YouTube may be filled with Vine compilations and late-night talk show interviews, but mass communication sophomore Courtney Williams wants to use the platform as a way to uplift women and girls to be more confident in their everyday lives.
Williams first joined YouTube when she was 8 years old. She and her two sisters started their own channel, which would be named “Super Drama Queens” or “SDQ” for short. They posted a few videos on drama, but the account has since been taken down.
About a year ago, Williams decided she wanted to start a channel of her own. Her account is under her first and middle name, Courtney Desir’ee. She decided to make a lifestyle account with a focus on clothes and thrifting, which has been a passion of hers since she was much younger.
“I remember when I first discovered thrift stores and I’ve considered them to be some of my favorite stores ever since,” Williams said.
Williams began thrifting her freshman year of high school and might be considered to be a thrifting pro at this point. Some of her favorite thrift stores in Baton Rouge include Goodwill and Family Thrift Center.
“I enjoy the entire process of thrifting,” Williams said. “I spend a lot of time finding clothes that I like and then I usually alter them to fit my style more.”
Williams knew she wanted to show people how easy thrifting could be and that you can look great on a budget, so she saved up to buy her first camera. She worked at Firehouse Subs, and within only four months of working, she earned enough to buy a Canon T6 camera.
Once she had her dream camera, she started the filming process. Her first video, to no surprise, was a thrifting haul. She went to all of her favorite thrift stores and gathered all of her previously thrifted items and filmed her haul.
“The filming didn’t really come naturally,” Williams said. “I had to work on becoming comfortable in front of the camera because you want your viewers to feel like they’re just hanging out with you.”
Though Williams loves thrifting and doing hauls, her favorite video on her channel right now is her “Beginner Friendly Everyday Makeup Routine,” which is one of her most recent videos. This was the first video that she filmed with a new, updated background and higher quality lights.
Her most viewed videos include her best friend tag and her try on thrift haul video, which both have almost 1,000 views.
Williams is planning on filming boyfriend tag with her boyfriend Lamont, who is also an influencer. Lamont is an underground rapper who just dropped his EP “Love Lamont” on Spotify and iTunes. Williams is going to delve into her and Lamont’s relationship by asking him a series of questions for her video.
“I just like to film videos that I know I like to watch,” Williams said. “I really like boyfriend tags and hauls so I stick to filming those.”
Williams’ goals for her YouTube channel are pretty simple: she wants to inspire people to love themselves and show them that anyone who posts constantly and has a passion can become the YouTuber that they like to watch.

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Lauren Watson

LSU student Courtney Williams discusses her Youtube channel at the quad on Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018.