Orange Alert

‘Shut Up and Go’

French Club hosts internet celebs Damon and Jo on April 11

April 5, 2018, by Renee K. Gadoua

Damon and Jo
Damon and Jo

Internet celebrities Damon Dominique and Joanna Franco will share stories about their global adventures at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 11, at Gifford Auditorium in Huntington Beard Crouse Hall. The event is sponsored by the student French Club, La Société Francophone, and the Department of Languages, Literatures and Linguistics in the College of Arts & Sciences. Free tickets are available at the Schine Box Office.

Dominique and Franco (they go by Damon and Jo) are the 20-something, multilingual duo behind the travel website Shut Up and Go. Their YouTube channel attracts more than 900,000 subscribers to their multi-lingual videos on language learning, culture and travel. Since 2015, they’ve visited more than 20 countries, creating videos for young people who want to travel but have limited budgets and limited experience.

The pair describes themselves as “two ’90s kids who got tired of cheesy travel shows and cookie-cutter travel hosts.” When they started, “there was nobody on Instagram or on YouTube for us to look at,” Damon told Forbes. “Whereas in older generations, you have an Anthony Bourdain or Samantha Brown, there was nobody like us.”

Organizers of the Syracuse event expect them to discuss the potential life-changing aspects of international travel and experience as well as talk about their experience creating the business. Their corporate sponsors include Toyota, Starbucks, MTV, Target, ATT and Greyhound.

“We wanted, and still want people to see that, if you truly want to see the world, you will do it,” Damon and Jo say on their website. “We shut up and went. And we want you to, also.”


Media Contact

Robert M Enslin