You may say first year student Katy Bellotte has several online friends. She has close to 300 thousand YouTube subscribers.
"It's crazy to think that I'm sitting in my dorm filming a video and [a] million people have the chance to watch it," Bellotte said.
Her channel has more than 21 million views, but her online presence goes beyond YouTube. Her Twitter has more than 40,000 followers and her Instagram has more than 60,000 followers. Bellotte has posted more than 600 videos on her YouTube channel, one of which gained more than 700,000 views.
"This is my fifth year making YouTube videos but even before I began on YouTube I've always dabbled in videography," Belotte says.
Starting in middle school, Bellotte began using social media as a creative outlet.
"I got bullied a lot in middle school. It just really wasn't a good time for me. So I figured I'd just channel all of my energy into making friends on the Internet," Bellotte said.
Bellotte's weekly videos focus on fashion and beauty tips. Internet friends aren't the only bonuses Bellotte got from posting on YouTube.
"L'Oreal was probably my most exciting deal that I've ever gotten," she said. "But I've been approached by Keds, which I I'm actually considering doing in the future, spoiler alert. But yeah, the brands is probably the most exciting part about what I do, being able to review products and in turn get money for it."
But the product deals are just a perk. Bellotte says her main goal is to make people feel good.
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"When I was in middle school I had really big self esteem problems and so with my videos, every single video, although it might not seem like it from the title or the subject area, I'm just trying to make people feel comfortable and feel loved," Bellotte said.
The Baltimore, Md. native applied only to Elon, impressed by the communications program.
"I'm hoping that Elon can definitely help me kind of develop exactly what I want to do I really love public relations and things like that and I think that my videos are a perfect way to kind of build off of that," she said.
Bellotte said she enjoys the process of planning out, shooting, and editing a video for her YouTube. Her favorite videos follow a "look book" format, which showcase Bellotte's personal style. She says she is still surprised by her success.
"It feels crazy. I still cannot kind of grasp the fact that all of these perfect strangers know who I am it's insane," Bellotte said.
What's up next for Bellotte? She says she'd love to collaborate with Elon students to bring multiple perspectives to her videos.
Bellotte is sure that Elon will provide her with the skills she needs to turn her passion for making videos into a career.
To see Katy Bellotte's work, visit her YouTube channel, Twitter, and Instagram pages.