Meet Payton B | Social Media Influencer & Content Creator

We had the good fortune of connecting with Payton B and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Payton, other than deciding to work for yourself, what else do you think played a pivotal role in your story?
The single most important decision I made that contributed to my success was not quitting Youtube and being more open and transparent about my life to my subscribers. After graduating from UCLA in 2020 with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology, I had to decide between pursuing graduate school or committing to being a content creator full-time. On Youtube, I had been producing content on my channel since high school that included hair, makeup, and my transition from high school to college. Amidst the global pandemic, I felt at a standstill with my channel, but after some reflection and conversation with my friends and family decided to try something new by posting more relatable content including videos with weed and edibles. After transitioning to this new niche, I had one video reach 1 million views and was able to surpass 200,000 Youtube subscribers and I currently have 400,000 subscribers. If it weren’t for listening to people close to me and committing to being consistent within a new niche on my channel I would never have made it thus far.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I consider my Youtube channel and my content creation to be an art, especially given how open I have been with my supporters and how detail-oriented I have to be with all forms of content I produce. I believe what sets me apart from other creators is that I am a very confident and sexually liberated young black woman that is not afraid to be herself. In today’s society, women are often judged for being comfortable in certain clothes, body shapes, makeup, etc. and I want to go against that and encourage other women to do the same.

Gaining confidence and exuding it in everything I do was not easy, but I had to learn to fake it until I believed it. People usually say fake it until you make it, but I believe confidence is something you first have to believe within yourself. I specifically like sharing this trick to encourage my supporters to love themselves as much as I love them.

Through my experiences as a content creator, I have learned a lot about others while simultaneously learning about myself. I have learned to not dwell on hate but stand in my supporters and those who constantly push me to be better and aim higher. Also, I have learned that my talents are rooted in my ability to be bold, try new things and have new experiences, and push boundaries, which I hope people learn from watching my content. In the future, I am most excited to continue growing as a person and also as a creator and being able to share my personal experiences with my fans and supporters. I want the world to know that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. Just because you see a pretty girl with a fanbase or a pretty girl that is comfortable in her body doesn’t mean she’s stuck up, mean, or has no respect for herself. It just means she loves herself and is so comfortable with herself that she wants to help other people learn how to be comfortable too.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
My best friends tend to visit me in Los Angeles a lot so this is easy. Most of my friends are busy getting that money from 9-5 so I’ll let them get settled in and handle all of that until then. But as soon as you clock out, it’s time to go out and do something! I love going out to eat or for drinks with my friends. So first, I would take my friend to Katana, Bossanova, EP&LP, Mastro’s, Catch LA, The Roof at Edition, and Tao in that order, especially if they like something a little bougie. If they’re looking for something more chill or laid back, I would suggest Fat Tuesday, Saddle Ranch, Berkshire House, and The District. After dinner, if they were looking for more things to get into I would recommend clubs or other activities, which include the Ace Hotel DTLA, Lucky Strike, Bowlero, TopGolf, Poppy, Penthouse, and Next Door Lounge. I would recommend all the places I previously mentioned to find a vibe. Everywhere you go in LA has different vibes so it depends on the type of people you enjoy being around. I consider myself to be a very adaptable person so I can enjoy both lit/turnt vibes in Hollywood or DTLA and also chill vibes in the real parts of LA/ South Central where you can meet fun, vibrant people that love LA as much as I do.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
First and foremost, I want to dedicate my shoutout to my dad. 2020 was a really hard time for me not only because of COVID but because my dad passed away and what was supposed to be a year of celebration in graduating from the #1 public school in the country became something completely unexpected. My dad was a big part of my life and was my biggest supporter and the person I felt I could confide in so losing him felt like losing a best friend. All of these things at once sent me into a depressed state which affected my ability to create content and my Youtube channel numbers were negatively impacted. I became very insecure about my channel growth especially since I had been active on my channel for a little over 5 years. There is a common misconception that social media influencing and content creation is easy and shallow. However, given everything I was dealing with, that is furthest from the truth and I lost confidence in myself and my abilities. To this day, I know he would be proud of me and all my accomplishments on social media even if some things might have bothered him, he never stopped supporting me because he loved me unconditionally. Lastly, I would just give a big shoutout to my friends at the time in 2020 and 2021 who were there supporting me the most when my father passed away and also they were the ones to push me not to quit my channel so I never could’ve done any of this without them both.

Website: https://linktr.ee/baeton

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paybaeafterdark/

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/baeton_/

Youtube: @paytonbaeton

Image Credits
Photographers included: @shotsbymark_, @chr1sographer, and @wowkoby