Laid Off: Engagement Editor at SB Nation

"I got paid to break sports video games. That's awesome man."

May 12, 2025

Laid Off is the coolest place on the internet to talk about being laid off.

This week’s coffee is on

! That means 10 readers will get a $10 gift card to a coffeeshop, on creator Ariella Steinhorn. All you have to do is open today’s issue, and you’ll be entered to win.

Winners will be randomly selected and emailed tomorrow morning.

Ariella Steinhorn has lived several lives as a ballerina, tech exec, startup founder, and now writer. She launched her Substack Nonlinear, which includes musings about power dynamics, relationships, work, culture, and love. It’s for people who have felt that linear, train-track paths have not served them. She'd love for you to join her community.

Want to sponsor a future issue and treat readers to coffee on you? Hit reply.

In today’s issue, I talk to Kofie Yeboah, the former engagement editor at Secret Base, on his viral layoff video and why building your own platform is crucial in today’s job market.

When Kofie Yeboah was laid off from Secret Base in February, he grabbed his phone, walked to the park, and hit record. He was filming a post-layoff video for his 95k YouTube subscribers.

“I’m used to updating my audience when big things happen,” he said. “Improvising, saying how I’m feeling in the moment — that’s second nature to me.”

Kofie had spent the last eight years at Secret Base, Vox Media’s sports YouTube channel under the SB Nation umbrella, where he worked as a video host, writer, and engagement editor. In February, he was one of three people laid off from the team. His YouTube video sharing the news, titled I no longer work at Secret Base…, has since racked up 187k+ views and 2k+ comments.

“I knew that the news of my layoff would be public information,” he said. “So I wanted to be the first to tell everyone what happened, how I feel, and what is next for me.”

According to an internal email from Vox Media, the roles were eliminated to help “put Secret Base on a path toward operating as a sustainable brand within SB Nation.” The company has gone through multiple rounds of cuts across editorial, sports, and sales teams over the last five years.

“I see my social media platforms as my actual resume, so me tweeting out my layoff and making that YouTube video was my equivalent of updating my LinkedIn account.”

How did they handle layoffs?

I got a surprise Zoom meeting scheduled for me with little notice. I could sense something was up because I didn't have that many meetings on a week-to-week basis, so I figured it would be an emergency or that I was on my way out. It was something that I had been preparing for a long time honestly. I wasn't locked out of Slack and everything until the end of the day, so I got to say my online goodbyes and everything.

You posted an unscripted reaction video to the layoff on your YouTube channel. It's received 187k views and thousands of comments. What was it like to have such a vulnerable experience go viral? Why did you decide to share the news on your channel?

I knew that it was going to be a surprise to people no matter what, but I did not expect so many people to watch and comment their support for me. That hit me hard. I had been at SB Nation for eight years and on the Secret Base channel for five. I decided to share the news with my channel because I had always told my followers that as long as I had my full-time job, my personal channel would just be where I put random thoughts and stuff, but there could be a time when this YouTube channel is my main endeavor. I made that video letting everyone know that the time is now. I also wanted to let people know that the people who work on the Secret Base channel weren't responsible for me getting laid off. I had started seeing hate comments on their channel, and I wanted to stop that. I know that my fans were angry, but that's not what I wanted.

Speaking of the YouTube video, did you notice any recurring themes in the comment section? In how people reacted to the news?

There was a lot of support in the comment sections that really resonated with me. People who told me their personal stories of what my content has done for them. It was really reassuring that people liked my content for me and will still support me regardless of what channel I'm on. I don't have access to that one million subscriber platform anymore, but I've been able to develop my own personal community through that, and it's invaluable. I don't take it for granted.

There's definitely a rising trend among content creators posting their layoff news, whether it's a "GRWM while I get laid off" or simply sharing that they've lost their job. And these aren't corporate influencers, they might be in beauty, wellness, gaming, or sports, like you. Why do you think content creators across all niches are posting these layoff videos? Why is it trending now?

I think sharing personal news like that is just a way to update your audience on what you are going through currently. You don't owe your audience that information, of course, but I think that it's also a very relatable part of content creation. No matter how much or little you know about content creation, everyone can relate to "I don't have my job anymore, this is what that means for me the creator and for you the audience." It's a way to tell your audience that there might be changes to how you go about things. It might be an announcement that someone is going to be pursuing content creation full-time. Either way, it can be a turning point in what someone decides to do. It's also a way to signal to people and companies who work in your realm that you're a free agent and are possibly open to working. Through announcing that I had been laid off, multiple entities have reached out to me about possible opportunities to work. I see my social media platforms as my actual resume, so me tweeting out my layoff and making that YouTube video was my equivalent of updating my LinkedIn account.

This was your first job out of college. You had been there for 8 years. In your video, you describe it as the best job you've ever had. Can you speak to that? What it's like to be laid off from what felt like a dream job?

It makes me feel grateful to have had the situation that I've had for years. Working in sports full-time is a blessing. There's so much competition for those jobs all across the board that I'm very lucky to have had that much creative freedom at a company for so long. It hurts, but working at that job has also been instrumental in me gaining confidence as a content creator and knowing that I can hang with the people that do this. I got paid to break sports video games. That's awesome man.

You mentioned that you built these social platforms just in case you lost your job, that you put in that extra effort to build a community of your own. Do you think it's important in the current economy/job market to try and have something that's your own? That you can't, in a sense, be laid off from?

1000%. The dream was always to be a content creator who had my own channels and platforms. I witnessed so many rounds of layoffs over the years and I always thought in the back of my head "My Youtube channel isn't where I want it to be yet" so that motivated me to work on the channel as much as I could while I still was able to get a salary doing the same thing at the company. It was the best situation for that, in my opinion. It felt as if my main job and part-time job were content creation. I think that I'm at a much better place with my YouTube channel than I would have been two years ago.

What has the transition from full-time to freelance content creator been like? Is there a sense of freedom that you didn't have before?

Since my schedule at SB Nation was very free-flowing, it feels almost the same to me. Sometimes I'll work and edit until 3AM, and sometimes I won’t. My stressors are the uncertainty of it all. I'm two months in and have never felt this way before. Now I have to navigate the world of YouTube sponsorships, and I have that faith that it'll all work out in the end. I haven't had that feeling since I was in college, worrying about whether I would graduate with a job.

Do you have any advice for people reading this who might want to get into the content creation space as a side hustle in case they experience a layoff?

Just do it. Your first wave of content isn't going to be perfect by any means, but it's how you improve and evolve your content over time — a process that is always happening. I think the first thing to do is observe creators who do something similar to what you want to do, not to copy them, of course, but to gauge certain practices and learn from them. I think a common misconception is that you need all the top-tier equipment to make top-tier content, and I disagree. There are so many resources, free apps, and items that are already at your disposal that can help you get started.

In terms of free or more affordable resources, I suggest Capcut, Davinci Resolve, Canva, Adobe Premiere Rush, Google Sheets, OBS, and Prezi.

Post-layoff, I've been working on my main YouTube channel and side YouTube channel (Kofie 0.5). I have also joined the streaming platform Nebula. I'm excited about bringing sports content to that platform — I think that I can do special work with them. I have some cool projects and ideas in the works that I'm really excited about, which involves new interests currently unknown to my audience.

Gentle reminder: Laid Off is kept afloat by paying subscribers who support the work.

If you like this newsletter and have the means, consider becoming a paid subscriber. I appreciate you. Plus, at $5/month, you get access to the Laid Off Discord. We have fun.