In the male-dominated world of gaming, Eva Violet is making a name for herself. The video game creator and entrepreneur has racked up over 160 million likes on TikTok and over 35k followers on Twitch.
Eva joins us on Close-Up Culture to chat about her background, going viral on TikTok, her creative process, and much more.
Hi Eva, welcome to Close-Up Culture. What are your earliest memories of being on social media and feeling inspired to create your own content?
I actually wasn’t allowed to have any social media until I was 13. My mom did not allow that. I would watch YouTube before that, but I wasn’t to have an account on anything. I had to wait, so then on my 13th birthday, at literal midnight, I was so excited I stayed up to get all of the socials. I got Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat. I also always really really enjoyed watching classic 2015 YouTube videos like all the beauty gurus, tutorials and Jeffree Star and then I also loved the DIY communities like Alisha Marie and My Life as Eva.
When I love something I tend to fixate on it and it becomes the only thing I’ll think about or do so within a few months of me watching the DIY girls my whole entire room was filled with DIY projects that I made. I spent all my pocket money on things to make DIY projects. I remember being so angry because I wasn’t from America and a lot of the things I needed for these projects could only be gotten at Michael‘s. It was a whole thing, but anyway that’s what I started to do, and when I started my YouTube channel when I was 13, it was my DIY room decor.
What gave you the confidence and inspiration to put yourself out there online?
The first time I put myself out there was again when I was 13 and that kind of shook me quite a bit because people at school found my YouTube channel and bullied me for it, so I ended up deleting my whole entire channel. I literally don’t even have access to my old videos anymore because we don’t have the PC which is really sad. So from that I was really scared to put myself out there after that.
I never made anything again until I was 16. I made a couple YouTube videos, and again got scared. It wasn’t until lockdown where I thought Ok wait I’m actually not gonna be going outside and seeing these people, so no one’s going to actually perceive me in real life anymore so let me just do what I wanna do. So, I just started making TikToks and then I loved it so much and I’ve been doing that for like three years now.
What’s your creative process like for creating videos?
I pretty much just use my Notes app and put all my ideas I have in there. I swear to God that notes app must be like taking up the majority of my storage because I never go in to delete them after, so like every TikTok idea I’ve ever had is on that notes app. I just go on and go for it and I’ll just say which videos I want to film that day and that’s it. It’s occasionally spontaneous. Some stuff I think of on the spot, but most of the time it’s something that I’ve thought out before. A lot of the time actually it’s something that I think of when I am trying to fall asleep and then I have to get up and type in my ideas.
You’ve had a number of videos go viral, including the memorable ‘Smile!’ TikTok video. What is that feeling like when you see a video explode in that way?
Oh God, you know what it’s like actually drugs. I’m not even joking, it’s so euphoric. I was sitting there watching it when the smile video was blowing up. Because it was so quick, it definitely went over 1 million views in the first day, so it was going up really really fast. and I just remember sitting there for an hour just refreshing my page. and I would wake up after sleeping and it would be like 20,000 new followers. and I thought oh my God! What is going on? It was so exciting!
You also play games on Twitch. How have you found the experience of creating content in that space?
I love it. There’s obviously a downside to it but I really like the fact that you can talk in real time. It can be scary at times, some streamers get swatted just cause they are showing a little bit of their life. It’s terrifying though. There’s always those scary parts of it, but I genuinely love it. I feel like it’s a way to connect with my audience on such a deeper level and they can ask me questions in real time. I don’t really have the time to think about my answers so I can just be one hundred percent myself and I really like that!
You’ve had incredible growth in a short period of time. What are a few things that are at the top of your wishlist/to-do list in 2024?
In 2024 I definitely want to travel a lot more. I’d say my main goal though which is not even a super exciting one is consistency. I gotta get my consistency back. For two years I was posting every single day three times a day. It was crazy, but it never felt like work. It was never really stressful and then I got sick for an entire month, and it kinda threw me off balance so much that I got out of my routine and I’ve never quite been able to get back into it, so my goal this year is consistency. I really wanna be like at the top of my game this year 100%
For more of Eva: evaaviolett – Link in Bio & Creator Tools | Beacons