[Music] work you it you're of work you're yeah [Music] work all right Lauren Gray has become one of the most famous Tik tocker creators and considered by many to be a pioneer of the current social media platforms she remains in the top 20 list of the most followers on Tik Tok even standing a top at number one at some point and she's also a very talented pop singer and she's here to share her wisdom on social media at the Collision conference in Toronto yeah so Lauren joins us on live from the floor of the tech Summit Lauren uh really impressive resume for a 22-year-old it's quite remarkable you've built your own brand a lot of you know people your age maybe a little younger a little older are trying to do that what is it that what made you special or how did you accomplish this because so many people have a goal of doing it how did you do it oh my gosh well thank you so much that was quite the intro um I started social media when I was 13 uh by complete accident so I was uploading videos accidentally and they were going viral on Tik Tok before when it was musically and I was consistent and I feel like the biggest thing with social media is authenticity and consistency if you have those two things and you stick to your guns eventually uh something really great could come out of it so that was sort of my story and you know in tandem with having a really great connection with my audience and growing up alongside them yeah I hear that a lot from a lot of social media creators it's that consistency is that going back again and again even if one or two or three or 10 videos fail you just kind of have to keep throwing things at it uh but Lauren you've got 51 or 52 million followers on Tik Tok 22 million on Insta and 3 million on YouTube I mean the numbers are staggering I don't even think some TV stations reach those those numbers at all or shows uh so at what point when you're rocking up these followers did you say hm this is getting a little bigger than I can handle myself when did you need to like bring in a team and what does your team look like today do you run like a small company and a small Empire of of people that you hire yeah so I I have a uh digital marketing agency that called crowd surf that manages me as as well as agencies and a ton of people that uh surround me and protect me and also bring things in and keep bad things out um but the first I guess the first time that things really got serious I did a meet and greet in London and I just posted about it on my socials and um thousands of people showed up to Lester square and shut it down wow and it turned out to be super unsafe which was not what I was expecting um but to see those numbers in person really put things into perspective and yeah it was uh I would say that was like one of the first moments where I was like okay I think we need some people to sort of harness this and um you know keep it under control yeah it's it's it's a wild story Lauren you know I was I was reading all about you last night it's it's fascinating as well I wonder when you made the transition not transition because it seems like you're not moving away from one thing to do another but the music side of things here uh you know you've got a you're you're writing some hits you're making some great collaborations here how did how did that part of it all you know fit into your brand yeah so I was actually um writing poetry growing up and when I moved to LA I was surrounded by incredible music and incredible musicians and I wasn't a good singer at all um but I got with I put all of the money I was making into vocal lessons because I really wanted to learn how to write music and how to perform so I spent a lot of my early teens working on that until I eventually signed a record deal that ended up not being for me and now I'm working in dependently as an artist and I just released my debut project last year mhm okay congratulations on that we're of course looking at the video that you collaborated on called breadcrumbs which is a great concept I feel like there's you know definitely a lot of genuinity in in in your music and your lyrics uh Lauren I got to ask you at the Tech conference you're at Collision right now how many chats will you be doing and uh what's the vibe like in terms of you know people going up to you saying oh hey Lauren you're there like is is there a lot of fanfare yeah so yesterday I did a really awesome scholarship session with college students it was Q&A style where they could ask me questions and I would answer them as it pertains to social media and marketing and branding um and of course music they were super great had super great questions um some of them were fans which was awesome I got to meet a bunch of people I have a few talks I was on Center Stage yesterday with some really awesome people um CEOs all which I am not but it was really cool to be sat up there with them and uh yeah tomorrow I have a few Chats on a few different stages so everything's been really great Lauren do you really believe that anybody can be a success when it comes to social media and and and what does it really take because you've clearly worked hard at this this isn't just something that you fluked into yeah I think the biggest thing for me has always been making sure that there's a purpose I when I started social media it wasn't I wasn't trying to build a business I was 13 in my room with no friends and I was looking for community and I was looking for connection um and I found that and was able to build a business off the back of it but I feel like you have to have that initial sense of purpose that you know draws people in and makes people want to stay and makes people invested in you as a person and as a brand MH yeah what is your story and the story for you continues Lauren you're going to be on a Netflix show called incoming uh so we'll watch you on this screen uh you're going to be a triple threat pretty much so can't wait to see more you're only 22 years old Lauren Gray have the best time in Toronto thanks for speaking with us this morning take care