How L.A.-based YouTube star LaurDIY began out as a child crafter in St. Catharines, Ont.

Lauren Riihimaki recollects the times she made embroidered friendship bracelets — one of many first crafts she discovered as a child on the YMCA of Niagara summer time camp in Ontario.

She would go on to make movies “for years” on methods to make these bracelets — her first contributions to the video-sharing web site YouTube.

Little did she know she can be a part of the primary era of do-it-yourself (DIY) YouTubers at a time when being a content material creator wasn’t a traditional profession selection.

Today, the 32-year-old from St. Catharines, is among the most recognizable creators of crafts and life-style content material, going by the title LaurDIY.

Now dwelling in Los Angeles, LaurDIY has over 8.8 million followers throughout her YouTube channels. She has partnered with Disney, Starbucks, PopSockets and Ardene, a style firm.

She even designed her personal line of onesies and sleepwear for Ardene.

Going again residence

In a few of her most up-to-date movies, she documented a visit again residence to St. Catharines, as a part of a journey to rediscover her love of making.

In one video, she revealed an intimate have a look at her childhood, a time the place creativity “was untouched by expectation, analytics or outside judgement.”

“I have quite literally the best job in the entire world,” Riihimaki informed CBC News in an interview. “There is nothing that I would rather be doing, but there is a lot more responsibility tied to it.”

She mirrored on her childhood, pondering again to her artwork courses at Sir Winston Churchill Secondary School the place she may create “with no pressure.”

“It was just an entirely different era of creating here,” she stated. “It was just for the love of it and that was, I think, something that I needed to be reminded of. That is St. Catharines for me.”

Her mom Gail Riihimaki, also known by fans as MomDIY, says her daughter always gravitated towards colouring books and craft kits as a toddler to altering her clothes and teaching music at the Niagara Conservatory of Music in her teens.

“It’s funny because neither my husband nor I are particularly artistic,” Gail informed CBC News. “Being a social media influencer is an enormous shock. Guidance counsellor did not speak about that.”

An unconventional career path

Riihimaki knew early on she wanted to work in the creative industry, picking interior and graphic design as her top career choices when she was asked in Grade 5.

Three generations of her family lived in St. Catharines. At 18, she was eager to see what else was out there and moved to Toronto to study graphic communications management at Toronto Metropolitan University.

Excited to be living on her own in a bigger and busier city, creative burnout began to creep in for Riihimaki.

Gail said the program was a “combined blessing” for her daughter, forcing her to find different outlets for her creativity to blossom.

“When she simply began posting movies for her personal pleasure, no one knew, not even Lauren… The world didn’t even know at that time that it may ultimately flip right into a profession,” said Gail.

After graduating in 2015, Riihimaki would pursue content creation full time and announced her move to Los Angeles on her Draw My Life video from 2016 to be closer to other YouTubers.

WATCH | Lauren Riihimaki and her mother discuss what she misses from home:

‘Niagara region girlies unite’

Ten years later, earlier this month, the YouTuber published a video showing her winter wardrobe for her short trip to St. Catharines on Instagram and TikTok, prompting comments of shock and pride from fans in the Niagara Region.

One commenter, someone who “went to Niagara College,” said they are “consistently shocked” that Riihimaki is from St. Catharines. Another said: “Niagara region girlies unite.”

Riihimaki said the recent trip was to celebrate her cousin’s first baby and spend time with family — a priority of hers as she’s gotten older.

These days, the YouTuber is engaged on new artistic pursuits, taking her DIY expertise to the following degree by room flipping her home in Los Angeles. In October, she additionally co-launched a line of equipment for canine walkers, referred to as Fuzzboy Originals, together with her shut pal from Toronto Dani Roche.

“It’s been a passion project that I’ve had on the back burner for so many years,” stated Riihimaki.