Nathan Zed

Nathan Zed was born on born April 6, 1997, in Virginia. His father was an engineer. Nathan is of Ethiopian descent. He attended ‘Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University,’ also known as ‘Virginia Tech,’ where he studied business.

Nathan’s father wanted him to be an engineer. However, since Nathan was terrible in mathematics, he chose business instead. He had plans to enter the entertainment industry, too, and had also planned to start a venture of his own. Thus, he decided to study business.

Nathan’s all-time favorite web series is ‘The Platoon of Power Squadron,’ which was also one of the inspirations behind his ‘YouTube’ career. He has a crush on popular singer and actor Zendaya. He is an ardent dog lover. Nathan’s favorite drink is milkshake. He loves sailing on yachts.

Nathan started his career in social media when he was still in school. A major factor that influenced his career decision was racism. Since Nathan is Ethiopian, he was subjected to a lot of racist comments in the past. The fact that not many Ethiopian "YouTubers" had gained popularity back then also influenced his decision to start a 'YouTube' career.

Nathan created a 'YouTube' channel in mid-2011. He chose “TheThirdPew” as his online pseudonym. However, he posted the first video on the channel, 'Annoying Stereotypes,’ about six months later. The video featured Nathan discussing human psychology and habits. Soon, he began uploading videos on a variety of content.

Nathan has struggled with depression and anxiety in his past. Being an Ethiopian, he has encountered racist comments, too, on several occasions. These issues later became the subject of most of the content on his channel. Nathan speaks about such social evils through his satirical videos. His video 'You’re Not Good Enough' featured him sharing his own experiences and struggles while growing up as an Ethiopian. This video also led to the foundation of his merchandize line, 'Good Enough,' which he trades on several shopping sites. The merchandize line offers sweatshirts, hats, and other accessories, with his logo printed on them. Nathan later started a musical story, which expressed the hardships and struggles of being a victim of racism. This four-part musical story consisted of selected tracks with visuals, all edited by Nathan himself.

Although Nathan is known for satirical and funny videos, the videos actually deal with serious issues. In one of his videos, Nathan discussed rape and negative thoughts associated with the heinous crime. In another video, Nathan discussed the dilemma of dropping out of college or school, a common phenomenon among youngsters.

Nathan has collaborated with many established "Viners" and "YouTubers," such as PewDiePie, ‘Smosh,’ and Jenna Marbles. He once posted a reaction video to popular 'Vine' star Nash Grier’s video, 'What Guys Look For In Girls.’ Nathan’s response video became immensely popular and increased the number of subscribers on Nathan’s channel. He also created a video segment, 'YouTube Sings,' where he compiled clips of "YouTubers" proposing words to songs. Nathan has performed tracks such as 'Get Lucky' by Daft Punk and 'Call Me Maybe' by Carly Rae Jepsen in his 'YouTube Sings' videos. The channel has over 490 thousand subscribers. However, of late, Nathan has not been uploading videos too often. Since May 2015, he has uploaded only a handful of videos. The reason behind this has been explained in his video, 'THE FUTURE OF YOUTUBE,’ which shows him stating his wish to discontinue his 'YouTube' career in the future.