I’m a 2016 YouTube NextUp Winner!

I have wonderful news IMAGINE-Nation Friends! Can you guess where I’ll be going the week after my birthday? New York City! For a fun and hard-working week at YouTube Spaces NY because I was selected as a 2016 YouTube NextUp winner!

Now, you might ask, what’s YouTube NextUp? What’s YouTube Spaces? What is all this madness! So let me break it down for you.

YouTube NextUp

A program started in 2011 where influential YouTube creators applied to get a boost for their channels from YouTube itself. It’s changed over the years. In 2011, the winners received $30,000 to produce a project and attended a 5-day YouTube boot camp. Today, it’s more closely tied into the YouTube Spaces located around the world as that’s where the YouTube boot camp will take place and winners receive training in both production skills (like lighting, camera, and sound) and growing your audience/brand (with the help of the YouTube Partnership team). Plus there’s a $2,500 voucher for equipment to help take your channel to the next level!

YouTube Spaces

These are production houses created and run by YouTube. And they’re FREE for creators. There’s a minimum of 10,000 subscribers for full access to the Spaces, but there are lots of other resources for channels below that threshold to help you grow. In the U.S., they’re located in Los Angeles and New York City, so I haven’t been able to go to one yet.

What does this mean for Kaitlyn and iIMAGINEblank?

For one, it means that once again I’m being recognized for doing the right things, working hard, and being a great creator. And for me, that’s really important. I live far away from the buzz and bustle of the main YouTube community (NYC and L.A.) and I only really have VidCon as a yearly boost for my channel and my creative juices. It’s easy, at my slow but steady growing rate to feel like what I’m doing isn’t worthwhile or that it won’t pay off in the long run. But then something like this happens, and I’m instantly reminded that all my hard work does have pay offs. They may take time and A LOT of effort, but they reap amazing results.

But on a more technical level, this is really a wonderful opportunity for my channel. I struggle with not having the resources or network to create some of the more innovative content I would like to make and feeling a little in the dark on what could make my channel better as a whole. So I’m really look forward to the mentorships and the networking opportunities YouTube NextUp is going to provide me!

Plus who can argue with spending a week in New York City? Ha!

I’m so excited about this opportunity and I hope you are too! If you want to hear more about YouTube NextUp and how thankful I am to all my subscribers for bringing me to the place I am today, check out this week’s video!