2019 Gumbo final - Book - Page 24
The One With the
YouTube Channel
Courtney uses her platform as a way
to uplift women and girls to be more
confident in their everyday lives.
ouTube may be filled with Vine compilations and late-night talk
show interviews, but mass communication sophomore
Courtney Williams wants to use the platform as a way to uplift
women and girls to be more confident in their everyday lives.
Williams first joined YouTube when she was 8 years old. She and her two
sisters started their own channel, which would be named “Super Drama
Queens” or “SDQ” for short. They posted a few videos on drama, but the
account has since been taken down.
About a year ago, Williams decided she wanted to start a channel of her
own. Her account is under her first and middle name, Courtney Desir’ee.
She decided to make a lifestyle account with a focus on clothes and
thrifting, which has been a passion of hers since she was much younger.
“I remember when I first discovered thrift stores and I’ve considered them
to be some of my favorite stores ever since,” Williams said.
Williams began thrifting her freshman year of high school and might be
considered to be a thrifting pro at this point. Some of her favorite thrift
stores in Baton Rouge include Goodwill and Family Thrift Center.
“I enjoy the entire process of thrifting,” Williams said. “I spend a lot of time
finding clothes that I like and then I usually alter them to fit my style more.”
LSU student Courtney Williams discusses her Youtube
channel at the quad on Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018.
Williams knew she wanted to show people how easy thrifting could be
and that you can look great on a budget, so she saved up to buy her first
camera. She worked at Firehouse Subs, and within only four months of
working, she earned enough to buy a Canon T6 camera.
Once she had her dream camera, she started the filming process. Her first
video, to no surprise, was a thrifting haul. She went to all of her favorite
thrift stores and gathered all of her previously thrifted items and filmed her
haul.
“The filming didn’t really come naturally,” Williams said. “I had to work
on becoming comfortable in front of the camera because you want your
viewers to feel like they’re just hanging out with you.”
Though Williams loves thrifting and doing hauls, her favorite video on her
channel right now is her “Beginner Friendly Everyday Makeup Routine,”
which is one of her most recent videos. This was the first video that she
filmed with a new, updated background and higher quality lights.
Her most viewed videos include her best friend tag and her try on thrift
haul video, which both have almost 1,000 views.
Williams is planning on filming boyfriend tag with her boyfriend Lamont,
who is also an influencer. Lamont is an underground rapper who just
dropped his EP “Love Lamont” on Spotify and iTunes. Williams is going
to delve into her and Lamont’s relationship by asking him a series of
questions for her video.
“I just like to film videos that I know I like to watch,” Williams said. “I really
like boyfriend tags and hauls so I stick to filming those.”
Williams’ goals for her YouTube channel are pretty simple: she wants to
inspire people to love themselves and show them that anyone who posts
constantly and has a passion can become the YouTuber that they like to
watch.
Story • Kelly Swift
Photo •Lauren Watson
Design • Chloe Bryars
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