Check Out Lakeia Burrell’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Lakeia Burrell.

Hi Lakeia, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Hi! I’m Lakeia. Keiaa Richelle is what I go by for my content; it’s a mix of my name and a way to honor my mom, who passed away two years ago. I’m a 30-year-old woman from NYC, and I began my streaming journey in December 2021. Some of my good friends were already streaming at the time, and I had just given birth to my son. Gaming was a great way to help me cope with being a first-time mom. I’ve always loved video games. I grew up playing with my siblings and my dad. I mostly play horror games, and I’ve recently been more into otome/visual novel games. I enjoy anime and manga as well. I recently started cosplaying, and I also began voice acting last December. All of these creative outlets, between gaming, cosplaying, and voice acting, are ways to express myself and do what I love for fun. I love bringing characters to life and giving my own little spin on them through voice acting, cosplaying, and gaming. Gaming gives me the chance to interact with my friends, since some of them live farther away, and we all enjoy doing something together. Also, some people build their own props for cosplay, and I do, in a sense. I love LEOGS and building things, so I built Tengen and Insouke from Demon Slayer swords, all out of building blocks. I also love to collect figurines.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It’s been a challenge. At first, I was battling being a first-time mom and was losing myself trying to manage having a sick mom and my motherhood. In 2024, my mom got extremely sick and then passed away, so I had to take a break from streaming for a while. After she passed away, I also went back to school and completed my BA in Psychology, so I had to stop everything I was doing for a year. Juggling all of that while being a mom was not easy, but I made it through. My son is thriving, I graduated on the Dean’s List, and I’m back to creating content.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
After graduating with my BA in Psychology, I went right back to school, and I am now a Credentialed Alcohol and Substance Abuse Counselor.

Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
Most of the mentoring I have received is from my friends who were already streaming. Some of them are VTubers who’ve shared their experiences with me. Since I am a voice actor as well, networking for me works on both sides– voice acting and gaming. What has worked for me is simply being myself. It took a long time for me to get back to who I was as a person and be proud of who I am. I relay that in my content as well. I’m me, and if people love my content because of that, then that’s perfect, and if they don’t, then I get that sometimes too; we don’t mix. But pretending to be someone I’m not after being a shell of myself for some time is not something I do anymore. I’m back to my whimsical, black woman self, and I let it show.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/keiaarichelle/
• Twitter: https://x.com/KeiaaRichelle
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@keiaarichelle
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@keiaarichelle