Ranging from fashion and beauty to health and fitness, here are three Sacramento State students who are using social media to create blogs and videos to inspire and help other students.

Bethany Laven

Bethany Laven, a sophomore studying public relations, started creating makeup tutorials and cosmetic reviews for her YouTube channel one year ago in her dorm room.

On her channel, Laven focuses on using drugstore alternatives to high-end cosmetics for students who are on a budget.

“I try to do a mix of reviews and tutorials that focus on affordable drugstore products because most of my viewers are in college or high school, and we don’t always have a lot to spend,” Laven said.

Laven’s background in theatre and dance inspired her passion for makeup and cosmetics. After a Google search for makeup application tips led her to some YouTube tutorials, she became inspired to make her own.

“I have been involved in theatre and dance pretty much my whole life. That got me into doing makeup for stage very early on and fell in (I) love with it,” Laven said. “After watching so many tutorials and doing other peoples‘ makeup for so many years, I thought, ‘why not make my own?‘”

Laven says what makes her channel unique is the effort to combine her personality with knowledge of drugstore cosmetics.

“I’m kind of a quirky girl, and I kind of own that about me,” Laven said. “I try to put as much information as I can in a video without losing my personality and keeping it fun.”

Hevil’s Healthy Devil

After losing 30 pounds, sophomore dietetics major Helen Toy started her[the] blog, “Hevil’s Healthy Devil,“ as a way to maintain a healthy lifestyle and inspire others to become health conscious.

“My blog focuses on tips for health, nutrition, and how to gain a healthy lifestyle,” Toy said. “You will feel better when you are healthy and here you can find recipes, workouts and track that progress.”

On her blog, Toy keeps a daily record of exercise routines, diet and progress. Recipes for meals, as well as desserts, are also featured alongside workout videos Toy recommends from other sites. In addition, Toy offers advice and guidance to other dietetic students.

“My blog helps me stay on track with my healthy eating, exercise and fitness goals,” Toy said. “It gives me different perspectives on how to teach others, and keeps me and others accountable for what we do. It can motivate you to lead a healthy lifestyle.”

Toy said what she loves about blogging is the online community which she uses to help others.

“I used to read a lot of health blogs when I was originally trying to lose weight, and the other bloggers gave me lots of ideas and helped me,” Toy said. “They inspired me to help others too. I know it is hard being a college student, but I hope my blog can help slowly bring changes. It’s all about the little changes you can make. ”

What Elle Wears

Elleanna Alves, a sophomore apparel marketing and design major, started her blog “What Elle Wears”, this year with goals of helping readers find inexpensive alternatives to popular fashion trends.

“I would describe my blog as a fun place to get inspiration on how to be a budget-friendly fashionista,” Alves said.

Alves refers to herself on the blog as a “recessionista” because she refuses to spend more than $20 on any piece of clothing, in order to show her readers that style can come from any budget. The blog features Alves’ daily outfits, current trends and shopping tips.

“Right now, I’m actually working on a project where I take photos of celebrity-street style and find similar styles and trends for cheaper prices around Sacramento,” Alves said.

What Alves enjoys most about her blog is the ability to help students become creative with fashion.

”Someone I had never seen before on campus came up to me and told me how much they love reading my blog, and how they take inspiration from it.” Alves said. “It was special because it truly allowed me to know I was making a positive influence on people.”

In the future, Alves hopes to create content for her blog based off reader requests.

“I would love to have many diverse readers emailing me and contacting me letting me know what they want to see more of,” Alves said.

Alex Hernandez can be reached at [email protected]