We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Makayla Andrews. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Makayla below.

Makayla, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?

Yes, I have been able to make social media content creation my full time job since I was 17 years old. I have been posting on social media since I was around 13. I was doing it for fun and didn’t expect anything from it. When I was 17 I started taking social media seriously. I started to run it like a business, I was posting videos five times a day on TikTok. After three months of consistently posting I finally went viral. My first viral video, I wasn’t even in! I was so sad! It was a video showing my ballet outfits vs my latin ballroom outfits. They were just laid out on the floor of my room. Once I saw that video was going viral I started posting about 10 videos a day for a few weeks. I suddenly was getting millions of views and thousands of followers just in a few days. Ever since then I have been posting consistently on all platforms including TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, and Snapchat. Slowly brands started reaching out to for collaborations. I would post sponsored content with their products they would send me for free along with a fixed rate for posting. Brand deals is how I have been able to make this my full time job. Along with YouTube’s monetization program. I am now able to support myself living in New York City through my work on social media. I think I could have sped up the process by posting more videos sooner, the more videos you post the faster your accounts are going to grow.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am a social media content creator, latin ballroom dancer and college student living in New York City. On my social media I am mostly known for my viral series, “ASMR Taking My Ballroom Hair Out” this is a series I created after I decided to film an ASMR video on my hair. I thought it was funny that my hair was rock solid from all of the gel and hairspray it had in it because of my ballroom competitions. I didn’t think anything of it and started to film these funny videos of tapping my hair and peeling my hair off my forehead. These videos went completely viral on my TikTok page which led to my success in social media. Now I share my latin ballroom dancing journey with my audience by taking them to lessons and competitions. I have been competing in Latin Ballroom since 2021 and just won 6th place at United States Dance Championships this fall which is our nationals. I vlogged my whole experience competing at nationals and worlds this year and shared it on YouTube with my audience. Besides dance content I also make fashion content, I am currently a sophomore at Fashion Institute Of Technology. I am getting my bachelors degree in Fashion Business Management. I hope to create my own latin ballroom dance wear line with the knowledge I learn from college. My biggest dream and goal is to be a pro on Dancing With The Stars. I moved to NYC so I could train consistently to prepare to hopefully be on Dancing With The Stars one day.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

My biggest goal and dream is to be on Dancing With The Stars. I have wanted to be a pro on this show basically since I was born! The show came out in 2005 and I was born in 2005! I grew up watching DWTS every week with my mom who was also a ballroom dancer. We have gone to so many of the DWTS tours and for the past two years DWTS has actually sent me to the tour to make content! Collaborating with Dancing With The Stars Tour on social media is definitely a highlight in my career! I am training at the studio almost every day to be able to be on DWTS one day all while posting on social media to get my name out there so hopefully DWTS will see me!

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most rewarding part about being in this industry is getting to meet the amazing people I meet along the way. I have made lifelong friends through social media, going from being mutuals on socials to actually hanging out in person to become friends is one of my favorite parts about this industry! I also love to meet my audience and supporters in real life as well! I get to meet a lot of my followers at ballroom competitions and it is so fun! I even stay in contact with a lot of the girls I meet in person. They are the ones always liking and commenting who got me to where I am today. I will always take time out of my day to talk to them and spend time with them. I wouldn’t be where I am today without my audience. Meeting the people who support me is the most rewarding part of being a content creator!

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://instagram.com/makayla._.andrews?igshid=MmIzYWVlNDQ5Yg==
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/makayla-andrews-762742256/
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@makayla._.andrews?si=DSQvAGzZbHYheCko
• Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@makayla._.andrews?_t=8f8TBa04Tjq&_r=1

  Snapchat: https://www.snapchat.com/add/makaylaaandrews

Image Credits

Victoria Hope Waters