Vinnie Hacker isn’t just a name—it’s a collision of contradictions: gamer and model, fighter and lover, rebel and rising star. At just 19, he’s streamed his way out of his parents’ basement and into the zeitgeist, collecting millions of followers who can’t seem to pin him down. From boxing rings to fashion runways, his journey isn’t mapped by strategy but by sheer will and endless curiosity. In this conversation, Vinnie lays bare the truth behind the hype: the struggle, the sacrifice, and the thrill of refusing to be just one thing.
JC: The first thing I want to talk about is your cover. So you’re the cover of our Rebel issue, and one reason I wanted to put you on that cover is because I think you’ve been such a trailblazer and a rebel within your own career, from starting on Twitch, to TikTok, to fashion, to boxing. Nobody has put you in a corner, which I love. I admire the trajectory you’ve put yourself on, and you’re only 19! I want to start this interview by talking to you about that journey and asking you what that’s been like for you. Has it been a strategy, or has it been a series of events with a snowball effect that’s led you to this place?
Vinnie Hacker: I moved out here two days after I turned 18. I used to work as an electrician with my dad, but the week before I moved to Los Angeles, I was like, “Hey, I got invited to stay at this house in California to keep creating content, and I get to stay there for free, so I’m going to see where that takes me.” And my dad was just like, “OK,” so I left two days after my birthday. It never really was a strategy when I was starting out; I just did so many different things because I wanted to see what I liked the most. I guess it’s a strategy in its own way, but I was just thrown into so many areas that I overwhelmed myself with how much I was doing.
I’ve been streaming on Twitch since I was 13. I started modeling when I was 15 or 16 and then everything else just followed about a year and a half, two years ago. There were so many different things I wanted to try that I just went and tried to do everything. It’s taxing, but it’s worth it. We think of where I am now and what I’ve decided to do—it’s worth it to do a lot and sacrifice some of your time to figure out what direction you want to go.
JC: I read somewhere that your mom was a 911 dispatcher.
Vinnie Hacker: When I was growing up, my mom worked two jobs until I was a freshman in high school. And my dad—he works as an electrician, and he was always working crazy hours. As an electrician, you’re not supposed to work overnight shifts, but both he and my mom would work 24/7. My mom was a waitress and a preschool teacher before she got the job as a dispatcher, so that was big for them to be able to calm down a bit more. That job can be very stressful if you’re not the right person for it, but she’s really good at calming people. She’s great at it.
JC: I’m curious. When you said you were going to move to LA when you were 18, was your mom not super nervous because she probably listened to and witnessed some crazy shit?
Vinnie Hacker: They weren’t like that at all. My dad’s been working full time since he was 13, so he’s been through some crazy stuff. He didn’t have the time to be a child when he was a kid. So he was like, “Hey, if that’s something you want to do, then go do it.” My mom was that way as well, but she was a bit more hesitant than my dad. She wanted to wait and see, to wait a while. Actually, I was going to leave earlier than that, but my mom was like, “Let’s wait till you’re 18. Let’s wait till you have everything figured out.” So we set up the dates and drove down to California with all my stuff in my dad’s truck and they dropped me off, and then they drove back.
JC: How old were you when you first got your benchmark amount of followers—your first million?
Vinnie Hacker: I think that was around September 2020.
JC: Were you 17 or 18 then?
Vinnie Hacker: I was 18, so I had moved out. I think I had 800K when I moved out.
JC: That’s amazing. I didn’t realize that in just two years, you’ve gone from under a million followers to 15 million followers. That’s insane. That exposure level—has it sunk in yet? Do you realize the amount of people that are paying attention?
Vinnie Hacker: I don’t go out a lot. I don’t like to go out and do things because I’m terrible with big groups of people. It’s on and off. It doesn’t hit me when I’m sitting at my computer streaming and playing video games or just chilling at home, but when I go out and there’s people that come up to me, I’m like, “Huh, this is...I totally forgot about this.” When I’m alone and with my friends, I feel the way I did in high school where we’re just chilling in my parents’ basement. Then I’ll go out to dinner and there will be people outside sitting with cameras. It’s not that I don’t like it—all the people that I’ve met are nice. Sometimes people are just weird about it, and you have those bad meetings with people where they just don’t [like] you without reason, but that just comes with the territory. But I’ve also met so many people that have been inspirations. It’s crazy. If I look back two years, I would’ve probably DMed them on Instagram 20 times to get them to notice me.
JC: Who would you say is the coolest person in your phone book then?
Vinnie Hacker: That's a good one. Let me check. It's going to take a while to scroll, but off the top of my head, probably Baby Keem.
JC: That's sick.
Vinnie Hacker: Yeah. He's such a nice dude. I met him a while ago at my friend's birthday party, and he's just the nicest dude. He's super cool.
JC: So I guess one question that I’m really curious about is around the idea of how people perceive you versus who you really are. Do you feel like the way people perceive you—or what’s put out into the world—is who you are?
Vinnie Hacker: I show my personality a lot online, especially when I’m streaming. My main TikTok account isn’t the only one I have; I have my anime TikTok, my car TikTok, my gym TikTok—I have a bunch. It just shows every unique aspect of my life and what I do, but I’d say that the most personality I show is when I stream on Twitch. If I die in a game, I just start screaming my ass off and let it all out, so people definitely know what I’m actually like, because they’re able to gauge that off of my streams. You can’t really fake it on a stream. Some stuff slips out when I’m talking to my chat because I feel like I’m talking to my friend. I tell them something that I haven’t told anybody, and then I’m like, “Oh, OK. I just exposed myself, but that’s OK.”
JC: Have you ever had an experience with death or something around death that has changed your outlook on life or just changed you?
Vinnie Hacker: I’ve had multiple instances. I went through a lot when I was young. My friend passed away sophomore year of high school. One thing leads to another…that can affect you in so many ways, depending on how strong you are and who you have to help you through it, or if you go get help.
I went through a lot during that time, and I was thinking of having that near death experience, if you can gauge that. But afterwards, realizing what I had gone through and realizing on a failed attempt, if I had just tried to talk to people, express myself and let it all out to somebody, it would’ve helped a lot. I thought I had nobody to talk to, but I found somebody, which helped me get through that next stage. It was something that really changed the trajectory of how I look at things, and now I’m a big advocate for mental health. I’ve done a bunch of charity streams for mental health and suicide prevention, and I’m going to continue to do that because that’s something that was a big part of my life.
JC: To hear you say that is incredible. I feel like in my life, I’ve only come to that same realization in the last few years. I think being vulnerable and talking about your problems is only something that I feel has become more socially accepted in the last couple of years. Do you feel like, for you, that’s something you have a good grasp on now? Or do you still struggle with that? I think everyone struggles.
Vinnie Hacker: I think everybody struggles like that. I still struggle with it a bit—it’s something that only time and effort can help. In reality, you can’t push yourself to get out of that state. It takes time, patience and effort toward continuing to talk to people to create the best version of yourself. I still have those moments where it’s easy for things to get to me; that’s why social media was very challenging at first because people say, “Don’t look at the comments. Don’t look at hate comments. Don’t look at hate DMs.” But then you look anyway, and it makes you want to look more. I still have those instances, but I know I can push through, and I know that I’ve done it before, and that I’m doing it for other people. That’s one thing that got me through. At first, I was like, if I can’t do it for myself, then I have to do it for my brother or my mom or my dad—whoever was there for me during these times.
JC: What’s something in your life that you’ve run away from?
Vinnie Hacker: This isn’t really recent, but you never know when it’ll happen again. Something I ran away from for a while was just any emotion. I didn’t want to show anything to anybody. I didn’t want to tell anybody about anything. I just let everything be neutral. I was never happy, nor was I sad. I didn’t get excited, and I didn’t feel like getting excited or happy or sad.
I never showed it though because I felt like if I did, I’d have those flashbacks where I’d think about it and be like, oh God, this is going to bring me back to that time and remind me of this or remind me of that. I ran away from expressing my emotions for a long time.
JC: Why do you think that is?
Vinnie Hacker: I thought it would remind me of so many bad things that have happened to me in my life. You can’t just cancel out sadness, but I thought it would help if I just ran away from every emotion, showed nothing and stayed neutral.
But then you just feel a robot, and I had people tell me that—that I was acting like a robot, that I wasn’t acting like a real person because I just looked like I didn’t enjoy anything. It was so implanted in my brain that I had to act like that, and it took me a while to get out of that state.
JC: What do you think got you through that? When did you feel yourself coming out of that and being able to be happy, to be excited?
Vinnie Hacker: It was a big jump for me. My friend passed away due to some terrible circumstances, and as sad as it is to say, that’s what got me out of it—that’s what made me show emotion again. I think if something great happened in my life, it could have ended the same way, but it was something of that caliber that broke all that off. I could show [my feelings] again because it was such a hard time, I couldn’t just sit there and dwell on it. I had to express my emotions to get out of it, and I knew that.
JC: No, 100%. I think that when things happen like that in our lives, it reminds us how precious time is, that we have to live and that we get one chance to live. On a happier note, what is something recent that you’ve been very excited about that’s given you that feeling of, “oh my God, I feel so alive.”
Vinnie Hacker: Definitely 100 Thieves; joining them was huge for me. I’ve been wanting to join a gaming organization ever since I was 10, so that uplifted a lot of things in my life. The whole Amazon thing keeps pushing me and keeps me motivated as well; working with them is super cool. And just getting into this fashion stuff; more modeling is building more confidence in me. Growing up, I was really skinny and short. I remember looking at myself when I was younger and hating looking in the mirror. For the longest time, I hated having a mirror in my room. I remember I broke a mirror on purpose, but I told my parents it fell.
JC: Isn't that seven years of bad sex or something, if you break a mirror?
Vinnie Hacker: I don't know.
JC: I'm not superstitious, but I'm pretty sure when you break a mirror, there's something really-
Vinnie Hacker: I think it's seven. Yeah, it's either that or just bad luck, but maybe it was the seven years following that was bad luck.
JC: Well, I definitely think you’ve proven that’s not the case because you're on a roll of good luck, that’s for sure.
Vinnie Hacker: We’re pushing now. I told them, “Yeah, I don’t know, it fell.” I didn’t want to tell them about that. All that modeling stuff has helped me work on that and keeps me motivated and confident.
JC: What is something about yourself that you don't share often that you'd like to share—that you'd like people to know about you?
Vinnie Hacker: It’s hard to say because I express a lot of that stuff already, but I guess—and this is something small, and maybe a bit more detailed—I’m a very affectionate person. I openly share my emotions with people and tell them how I’m feeling. I don’t care if they’re a stranger, I’ll just tell them, if they ask. And I’m overly affectionate. I hug all of my friends in public. Eamon hates it when we’re out and I’m just like, “Alright, man, I’ll see you,” and I just hug him and squeeze him really tight. I’m a very affectionate person—that’s with other people, though.
JC: Are you a hugger when you first meet someone?
Vinnie Hacker: 100%. I remember I was at a party about a week ago, and I was meeting people, and this one guy came in to shake my hand and I was like, “No, come here.” I was like, “Come here, no, give me a hug.”
JC: And they're like, "This is still a pandemic, sir.”
Vinnie Hacker: Yeah, yeah. I was like, “Oh yeah, I forgot about that.” I’m just a very affectionate person, I guess. I haven’t really talked about that at all.
JC: What are some ways you like to show affection?
Vinnie Hacker: Definitely hugging. Obviously my family, my mom’s side of family…it was weird because I knew many people that would kiss each other’s cheeks. They would go back and forth and whatnot, so I did that to somebody once, not knowing it was weird. That was something I did for a bit. And then I was like, OK, people are telling me I shouldn’t do that, so I’m not going to do it.
JC: Unless you're in Europe where they do it everywhere.
Vinnie Hacker: Yeah, exactly.
JC: Then it’s completely normal. I’m so curious, because I feel I know Vinnie the professional; I know Vinnie, the guy who creates incredible content; I know Vinnie on set, who was honestly the most professional, amazing, sweetest, kindest person I’ve ever worked with on set. I know that Vinnie. Who’s the Vinnie at home when it’s just you? Do you cook, or do you like takeout only?
Vinnie Hacker: I do cook, but only very specific things. When I grew up making food for my brother or my family, it would strictly be steak burritos, tacos and crepes. I was just cooking and seasoning the meat, just making it simple—that’s all I really ever did. But I remember I wanted collard greens. I’m really good at making collard greens. I actually made them at a barbecue a few months ago, and they were so good.
Anyway, I did a content video for somebody a bit ago, and they had me make some dish. You have to prepare for a while and know what it is, but I read the instructions wrong. I thought we were getting our own recipe. I was like, “OK, I’m going to make an enchilada,” and they said, “No, you’re going to make this with your enchilada recipe.” And I was like, “Oh, I totally messed this up.” It ended up being terrible, so I’m going to have to broaden my skills.
JC: So basically what you're saying is: don't invite you over to cook.
Vinnie Hacker: Unless it's collard greens, steak, burritos, tacos or crepes.
JC: I love it.
Vinnie Hacker: Don't eat those things, though.
JC: I also know that one of the big focuses for you this year is expanding on what you’re doing in fashion. On the modeling side, on the clothing side, what are some of your goals in that aspect? What have you done this year that you’re excited about? What do you have coming up?
Vinnie Hacker: Definitely the magazine, Dior, was super fun. I did that recently, but I want to learn more about everything—how to get into it more. I’ve always been interested in and inspired by the fact that there are so many people in this space who are so passionate about it. I want to be passionate about it, too, but I want to learn more about it so I can get that passion for it. That’s my goal as of right now: to learn everything about it and dive deeper into it.
JC: What experience from our shoot did you take away? I know you haven’t done a lot of shoots like that before, so what was your experience of the day?
Vinnie Hacker: I loved it. It was so fun. Everybody that I worked with that day was super nice. I think the one thing I remember vividly, and you’re probably going to know what I’m talking about, is when we were in the hot tub.
JC: Oh my God.
Vinnie Hacker: Taking that cover photo…they were like, “Yeah, it’s going to warm up in 10 minutes,” and we couldn’t figure out how to get it warm. I said, “Alright, guys, don’t worry about it. I’m just going to jump in it.” I got in there, and I started turning purple. I was just like, oh my God, this is freezing. It was a sacrifice, but it was so worth it. I was still really fun. That’s what I took away from it—even stuff like that makes it fun.
JC: I was going to say, you would never know from the cover that you were freezing cold. Guys, he was such a trooper. When I say he was such a trooper and such an amazing person to work with…because you really were all in and you gave yourself to the images, and I think it shows. That cover—it’s one of my favorite covers we’ve done. I think you look amazing.
Vinnie Hacker: Thank you. Yeah, it was super fun to shoot.
JC: Do you have a favorite look from the day?
Vinnie Hacker: Well, I like the cover photo a lot.
JC: Oh. Like that Hugo, it was a—
Vinnie Hacker: The Hugo and the—
JC: The Polo. It was really cool.
Vinnie Hacker: Then the all blue, the baby blue or the sky blue outfit as well; that one is super cool. And the one of me against the wall with the pants and the glasses—that one—I like that picture a lot. I like that outfit.
JC: Guys, everyone watching, everyone tuning in: You have no idea what’s coming, the images are sick, and we have a really, really cool video that’s going to drop next week.
Well, Vinnie, thank you so much for coming on today—for being a part of this, for being open and vulnerable and giving it your all. We all love you at Tings, and I know everyone here watching loves you. We’re excited to, hopefully, do a lot more work with you in the future and collaborate again.
Vinnie Hacker: Of course. Thank you guys so much!