When I first dialed into my Zoom with YouTube's talented Sydney Morgan, I wasn't sure what to expect. What I can tell you is that I wasn't expecting to leave my call with so much to process: a newfound appreciation for the power of art and individuality, pursuing your passion, channeling your confidence, and doing what makes you happy. I left feeling empowered with the idea that we are in control of our own path and happiness.
While many of you may know Sydney Morgan for her filter-inspired makeup on TikTok or makeup hacks on YouTube, you may not be familiar with her journey to fame, inspiring backstory, and values of creativity.
Meet Sydney Morgan
Photo by Tyler Roth
For 21-year-old influencer, Sydney Morgan, art is more than a form of expression: it is a way of living. Since she was in high school, Morgan has turned to drawing, painting, makeup, and other forms of art to express her individuality.
I had the pleasure of talking with Morgan about her own experience on her way to fame, the struggles she faced along the way, and what inspires her as an artist and content creator.
Wake Up and Makeup
With 10 million followers on Tiktok and 5.75 million subscribers on YouTube, Morgan continues to inspire millions on a daily basis with her unique videos and tutorials. Her warm energy and fun personality were apparent not only on my call with her but can be seen through her channel as well.
Recently, this beauty influencer was featured as a creator at YouTube's Vidcon festival, where she spent hours designing and figuring out looks for people to try out. At her first Vidcon, YouTube's Makeup Queen set up a little booth and got to meet other influencers as well, calling it "a great experience."
Dealing with Burnout
Prior to her career, makeup was more of a hobby for Morgan, and whenever creativity struck, she would create a makeup video or a painting. As her videos started receiving more and more attention, she began to force herself to be creative in moments where it didn't always come naturally.
The excitement of wanting to see people's reactions to her videos and cramming to make as many makeup looks as possible - some of which would take hours to complete, prep, and plan out - was adding a lot of pressure to her everyday life. When asked what advice she would give to readers, she explained that finding a balance with your passion where you can still be proud of the work you are creating and not completely burn yourself out is crucial.
Overcoming Comparison
Morgan also opened up about her struggles with comparing herself to others online. She often felt like there was always someone who made a better video, was going to cooler events, or had more followers, and she grappled with feeling like she wasn't doing enough. "[I learned to] go back to focusing on myself and what I can control and taking a moment to be proud of myself for that," she explained.
While the content creator still grapples with comparison, she aims to break community standards of beauty and lets herself be quirky and goofy with the makeup process. "I've learned to just be myself and that will resonate with people."
Glossy and Glamorous
The artist recently debuted her makeup line, which offers products such as her rose gold lip gloss and makeup remover towel. Sydney emphasized that she is excited to see how her products resonate with her audience and is looking forward to building out her brand with new makeup products and more!
Finding Inspiration
From Adventure Time to Pinterest to Mr. Beast to Astrology, Morgan's videos are constantly fun, new, and unexpected. When asked about how she finds her inspiration, Sydney replied that she just pulls it from everywhere.
She often takes input from what her followers are interested in seeing more of, whether it's community polls or comments left on her videos. She often makes series such as her emoji-inspired makeup, phobia-inspired makeup, or zodiac-inspired makeup. Sydney continues to draw inspiration from anything that excites her and experiments with techniques for her individual looks.
Raising Awareness
Photo by Sydney Morgan
In 2018, Morgan was diagnosed with Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. And art, she says, has played an even more significant role in her life since her diagnosis: "It can be quite an isolating thing to go through and something that helped me so much was my creativity and finding my way back into art."
With so much time spent stuck at her house not being able to go anywhere due to symptoms or at the hospital, Morgan passed her time by watching numerous YouTube videos and beauty creators during this time. For her, finding your spark is what drives your passion through your hard times and journeys. Being able to do art and makeup is what gave her that spark of passion and got her to start creating again.
Morgan continues to be an active advocate for Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, sharing her experience with others and raising awareness around the cause, "The biggest thing is taking everything day by day and knowing that this is temporary and it's not going to last forever and you are going to get through it."
Words of Wisdom
The sooner that you realize this is your life, and you can do whatever you want, the better off you're going to be.
As a child, Morgan spent a lot of her early teen years trying to blend in and fit in with other people. She emphasizes that it is important when you're growing up to not be so worried about what is cool or trendy at the time, because at the end of the day, it won't make you happy. The sooner you can channel that energy into self-care, learning about yourself, pursuing your passions, channeling your creativity, not being afraid to be different, and walking your own path: that's when you're going to start to find yourself living life to its fullest potential.
Quick Questions With Sydney Morgan
What are you watching/reading?
The creative act. I got recommended it three times in one week and my friend told me I had to read it, and then saw someone reading it in a cafe and so I was like ok I have to get this. It touches on a lot of the stuff like burnout, where to get inspired, and creativity and I think anyone doing anything creative needs to read this book. It’s one you really don’t want to rush through, I feel like I’m going to read it a second time to really absorb it so I would definitely recommend that.
Controversial opinions or hot takes?
Pineapple on pizza is actually good.
Who would you want to play you in a movie about your life?
I don’t know, can I just do it? I need a role, I can do it myself. I’ve been wanting to do a documentary about my ulcerative colitis journey and how I got started in social media, so maybe I can just play myself in a documentary.
Any items on your bucket list that you have checked off?
For my 21st birthday this year, I went ziplining in Hawaii which is something I’ve always wanted to do.
Any items on your bucket list you still want to check off?
Maybe getting a tattoo? I don’t have any but I feel like that’s a bucket list thing I’d like to check off. I would either get an outline of my cats (named Boots and Kiki) because I love cats in general.
I would never regret that. Or maybe a little art palette or my logo because that represents my creativity and career.
What would your ideal perfect day look like?
Probably just at home with my cats, drinking coffee or tea, fireplace on, watching a movie, doing a face mask. I’m very much a homebody and I love being in my house and I love my cats and taking time to recharge and relax and that’s when I am the most at peace.
Comfort foods?
I love a good Mac and Cheese. On the sweeter side, sometimes when I’m craving something sweet I make a cookie or brownie in a mug in the microwave.
Collaborations you'd like to have in the future?
A brand I would love to collaborate with would probably be Morphe. They were always the brand that I saw my favorite beauty influencers collaborating with, so I think that collaborating with them would be kind of like a full circle moment for me.
Something people are surprised to find out about you?
Okay, I have two. Number one is my height. Apparently, I give off short energy online because all of my videos are filmed shoulder up but I’m actually 5’10.
A lot of the time when fans meet me they’re like “oh wow, you’re so tall”. More on the fun fact side of things, I’m very into gaming. I love Minecraft and Roblox and some of my favorite videos to watch are Minecraft Gamer Videos - I love it, it’s peaceful and entertaining for me.
Anything you want to add on confidence and creativity?
One thing that stuck with me on confidence is how people would always say “Fake it til you make it” because you can never tell if it’s real or fake and if you put out confidence, somewhere along the lines you’re going to start to feel it. I tried to mimic people who were confident and eventually, I started to feel better about myself and more confident with everything that I’m doing.
Another thing I’m focusing on is being intentional and I think setting intentions is so important. That resonates with confidence as well because if you’re doing things with something in mind, you can approach it with confidence and that has changed my mindset on everything I’m doing on a daily basis.
Keep Up with Sydney!
Stay tuned on Sydney's social media for more content and products!
Instagram: @sydneymorgan
YouTube: @sydneymorgan
TikTok: <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@sydneyart?lang=en">@sydney_art
