When Smosh star Mari Takahashi started out, YouTube comments were so cruel they made her cry

With 38 million subscribers, the YouTube comedy series Smosh is a phenom.But Smosh's stars didn't always have it easy.When Smosh wanted to expand with more videos, more channels, and more people beyond its famous cofoundersIan Andrew Hecox andAnthony Padilla, it hiredMariko Takahashi (or "Mari" to her fans),and launchedSmosh Pit Weekly.It's a weekly show that recapped various images, videos, and articles found on the Smosh Pit blog on theSmosh website.And the reaction was brutally hard on her, her bossBarry Blumberg told attendees at Business Insider's Ignition 2015 conference in New York on Wednesday. Blumberg is chief content officer of Defy Media, the media company that owns Smosh and more than a dozen other entertainment brands."Every day for a year, she cried when she read the YouTube comments,"Blumberg said. "The comments wereracist (shes Asian) and sexist (shes a girl)," he said.Hecox andPadilla told her to simply ignore theYouTube comments. To stop reading them. Her bosses liked her and liked the show. "We made like 300 episodes," Blumberg said. She also joined the cast of another show, Smosh Games."And now shes one of the biggest stars on Smosh Games and one of the people fans get the most excited to see," Blumberg said.Moral of the story: The internet is full of meanpeople. Don't listen to them and don't let the naysayers chase you away from what you love to do.SEE ALSO:From drug addiction to Uber intern to powerful Uber exec at age 30, Austin Geidt's life is already the stuff of Valley legendJoin the conversation about this storyNOW WATCH: Watch a gigantic truck remote controlled by a toddler barrel through a construction site
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