What started out as a creative outlet is turning into quite a successful venture for one former Cal High student. 

Cal alumna Audrey Atienza has collected a huge amount of followers online, with her self-named YouTube channel boasting more than 106,000 subscribers and more than 9 million total views. 

A 2020 Cal graduate who was ASB president her senior year, Atienza now attends the University of Texas at Austin and spends much of her free time making YouTube vlog style videos mostly about her college life.

Her most popular video, which has more than 3.2 million views, is called “DAY IN MY LIFE: unusual public high school schedule”. In the video, Atienza explains the unusual block schedule that Cal follows as opposed to many other schools nationwide. 

Many of her viewers found this schedule interesting.

“I had sixth period off my junior year and both fifth and sixth period off my senior year, so getting out at 12:30 was unusual to so many of my viewers,” Atienza said. 

She believed her school schedule added to the intrigue and appeal of her videos. Atienza’s social media fame started to grow after this video.

Atienza’s videos are watched and enjoyed by many people, including some Cal students.

“I love her YouTube channel,” current ASB President Riley Hughes said. “It’s been great to see her grow and watch all the success that has come her way.”

Added fellow senior leadership student Jack Heinz, “I personally love her YouTube channel. My favorite videos would have to be her day in the life video and her assassins videos.”

During her time at Cal, Atienza made a lot of videos about her life in school. In several of her videos, she refers to being in leadership and being a member of Cal’s swim team.

“A lot of my content revolved around me being in high school and involved in leadership, the swim team, and other social traditions we had,” Atienza said. 

In addition to creating content based on her experience in Cal’s leadership program, Atienza feels she has benefited greatly from the experience.

“I also learned so many leadership skills by being in the leadership program all four years and being leadership President senior year,” she said.

 Atienza feels that her YouTube channel wouldn’t be the success that it is today without her experience at Cal and the leadership program.

“It was also where my YouTube channel started and without the ability to film the things I did in high school my channel wouldn’t be where it is today,” Atienza said.

While Atienza was a student at Cal, many leadership students thought she was very hardworking and dedicated.

“She had strong leadership qualities, was very driven, and always knew how to best accomplish her goals,” Hughes said. 

Added fellow senior leadership student Lisette Green, “Audrey was a very driven person and loved to use her platform on and off campus.”

 Some students who know Atienza, however, think that although her YouTube channel is great, it doesn’t show her true self. 

“I think her YouTube channel is a great source to show the influencer side of her,” Green said, “but not necessarily her true character.” 

Atienza said she decided to start her YouTube channel her junior year because she needed some freedom in her creative space. 

“At the time, I was in an art elective and was co-publicity chair in leadership, so I was doing a lot creatively but it was all very structured,” Atienza said. “I decided to upload them as I made them and now it has turned into something bigger than I had originally imagined and still is a great creative outlet for me.”

As for her inspirations, Atienza says she is influenced by a lot of content creators, especially Hannah Meloche, a lifestyle YouTuber. 

“Watching other people’s YouTube videos inspire new editing and filming styles that I use for mine,” she said.

Atienza loves to make YouTube videos and wants it to be an important part of her future, but she is also working to prepare for another job in the future. She still sees YouTube as a major creative outlet for herself, and although she still plans to make more videos, she wants to do something else in the future.

“I am a corporate communications major with a media and entertainment industries minor, so I am still preparing for a career other than YouTube as well,” Atienza said. “I don’t know exactly what I want to do, but I am still interested in doing something in the entertainment industry.”

Atienza wants students to know that high school wasn’t the best time for her and that she is doing better now in college. 

“As much as I learned and am grateful for, high school wasn’t the best four years of my life so I don’t want people who aren’t having a great experience to feel down,” she said. “I am enjoying college so much more and am really happy here.”