This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at UCLA chapter.
Kate Li is a content creator and recent USC Marshall School of Business graduate from Oahu, Hawaii. You might also remember me mentioning her previously in my style inspiration article!
Due to her relatability, strong work ethic, and genuine passion for what she shares, she quickly became a favorite YouTuber and content creator to many in the late 2010s (including myself). Starting her content creation journey with YouTube in 2018, she has shared her experience with entrepreneurship, wholesome life adventures, college, and most recently, life post-grad!
Let’s catch up with Kate and hear about her tips for navigating life post-grad, her experience adapting from Hawaii to LA, celebrating her culture, and evolving to new content creation!
Life Post-Grad
Although navigating post-grad life is still fresh for Kate, she has discovered some tips for adapting.
She shared that “It’s helpful to talk to people because the position you’re in right now can feel very isolating, like you’re alone. But by talking to a lot of different people, I’ve realized that my situation is not that unique and it’s not anything that has to be too scary.” She went on to add that talking to as many people as possible is one of the best ways to navigate postgrad life, since there are endless pathways and opportunities to pursue, and your life is only just beginning.
In terms of college regrets, Li is not someone who “Likes to live with regret, because [she] know[s] that [she] had to have taken that action to learn a certain lesson. And it’s useless to actually think, ‘oh, I should have done things differently,’ because then you don’t know what would have happened.” However, as she reflected about balancing time between her career and making memories, she suggested trying to carve out time for career planning while still making the effort to create final college memories you can cherish for a lifetime.
LA Vs Oahu
Kate also shared a couple of valuable lessons from adapting from growing up in Oahu to her college experience in LA at USC.
Living in LA instead of Oahu changed her life perspective. “In LA, there’s a very, very high pressure to succeed or have money. It’s Hollywood: all the celebrities and actors are there. So, I think that definitely attributes to part of it. Whereas [in] Oahu, people are a lot more relaxed, and what you have isn’t necessarily as important to people. The environment in that sense was definitely like a big change for me to understand.”
One of the things that Kate missed most about was home her loved ones. “I want to see everybody that I love, but you don’t have that [much time]. That was the thing that I missed the most when I was in college and trying to figure out everything.”
She also added that growing up in Hawaii shaped Kate into the person that she is today. “States like Hawaii and California definitely have a really large Asian population. And while Chinese wasn’t the number one ethnicity, it was in the top, and that is a really unique thing that I didn’t realize growing up because I always saw myself as part of the majority. Everyone around me was Asian, or mixed or something like that. I’m really grateful I was able to grow up that way and it’s a very unique aspect of Hawaii. You’re able to really immerse yourself in your culture and appreciate it.” This ultimately allowed Kate to celebrate her Asian heritage wholeheartedly and she continues to share her cultural recognition with content.
Celebrating Asian American Culture
As an Asian American woman, Kate explained that she found a sense of community on YouTube and Instagram through content creation. “It’s been fulfilling to be able to connect with other people who have similar backgrounds. Especially with the rise of short-form content, there have been so many more friends and like people that I can meet now who are Asian, and I think social media is a great way to show more representation in the media of different people.”
She also shared the importance of food in Chinese culture, which is often incorporated into her content. The culture is “Very food-oriented! My family shows their love to each other by making food and that’s really big in the Chinese culture. [It is] something that I definitely carry in my heart all the time. If I like you, I’ll cook for you.” This couldn’t be truer, considering Li’s content about cooking from the heart.
The second thing that stands out about Chinese culture to Li is the “Collectivist culture of wanting to help each other out. You might not be directly related to them, and that aspect of it is really cute and special.” The communal aspect of the culture brings people together and they prioritize helping each other out, which explains her tight-knit community of fans.
The evolution of kate li’s Content
One thing that stands out about Kate Li’s content is her passion and authenticity. During our conversation, she said, “It’s really unique that we’re able to reach people that I never would [have] otherwise. That’s a really big piece of why I like to make content. I think it’s important to showcase all the different types of lives that people lead: every person. It’s easy to feel alone in a certain circumstance. For me, wanting to share my life has showed me that my life is special, but it’s not necessarily unique. And I think I find comfort in that.” The audience can feel her genuine energy through the content. She built her brand by sharing real life experiences and this allowed her to showcase her relatability and uniqueness.
Despite this, there have been some ups and downs. During a period of time, while balancing being a full-time college student, business owner, and content creator, she struggled with finding meaning within her content creation. After taking a short break, she reevaluated her goals and found purpose in her content creation again. “Once I found the meaning of it again, I had a new sense of wanting to post and share things because I knew the purpose of why I was posting and why I wanted to even be a creator in the first place.” With this in mind, she is excited to integrate YouTube back into her life.
With her new content, she is excited to share her journey post-grad, potentially pursuing a new career path and going back to school. She is going to allow her content to grow and evolve with her. We look forward to watching and supporting her journey!
