Sophie Headon, 26, has more than 1million subscribers on her channel (Picture: Chase Paul)
Welcome back to How I Made It, Metro.co.uk’s weekly career journey series.
This week we’re chatting with Londoner Sophie Headon, 26, behind the YouTube channel Sophdoeslife, which has 1.4million subscribers.
If you’ve ever stumbled on beauty YouTube, you’ve likely seen her bargain brand reviews.
She shares with us how her channel grew, getting swept up in the FaceTune era, and how she likes to remain somewhat private in her job as a content creator.
Here’s how she made it happen.
When did you first get into YouTube?
I started my channel in 2015, which in my eyes was the peak of Beauty YouTube.
I had spent my teenage years watching Zoella, Tanya Burr, Pixiwoo, FleurDeForce, and Samantha Maria to name a few (some iconic British beauty creators), so I already had a lot of beauty creators to look up to.
They all inspired me to start my channel, and at 18 years old I thought I would just give it a go! I started my channel at a good time, when Beauty YouTube was at a real high.
How have you pivoted to TikTok as that’s become more popular?
I remember when Tiktok first launched, I really thought it was an app for kids.
It was only during lockdown that I saw everyone around me talking about it, that I decided to download it and give it a try by doing quick product reviews, sharing makeup hacks, and mini tutorials.
Beauty content is SO popular on Tiktok, it’s great but I do find it less personal than YouTube.
What are the challenges you’ve faced in growing your channel? How long did it take to become ‘big’?
My growth on YouTube has definitely come and gone in waves, it was never as simple as uploading a video and it becoming ‘big’ overnight.
At the very beginning, my makeup skills were really not great, and I was trying to juggle being a university student and studying for a Graphic Design degree, so it was a struggle. I would spend the majority of my free time filming and editing YouTube videos, and worked for free for the first year of my channel – it was more of a hobby to me and I was just enjoying the filming and editing process, and making little to no money from ad revenue.
It wasn’t until maybe a year later, that I filmed a Testing Primark Makeup video, and Testing Poundland Makeup Video, that I really started to see growth.
Those videos became super popular, and I had a lot of young viewers who were really interested in affordable makeup (as was I), so I continued to review and test affordable makeup, which people really seemed to enjoy.
At the beginning of summer 2016, I had hit 30,000 subscribers which was more than I ever expected, and by the end of that summer I had hit 100,000 subscribers, which seemed like a crazy amount of growth.
I went through stages of not gaining as many, and then suddenly having an influx of subscribers if one or two videos were performing well.
‘I think people need reminding that you really never know what people are going through.’ (Picture: Chase Paul)
What does beauty mean to you?
To me beauty is all about whatever makes you feel your best.
Sure, there are trending makeup styles, but if you want to do a full coverage look with heavy eye makeup – even if it’s not ‘trendy’ anymore (according to the internet) – then you do you.
What excites me the most is actually seeing people embrace their supposed ‘flaws’ and ditch the beauty filters, and show what real skin actually looks like.
I definitely got swept up in the time of FaceTune and editing apps many years ago, and thought that I had to edit my pictures and make my makeup look picture perfect to get likes or views. Looking back, that makes me sad.
Have you had to work a ‘regular’ job?
I’ve not had a ‘regular’ job alongside YouTube, as when I started my channel I was 18, incredibly anxious, and going to university while still living with my parents.
I started my YouTube channel then offered a job with Revolution on their social media content creation team.
So I was trying to juggle quite a lot, which ultimately led me to leave my degree. I continued with my own YouTube content and the Revolution job for a couple of years, but then decided that I needed to focus on my own content and my own brand deals.
What do you love most about your job?
The fact that I get to work with some of the brands I grew up loving is a big perk of the job, and one that I will never take for granted.
I recently got to be a part of YouTube’s Edition, which was an absolute pinch-me moment. A handful of young British creators, including myself, were asked to share some of our favourite up and coming creators with our audiences.
I focused on beauty creators, and got to share some very talented people that I recommend watching.
What do you dislike the most?
Probably the fact that people can sometimes expect certain things from me – I think sometimes when you watch someone online, you can really feel like you know them, but in reality you are only seeing a tiny portion of their life and what they are choosing to share.
For example, at the start of this year we had found out that my dad has cancer, which he is thankfully recovered from now after surgery, but it was a very scary time and I was struggling mentally.
I had a couple messages asking me why I wasn’t posting as much and people criticising me for slacking, when in reality I could not face putting on a happy face in videos, so I just stopped posting as much as normal.
That kind of thing is really hard, and sometimes I think people need reminding that you really never know what people are going through.
An average day in the working life of Sophie Headon
I’d be lying if I said I had a ‘typical’ day, but I start the day by replying to messages from my manager.
Then I will check my calendar – I have a joint one with my manager so we can both input work/deadlines/meetings/appointments, and see which deadlines I have coming up this week and if I have anything urgent to work on.
This morning I had to fill out a content ideas sheet for an upcoming Christmas campaign with a brand, and write out five different content ideas for them to approve and choose which they prefer.
I also had a brief to read through for another upcoming job, and had to select my foundation shade for a product I will be testing for a potential job. I always try the products first before agreeing to any sponsorship. Then I had to send over some stats from a recent live broadcast that I did as part of the YouTube Edition campaign.
Then I need to make some edits to a sponsored video that is going up tomorrow – usually sponsored videos will have a round or two of edits after sending over the first draft.
Then, it is time to film some organic content for my Tiktok and Instagram! I will hopefully upload before peak engagement time (for me usually between 6 and 9pm).
Do you ever get overwhelmed by being so public with your profile and aspects of your life?
Sometimes yes, but personally I choose to share less about my life and stay a bit more private.
I don’t really put my family and friends online, and would rather keep those things separate so I can just switch off when I’m with them.
I have seen from others who share more that quite often it comes with more negativity.
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