Spotlight: Mike Pearson
Can you tell us a little about yourself and your background My name is Michael (Mike) Pearson and was born and raised in Herndon, Virginia. I was living a normal life at the time. I graduated high school then went to college at GMU as an Athletic Training major with a minor in Kinesiology. But things began to change in 2013 which was my freshman year. This app called Vine came out and I found about it through Twitter. In my free time I'd just mess around with the app and laugh at what others were creating. Soon I was pretty familiar with most of the Vine community and eventually became friends with a lot, some were local and others weren't but I still treated them as if they were best friends. Slowly my content began to gain heaps of attention and before I knew it I had hit 100K followers. I was gaining followers and popularity quickly through 2014-2015. People were recognizing me everywhere I went whether it was in class, a mall, at church, or in a restaurant. So after spending a whole summer planning, saving, and thinking, I decided to drop out and pursue my passion for acting and content creation. I moved to Los Angeles and continued to create content and I was in a better position to take advantage of opportunities offered to me because of my total following of over 1 million. It was the best decision I ever made and I will continue to work hard as an actor, model, and internet personality all thanks to Vine (RIP). If you could give advice to someone just starting out, what would it be? My advice to someone just starting out is to stay true to yourself. Not everyone will be successful on social media. You need to be focused on yourself and your own audience. The most important piece of advice is to make sure your having fun. If you're just looking for a quick rise to "fame" then you'll burn out quick. One thing me and the rest of my friends who have become popular internet talents is that we all started out with nothing and were just having fun. Slowly our content got better, our audiences got bigger, and the community kept growing. Also, don't be discouraged about the number of likes you get no matter how high or low they are. Stay focused on your content and keep trying to better yourself! What have been some of the most rewarding aspects of using social media? Social media completely changed my life. I discovered myself through social media and found out what I wanted to do with my life. Thanks to social media I have found so many great friends and supporters who continue to push me forward and helped me get to where I am now. I was able to move to Los Angeles and act in short films, dance shows, and movies. I also just finished acting in my debut movie "Rideshare" which had its premiere last week which was an unforgettable experience.
Follow Mike Pearson on Twitter, here.