Meet Jerelleen Thomas of Lifewithjerry / Sewgoodlooking in Hayward

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jerelleen Thomas.

Jerelleen, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I am a YouTuber as well as a business owner. When it comes to my YouTube channel, I used to make random videos growing up but never took it seriously. As I entered college, in 2016, I started a joint YouTube with a friend at the time, which didn’t work out. I branched off onto my own channel vlogsbyjerry which is now Lifewithjerry, where I created college videos, those got me to about 2k-3k subscribers, but I realized those type of videos weren’t my passion. I started revamping my channel & began doing pranks, challenges, vlogs, etc. I wasn’t very consistent until a year and a half ago or so. I attended vidcon last summer, where I met DDG and his entire crew, my friends and I went to a kickback with them at Chino’s house. We gained a lot of insight there about YouTube from various people, it was then I had the motivation to truly grind. Shortly after, a few months later my channel blew up from 7k to 10k and eventually 100k from doing a trend of worst reviewed videos. I’ve recently stopped the worst reviews to focus on other content but I still do some here and there. I also run a business called sewgoodlooking, which I started with my friends during college, out of our dorm room. We sell eyelashes, cosmetics, and apparel. I also sell merch and am trying to grow my social media presence on various platforms.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
It definitely has not been a smooth road. I’ve struggled with consistency, trying to be a college student, be involved on campus; while being an entrepreneur/content creator got pretty overwhelming, but I learned time management. I’ve struggled with losing motivation quite a lot of times because when the numbers don’t add up & you’re putting your all into your craft, it’s pretty disappointing, you lose motivation and encouragement. On top of that, I’ve gotten turned down a lot by other creators when it comes to collaborations, flaked on by creators, and some even tried starting unnecessary drama for no reason. Nonetheless I kept my head up, stayed out the mix and did me. It is also really hard being your own manager and not knowing everything you need to know. At one point, I was also scammed by a manager.

Please tell us about Lifewithjerry / Sewgoodlooking.
As far as my YouTube channel goes, I am extremely proud of how far I’ve come. From my thumbnails to my content. I’ve gotten my own type of look. I also have my own personalized saying in the beginning of my videos and so much more. No matter how big I get, I always stay humble and hungry to work. I love interacting with my supporters, I even have a few group chats with them. When it comes to sewgoodlooking, we are 100% doing it on our own, even when it came to our lipglosses, we hand made those, as well as our eye glitters. I am extremely proud of the growth in both crafts.

If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
I would have done my research first, learned how to properly go about starting both, how to market myself and my business, and how to score collaborations. I would network better in the beginning and not let my shyness get in the way. I would also have stayed consistent from the beginning.

Contact Info:

• Website: sewgoodlooking.com
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/jerrrry._
• Twitter: www.twittter.com/its__jerry
• Other: Youtube: Lifewithjerry

Image Credit:
@jottiart (red background photo), thumbnails: @royaltmadeit / @dez9x / @akamohab

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