Behind the Crown of Maddy Kim
Pulling back the curtain on growing personalities
—By Vyom Grover
Maddy Kim, a UM Senior and rising Youtube and TikTok star has her personality as a big sister on campus, advising younger students about opportunities and events through her many videos and encouraging her followers (Maddsters as she refers to them) to explore the UM Campus. Her growing popularity has given way for her to host events for her fans and for her to continue her passion in content creation and giving advice to many students, but it was not always this way. Maddy has put her blood, sweat, and tears into these videos. She makes these videos because she has gone through troubles at this university, missed various opportunities, and does not want to see prospective students have the same tougher times she experienced.
Her desire for success is unending, as is the fame and fortune tacked on with it. She wants to be known on and around campus as well. But what about the struggle to reach that platform? The work that many vloggers, icons, and personalities put into their work is often minimized. Maddy must match the competitive spirit and grit that the growing personalities must carry in the rising star industry. Since only a couple out of so many personalities ever actually can make a living off of their earnings, this has made it imperative for her to focus on growth.
Her start and current state
Maddy started her Youtube career when she was a Junior in high school and had an assignment to make a video in French for extra credit. From then on, Maddy loved being in front of the camera, from small funny vlogs to her vacation travels. However, when she got to the University of Michigan, she realized that the resources for prospective students were limited and that whatever the University tried to do to help and reach out to these students was simply not working. She set out to make her “big sister” personality when she was herself a freshman going through certain experiences and advising others on the benefits and costs of certain decisions. She wanted the students to be able to have a greater understanding of the happenings on campus and wanted to increase the transparency between the students and the University.
As of recently, she has amassed over 1,800 subscribers on YouTube and around 2,000 followers on her TikTok page. She regularly posts on both of these pages with daily uploads on TikTok and weekly videos on her Youtube channel. Before she was solely giving advice to students, but as of now she says that she is “diversifying her content back to more personal and fun vlogs as simply advice has taken a toll.” She is opening up newer segments she has named “Call your Crush” in which people call their crushes confessing to them, “Exotic Places to Study” where she explains the best places to study abroad that she experiences, “Phone a Friend” where she explores more majors and their departmental intricacies, and even challenges like “Operation Dining Hall,” where she will spend the entire day in the Dining Hall speaking with her fans that come around seeking her.
The darker side
But it isn’t as simple as recording whatever comes her way. Maddy has spent countless hours storyboarding, scripting, and editing her videos to curate her content in the most condensed and helpful manner possible. Such efforts are generally overlooked when she posts and many of her fans and supporters do not take into consideration the work that goes into her videos. Instead many demand that she post more frequently, sometimes demanding two to three videos per week and even some requesting daily Youtube videos. Solely, she runs her channels and makes content alongside studying Finance and looking at her recruitment options for future career opportunities.
To meet these demands set by her fans, Maddy has used her connections to start the Michigan Meet-ups club where she posts a couple opportunities a week in which the University may be hosting some events to which she has the club members attend, thus giving the University a higher student engagement opportunity and also satisfying the fans want for more interaction and events with their favorite rising icon. Aside from the club and her content, she has also gone to make custom merchandise such as stickers and small accessories that she gives to her fans so that they can proudly wear or attach to their Michigan Gear.
Many people have differing sides to them; however icons and rising stars are expected to only keep one face constantly. Maddy is no different. She expressed that sometimes she “feels trapped in the persona that [she] must show in order to make sure [her] followers don’t perceive [her] in a wrong way.” She also mentions the constraints that it puts on her since she knows that she must now upkeep the brand side of her because this side is the only face that many of her fans have seen.
Plans of expansion
A major factor for expanding for her, is her interaction with her own fans. She interacts with them multiple times per week and her precious Maddsters attract more people with every coming year.
Her plans for expanding her brand have been limited since she has been busy with her studies but she is still optimistic about partnering with restaurants and other smaller businesses to expand her image. Her biggest concern with partnerships, however, is that she “does not want to be just a prop for other brands to use, since [her] content is focused on making memorable college experiences for newer students and helping these prospective/younger students navigate college life.”
Another contributor to her growth, alongside her club and content, has also been her starring on the Premiere Season of Michigan Bachelor and on the 8th and 10th Season of Survivor Michigan (college spin-offs of ABC’s The Bachelor and CBS’s Survivor). She has yet to reach out to her peers on the production teams and marketing teams for both of these UM made spin offs but she plans to speak with them as well to aid in her expansion. She is excited for what her channel has to offer, however, it also has taken its toll.
Future plans and current standings
Maddy’s interactions with her fans and her quirky personality have kept her platform expanding. She plans to take her dream of being a recognized personality to the next level after this semester, once her recruitment sessions are over, since they have been tough on her. In order to expand her name, Maddy will continue to host events where she can meet new people that found her videos helpful. As for connecting with restaurants and other shops, she has halted that process as of now since she does not want to become a cover poster person, but more so a figure that many people can look up to. With all things considered, though, Maddy is ecstatic for the future. Not only is she excited about her career starting and the after college experience, but she is also waiting to see how she will be able to keep on her legacy as the “big sister” of UM for the generations to come and to be a big sister for any part of the daily life that she feels she can share with everyone.
As for herself today, she plans to create a better balance between her work and personal life since she is coming up to the final mark of her college career and she wants more than anything to continue being an advisor for younger people in her life. She has looked into creating more personal time for herself because she mentioned that recently the toll that the camera has taken on her. For now she is going about her days vlogging and giving advice to everyone she believes she can help, and is focused on finishing classes and getting through the recruiting process in her career finding ventures. She plans on continuing with her segments and most probably making videos and giving advice wherever she goes.
“As long as I can help people and have fun making my videos, I’ll definitely continue doing so,” she said.
Feature photo, Madelyn (Maddy) Kim; photo credit: Madelyn (Maddy) Kim