Hannah Meloche has spent more than a decade growing up on camera. What began as a 13-year-old with a hand-me-down computer and a new camera quickly turned into weekly uploads, millions of followers, and a career that has taken her from beauty YouTube to high-end fashion partnerships and the launch of her own jewelry brand, Starlite Village. Today, at 24, she is recalibrating how she creates, returning to the platforms that shaped her and exploring how to build something sustainable in the long term.

“I just really wanted to have my own kind of audience,” she says, remembering the moment she asked her mom if she could start a channel. “When I turned 13, I started doing weekly videos almost immediately, which is kind of crazy.”

That consistency has defined her trajectory ever since.

A Decade of Documenting a Life

Hannah grew up watching early beauty creators like Bethany Mota. The aesthetics, the routines, the sense of connection between creator and viewer sparked something in her. When she finally started uploading, the first videos were simple and earnest. 

“They were rough,” she laughs. “They were like making DIY lipstick out of crayons or getting ready for Easter. They were really wholesome and cute, but I just don’t think I really knew what I was doing.”

What she lacked in equipment or technical finesse, she made up for in discipline. For nearly ten years, she uploaded weekly, often multiple times per week. Her audience grew steadily, following her through moves, friendships, travel, health shifts, and early adulthood. Yet she says the growth itself never felt sudden. “It wasn’t even like my channel was growing for the first year or two at all,” she says. “I was just having so much fun making videos.”

As she matured from teenager to young adult, her content changed too. What was once a beauty-and-favorites channel eventually became a more personal chronicle of her travels, routines, and day-to-day life. 

“I’ve always uploaded what makes me excited or what I feel most comfortable talking about,” she explains. “It changes with what you’re interested in in your everyday life.”

Today, she describes her channel simply as a “you” channel. It reflects who she is at any given moment, not a niche she is trying to maintain.

Balancing Openness and Boundaries

Hannah has built a community that feels unusually attuned to her. Many of her followers have watched her for a decade, and she feels that continuity when she reads comments. 

“Someone just complimented like, ‘I love how you’re handling yourself in this situation’ or ‘I love how you’re carrying yourself these days,’” she says. “It was so kind. Maybe I am maturing. I don’t know.”

But sharing your life at scale carries inevitable tension. “There are always points where you’re like, ‘Wait, is this too vulnerable?’” she notes. “Do I need to keep this to myself so that I don’t get hurt?”

Her rule of thumb: she asks what she will want to remember later. “When I look back at these videos, I want this to be a documentation of memories,” she says. “I can look back and be like, wow, I was going through this. I was living here. These are the memories I was making.”

That framing helps her navigate boundaries while still letting her audience feel connected. “I think being consistent and being honest with where you are in life, no matter what, is something I’m trying to do,” she says.

Managing a Multi-Platform Presence

One of the biggest shifts since Hannah’s early years is the expectation that creators live across multiple platforms. For a long time, YouTube was her center of gravity. Instagram became her second home. TikTok and Snapchat arrived later, each adding new demands.

“I think it’s hard to know, sometimes, where you should be focusing your energy,” she says. “Everyone’s on TikTok, everyone’s on Instagram, everyone’s on Snapchat.”

She returns to a simple question: where do her memories live? YouTube remains her primary creative space because it gives her room to be personal and reflective. Instagram serves as a quicker extension of that self. TikTok is where she experiments with casual, off-the-cuff updates.

“I think I’m finding a good routine with it,” she says. “Figuring out what kind of TikToks I like to post, and then focusing more energy on the vlogs on YouTube.”

Her content strategy is not about feeding every algorithm equally. It is about staying grounded. If she communicates, even briefly, her audience stays with her. “Just giving, being present, and showing up, sometimes, is all you can do,” she says.

Partnerships and Fashion Collaborations

Brand partnerships have been a core part of Hannah’s career, but she is thoughtful about choosing collaborations that feel natural. 

“Normally when a brand opportunity comes, it’s like, oh, I know that brand or I love them,” she says. If she doesn’t, she takes time to research it. Alignment matters to her, and she keeps her team involved through regular check-ins on which brands align with her life at that moment.

Revolve has been one of her favorite long-term collaborations. “Their website has so many different styles of clothes and different brands,” she says. “They give you a whole bunch of creative freedom, which is what I loved about working with them.”

She recalls their Coachella partnership as especially memorable because the creative process felt so intuitive. “I picked the clothes. I loved the clothes already, and now I’m excited to be on this trip,” she says. “It makes content so easy.”

Her Prada partnership also marked a milestone, adding a new dimension to her fashion portfolio. Most recently, she attended a Hugo Boss event that stands out as a proud moment. “I went to the store and met someone who works with the brand,” she says. “We worked together to find a dress for the event. I already felt super good about my outfit. Then you show up and you meet more people from the team. It made me feel super confident.”

For her, great partnerships come down to clarity and communication. “My favorite thing is when you get to actually talk and figure out what you want,” she says. “Your content is natural and authentic to you, and they get the visuals they want too.”

Building Starlite Village and Choosing to Pause

In 2019, Hannah launched Starlite Village, a sustainable jewelry brand rooted in recycled sterling silver and eco-friendly packaging. She spent years refining production partners and growing a loyal community around pieces designed to feel fun and elegant.

But by early 2025, she decided to pause operations completely.

“I was trying to pour so much energy into YouTube and social media, and then I was also trying to pour so much energy into making it this amazing jewelry company,” she says. “Something was always getting sacrificed.”

She speaks candidly about the challenge of doing both well. “You can’t really slack in a business,” she says. “When it comes to products and customer service and showing up for people, you really can’t.”

Stepping back freed her to focus on her health, return to consistent posting, and reconnect with the joy of creating. “Pulling back has given me so much more energy,” she says. “I can show up for social media and these YouTube videos and pour more energy back into that.”

The pause does not signal the end of Starlite Village forever. It reflects her commitment to intentionality. “If I start it back up again, it’s going to be very intentional and I can pour a whole bunch of energy into it,” she says.

Hannah still sees enormous potential for sustainable jewelry and fashion, especially as vintage and secondhand markets surge. “I think secondhand is thriving,” she says. “That’s what I like to see too.”

Trends in the Creator Economy

Having been present in the creator economy since its early boom, Hannah has a long view of how the field has changed. Where YouTube once dominated, creators now choose specific platforms to anchor their identity.

“Everyone only has so much energy in their day,” she says. “What are you putting your energy towards to grow or connect with people?”

Hannah believes creators who succeed in the next era will do so through clarity of message, efficiency in delivery, and genuine storytelling. “How can you keep things efficient and authentic?” the influencer asks. “If someone can tell a story about their day through their Instagram stories, I don’t think that concept is ever going away.”

Storytelling, she says, is the throughline that will outlast algorithms.

As for her own plans, Hannah is focused on balance. After a year spent restoring her energy, she is rebuilding her creative rhythm and leaving space for whatever comes next.

“I would love to figure out a way to pour into a business or any sort of different adventure,” she says. “I know something will happen where I’ll get inspired by something or I’ll get excited about something.”

For now, the priority is simple: “Be consistent and be true to yourself, and you’ll attract the right people,” she says.

And her long-term vision is guided by a sense of curiosity rather than pressure. “I know that I’ll get inspired by something and something else will come up,” Hannah says. “Right now, I’ve just been trying to focus back on that. That’s been great.”

Image credit: @hannahmeloche