V Spehar is keeping their promise while delivering the news on social media

To consume the news is no longer a simple matter of opening the newspaper or turning on the television. Now, more than ever, America's number one news source is social media. But in a sea of infographics, how is one to find trusted sources?

V Spehar, perhaps better known by their handle UnderTheDeskNews, provides thorough and informative news in a comforting package.

While V used to take news hits from under the safety of their desk, they've come out from under the desk and are encouraging their audience to do the same. To no longer be scared of the world and instead come out of hiding. As both a journalist and a content creator, V made a promise to their audience to deliver the news in a safe way to protect everyone's emotional health. Nearly five years on the job, they're still holding up their end of the bargain even as the news cycle gets heavier each day. At VidCon 2025, we sat down with V to discuss how they've grown their platform without losing audience trust.

In 2020, V Spehar pivoted from culinary to news content and UnderTheDeskNews was born. Credit: V Spehar / Røde / Mashable

I would love to know what freedom content creation has given you as a journalist?

My whole life, I thought that if I could just get this job in the industry, then I'd be set for life, and I'd be comfortable. I'd have achieved something. And when I was the director of impact for the James Beard Foundation, I felt like I had achieved that. But I didn't. When I got the big girl job, I didn't feel super comfortable or taken care of. When I started making content, I had no expectations. I just did it for fun to start off. And now I have actually created the life for myself and the financial structure for myself that no amount of doing it the right way was giving me.

I hear that from many creators. I think content creation gives people a sense of empowerment.

It is just as hard for me to be a content creator and own Spehar Entertainment, which is the LLC that everything goes through. And we chose entertainment, intentionally mocking the Fox Entertainment, because I was afraid to be like, "I'm not gonna establish myself as a media company. That's so scary. I'll just be entertainment." I work just as hard, but I have more control of myself and my time. And I come to find out I love working with people. I don't love being in a corporate structure.

You're an essential news source for so many young people. How does that affect your approach to content creation?

Because I came into this a little bit older, and I had already established successful businesses before, I knew the thing I needed to start with was a promise to the audience — What am I selling? What's the product? And the product and the promise is that I will give you the day's news and events in a kind way from a safe space. I will give you current political topics that center [on] your emotional safety to learn. And that is the north star and the ethos and the boundary and the gutters of every single thing that I make.

I've spoken to a lot of creators about how they feel like it's really important to find a niche. Do you feel like it was that under-the-desk format that gave it a certain angle?

I think that was a visual representation of the promise. And as time went on and I gained their trust. I haven't actually been physically under the desk in over a year because the vibe is still there, the promise is still there, under the desk. It was a mandatory visual representation of what I was promising, and I had to be good on that promise long enough to come out of that box. I still like being under the desk sometimes, and if something's really sad, then we go back under the desk.

When Trump got elected, I said, "OK, I'll do the first 100 days under the desk." And I did, but it was actually making people a little sad, because they were like, "Oh, we're back hiding."

When I started to be out in public, and I started doing speaking gigs or going on TV or doing different stuff, people were really unnerved by me physically standing. It would take them a while to adjust. And so I was like to get everyone used to the fact that I have a full body, and that I could be upright, because even the physical angle is so different. So I'm glad that we have come out from under the desk. There's so much world that we have to visit, and I wouldn't be able to do things like gives speeches in Springfield, Missouri for queer communities that are never seen.

The news cycle is heavy right now. How are you taking care of yourself and avoiding burnout as a creator?

I lean on the other people who are doing incredible news creation. So let's say I don't do breaking news, because Aaron Parnas does it every 15 seconds. There's a skill and a group of people that want that, but I don't feel like I have to compete with that. We know there's a 40 percent crossover between my audience and his, that if they got that story, I'm moving on.

Before Trump was president, I could report on things that were happening, even if they were difficult. For example, the fall of Afghanistan was incredibly difficult, but it was happening, and I could trust that what was being reported from the Pentagon was factual. We could watch it on television or on social media.

Now, I have to hear what the White House or the Pentagon has said, fact-check it against my sources, and then also convince the audience that I am right. For example, when Pete Hegseth said he was sending 700 Marines from Camp Pendleton into Los Angeles, my contact was like, "It's not Camp Pendleton; it's Twentynine Palms, and the civilians may not know, but there's a big difference between Camp Pendleton, which is basic."

We're talking 17, 18, 19-year-olds. And Twentynine Palms, are Marines, who are 22, 23, 24, so they're still young, but they're full Marines. So I was like, OK, I'm like, they're not from Camp Pendleton, they're from Twentynine Palms, so this is what they're trained for, crowd control and riots. And people were like, that's not what Hegseth said. I say I know, but I also know I'm right.

The intent of the Trump administration, oftentimes, is to sow chaos and division and get people all worked up about something so that they can continue to push through with things that aren't happening. So I tend to try to be like, OK, Donald Trump has signed an executive order saying that trans women have to go to male prisons. Well, that's already been challenged, and it's actually already been won in court, and it never happened. So let's be calm on that one.

Do you ever feel tension between you and the audience when they're coming in with a really intense energy of panic, and you have to de-escalate while acknowledging their concerns?

So I have definitely done this more. I think there's like, being a journalist, and then there's being a creator, and creators care for the audience, the emotions, and thoughts. And journalists are supposed not to do that, so it's very tricky to walk that line, so I will give a little bit of both. So something happens, I'll be like, this is actually fucked up. If you feel like it's fucked up, it's because it is. And here's what's likely to come next. And then I can tell the truth that way.

And I have to do that a lot more than I want to, but you do have to do it because this idea of objectivity or just telling the facts, well, they don't provide facts, so you actually have to fill it in with historical evidence. Sometimes I feel like I do more history than telling them what's happening now, so that we're all kind of caught up.

As a creator, what was your experience in gaining a following? Was it one video that really took off, or a slow and steady build?

I started as a culinary creator. So I used to make cheeseburgers, all different kinds of crazy cheeseburgers and stuff you could use from stuff in your pantry.

So I was like doing that, just to try and give myself something to do in the pandemic. And I got a culinary following first. So I was like, food famous, before I switched over to doing the news. I never looked at the follower count. I always looked for return customers. I think I was trained for that from a culinary standpoint. It's like when you look at how many covers you have that night at a restaurant. We got 700 tonight. This is what it means for my staff.

But I'd be like, "Oh, Lisa's gonna be here tonight. I fucking love her". So I treat content like that. I'm always looking for my regulars.

At what point did you decide to cover the news full-time?

When I got laid off from the James Beard Foundation. So I got furloughed first, and so I really thought this dream job that I had achieved and spent so much of my time working towards would come back. And there came a point when I realized it wasn't going to come back. And also, it wasn't the same anymore, either. I had seen too much of how devalued I was to them. And then I was doing consulting work for food. I was working on, like, how we were gonna get veterans meals delivered while they were unhoused during the pandemic.

It wasn't until I actually got asked to be a featured creator at VidCon. I certainly didn't know what a featured creator was, and I didn't have management or anything. I showed up here just to do a panel or something. There were like 70,000 people who came to that first VidCon I attended. And that's when I started to be, like, this is a job, job.

Daniel from Palette Management was at my first VidCon. They were brand new at that time — I don't even know who they had signed. And he was like, "Hi, we were hoping to talk to you."

I was like, Okay. And he's like, "Where's your manager? I was like, "What do you mean?" And he's like, "Are you here alone? Oh God, oh no, don't be alone."

For content creation tools, what are the essentials you're using?

Røde Microphones. And I don't have a partnership. I don't make any money off of it. But I spent so much money on so many different pieces of equipment. So I had all the different types of lights, from the ones that go on your phone to big pancake lights. Now I have a studio light. I have all this stuff. I have all these different things, and I had all these different types of microphones, and the only ones that ever really worked were the like, plug-in earphones

I'll buy a car, but I won't buy, like, a $149 microphone. And Daniel ended up buying them for me with my money. So I started using them, and there was something about the sound quality and the way that it felt, and then I felt like I owed it to the audience to give them that superior sound.