Annie Long’s fascination with YouTube and content creation began as so many children’s interests serendipitously do: watching older siblings. She was captivated by everything she was seeing on their screens, but when those screens were turned off, she took that fascination a step further. Long pulled out her camera and made her own videos. She started uploading comedy skits, gymnastics videos and DIY how-to’s when she was eight years old, but without the ambition of “making it big” like her favorite creators — for her, YouTube was an outlet for creativity and fun.

What began as an outlet for self-expression for Long, has now grown into a thriving entrepreneurial business with followers and subscribers totaling over 600,000. Fittingly, forming community is the main goal of her content — Long’s channels focus on sharing knowledge and advice that inspires young women to become the leaders of tomorrow, together.

Perhaps that’s why one of the things that excites her most about attending USC Annenberg as an incoming public relations and advertising (PRA) major is joining a cohort of similarly media-minded individuals. 

“One of my pain points of high school was not finding anyone who could relate to my passions, and who could push me in that area,” Long said. “I'm really looking forward to creating with other content creators or other creatives who aren't directly in the content creation field, whether that's filmmakers, artists, musicians. I think USC is the perfect place for that.”

When Long was researching schools during the application process, it didn’t escape her that some of her favorite content creators, like Makayla Lysiak and Julia Ma, are also USC students.  The PRA program also stood out to her as the major that best aligned with her existing resume of content and strategy skills. Long intends to fully explore that broad range of public relations applications throughout her time at USC, specifically her interests in finance, public diplomacy and the creator economy. 

“I would love to use my PR and advertising degree to write press releases for tech startups, so I want to learn more about technology and what it's like to work for clients that are in a whole separate field that I'm not familiar with,” Long said. I [also] want to learn more about how PR intersects with government.” 

As a multidisciplinary creator, Long is open to exploring a multitude of career paths — she has an interest in working for a faith-based network in the future, a desire to learn more about the FinTech space and a clear investment in the creator economy. But one goal that’s top-of-mind for her is building the communication skills that will help her launch a startup someday, leading her growing community by example as a future female leader. 

At the heart of all of her USC aspirations lies one that is embedded in the foundation of all forms of communication: building community. 

“There are just so many people I've met through the creator economy who have helped me understand the value of not just networking, but really building connections.” Long said. “I've learned so much from my other content creator friends, and not just about getting more views or getting more people to watch, but also learning about their lives outside of content creation. I have a lot of friends that are also entering college right now, and we don't only give each other value in terms of our careers, but just laughter, fun and joy.”

For Long, building an online and IRL community starts with tapping into her longstanding passion of content creation, which includes sharing her college experience. 

“There's been a lot of hobbies and sports I've tried over the years, but content creating has been the one thing that's really stuck for me,” Long said. “Right now, I'm just seeing how that will evolve through my college journey.”

While her channel will remain true to its mission, Long is excited to expand the type of content she can create while at USC, both documenting her college experience and sharing professional advice influenced by what she learns in college.

“At USC, I might create a vlog,” Long said. “I think sometimes people can just be indirectly inspired by your lifestyle and how you lead your life. I also definitely want to make more videos about how to find a mentor and how to begin your self development journey, because I find that to be very fulfilling.”