Vitus “V” Spehar
THEY / THEM / THEIRS
V Spehar, aka @underthedesknews, is an award-winning, LGBTQIA+ podcast host and social media personality who puts complex news stories into layman’s terms for their 3 million + followers. A sought after speaker on authenticity and resilience, V is also a seasoned community builder and an advocate for civic participation and empathy on social media.
You're smart, trust yourself.
Popular Talks
After the Rainbow
A story of coming out, and what comes next. In this keynote, V takes the audience through their journey of navigating queerness, and building community with unexpected allies. This story speaks to the power of resilience, finding your authentic self, and making space for kindness and optimism.
Sound It Out
A story of navigating dyslexia, and overcoming learning insecurity. In this keynote V takes the audience through their journey with Dyslexia, and how they overcame their disability to become one of social medias most trusted communicators. This story speaks to the power of resilience, asking for help, and leveraging a student mentality to achieve success later in life.
Workshops & Consulting
Workshops
Visioning: Heart Centric Goal Setting & Breaking Down Fear
V helps get to the heart of how we define success, helps you find your most authentic self, and offers proven profitable tactics to stay motivated to avoid burnout.
Most recently booked by:
- James Beard Foundation
- CUNY School of Journalism
- FAB Women’s Leadership Conference
- Innovate Events
- CenterLink
- MagnifyU
The ROI of Inclusion
V Spehar, expert social impact and entrepreneur coach will talk you through how common sense allyship results in improved bottom line dollars and cents. Inclusion doesn’t mean replacement, and should never make anyone feel shame – Inclusion means coming together to build strong teams and mutual respect.
Most recently booked by:
- Upland Systems
- FAB Women’s Leadership Conference
Beat the Clock (App); TikTok for Business & Creators
V Spehar built their brand Under The Desk News to 3 million followers and boasts an over 70% finish rate on videos that offer simple, kind, and non-partisan explainers on the day’s news & current events. They will teach you how to leverage TikTok as a revenue generator, discoverability platform, and political organizing space. You’ll learn the ins and outs of the algorithm, and how to authentically jump on the trends that are setting the culture and driving the conversation today.
Most recently booked by:
- University of South Carolina School of Journalism
- University of Chicago Institute of Politics
- University of Rochester School of Communications
- Rochester Institute of Technology
Consulting
V offers intersectional approaches to compassionate DEI as well as consultation on how to best set up social media presences from traditional companies to dynamic nonprofits.
“I met V several years ago as a leader in the food justice space. My experience of them then was being impressed at their thoroughness, thoughtfulness and intentional inclusivity. I remember exhaling and wishing more people in charge were like them.
When I came across their work as I was sourcing speakers for Future Well’s upcoming salons, I was elated for the platform they built and also not surprised. The Internet is a scary, confusing, enthralling space and V is a teacher, a coach and someone you feel safe around. I loved getting to know their corner of the Internet and I was excited to bring them to the community so they can get to know their great work too.
V’s session was on building an audience from a place of authenticity and joy. They shared their story of building and also their story of learning, trying and experimentation. They spoke to the importance of knowing who you are and how important that is for truth-telling and truth-sharing. What I am most happiest with is how through sharing their story of trying and learning, they gave permission to our community of entrepreneurs to experiment, try and learn, driven from a place of joy and not fear of failure. V’s work shows that there is immense power in letting people know they are not alone and the way they authentically shared their story helped a community of entrepreneurs feel a lot less lonely in their building journeys too.”
– Sabrina Hersi Issa, Be Bold Media
“This is written to share our appreciation for V’s participation in our forum “INFLUENCERS, IDEAS AND UNCERTAINTY How Gen Z lives social media,” which was done in partnership with UNESCO and streamed worldwide.
As the title suggests, our forum looked at the role of influencers and social media in the lives of young people. Participants came from across the globe and included students, influencers, experts and journalists. The feedback we have received for this event has been uniformly positive in large part because of the quality of our guests.
We invited V because of their popularity as well as the unorthodox method of presenting the news from under a desk. As a traditional journalist, I was prepared not to like V, but quite frankly, V was perhaps our strongest guest. V was insightful and easy to work with. I thoroughly enjoyed spending time with and learning from V. UNESCO was so impressed with V that they invited them to participate in their huge international symposium on regulating the internet while protecting free speech.
In summary, V is smart, professional and committed to a more just society. The internet—and discussions about the internet—need more people like V. If anyone is interested, they can look at our forum and see why.”
– Randy Covington, University of South Carolina
Vitus “V” Spehar is an accomplished creator, political advocate and citizen journalist. Within just a few years of starting their account, they’ve built a loyal following of over 3 million subscribers who tune in daily for content that informs and educates while centering the emotional safety of viewers. Their core brand, Under The Desk News™, started out as a TikTok series expanding on news events in a nutshell and quickly became GenZ and Millenials go-to source for news.
This past year, V’s coverage has moved from under their desk to the front lines of watershed events. They covered the 2023 State of the Union from the Capitol Hill press room and they were one of a few key journalists in the room for the Shou Chew TikTok hearings. Their dedication to thoughtful, lucid reporting, has led them to collaborate with notable figures across party lines including former President Obama, President Biden and a dozen plus members of Congress. V has also spoken in front of UNESCO, advocating for safe spaces across social media in Paris and also consulted on Guidelines for Regulating Digital Platforms at the UN headquarters in New York in April.
On top of unbiased reporting and their push for civic participation, V has brought comfort and reassurance to audiences, providing thoughtful, empathetic commentary in the face of continued legislation against 2SLGBTQIA communities as well as lighthearted “Good News Only” Thursdays, featuring their trademark banana shirt. As one of the few non-binary news reporters today, their account is a radical act in and of itself.
V continues to stretch the limits of their content and their reporting. Their long form coverage of events and interviews with key figures on their podcast, V Interesting, earned them a 2023 GLAAD Media Award Nomination. V received a 2023 Webby Special achievement award for “their articulate and concise, but unabridged reporting,” alongside the likes of SZA and the inventor of emojis.
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