In the summer of 2016, senior Amari Hurn started posting clips of herself dancing on Instagram. In approximately one month, she started gaining followers like crazy. She now has 466K followers and receives commission from sponsors off what she posts.
“I’ve always been a entertainer at heart, so actually recording it and posting it wasn’t a huge difference,” Hurn said. “I was always somewhere dancing in class or just entertaining someone period, always the center of attention.”
When coming up with ideas, Hurn is very creative; she makes up a lot of what she does but she also does mashups of others’ ideas too.
“I like to add something unique to what I do,” Hurn said. “Not as artificial.”
Her platform has recently expanded into YouTube as well. YouTube requires longer content unlike Instagram with a just a 60 second maximum video, being able to make videos also requires some sort of editing skills.
“With YouTube there’s a lot of things you have to consider,” Hurn said. “In order to build a fan base on YouTube you kind of have to start with the wave, what’s popular. Once I hit the amount of subscribers I want, I plan on changing some things around. Instagram is a lot more personal.”
Along with making videos, Hurn also has a great love for hair. She is sponsored by Human hair companies and makes money off of each post she posts with their products.
“That’s the reason why I’m always changing my hair,” Hurn said. “I plan on starting a human hair business as well. I love changing my hair and exploring lots of colors and I figured why not make money off of it.”Amari final pic -Jenna
After uploading videos of her dancing onto Instagram, Hurn made it possible to make money by promoting her changing hair and her dancing.
“I plan to use it as a boost to help with what I want to do in the future,” Hurn said. “I plan to open a business as well as continue with being a social media influencer, including YouTube and things of that nature.”
Being on the internet has numerous negative effects as well. It means that anyone can watch you at anytime, and on Instagram people can direct message you saying whatever they want.
“I often get inappropriate Snapchats and I try not to share my location,” Hurn said. “Since most of the videos I make are dance videos my figure is shown off a lot and men can get out of hand.”
Despite these downsides, nothing can stop Hurn from doing what she wants. After coming so far, she would not jeopardize what she has done for anything.
“I plan to open up a shop one day and become my own boss,” Hurn said. “I can’t explain too much here but wait for it. You all will see me soon.”