I spent a week with an influencer who won the social media lottery and this is what I found. She became well known in 2016 at the age of 15 when she was on America’s Got Talent but didn’t get her big break until 2023 at 22 years old when her YouTube and TikTok took off. She now has almost 10 million subscribers.

This past week I saw her light up around her fans and watched her become a fan herself with others around her. She was always on, smiling at everyone, and genuinely kind. She was just happy to be involved. I watched as she prepped video ideas and saw the emails of preparation that led up to a couple short TikTok videos and a YouTube vlog.

Really what I learned was that her job was a mix between being a sales associate and a journalist. She was selling herself and her personality for people to enjoy. She found her target market and established her genre. Lots of research went behind her self-brand. It looked like she hacked the algorithm, but really she was playing a strategic game of chess trying to keep up with consumer demands. 

This was her full-time job and it really looked like she cared about it and wanted to continue succeeding. I watched as she waited for hours trying to get interviews and videos with other influencers and celebrities. She was hustling but she loved it.

Social media has opened up so many doors for her and really allows her to do things she could never even dream of. 

I think her job can look easy and lazy at times because it doesn’t overly conform to what society wants us to do. I think Generation Z has really decided that happiness is a priority and they have found jobs that do that exact thing. Not to say we don’t also have a lot of engineers and doctors as well.

In conclusion, social media might not be as bad as we think. It has allowed dreams to come true and drives our culture in positive ways as well. A job is a job anyway!