Displaying your life on the internet is the norm in today's world. Back in our parents’ day, you had to actually see people in person or send pictures via snail mail. Now, our parents can creep on our social media accounts and see pictures and updates at any time or any place with the touch of a finger.
According to Pew Research Center, 90 percent of adults from the ages of 18 to 29 are on social networking sites.
While posting your life online seems normal to most millennials, turning it into a career might seem out of of the ordinary. Social media have created an entirely new job market: YouTube vloggers, Instagram photographers, Twitter influencers and Snapchat celebrities.
Arizona State University students are finding themselves in these modern jobs with the ability to connect with people from all over the world.
YouTube
Sydney Jozwiak talks to her camera like it’s her best friend. She makes jokes, silly faces, gives advice and talks about what’s happening in her life.
The communications sophomore has nearly 13,000 subscribers and nearly 600,000 views on her YouTube channel, Sydney Alexandra. She posts videos about being a college student, vlogs (or "video blogs"), look books, hauls, makeup tutorials and advice videos.
Jozwiak, 19, started her channel in 2015, the summer after she finished high school. She first began posting videos of herself when she was in middle school, only to be made fun of by her classmates.
Bullying caused Jozwiak to drift away from YouTube, and it wasn't until her senior year of high school that she began to watch videos again.
"When I started watching YouTube religiously again that's where I was finally like, 'Wait, why don't I give this another shot,'" Jozwiak says. "The fact that I was soon going to college across the country, away from the people who picked on me, helped me stop worrying about the opinion of others."
The Illinois native had plans to attend ASU in the fall but she wasn’t able to find any videos on YouTube that gave good advice about college, especially videos that were specific to ASU. Jozwiak decided to start a channel with the username Sydney Alexandra, Alexandra being her middle name. She planned to make videos aimed at students wanting to learn more about the college experience as well as lifestyle videos.
It has been over year since Jozwiak started her channel, but more has changed in her life than just the number of her subscribers. YouTube even influenced Jozwiak to switch her major from education to communications with a minor in sales and marketing.
“I enjoyed YouTube and social media and that made me realize I would be much happier in that field surrounded by media rather than in a classroom,” Jozwiak says.
Jozwiak tries to show her viewers as much as she can that she is being her genuine self. This means she isn’t afraid to be silly in front of the camera; Jozwiak often changes her voice and makes funny faces.
“Watching my old videos, I seem so coy and soft spoken and watching my videos now, I’m a lot more like myself, and I got to that point by not caring what people think,” Jozwiak says. “I just like to be my goofy, weird self instead of trying to be something that people want of you because I don’t want people to get the wrong impression of me.”
Jozwiak’s most watched video is "Summer Morning Routine 2016" with over 200,000 views. In the video, Jozwiak shows herself waking up, stretching and making herself a bagel with cream cheese for breakfast.
“There are probably like 20 comments on that video like ‘Finally, someone who didn’t make an açai bowl with granola and fruit with lemon water’ and I’m like, cause I don’t do that,” Jozwiak says.
Not only does Jozwiak try to be genuine in her videos, but she also wants her viewers to do the same. She hopes that by her being her true self, she’ll be able to encourage her viewers to not be afraid to be who they truly are.
“My big thing is being yourself and not caring what people think. I think that’s a really big part of my brand because it just makes me upset when people feel like they have to shelter who they really are,” Jozwiak says.
Jozwiak finds it weird that people are so interested in her life, but she remembers how curious she was about college in high school, so she understands why people like to watch her videos. She makes sure to film vlogs that showcase a day at a university so her viewers can get an understanding of what college life is really like.
Jozwiak is open with her viewers about what university she attends because she recognizes the lack of videos specific to ASU. With ASU having over 80,000 students, Jozwiak realizes the amount of people her videos are able to reach.
Girls on campus have recognized Jozwiak from her videos and have asked to take pictures with her. Now that she is being noticed, Jozwiak is always thinking about who could be watching her videos whenever she is walking to class.
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“These two adorable girls asked for my photo and I was probably fangirling more than they would… It was the coolest experience ever,” Jozwiak says. “...When I do meet fans, I want them to say ‘oh my gosh, she is just like she is in her videos’.”
Jozwiak’s ultimate goal is to turn YouTube into a life-long career. In the meantime, Jozwiak hopes to film more travel vlogs and to reach out to more people from around the world.
“If I could get to 20,000 subscribers (by the end of this year) that would be a dream. I would probably cry,” Jozwiak says.
If Mariah Moneda could describe her photography in three words it would be textured, light and warm. When scrolling through her Instagram feed, you’ll see pictures from her recent trip to Europe, smiling faces and softly lit backgrounds.
Moneda’s passion for photography started her senior year of high school when her uncle gave her his old Canon 60D. After playing around with the camera, she realized photography was something she had an eye for and really enjoyed. Now as an ASU film sophomore, Moneda is working professionally as a photographer while also studying film and media studies.
“I’ve always been someone who liked being creative, and painting took too long and writing wasn’t exactly the best forte for me to project my image," says Moneda. "...I could literally show people what was going on inside my head and how I viewed things."
The summer after high school, Moneda began taking more and more photographs and posting them to her Instagram account. She started getting requests from people to take their senior photos, and her hobby transformed into a business.
After one of her friends gave her a promotional code to make a free website, Moneda was able to save over $200 on a platform and have an advantage over other photographers her age.
“I was able to get a head start in front of everybody because I had the equipment and I had the platform to get my stuff out there,” Moneda says.
Moneda’s favorite thing to photograph is people. Moneda finds most people don’t find themselves beautiful, and her goal is to show them a side of themselves that they might not be able to see.
“Everybody is attractive in their own way ... it’s just the way you’re captured and that’s what I do as a photographer, that’s my specialty,” Moneda says. “I love making people feel good about themselves and showing them that they do have this beauty about them and their uniqueness is something to be proud of.”
After a photoshoot, Moneda posts the photos she takes to her Instagram account. Here, she selects her best photographs and gives followers a sneak preview to the rest of the photos which are on her website. Instagram not only acts as her portfolio, but it also provides Moneda a way to connect to other photographers, models and artists who attend ASU.
Last semester Moneda was able to score an internship with Trend Magazine because one of her followers liked her work and suggested her to the publication. Also, this past summer she was able to work as an intern in Hollywood for Mario Productions after the company reposted some of her work.
