While the majority of high schoolers spend their free time watching YouTube videos, senior Taylor Gray makes them instead. As soon as she gets home, she turns the camera on and it’s time for another post to her 45.9K subscribers.

“I was bored one day so I recorded a video and uploaded it in hopes of entertaining people,” she said. “I was also inspired by many other big influencers.”

She first made her YouTube channel in fifth grade and recorded videos with her iPhone.

“At first it was discouraging because I didn’t have many views or subscribers,” Gray said. “But I didn’t quit and kept pushing through.”

She started to gain more followers during her junior year with a school related video.

“My most famous video has been my ‘Back to School Try On Clothing Haul 2018,’” Gray said. “I filmed this before my junior year and it blew up. School videos are really popular to make and get a lot of engagement from viewers.”

Gray said her content varies as she tries to appeal to her audience.

“My YouTube content is mainly lots of lifestyle/routines, hauls and hair tutorial videos,” Gray said. “I also do vlogs here and there and have recently been trying to make different videos that I feel people would enjoy watching.”

Her audience is mainly made up of teenage girls from 13 to 24.

“I feel very much encouraged because some of my subscribers will contact me and tell me how much I inspire them to make videos,” she said. “I enjoy being an inspiration to young girls and one that people can relate to somehow.”

Gray, who earns money through sponsorships and views, said she plans on making more YouTube videos and growing her number of subscribers.

“I want to keep doing YouTube in the future because I want to be able to say that, no matter how hard the process was in getting views and subscribers, my hard work and dedication paid off,” Gray said. “I feel discouraged when not all my videos do well, but the only thing I can do in those times is stay faithful. I want to see my success come at the right time.”