BEFORE Liza Koshy blew up on youtube, with over a billion lifetime views and over 11
million subscribers at the time of this recording, earning a diamond play button in July of 2017
Before earning 13.6 million followers on Instagram, and spinning off a second channel, Liza Koshy
Too, which is also gaining a massive following, with over 4.6 million subs (at the time of
this recording)
Before she took home the 2017 Teen Choice Award for Choice Female web star, or started
dating shorty award winning vlogger, David Dobrik
Before she was dubbed the queen of puns
Like many of the fastest growing youtubers of 2016 and 17, Liza started out on Vine.
She got into the app while she was in high school, and quickly amassed a following of
over 5 million.
As Vine began to die a slow death, Liza would expand her social media portfolio to include
instagram, musically, and of course, youtube.
From there she would not only create one of the fastest growing channels on the platform,
she would also break into mainstream media, with representation from the world class talent
agency, CAA, and work in television and film.
What's wiggidy, wiggidy up?
My name's Michael McCrudden, documenting the life and career of YouTube star Liza Koshy,
here for you on Before They Were Famous.
We've covered other vine stars turned youtuber like Thomas Sanders, Brittany Furlan, and
Jake and Logan Paul.
But you guys gotta let me know who to document next!
So hit me up in the comments section, or on twitter or instagram.
Okay, Let's DO THIS!!!!
Elizabeth Shaila Koshy was born on March 31st, 1996, and grew up in Houston Texas, along
with her two older sisters.
Liza is of mixed ethnicity, having a white mother and an indian father.
She was raised Christian, and frequently attends Lakewood Church, a non-denominational megachurch
in Houston, which packs in crowds of over 50,000 people every week.
Liza was placed in a dual-language program from kindergaden until fifth grade, and as
a result, speaks fluent Spanish.
Also, English.
Liza attended Lamar High School, and while there, she developed a passion for dance.
Liza was in high school when Vine first launched in June of 2012.
Her friends were downloading the app, so Liza decided to jump in on the trend, taking the
username Lizzza (with three Zs).
Here is her first vine ever:
Liza continued to post regularly, building up a massive following with her goofy comedy
chops.
By the end of her career on vine, Liza would amass over 5 million subscribers on the platform,
making her one of the biggest creators on the platform.
In the meantime, she graduated high school, and moved on to college, studying Business
Marketing at the University of Houston beginning in September of 2014.
After her freshman year, she said she still didn't know what she ultimately wanted to
do with her life.
But she was obviously learning something, as in 2015, she began to parley her success
on Vine onto other platforms.
She had a million followers on Instagram by January of 2016.
Just over a year and a half later, she'd be quickly approaching 14 million.
While Liza had had a youtube channel since September of 2013, she began uploading videos
on July 8th, 2015.
And unlike most viners, she wouldn't start her youtube channel up with a best vines compilation.
Instead, she would cater to the platform, with a proper introduction to herself and
what she plans to do on youtube.
It wouldn't be long before Liza's vine fans would begin discovering her on the new platform.
New fans would also fall in love with her and her characters, like Jet Packinski, Helga,
and Carlos.
In November of 2015, she started dated another online star, David Dobrik, and the two would
collab on numerous videos
By the fall of 2016, Liza had already established herself as a successful youtuber, having accumulated
over 4 million subscribers.
Life was good.
Then, disaster struck.
After a long struggle, Vine was Dead.
On October 27, 2016, Twitter announced it would disable uploads on Vine, though viewing
and downloading would continue to work.
With her native platform gone, Liza doubled down on her youtubing.
She launched her second channel, Liza Koshy Too, with this video, dropped on September
9th, 2016.
Also in 2016, Liza made her television debut in the show Freakish.
The same year, she made it to big screen, appearing as Aday Walker in Boo!
A Madea Halloween.
Liza was named Breakout Creator at the 2016 Streamy Awards.
As her massive success continued, she dropped her most popular video yet on December 28th,
2016, Dollar Store with Liza Part 2.
In 2017, Liza was nominated for Favorite Social Media Star at the 2017 People's Choice Awards,
youtuber of the year at the 2017 Shorty Awards, and three other awards at the 2017 Teen Choice
Awards.
She also took home the award for Choice Female Web Star.
At the time of this recording, Liza has gained over 4.6 million subs on her second channel,
and over 11 million on her main channel, having gained an earth shattering 7.5 million subs
in the last year.
After college, Liza plans on moving out to LA, as her career as an actress and social
media star continues to blossom.
As for the rest of the story, well, we'll have to wait and see.
This is Before They Were Famous.
My name's Michael McCrudden.
Thanks for watching this video.
Let me know who you want me to document next and check out one of these other videos.
I picked them out just for you.
(Point at camera.)