Growing up watching YouTube Kids, where creators shared videos of their Roblox gameplay, sophomore Shreshtha Rmaji was inspired to create an account of her own. She first started playing Roblox in fourth grade after being introduced by her friends and found herself immersed in games like “Fashion Famous,” where players design outfits and compete for the best look. Determined to create her own YouTube channel, Ramji decided on the username Bunicorn, combining her love for bunnies and unicorns.
“I started content creation to feature some of my favorite Roblox games and also to connect with the community of people who play the game,” Ramji said.
Embarking on her YouTube journey with limited editing and videography skills, Ramji taught herself how to film and edit videos by watching tutorials and practicing on iMovie and later CapCut. Upon acquiring more experience, Ramji began to create videos that shared her Roblox gameplay, tutorials and speed-builds. As her audience grew, Ramji decided to integrate her passion for digital art into her videos as well, alternating between art and Roblox content every week. Her digital art videos include speed-paintings, sketching and commissioned art pieces.
“I love going on Procreate, drawing images that my viewers request in the comment section and sharing screen recordings of my drawing process,” Ramji said.
Navigating YouTube as a young creator, Ramji faced many challenges, from questions about intellectual property rights to issues with protecting personal privacy. In the process, Ramji learned the importance of understanding copyright laws for digital creators and has also become more aware of securing personal information like her name and age on social media platforms.
“One of my biggest lessons from this journey was taking risks,” Ramji said. “By posting what I love to do, I was able to find a community of people who shared my interest.”
Over the past summer, Ramji visited Gardens by the Bay, an urban park in Singapore consisting of conservatories that house thousands of plants. She found herself filling her camera roll with photographs of the rare plants and flowers she encountered. Hoping to share her photos from the trip, Ramji created an Instagram account called Artsy with Bunicorn, dedicated to her nature photography. Spreading her love for ecology through this platform, Ramji aims to feature endangered species and exotic plants not commonly found in the United States.
Besides ecological photography, Roblox and art content, Ramji hopes to create more cinematic videos in the future, transforming her hobby for content creation into a more professional interest. Inspired by her favorite YouTube content creator, Nicole Laeno, who would share multiple vlogs a week as a high schooler, Ramji wants to be more active about vlogging in order to document the candid moments in her life. She acknowledges that it would be difficult to vlog consistently with her busy schedule, so she may choose to just record special occasions such as field trips and vacations. Earlier in the year, Ramji vlogged her experience at the Distributive Education Clubs of America conference and ASB Disneyland trip.
“I asked a couple of my friends to join me in vlogging,” Ramji said. “In that process, we were able to capture a lot of cool things that we wouldn’t have noticed otherwise.”
Through her YouTube videos and Instagram posts, Ramji found an avenue to express her artistic side with her video content and photography, connecting with a large audience through social media. Reflecting on her journey, Ramji is proud to have been able to cultivate connections with peers by sharing her love for art, gaming and videography online.
“I encourage everyone to represent their true selves in creative ways, whether that be through making videos, posting pictures, making a podcast or anything that lets them express themselves to the fullest,” Ramji said.
