By Kathryn Cross
Staff Writer
From storytelling to performing sarcastic how-tos and sketches, junior Roma Yumul is not afraid to share her experiences and thoughts with the web.
Yumul does so through her YouTube channel, “ZGRockergirl,” which she named after the characters Zim and Gir of the television show “Invader Zim” along with Yumul’s own persona.
“I was young and had an obsession with rock music when I named my current channel,” Yumul said.
Yumul originally began vlogging, or video blogging, with an amateur gaming channel where she discussed and played video games such as “Call of Duty,” “Team Fortress 2” and “Portal.” She made her new YouTube channel in 2009 and posted her first video, a Tumblr question and answer video, in 2011.
“For my Tumblr question and answer video, I was bored one day and I asked my followers to ask me questions,” Yumul said. “Surprisingly, I got a lot of questions, so I decided to make a video instead of typing out all the responses.”
In July 2013, Yumul began consistently posting videos every Saturday. Her videos range from how-to videos such “How to Befriend a YouTuber” to storytelling videos like “I Suck at Replying.”
“Basically, I do what I want because my audience has reassured me that they have no problem with me switching between genres all the time,” Yumul said.
In 2013, Yumul began collaborating with seven other YouTubers through the channel InternetObsessed. She has participated in Ellen Degeneres’ “Dance Dare,” where viewers are dared to send videos of themselves secretly dancing behind people.
“The most interesting thing that I have done so far while YouTubing is the Ellen Dance Dare,” Yumul said. “I was challenged to do the dare by a fellow YouTuber on the InternetObsessed channel one week, and it turned out to be a lot of fun.”
Yumul attends VidCon, an online video conference, in Anaheim each June, getting exposure to the YouTube community.
“I’ve been to VidCon 2012, 2013, and 2014, but VidCon 2013 was my favorite experience because I met a lot of other content creators who gave me tips on improving my videos,” Yumul said. “I have to start looking into the business aspect of YouTube again and utilizing the connections I have.”
Yumul produces most of her videos alone, independently scripting, lighting, filming and editing footage. She has, however, collaborated with several channels such as “The Nerdy Hipsters” and “The Carson Effect.”
“I enjoy working with other YouTubers to expand my knowledge,” Yumul said. “When collaborating, we both figure out what segments we want to do, what kind of direction we want and decide if the clips should be edited before they are sent to the other person.”
Yumul’s channel has over 4,000 subscribers, and she plans to expand her abilities as a content creator on YouTube by making more videos on her own and with other YouTube creators.
“I definitely want to grow as a YouTuber and gain better skills as a writer and as an editor,” Yumul said. “I hope that I am able to host more shows, make more friends, be proud of my content and continue to make people happy.”
Leave a Reply