Today we’d like to introduce you to Alex Tinsley.
Hi Alex, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
My story starts in a small town right next to Lake Tahoe called Truckee. I was born and raised there, and it will always be home for me. I was a very ambitious child. I wanted to grow up and do anything and everything I could. I participated in many sports, including dance, gymnastics, ski racing, volleyball, soccer, and swimming. I loved being outdoors all year around. I also fell in love with photography and creating videos at a young age. I started my first YouTube channel in middle school and made a new one in high school. As I got older, I got asked the question more and more “What do you want to be when you grow up?”. I never knew how to answer that. I felt as though I had to pick a career and completely indulge myself into it. When I went off to college, I didn’t declare a major right away. Eventually, I declared my major in business, but soon after realized how unhappy I was with that and changed it to nursing. This is something I had always wanted to do but did not believe in myself enough to get there at first. This was right around the time Covid-19 hit, and I moved to Hawai’i. I spent a couple of years in Hawai’i and then moved to San Diego. My dad grew up here, and I have family that lives here too! I finished my prerequisites for nursing at San Diego Mesa College last fall. The application process takes a while, so I have been taking time since then to experience life. My most recent travels have been to French Polynesia, Mexico, Hawai’i, and Europe. I am learning how to balance school while also pursuing social media at the same time. My story isn’t exactly the path that most people take in life. I didn’t go from “point A” to “point B,” and that’s okay. I want my story to show that you don’t have to know what you want to be in high school. You don’t have to graduate college with your degree and jump straight into a career. You don’t have to wait until you are retired to travel the world. Do what you love, and take time for yourself along the way!
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Pursuing a nursing degree and social media at the same time is not easy, but I wouldn’t change anything. I have had the most incredible experiences since graduating high school in 2018. Do most people my age have a college degree by now… yes. Have I compared myself to others that seem like they have their life and careers completely figured out by now… also yes. But that’s just not the route that was meant for me. Once I realized that my path in life didn’t have to look like everyone else’s is when I really started living. Learning how to balance school while also creating content and prioritizing myself and my mental health has been challenging to say the least. In high school, I struggled with my fair share of hate and bullying once people found out about my YouTube Channel. I was constantly being made fun of, and there were several times I walked into a class to find someone projecting my videos on the screen for everyone to see. For a while, I stopped posting, but I had to remind myself why I posted videos in the first place. I did it for me. I did it because I loved the process of filming, editing, and then posting my work. I wanted to have something to look back on when I got older, but most importantly, I told myself that if one of these videos can help one person, it’s worth it. As time went on, I began opening up more online. I shared more of my personal life in my YouTube videos. I posted more on Instagram and eventually downloaded and started creating content on TikTok. A few months into posting on TikTok, I had my first video go viral, and I gained 10k followers almost overnight. I was excited and eager, but little did I know what was to come. Over the course of the next couple of years I had a few more videos go viral and gained more and more followers. I now stand at 50k on TikTok. While this has given me a lot of opportunity I wouldn’t have had otherwise, there are a lot of obstacles I have had to face that I also probably wouldn’t have had to go through without my following either. In the beginning, things started off slow. I would get the occasional hate comment, but things escalated quickly. What nobody can prepare you for is the death threats, online stalkers, and the extent some will go just to put you down. Some of my videos have hundreds if not thousands of hate comments. Some commenting about the way I look, some about my body, and some about my content in general. The best word I can use to describe the way those comments made me feel is “small.” You can be so proud of a video just for people to degrade your work and break you down. Just like in high school, I had to remind myself why I was making videos in the first place. That helped. What also helps is the amount of support I do get. Some of the DM’s I have received have filled my eyes with tears because of how sweet they are. When I get told that I am someone’s inspiration or that I have helped them get through some of their toughest days, that’s when I really get reminded of why I do what I do. When I recognize a name that has commented on all of my posts or I see someone join my live streams that have been following me from the beginning, it puts the biggest smile on my face. I might get hate, but love will always win. If I had to do it all over again, I would.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
As I continue towards graduating college and getting my nursing degree, I am also working on growing as a content creator. I post on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. My content is focused on travel and lifestyle, but I post more than just that. I also love creating fashion, beauty, comedy, and acting videos too! I am most proud of never giving up. There is so much that I do not bring to social media. Everyone struggles with their own battles, especially behind the screen. Throughout all of the challenges I have faced in my personal life, I am still working hard to pursue my dreams. What sets me apart from others is that as hard as it can be to be yourself sometimes, I do my best to not portray myself as anything I’m not. Regardless of my social media presence, I am a human being that struggles with an abundance of challenges. I want to be real, raw, and honest with my followers. I am so blessed for all of the opportunities I have had because of social media, but it’s important to me that I stay true to myself always.
We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you.
So many people get lucky with social media. By that, I mean that sometimes it takes one video for someone to gain a career. One viral video could completely change someone’s life. Luck has been a huge factor for me. For as long as I can remember, I have been creating videos in some way, shape, or form, whether I posted them publicly or not. When I was younger, I always wanted to ride the rides at Disneyland that I wasn’t tall enough for. Each year I was there, I would go back and measure myself waiting for the day that I was tall enough. Growth takes time and, in most cases, does not happen overnight. It takes time to get better at something too. As long as you love what you do and genuinely work towards growing, it will happen. There are pros and cons to everything. Like I mentioned before, sometimes all it takes is one viral video, and you have a career. While that sounds great, that can be so overwhelming. Growth is the goal, but all I can do is take it day by day. If you don’t stop and take a look around sometime, you’ll miss out on so much good. I am so grateful for the following I have at this given moment. I am excited for what the future holds too, but staying present is important. I am just trying to enjoy all the moments and milestones, no matter how big or small!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aleextinsleey/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@aleextinsleey
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@aleextinsleey
