Sep 07, 2023 [[read-time]] minute read
“I cherish my community beyond limits and am truly grateful to be growing and learning with them”
zoeunlimited
Zoeunlimited is a long and short-form lifestyle creator known for her takes on pop-culture, fashion, and wellness. She has a tight-knit Gen Z & Millennial female community (viewers include Olivia Rodrigo) who connect and engage with her video essays on beauty standards, trends, confidence, and self-improvement.
Always a creative person, the pandemic served as the final push to inspire zoeunlimited to chase her dreams of pursuing a creative career. “Although my videos started as a cluster of different topics, ranging from diet and fitness, to adulting, to college, to even tips on passing CPA exams,” zoeunlimited recalls, “I soon noticed that the core pillar of what I create relates to my passion for growth.”
As someone who believes that there are no limits to growth, zoeunlimited brings her community with her on a journey to reflect and expand through her Shorts and long-form video essays, where she invites her audience to think critically about pop culture and beauty standards. Zoeunlimited documents the process of exploring wellness, fitness, fashion, and the inner confidence and empathy we all have.
“I cherish my community beyond limits and am truly grateful to be growing and learning with them,” says zoeunlimited. “So no matter what the next creative direction of the channel will be, I want to always lead my unlimited squad to do our better; because unlike best, better is a process, the beginning of a journey to the next breakthrough.”
Zoeunlimited was able to grow from 1 million subscribers to 2 million subscribers in just two weeks thanks to the power of YouTube Shorts’ discoverability.
“The growth from 1 million to 2 million subscribers happened in the blink of an eye and was surreal,” zoeunlimited reflects. “I made a video breaking down the specific tactics used in creating my most viral short that gained me over 1.5M subscribers. Short concept credits to JT Casey, another creator in the YouTube Shorts Creator Community! That’s the power of collaboration in content creation. The magic behind that Short was how well it converted viewers into subscribers through the element of curiosity and a strong call to action.”
Short-form content on YouTube has helped zoeunlimited expand beyond her existing community and reach new people who want to join the squad. “Creating Shorts has always been fun for me and an experimental process,” says zoeunlimited. “I feel more at ease to branch out of my existing niche in Shorts and just have fun creating whatever I find interesting!”
“Although the growth to my channel might seem like an overnight success,” says zoeunlimited, “the foundation of the community was built over the course of 3 years; during which, I only missed my weekly long-form upload once. Consistently showing up for my community and myself as a creator helped build the connection between my first 1 million subscribers and me.”
Zoeunlimited views her audience not just as her subscribers, but as her friends who grew and learned with her over the past 3 years: “ We bond over the struggles we faced, the challenges we overcame, and embrace the rich diversity in our community.” For other creators looking to build their own community on YouTube, zoeunlimited shares her best advice:
“Meeting my subscribers in person all around the world always brings me so much joy," she says. “It reminds me that these are the people I create for, and subscription is not merely a number. Consistently show up for them and they will consistently show up for you. Before thinking numbers, think people.”
Determining her unique value as a creator has helped zoeunlimited figure out how she can uniquely connect with her audience. “Value is defined differently by everyone, but as a creator, always ask yourself why should someone be watching your videos? The more you give out to the world, the more people will start showing up for you,” says zoeunlimited. “Value could be in the form of education, entertainment, or simply creating an emotion that someone seeks. Find your value prop!”
While it’s always a little scary to try something new, zoeunlimited believes this strategy is crucial to keep growing as a creator. “Changing things or simply starting is scary," she admits. “The projections of how people will react to a piece of content are sometimes the biggest limiting factors to a creator’s growth journey. One thing I constantly remind myself is that failure does not exist in the realm of creation. Either something works where people love it and watch it, or it’s a valuable learning lesson to reflect on how things could be altered to bring the message to the right people next time.”
“Perfection does not exist. It’s painful to admit that but the beauty of imperfection is that the raw authenticity helps us connect and understand each other,” shares zoeunlimited. Instead of trying to create a facade in front of the camera, zoeunlimited treats her content like an open diary- sharing all her mistakes, struggles, pains, as well as wins, joys, and accomplishments. Her audience comes to her for this sense of authenticity and vulnerability. “Not everyone has to like you, but the right people- your true community will; and they will also bring their most authentic true self to you,” says zoeunlimited.