Since it was posted on September 28, Marina Shifrin's interpretive dance video for her bosses has already gained over 15 million views on YouTube. Shifrin took some inspiration from Kanye West to quit her job at Next Media Animation with some dramatic style.
Shira Lazar caught up with the woman behind the dance to chat about how she came up with the idea, job offers she's received, and what's next for a viral sensation.
"When I was working those late night shifts, sometimes I would just dance around to keep myself awake," Marina says. "I figured it was my time to leave the company, and I wanted to pursue comedy and creative writing. And so, we make these funny, satirical videos. And I thought, what better way to leave the company than make one of these videos that we've been working on?"
She wasn't too worried about the response she might receive, because, she says, "I figured that the people who would get the humor in it would be the kind of people that I would want to work with."
Plus, the fun was in the risk! "I've always skewed towards safe jobs. And so I kind of wanted to just close that door, and go completely creative. I knew that a traditional media would not want to hire me ... but it was all in good fun."
While Marina took precautions to not damage the company she'd been working for, they ended up playing off of her idea anyway with their own dance video. "The company makes parody videos of trending stuff," she says. So meta! "I thought their video was adorable."
After receiving support from viewers all around the world, Marina thins that the video was so successful because it was funny, short, and relatable. She points out that she made real that crazy fantasy many people have of just dramatically quitting their jobs.
While she's received criticism for being self-entitled or supported by her parents, she notes that she's been supporting herself for a while, and has carried three jobs at a time up until this point.
And from the looks of things, there's another job around the corner. "The Queen Latifah Show" is looking to scoop her up and Bobby Flay has voiced his support. If anything, she can always accept one of those Twitter proposals and see where it leads.
"I just want to be proud of what I make," she says. "I don't care what it is."
At the risk of sounding too cheesy, she hopes that people watching are able to "have a little more fun and dance every now and then if they're stressed out about stuff."