramento, California, her childhood was defined by a rich blend of cultural experiences. “By ethnicity, I am Jordanian,” she explained, noting how her summers were spent visiting family overseas. “I got to live both cultures and be Hannah Montana in a way; I got the best of both lives.” Eventually, her mother relocated her to Jordan for high school. While her heart initially called her back to California for college, a relationship led her to an unexpected destination: Indiana. Looking back, she calls it the best decision she ever made. “Moving to Indiana of all places — you would never think Indiana would be the place to move to,” she laughed. But it was in the Hoosier state that she met the people who would completely change the trajectory of her life.
The origin of The Normies is rooted in an uncalculated love for pop culture. Before the branding and the studio setups, it was just a diverse circle of friends gathering to watch essential weekend television. “Originally, we would get together every Sunday to watch Breaking Bad or Game of Thrones. Nobody was thinking about building a brand or anything,” Rana recalled. It was their friend and eventual business partner Suraj Chaudhary who saw the potential in their natural chemistry and started filming their reactions. They initially posted under the name Talking Thrones, but the internet has a funny way of naming its heroes. While scrolling through comments, they noticed a troll trying to insult them. “One of the comments said, ‘You guys are nothing but a bunch of normies,’” Rana said. Instead of getting defensive, they realized the insult was entirely accurate. “We realized we really did not know much about this space, anime, TV, and movies. We are limited to what we know, making us normies.” They changed their name, embraced their everyday identity, and watched their audience explode.
Over the course of ten years, that Sunday hobby morphed into a legitimate production company. The Normies now employ over thirty people, providing them with salaries, insurance, paid time off, and therapy. But mixing business with deep personal relationships is notoriously dangerous. To keep their bonds intact while navigating the pressures of internet fame, the core partners took a radically honest approach. “The seven of us have been doing group therapy once a month for almost three years now,” Rana shared. “It was weird at first trying to tell your friends to their faces how you really feel without hurting their feelings.” Today, she credits that therapeutic space for keeping their communication strong and their content authentic. They also had to learn to trust their own creative instincts rather than endlessly trying to please every viewer. “As a team, we learned that we need to listen to each other, figure out what works best for us, and focus on what we can best put out into the world.”
As the channel grew, so did the scope of their work. They faced rejections from major studios early on, but consistent effort eventually landed them collaborations with giants like Disney and Peacock. For Rana, the most daunting evolution was stepping out of her comfort zone as a passive viewer and into the role of an actor for the channel’s original skits. With a background in running marathons and painting rather than theater, performing terrified her. “I was not portraying emotion well, I was not projecting my voice, and I was stuttering. We were taking fifty takes, and I would beg for someone else to do my part.” Through sheer repetition and determination, she conquered that fear, eventually finding herself improvising live for hours as Ravina, a Dragonborn Sorceress, in the group’s broadcasted Dungeons and Dragons campaigns.
What truly anchors The Normies, however, is the intense connection they share with their fanbase. Every year, they host Normie-Con, an immersive three-day event featuring food trucks, board games, and even a circus, drawing fans from places as far as Belgium and Germany. The digital space they cultivated has even sparked real-world romance. Rana fondly recalled the story of a Muslim girl in London and a tattooed man from Australia who met in their Discord server. “They eventually talked and liked each other so much that he converted to Islam for her, and she moved to Australia for him. They are married because of us.”
Despite the massive numbers and the expanding production slate, Rana remains incredibly grounded, finding peace in simple self-care routines like elaborate skincare, local bike parties, and simply going outside to touch grass and let the world go by. For her, the entire decade-long journey circles back to a single guiding philosophy. “One of our mottos here at The Normies is to never make somebody feel alone,” she said. Through a screen, from a couch in Indiana, she and her friends have managed to do exactly that for millions of people around the world.
Yitzi: Rana, it’s so nice to meet you. Before we dive deep and talk about your work, our readers would love to learn about your personal origin story. Tell us the story of your childhood, how you grew up, and the seeds for all the amazing work that has come since then.
Rana: My childhood is a little interesting. I was born and raised in Sacramento, California, and by ethnicity, I am Jordanian. Every summer, we would go to Jordan to visit family, and it was an amazing time. I got to live both cultures and be Hannah Montana in a way; I got the best of both lives. It was just really nice. Eventually, my mom moved me to Jordan for high school. My mom is one of nine siblings, and she is the oldest. I went to high school in Jordan, and eventually, my heart called back to California for college. However, I had met a boyfriend in Jordan, and I moved to Indiana. It was the best decision I ever made because that is how I met all my Normie friends, and we started this beautiful thing together. Honestly, it wasn’t even supposed to be anything; it was just us hanging out together, which is what we normally do. I am just really happy to be doing this with my friends. Moving to Indiana of all places — you would never think Indiana would be the place to move to.
Yitzi: That’s amazing. Please tell us about The Normies. Tell us how amazing it is and why all of our readers have to check it out and watch it.
Rana: We are just a group of friends who hang out and watch TV together. Originally, we would get together every Sunday to watch Breaking Bad or Game of Thrones. Nobody was thinking about building a brand or anything; we just loved getting together. Eventually, our CEO and partner, Suraj Chaudhary, asked us one day if he could possibly film us. I think he started seeing the reaction space becoming something. He was very in tune with commercials and movies from his original job. He thought that us being a very diverse group — I am Jordanian, and we have Indian, Pakistani, Czech, and Jamaican members — would be great. He filmed us watching TV together and posted it online, immediately getting comments saying, “We would love more stuff from you guys.” He just kept filming us every Sunday because we were getting together to watch TV regardless. People started sending us money and gifts, and we were wondering what was going on. One by one, we started quitting our jobs and really making this into something. We just love storytelling, and we love to catch our genuine reactions. Our authenticity is what connected us with people, and it helped us grow into one of the earlier voices in the reaction space. It has been really cool.
Yitzi: Amazing. What is the story behind the name “The Normies”?
Rana: That is a funny story. Originally, we were called “Talking Thrones.” We were not The Normies because we were mostly watching Game of Thrones; that was the first thing we actually posted. Game of Thrones was so big back in the day, and it still is, with spinoff TV shows still coming out. Eventually, Game of Thrones was ending. We were reading the comments, and while everybody on the internet has their fans and supporters, you also have your trolls who love to get on you for no reason. One of the comments said, “You guys are nothing but a bunch of normies.” We realized that, actually, we are a bunch of normies. Back when we started this, we were 25 or 26, and now we are all in our mid-thirties. We realized we really did not know much about this space, anime, TV, and movies. We are limited to what we know, making us normies. So, we changed our name.
Yitzi: That’s brilliant. I love that you embraced the troll and the venom of your enemies to turn it into a positive. Amazing. I love it. You have been doing this for ten years, which is unbelievable and really amazing. You probably have some amazing stories from all the different projects and sets you have been on. Can you share with our readers one or two stories that stand out in your mind from your career?
Rana: It is really amazing. I think our community is what really stands out to us. We have built something so beautiful that we get to share with the entire world, not just limited to the USA. You can find Normie fans in France, Germany, Australia, and London, and we have had so many great stories come out of that. We hold our own Normie-Con. Just like there is Gen Con, Pop Con, or Comic-Con, we hold our own Normie-Con. It is not just a quick meet-and-greet; we actually spend about eight hours with them doing really fun things curated for them. We play board games, we have had a circus come through, and we provide food trucks and all the food. It is a really good time and a three-day event with us. We have had people fly in internationally from places like Belgium and Germany to hang out with us for the weekend. I just love those moments because it feels like you are hanging out with your friends. You know these people via the internet, and you finally get to put a face to them. It is so cool to finally meet them in person and acknowledge that they are the ones supporting us and keeping us going. They helped us build this business of over 30 people who now have insurance, therapy, PTO, and all this cool stuff. So, Normie-Con is really big for me.
I also really love this other story. A Muslim girl in London and a tattooed white guy from Australia met via our online community on Discord. They eventually talked and liked each other so much that he converted to Islam for her, and she moved to Australia for him. They are married because of us, and we have been to a couple of weddings, too.
Yitzi: Your community has created a bunch of weddings?
Rana: Yes! Well, one couple got married, but we have been invited to several weddings, and we actually went to one in Boston recently.
Yitzi: That is so beautiful and amazing. There is a saying that sometimes our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Do you have a story about a funny mistake that you made when you were first starting, and the lesson that you took away from it?
Rana: It was not so much a mistake, but more of a learning curve for us. We were so new to the world of entertainment, and none of us came from that background. We would listen to what everybody said, take it to heart, and try to do what everyone wanted to make them happy. However, everyone is not the same; there are different kinds of happiness and different expectations. As a team, we learned that we need to listen to each other, figure out what works best for us, and focus on what we can best put out into the world. That was a big learning curve.
Another thing I am really proud of is how we have grown. We started out as a group of friends, and now we are seven partners who have built this company of amazing people who depend on us for their salaries and livelihoods. The seven of us have been doing group therapy once a month for almost three years now. It has been the best thing ever for us as friends. Going into business with your friends can be really hard; it can ruin friendships and the business itself. A lot of people ask us how we remain so authentic and stay friends outside of work. We really credit that to therapy. If we did not do therapy, it would have been really hard to communicate with each other. Now, our communication and relationships are stronger than ever. We are a little village together.
Yitzi: That is unbelievable. I have never heard of group therapy with friends.
Rana: Yes, group therapy with your friends. It was weird at first trying to tell your friends to their faces how you really feel without hurting their feelings. Feelings will, of course, get hurt here and there, but now we are stronger than ever. We go to therapy and talk about how we can do better for the business and for each other. It is awesome.
Yitzi: I love that. It is so beautiful. There is a saying that “no” is not a rejection but a redirection. Do you have a story where you received a “no” to an opportunity, but it led to an unexpected success or a better opportunity?
Rana: We were in a space where we were just doing reactions, and we started expanding into podcasts, attending conventions, and reaching out to companies to work with them on content. We wanted people to see that we are a great tool for marketing as well. We are close to one million followers on YouTube, and across all our platforms, we are well over a million. We have reach and a voice in different areas that companies like Disney, Peacock, or Netflix might not naturally have. We would always shoot our shot and see who would work with us. We received a lot of no’s because we were still starting out, but now we have worked with Disney and Peacock. We are currently applying for media passes for the Tribeca Film Festival, and we are going to the Austin Film Festival. All those little no’s came from trying to reach out and figure out how we fit into this world, whether with Netflix or at conventions. Eventually, we found our voice and figured out where we can be utilized really well.
It took a lot of trial and error. We started out as reactors, and now we are navigating towards more of a creator and influencer role. It benefits both avenues with our reactions and helps us build more for our community.
Yitzi: What has been the most challenging project or role you have taken on so far and why?
Rana: The most challenging role and project, speaking for myself, has been the acting. We do a lot of original skits on the channel where we have to act, and that was very hard for me because I did not come from that background. I never participated in theater or anything like that. I was more into running marathons and playing basketball; I was more of a sporty and artistic painter type of person. A major learning curve for me was becoming comfortable not just on camera as a reactor, but on camera acting out a scene. It was really hard. I was not portraying emotion well, I was not projecting my voice, and I was stuttering. We were taking fifty takes, and I would beg for someone else to do my part. I felt like I clearly was not meant for it. Now, however, if you ask me to do a skit, an in-placement commercial, an ad, or a sponsorship, I am more than happy to do it. I have built myself up to that point. I am much more confident doing that kind of content now, which is not easy if you are not used to having a camera in your face. Memorizing lines… do not even get me started. It is a fun time.
Yitzi: You mentioned Normie-Con. Do you have any other exciting projects or initiatives you are working on right now? Please feel free to elaborate as much as you like.
Rana: For sure. We are working on Normie-Con again for this year, which will take place in October. We are doing a Halloween theme this time, which we love. At Normie-Con, we usually do karaoke, games, and other activities, so we are curating it to be more Halloween-focused. Beyond that, we are juggling a few other things. We are developing merchandise, as we always do alongside new show premieres. We hire locally here in Indiana because we love supporting our local community. We have great artists here, and we make sure to give them shout-outs. We are also continuing to grow our content across platforms. We have worked on original projects, like a sci-fi podcast called The Carousel, where we all did voice acting. It was written and directed by one of our amazing employees, Shelby, and it is available on Spotify if anyone wants to listen to it. We are constantly improving our production quality, and a rebrand is coming up to celebrate reaching one million followers on YouTube. We are very excited about the rebrand and hitting a million followers. That has been a long time coming for us.
Yitzi: Regarding the D&D game, is that a podcast about the game, or how does it work?
Rana: We play it every other week, and we all made our own characters. We play it live on our YouTube and Twitch channels from about 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM, with a mini break in between. It is all new for us, except for our Dungeon Master; he knows the story he wrote, what monster is going to attack us, and who is going to die. We are all improvising, which ties back into the acting skills we have been developing. Now I have to improvise what my character is going to do and say. Last week, I was impersonating someone and was supposed to seduce another character. I thought, “Oh no, how do I seduce somebody right now in front of my friends on camera?” It is a learning curve, but it is really fun. My character is Ravina, a Dragonborn Sorceress. There is some really fun stuff coming up that I cannot share yet because I cannot let the other players know what my character is up to.
Yitzi: That is amazing. Do you wear costumes, or is it all voice acting?
Rana: Right now, the camera is live on us, so it is all our voices, but we do have mini figurines that our DM just made for us. We are going to paint them; I can probably send you some photos if you would like. Eventually, we will probably dress up like our characters. We really love it. Two of my coworkers actually wear horns because one plays a minotaur and the other plays a dog-like character, so they have their horns and ears on. Another player is a bard, so he brings a little guitar and sings. We try to keep it very interactive. It is a great time. I am very thankful to get to do that with my friends.
Yitzi: Amazing. This is our signature question. Rana, you have been blessed with a lot of success, and you must have learned a lot from your experiences. Looking back to when you first started ten years ago, can you share five things you have learned over the years that would have been nice to know in the beginning?
Rana:
- First, always remain authentic to yourself. There were times when I would be on camera and find myself wondering, “Do I need to laugh at this moment? Do I need to act scared? What do I need to say to please the audience?” Always remain authentic because that is what the audience wants. For anyone following you, especially with everything happening online today, the more authentic you are, the better. It truly is what is real.
- Another thing I would tell myself is to foster your friendships. Unfortunately, along the way, some relationships got hurt, but that is just how it is in this kind of business. You have to learn to nurture your friendships and relationships because they are so important along the way.
- Third, I would tell my younger self to shoot my shot more often. We did not get truly ambitious until we felt more confident in our follower count. I would tell myself that it is never too soon. Be as ambitious as you want, whether your follower count is low or high. The sky is truly the limit. If you do not shoot your shot, then when will you?
- Fourth, I would say to stay consistent, which is advice for everybody. We learned the importance of consistency over the years. We were only meeting on Sundays, and we all had other jobs with bosses and managers. It was hard for us to stay as consistent as we did, but I am glad we managed it. If you have an opportunity to be consistent with your content, do it. That is what will get you more followers and take you to where you want to be.
- Finally, I would tell myself to always maintain that drive. When this first started, I thought it was just a cool way to have fun with my friends, but you always need more drive. The more drive you have, the more awesome life can be. It is a really great time when you have ambition and want to accomplish something. Life becomes brighter and bigger, and more doors and windows open for you. It all goes back to just shooting your shot.
Yitzi: Can you share some of the self-care routines that you practice to help your body, mind, and heart thrive?
Rana: I love self-care. If there is anybody in the Normie gang who loves self-care, it is me. I truly believe it is incredibly important. If you do not take care of yourself, how are you going to take care of the people around you or put out the content that people want to see? We are so lucky to have the community that we do. We have people who send us letters all the time about how we have been there for them in their darkest times, or when they moved to a new place and did not have friends. So, us being good to ourselves translates into being good for the community we have built. I make sure to prioritize that. As a group, we do bike parties together on the second Friday of every month here in Indianapolis. Personally, I love doing my skincare routine; that is my private time. I will steam my face, do a facial, and have a podcast or a show playing in the background. Also, simply being outside and touching grass is so grounding. That is how I stay centered. I go outside, get some sun, lay around, and just let the world go by for a second. It is the best feeling ever.
Yitzi: Beautiful. This is our final aspirational question. Rana, because of your amazing work and the platform that you and your team have built, it is not an exaggeration to say that you are a person of enormous influence. If you could spread an idea or inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know how far your idea can spread.
Rana: That is true. One of our mottos here at The Normies is to never make somebody feel alone. I think smiling at someone, extending a helping hand, assisting an elderly lady with her groceries, or making somebody feel comfortable stepping into your building goes a long way. Even just offering a smile matters. We should never make anybody feel alone in this world because I think society sometimes lacks that, especially with everything going on right now. It is about showing that you are human, I am human, and we are all in this together. The world is our community, not just the secluded or isolated place where you live. We are all part of this world. Like our motto says, never make anyone feel like they are alone. You really do not know what someone is going through or what kind of day they have had. Be the good in their life. We are a very positive group, I will say that.
Yitzi: Amazing. Thank you. How can our readers continue to follow your work, watch the show, attend Normie-Con, and support you in any way possible?
Rana: We are across all platforms. You can find us for free on YouTube, where we release daily content — sometimes two, three, or four videos a day. It is a really good time. You can also find us on Instagram, TikTok, and X. On our Instagram, our weekly schedule is pinned so you know what is coming. If you want to support us in other ways, we have a Fourth Wall and a Patreon where you can get exclusive content. For Normie-Con, just keep an eye out on YouTube and our social media channels. We will be posting application links and videos soon detailing what to expect. Normie-Con is a great time; it is not just a quick meet-and-greet. We spend eight hours with you — eating together, playing games together, and just hanging out. It is awesome.
Yitzi: I love that. Rana, it has been a true pleasure to meet you. I hope we can meet in person one day.
Rana: Come to Normie-Con! You have a free place to stay and a free ticket. Come through!
Yitzi: That is so nice and sounds very appealing. I will have to ask the missus, but I think I am going to take you up on that. I wish you continued success, good health, and blessings. I hope we can do this again next year.
Rana: I appreciate you so much. I hope you have a great day; this was awesome.
Yitzi: Thank you so much, Rana. It was so nice to meet you.
Rana: Nice to meet you too. Have a great day. Bye.
Rana Mohammad on Building The Normies, One Billion Views and the Community Behind the Couch was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.