Social media apps are absolutely life-changing. They can be used for fun, business, or even a career path.
People around the world are gaining notoriety for all sorts of digital content they share online. From YouTube videos and Instagram photos to Vine, Snapchat and Musical.ly clips, you don’t need to just be a singer or an actor to break out into entertainment.
RELATED: 4 Reasons Why Musical.ly is Our New Favorite App!
For nearly a half a decade, The Streamys have shined a light on the digital community, honoring the best in online video and the creators behind it with the annual Streamy Awards held in Los Angeles. The 6th annual show will take place this Tuesday, October 6th at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, and Celeb Secrets had the opportunity to catch up with nominee Baby Ariel this week to talk about her nomination, being the most followed user on Musical.ly, and using her voice to communicate a positive anti-bullying message to her audience.
RELATED: YouTube’s Biggest Stars Announce Nominees for 6th Annual Streamy Awards
Baby Ariel is nominated for Entertainer of the Year. Fans can cast their vote at streamys.org/vote and/or on Twitter by including the Baby Ariel’s name, any form of the word “vote†(ex: vote, voting, voted) AND #streamys in their Tweets. Fans can vote up to 100 times per day on both streamys.org and Twitter.
RELATED: King Bach to Host the 6th Annual Streamy Awards
Check out our full Q&A with Baby Ariel below and make sure to tune in to the 6th Annual Streamy Awards live on Tuesday, October 6th on YouTube!
Celeb Secrets: Congrats on your Streamy Nomination! How did you get started on Musical.ly?
Baby Ariel: “Thank you! I am super excited to be nominated for the Streamys! And it’s all thanks to my amazing supporters. I love them! I started on Musical.ly a little over a year ago. I just went on the app just to have fun my friends and we started making lip synching videos and I actually incorporated a hand motion and also using different facial expressions. And one day I got featured on the app, which means everybody who has the app sees my video. And when that happened I guess they liked the kind of videos I did so I started gaining followers on Musical.ly, which transferred over to Instagram, and I made a YouTube channel where I began to post weekly videos. And then from there I started connecting with my supporters more and talking to them more, making more videos, better content, musical.lys every day even while I was traveling and everything.”
Celeb Secrets: How does it make you feel watching your first video?
Baby Ariel: “It’s really cool! It’s funny to see. I’ve changed a lot! I looked like a baby in that one and my hair was a lot longer because my hair is short now but it’s cool seeing it and what kinds of videos I made at the beginning.”
Celeb Secrets: We heard you got signed with CAA. Congratulations! What would you like to branch out in now that you have signed with them?
Baby Ariel: “Thank you I am so excited to work with them! There is so much that I’m excited to do while working with them like acting for example and singing. I can’t wait to see what we can do together.”
Celeb Secrets: Did you ever think that after one lip syncing video you would become this famous? We know you have recently got a Teen choice award for ‘Choice Muser’ and you are the most followed person on Musical.ly!
Baby Ariel: “I don’t even consider it famous! To me Justin Bieber is famous. But it’s really cool being able to meet a lot of new people, speak to a lot of new people and make a positive impact because I feel very passionately about bullying so if I can get that out there as much as possible and make kids happy and smile every single day then that’s the best part.”
Celeb Secrets: Have you sung in real life? Any chances we might hear you singing in the future?
Baby Ariel: “I am working on it, but we will see what happens! I’ve been taking singing lessons and I find them a lot of fun.”
Celeb Secrets: What made you decide to start a YouTube channel?
Baby Ariel: “Actually I first started social media as lip syncing and then I created YouTube account and thought maybe the social media thing is pretty cool? I looked up a bunch of YouTubers and realized that they actually do it as a career. I saw their videos and thought it looked like a lot of fun, so I got a camera and I started making fun challenges, parodies, skits, and I’m so in love with it it’s so much fun.”
Celeb Secrets: Where do you see your YouTube channel going in the next few years?
Baby Ariel: “There’s a lot I want to do. I actually just started Vlogging about 2 weeks ago, I’ve been doing weekly vlogs. I’m looking forward to continuing that. But the biggest thing for me is making better content for my supporters, like higher quality stuff. I really love making skits, so maybe get a little bit more into short movies and scripted material. Cause right now I’m filming in the kitchen with my mom, so I’m excited to see where it all goes!”
Celeb Secrets: If social media didn’t exist, did you have another future career in mind?
Baby Ariel: “I actually wanted to be a lawyer! I’m really happy I found social media because I thought about being a lawyer but also tried gymnastics. I didn’t love it so I thought maybe I could try dance too? But I really didn’t know what my thing was. I felt like all of my friends had their thing. Some of them were really passionate about gymnastics and dance.  And when I discovered social media I thought it was super fun and I loved it. I love making people happy and so I realized that was my thing.”
Celeb Secrets: What is the hardest part about being a ‘muser’?
Baby Ariel: “I think looking for new ways to improve my content on YouTube and Musical.ly. That’s the hardest part. It’s also a lot of fun but sitting there and thinking of new ideas and brainstorming, sometimes I will sit there for hours thinking what is the next thing that I can do? What’s a new type of video I can make? Just so I can show my supporters something new for them to have fun.”
Celeb Secrets: We are Celeb Secrets, do you have anything about yourself like a hidden talent or a fun fact that nobody knows about?
Baby Ariel: “I guess probably because I’ve been doing lip syncing on musical.ly people think that’s all I can do. But I have actually been working on my singing voice and I think I am getting pretty good at it! People wouldn’t expect that from me as I got followers from a lip syncing app but I am working on it! So we’ll see what happens…”
Ariel is partnered with Collab (www.collabcreators.com), the leading digital influencer network for multi-platform talent.