I consider myself late to making social media a job. There was a long path that led me there! There’s been so many websites and apps since I first got on the internet, so I hope I can explain it all well enough. ♡
While my first online interactions were on Neopets and Xanga, I will always consider MySpace to be my first and favorite social media, because everyone’s personality got to shine with the music they picked, their layout, and Top 8. Styles were wild! I had scene hair and had this big Friends list of nice people that weren’t creepy or scary. It was so laid back and actually fun! Some MySpace personalities I admired were Melissa Marie from the Millionaires, Miss Hollywood XTC, and Hannie Dropkick.
I remember helping a neighbor customize her MySpace profile and people telling me they loved looking at my profile. It was nice to hear that they enjoyed my playlist, what I wrote, and the way I styled my page! Middle school ended about the same time everyone was off MySpace and had moved on to Facebook. Through my teen years, I took pictures every day and felt excited to do so. It was never a chore, and I didn’t even care how many likes or comments I got.
I grew up an only child for 12 years, and I’ve always been a homebody. I had fun being alone with the computer, fashion magazines, and TV. I loved watching YouTube videos of makeup tutorials by Makeup Geek and Kandee Johnson, fashionable outfits and lookbooks, and Asian dramas like Devil Beside You. I rarely ever posted videos to YouTube, and they were either edits I made or random clips that weren’t of me.
When I was in school, it never occurred to me that I could make money on social media. I was using it the same way as everyone else back then, and the number of times I deleted Facebook profiles and started over is more than anyone else I know. Same thing with Tumblr, YT, Twitter and Instagram—What is with me and starting over accounts??
I started cosmetology school right after graduating high school, and now I was starting to get busy and didn’t take pictures as much anymore. This is when Instagram was big, but still ad-less and laid back. I briefly remember Vine also, but did I ever post a video on it? Life was busy and I was navigating adulthood. I took selfies and had fun with collages, but I still didn’t consider myself a content creator. The Sugarbear hair gummies had just made it to Instagram, and I didn’t even know what an influencer was at this time.
After beauty school, I lived alone and worked two retail jobs, then worked long shifts at a hair salon while getting my marketing degree online. I tried doing on-campus classes at night, but I really hated being in a classroom environment. During this part of my life, I started realizing that I don’t enjoy social settings at all (which is probably why I worked so much instead of getting a roommate). I loved making women feel beautiful, but I didn’t like conversing! It would tire me out so much, more than being on my feet all day did.
It seems like a contradiction, but there’s a problem social media can solve–being social without actually socializing. That’s why I liked it so much as a teen!
I was still too busy to put time into social media. I was on-and-off YouTube and Instagram and didn’t think I could stay consistent. I had experienced a lot of engagement on MySpace and Facebook, but IG was new and different. I remembered the adoration I had for bloggers and YouTubers so having a blog became a goal, along with wanting a YT channel. I started a few and gave up on them. It just wasn’t the right time for me.
I finally had time to put in some effort to social media when I was working as a florist, and the quarantine of 2020 was when I really started my influencer journey. I posted an eyebrow grooming tutorial to IGTV, which I guess was Insta’s brief competitor to YT. I posted a few hair and makeup tutorials to YouTube when I had time. I got a Twitter account for the very first time, even though it was popular when I was in high school. I think I might have looked at musical.ly, didn’t like it, and after it changed to TikTok I still wasn’t interested.
My first ever gifted product was Advil from Influenster 😆 and I got into the beauty community to start making friends with common goals. I met Mrs Marvellous on Twitter (now X lol) and maybe I made a TikTok account around this time. Now things were getting weird with all these different apps, and SO many influencers. I felt like I got to the party late. But on the bright side, I was starting to get more and more gifted products, and I got paid for an Instagram video! I was slowly growing and made it a point to finally post consistently.
In 2023, I was offered a contract with an agency to start livestreaming on Pococha. I knew Twitch was popular, and livestreaming in general was big in 2020, but I didn’t see myself doing it. I’m thankful I got this opportunity, because it opened a whole new way to enjoy social media for me. I finally felt up to date instead of wishing for old IG, Tumblr and blogging to have a revival.
On my livestreaming journey, I got so much closer to Mrs Marvellous and I met Violet, who’s now a close friend of mine ♡ If they were my friends earlier in life, I probably would have taken social media seriously a long time ago. They’re so encouraging!
Pococha ended March 1st and I’m now livestreaming on TikTok, the app I never gave much attention to until this year. It hasn’t been a full year yet since I started going live (June 1st), and now this is the first year I’ve had a chance to fully commit to making social media a career. I’ve reached so many milestones and have gotten collaborations I used to only dream of! I feel like I’m on the right path. I just renewed this blog for another year, and I have a good feeling about having a personal brand and message behind what I do.
We have a million social media apps now, but my inner child is so happy that you’re here on my very own blog!! And I have a YouTube channel!! Thanks so much for being a part of this 💖 I hope my story can encourage you to never give up on your goals and to honor your inner child’s dreams.
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