Princewill Pius
Taylor Nicole Dean’s YouTube success is a bit of a happy accident. In fact, she has her hedgehog, Nala, whose photo went viral in 2014, to thank for those initial days. “[Nala] had really connected with people, and I want to continue to do that,” the PetTuber told the San Antonio Express-News in 2016.
Years later, in 2020, Dean told Vice all about the process that led her to YouTube stardom. “It really started to take off when I had my hedgehog, Nala. I decided to try and make a video to link to people that told me they were getting a hedgehog because of me. After that original video with Nala, it just kept going, and now I’m here.”
However, Dean also set out to warn the masses about the dangers that come with adopting exotic pets. Speaking to New York Magazine, she dished, “About six months into doing YouTube, Finding Dory was coming out … it made me very nervous because I knew a bunch of kids were going to go want to buy a blue tang which is what Dory was … they’re extremely hard [to take care of].” Suddenly, after making her instructional video, it “blew up,” and Dean got 200,000 views. “Then I started making more than I was making at my job … so then I was like, ‘Okay, I’m young enough to where I can quit my job at a pet store and I won’t be ruined.'”
Written by: Nicki
