YouTube Beauty Guru Ashley Sander: Beauty and the Vlog Podcast 27
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Ashley Sander is a 27 year old mom and military wife who started her YouTube channel in 2011 as a hobby. She was born in Honolulu and raised in Las Vegas. She is currently in school with a major in Liberal Arts and a minor in Criminal Justice and is planning on attending Cosmetology school this summer. She sees her channel as a way for her to be able to career yet still stay at home with her daughter Raeden. She now treats her channel as her full time job. Ashley has 134k subscribers and 6.5 million view views.
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Ashley Sander Notes!
Beauty Bonus Round
What are your three holy grail beauty items?
1.) The Balm Mary Luminizer Highlight. That product is at the top of my list and I recommend it to everyone, it’s so amazing. http://amzn.to/1xuSWKc
2.) Benefit Hoola: I know I can trust it, it never fails me: http://amzn.to/1Cpt6gB
3,)Mac Boldly Bare Lip Liner: I have it in my purse, I can’t live without it: http://amzn.to/1bdz0Hg
What are your three holy grail work Items?
1.) Camera: The ultimate investment. I went through so many cameras trying to find the right one. I am always on the hunt for a new camera. Keeping an eye open for a new one coming up. With no camera, there’s no channel! I just got the Canon 70D. My husband got it for me last year. Every time I get a new camera, I get so excited. It is one I have had my eye on for a long time. Cameras are definitely an investment. Even as a parent I take the camera out and use it to video my daughter. I am on the hunt for a lens.
2.) I’m huge on social media especially Instagram and Twitter, trying to promote this or that or your video. Apps that you use to edit videos. Whatever is enticing to viewers to check out your videos and your channel. Facetune and camera+ are the phone apps I am obsessed with. It’s crazy what these apps are capable of. I try not to go too overboard, people can tell if things look photoshopped.
3.) My husband is a tool whether he wants to admit it or not. He helps me so much it’s ridiculous. He always fixes my lighting. He helps me film a lot of my videos. Husband, thank you
4.) Thumbnails are very important. It is the first impression and catches the eye. I used to be terrible at thumbnails back in the day, but I’ve gotten better. PicMonkey is the one I use on my computer for thumbnails.
What are your favorite time management tools?
My phone is one I use daily. It beeps at me from when I wake up to at night. I can’t live without my phone. With it being so prominent in life, it’s hard for me to detach. With YouTube, I am constantly on there and social media, It’s so hard for me to separate myself from my phone. Sometimes I have to plug it in and leave it alone. Sometimes I don’t get out of my room until 5pm and the whole day is gone. Everything is so accessible on your phone, your calendar, you’re everything.
What is the favorite opportunity you got from YouTube?
The opportunity of dealing with brands that I had in the past I used to shop for. It’s amazing to work with well known brands. My daughter and I had the chance to work with Disney. It’s incredible to say, I work with Disney. With Raeden (daughter) it’s more suitable for family, we did a video on our favorites for theme parks, our favorite rides, what we like to do at theme parks. The video was published on Disney’s YouTube page. That is my favorite thing. Disney is a fantasy. It was a dream I never thought would happen. I am part of Makers studios who hooked me up with Disney. I flew to California with my daughter and we worked with other Maker moms and their kids. We sat on a couch and answered questions. It was so intimate. It was personable and raw. I feel like Disney brings out the best in people anyways. You don’t need to have a script or anything. We sat on a couch and talked and it was awesome. Another big brand I worked with, also with my daughter, was Target. It helps being a part of a network (Maker) it’s not just one channel, it’s a wide range of channels. Maker helps you or the brand to help find the right fit. With Raeden we did a back to school theme video and were able to work with Target. Maker definitely helps. It’s like a close knit family. These are awesome opportunities. It’s so fun, you do what you love. It definitely helps.
Who is your beauty vlogger inspiration?
Dulce Candy. She was the first fashion/beauty channel that I ever saw on YouTube. She was in the army so I initially grasped onto that, my husband is in the army, she’s a female, she’s into makeup. She reminds me of myself. She’s a burst of sunshine on camera, but in crows and around people she’s a little more timid. I admire her and she’s my top favorite ever.
What would you not do again if you were to start your channel now?
I wouldn’t take the time off. I feel like I lost a lot of trust. Subscriber count isn’t super huge to me, it doesn’t mean anything to me, it’s the views on your videos. I’m huge on losing loyalty. I definitely wish I would have sucked it up and continued.
What are you glad you did do when you first started?
I’m glad I was vulnerable in the sense to expose my family. I know a lot of people take that and keep it private which I respect and understand why. We have welcomed so many opportunities with my daughter and with my husband I have that military demographic. I get so much support where I need in those areas. I have so many comments and emails. Where I have helped them whenever they might need a little push or whatever. Just exposing my life the way I have, there are some negatives but at the end of the day we are not perfect. We live life to the fullest, we welcome people to relate to any situation we have anything we face everyday. That is probably the biggest thing.
What is your unfair advantage?
I feel that that with YouTube its such a blessing, I have said that a hundred thousand times. The truth is anyone can do it. Its really about putting yourself out there and not letting anything blur your vision. The relationships and them helping me spread the word and the channel and Instagram. Some YouTubers might not encourage smaller channels which I always try not to do. I like to think I am the same person I was when I first started my channel. I always try to remain humble. I always wanted to be true to my viewers. They know when you are not being true to yourself. It was definitely word of mouth and people helping me expose my channel. Your subscriber count would jump overnight.
If you are a YouTuber, sign up for Grapevine (It’s FREE!)! You get connected with potential sponsors and other YouTubers looking to collaborate! (Plus you will be getting a special bonus exclusively for my listeners and you are supporting the show!) Click here.
You can find Ashley and her channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/alhsander/featured
