Marist student’s beauty tips a YouTube sensation
Editor’s note: When Lauren Stranieri was a freshman at Marist College her roommate was Clancy Burke, who inspired her to pursue a degree in communications because of her enthusiasm. “Clancy is so hard-working and passionate about her YouTube channel and helping young girls feel beautiful. ... I truly believe sharing her story can help inspire others to follow their passions.” This is her story on her former roommate.
A seemingly ordinary Poughkeepsie college student has been leading a double life for the past six years.
In real life, Clancy Burke is a 20-year-old junior communications major at Marist College known for her quiet demeanor. But online, she is a YouTube celebrity with a following that numbers nearly 72,000 and is rapidly growing.
Over the past seven years, she has produced 400 videos on beauty tips, which have amassed more than 7 million views. One video has more than 720,000 views and 4,200 comments. Adoring fans have gushed in her comments section. One fan commented, “I loved this video so much. You’re such a genuine person and a big inspiration for a lot of us. Thank you for making this video, we need more positivity in this world.”
With striking crystal blue eyes, glistening white teeth and a flawless complexion, Burke has a face made for the spotlight. But she said she didn’t seek out stardom.
“In high school, I was never super outgoing so I would go home and practice by spewing out words in front of my video camera,” she said. “Being in front of the camera was a comfort zone for me.”
Growing up in Long Island, Burke was known as the tomboy of her quaint Malverne neighborhood, where she still lives with her parents and has an older brother, Neal. She credits her brother as one of the reasons she started making videos because he got a video camera in sixth grade and she was fascinated with it.
“Clancy has become so confident,” said Kathy Burke, who Clancy Burke describes as her “momager.” “She was always an athlete growing up and getting dirty. We could never get her to brush her hair and now she is a beauty expert.”
That all changed when Burke decided to attend Sacred Heart Academy, an all girls’ Catholic high school in Hempstead, Nassau County. She said she knew she had to step up her style. She started experimenting with makeup and discovered the miracle of bronzer, lipstick and mascara.
With a newly discovered passion for beauty, Burke knew exactly the direction she wanted her YouTube channel to go in. She works solely to develop, create, film, edit and produce 10-minute in-depth makeup and beauty tutorials as well as positive lifestyle videos. The main goal of her weekly videos is to teach girls how to feel confident and beautiful from the inside out.
“I get countless emails from subscribers telling me that I am an inspiration,” Burke said.
And she gets something in return from her subscribers besides just a substantial paycheck: reassurance that her passion is helping young girls feel confident.
In 2011 Burke signed a contract with StyleHaul, which pays her for advertisements through the number of views her videos receive. She also gets paid through advertisement commercials that play before her videos and receives compensation from companies to use their beauty products in her videos.
Burke’s fame and recognition in the YouTube community has helped her score complimentary invites to VIP events, such as the International Makeup Artists Trade Show, YouTube Space and BeautyCon New York. Such events give YouTube stars the opportunity to meet other big-name self-promoted stars and their fans.
“This past summer I met and hung out with another famous star, Martyna, at YouTube Space, and I was starstruck,” Burke said of Martyna who is a 21-year-old fashion student that similarly uses her YouTube channel as a creative outlet to discuss fashion, beauty and lifestyle tips. “It is weird to think that others feel the same way about me.”
Becoming a YouTube star can be as much of a crapshoot as making it in Hollywood, experts say.
“We are no longer just passive media consumers, but can very easily be active media producers, and some of us, albeit proportionately a very small number of us, can actually turn this reality into fame and economic success,” said John Drew, a social media expert at Adelphi University.
He added, “YouTube celebrities often help each other gain followers by conducting guest appearances on each other’s shows, exposing one group of followers to another.”
Burke credits guest appearances and mentions as partially contributing to her YouTube success, in addition to luck and timing. For example, in June 2011, Ben Breedlove, an 18-year-old YouTube star with more than 5 million video views, randomly revealed his admiration of Burke’s natural beauty in one of his own videos before passing away from a life-threatening heart disease. He linked her channel to his and overnight many of Breedlove’s loyal followers subscribed to Burke’s channel, which helped her gain exposure and attention.
Burke said her YouTube experience has also started benefiting her offline. Last year, she beat out competition for the spot of being the primary news anchor on Marist College Television.
With a goal to become a professional news anchor after college, this YouTube star could soon be coming to a TV station near you.
Former Marist College student Lauren Stranieri is a junior at Adelphi University studying communications and marketing. Contact her at newsroom@poughkeepsiejournal.com