Every computer user, ages 9 to 90, knows YouTube, the digital hub that brought Justin Bieber, Korean rapper Psy and a host of other viral phenomena to the world. But few know that according to YouTube statistics, the site reaches more adults, ages 18 to 34, in the United States than any cable network. More than 6 billion hours of video are watched each month on the site—just about an hour for every single human on the planet.
These figures could be intimidating to some, but not 19-year-old Rachel C. Levin, the talent behind the YouTube channel RCLBeauty101. Rachel, who recently completed her freshman year at Penn State Brandywine, launched her vlog (short for “video blog”) in December of 2010 after being inspired by style videos around the Internet—and by the video production classes she took with her visionary teacher, Scott Seibert, at Lower Merion High School. “I will be forever grateful to Mr. Seibert,” Rachel says.
“I pick my vlog topics by seeing different things that people want to learn,” says Rachel, whose vlog covers a variety of topics including style, fashion, makeup, hairstyles and life in general.
With so many videos around the Internet, though, it can be difficult to stand out. Yet RCLBeauty101 has a large, dedicated fan base of subscribers that continues to grow by the day, with its popularity skyrocketing since its inception. Early on, RCLBeauty101 had just around 100,000 followers; today, she has more than 430,000 followers worldwide, with more than 24 million video views.
Rachel attributes this to the uniqueness of her videos’ content. Rachel, whose video topics have included do-it-yourself and homemade makeup lessons and “workouts for lazy people,” says, “I just really make my videos different from other people’s videos, and I choose unique topics.”
Recently she arranged a meet-and-greet while visiting Israel so she could get to meet some of her Israeli digital fans in real life, and more than 300 subscribers showed up to meet her.
Rachel’s vlog also caught the attention of a leading fashion magazine. She recently traveled to New York City for a photo shoot for Cosmopolitan magazine. She is going to be included with other talented young people in an article appearing in the September issue. This was not the first time that Rachel got the attention of the media. At age 16, she was quoted and pictured in the Wall Street Journal regarding her entrepreneurship with her YouTube channel.
It may come as a surprise to her hundreds of thousands of followers but Rachel’s videos, which are never more than six minutes long, can take as long as 17 hours to edit, according to Rachel.
Currently a communications student, Rachel plans to pursue a career in film after she graduates. Luckily, until that happens, her fans can find her giving advice on life, love and beauty on her YouTube channel.
Rachel C. Levin
www.youtube.com/rclbeauty101
www.instagram.com/rclbeauty101
www.twitter.com/rclbeauty101
www.facebook.com/rclbeauty101
Rclbeauty101@aol.com
Photograph by Jody Robinson
