“I really just want to help people,” Kemberly Giron, fourth-year student at WCU, said about her mission in life. Giron is almost like any other student here at West Chester. She balances day-to-day activities such as classes, socializing, and extracurriculars. Giron is currently a nursing major with a concentration in nutrition with a minor in Spanish. She is a member of Chi Epsilon Sigma, which is a National Latin sorority on campus. She serves as the community service chair for the sorority.
“I am really involved in the community because of that,” Giron said. Giron also works as an intern for Albert Einstein Medical Center and mentors middle school and high school girls in Kennett Square.
In between juggling academics and school life, Giron is a fast growing star on the Internet. Giron has a YouTube channel, focusing on make-up, hair, and style tips for women on a budget. Her tutorial videos get between 500-1,000 hits. So between academics, extracurriculars, and running her own YouTube channel, how does Giron do it all? “I really don’t know,” Giron said, noting that she hadn’t made a YouTube video in a couple weeks due to studying for an exam. But her fans seem eager and excited every time she makes a video. Giron was not always interested in make-up and hair.
“In high school, I only wore eyeliner and lip gloss. But when I first came to college, one of my first friends here showed me how to put make-up on and she taught me how to wear foundation and other make-up,” Giron said. Giron has also always been involved in art.
“I wanted to be an art teacher when I was younger. And then when I came to college, I thought I might want to be an art therapy nurse,” Giron said. “But I think I might go to school for cosmetology. I want to do make-up on the side when I graduate.” Giron has had an abundance of experience, adding proms and weddings to her make-up resume. “I felt like my background in art helped because it is kind of like painting,” Giron said.
Giron features brands that women can get in drug stores at an affordable cost, but how does she afford to do these tutorials?
“A lot of the stuff I already have, but I buy them by using coupons,” Giron said. “I am a college student and I am broke so I have a routine.” Giron receives a circular of coupons and she also gets the Sunday newspaper.
“Once a month they have the PNG savers and smart source so I correlate the store sales with the coupons that are available,” Giron said. “I get the best sale that I can get. Foundations that normally cost $12, I get them for $3.”
Giron even reaches out to her viewers by having contests and give-aways. Giron’s last give-away included a nice package of make-up and hair products. “It was worth a lot of money, but I really didn’t pay that much for it,” Giron said. “There were about seven mascaras in the give-away basket and after the sales and coupons, even mascara was about twelve cents. It wasn’t too much money.” From that give-away alone, Giron got 70 new subscribers to her channel.
Giron gets at least 500 views on her videos. “The most popular video actually already has 1,200 views and people commented on it saying ‘you’re so good at doing hair” so it feels good,’ Giron said. “It’s interesting to see that the people who comment and subscribe to my channel are people that I don’t even know.” Giron even has subscribers message her.
“There are people who message me and they say ‘my daughter and I watch your videos’ and I don’t even know them,” Giron said. Subscribers even ask her when she is going to be making a new video. Even when she eventually gets a job in nursing or cosmetology, Giron hopes to continue her YouTube channel. Giron not only has support from her subscribers but she also has support from her family.
“They love it!” Giron said. “My sister is on her own and lives with her husband, so I cannot always do her make-up so she’ll watch my videos so it is really exciting. My younger sister lives at home and she also watches my videos to do her make-up.” Giron even gets support from her sorority sisters. Giron put her YouTube channel on the national list-serve and she has been reaching sisters all the way from Texas. She has even been contacted by and approved for Google AdSense.
Giron also has a blog that goes along with her YouTube channel. With the rise of stars developing on YouTube, Giron is well on her way to becoming “YouTube famous.”
To watch her YouTube videos, visit her at http://www.youtube.com/user/kemgironk1
Angela Thomas is a fifth year student majoring in English. She can be reached at AT683005@wcupa.edu.