Regardless of who you follow (for example, I follow @whipplequincy, and I don’t care if anyone gets that or not) or what platform you prefer (mine: Instagram), there’s one constant that makes any favorite influencer successful: a niche. And while most content creators crowd the internet with clever videos and pouty selfies in the areas of fashion, food, sports and even politics, there’s a small crew of rising influencers centering their posts around a far different topic: life at UCLA.

Though most of these influencers garnered followings before becoming Bruins, they have seamlessly blended their time on campus into their robust regular content. One day-in-the-life video features a sunlit Royce Hall in the background during a walk to class; a get-ready-with-me takes place in a Hedrick Hall double; an Instagram bio reads “Los Angeles, @ucla”; a coffee-fueled rant includes digs (slight, but still) on the difficulties of college dating.

Each Bruin influencer eats the same BPlate meals and makes the same trek to Powell, but their respective content has distinct styles and focuses. And, most of all, a lot of eyeballs on it. These Bruin influencers aren’t amateur up-and-comers: They’re savvy social media managers, marketing specialists and public relations experts. (Some also have, ahem, healthy egos to match their followings: One told us they would only agree to a photo shoot if their “team” could approve the shots; another demanded an appearance fee of $7K just to show up. Needless to say, we photographed neither of them for this story.)

So just who are these undergrad digital superstars, each herding an army of followers? They’re a varied lot, as a click on their Instagram or TikTok will attest. This kind of doomscrolling we encourage. 

1. SHARLIZE TRUE TRUJILLO

TikTok (@sharlizetrue_): 2.9M
Instagram (@sharlizetrue_): 392K

Known for her dancing videos on TikTok’s precursor Musical.ly, Sharlize Trujillo — who goes by the surname True — is a fourth-year gender studies major who now posts about her daily life. Though she still heavily features her aspiring dance career, she’s pivoted to sharing more about competing in beauty pageants, working in entertainment, and, most prominently, her life as a first-generation Latina college student. In one TikTok, she reads aloud an essay she wrote for a psychology class on how hypersexualization affects young women in media, earning 50K views. She also makes sure to keep it real with her followers, advising that getting classes each quarter “is literally like getting on a Southwest flight — every man for themselves.”

Kay Chung in blue scrubs seated at a desk, making playful claw-like hand gestures beside an open notebook in a wood-paneled workspace.
Courtesy of Kay Chung

2. KAY CHUNG

TikTok (@kaybchung): 2M
Instagram (@kaybchung): 517K

If you’ve ever wanted a glimpse into the manic world of dentistry (and really, haven’t we all?), Kay Chung has the account for you. Chung is a fourth-year dental student at the UCLA School of Dentistry whose study methods have gone viral for being equal parts hysterical, concerning, manic and successful. Her all-nighters have become wildly popular, earning her over 130 million likes across her TikTok platform. While studying for 12 hours straight on four Red Bulls (with time allotted for three cry-breaks), Chung dresses up as an elderly woman, a clown, a giant koala and even Shrek. Her page is a safe space for UCLA’s most reckless studiers — and those just looking to justify a bit more insanity in their academic routine.

Azaila Jules sitting on brick steps outdoors, smiling at the camera, wearing a pastel pink sweater, white skirt, pink sneakers, and leg warmers, with a phone and shoes beside them.

 

3. AZAILA JULES

TikTok (@axaila): 418K
Instagram (@axaila): 334K

Azaila Jules’ fashion commentary attracts followers online and IRL. Jules is a second-year film and television student whose outfits you can see from a mile away or five inches from your face. Her outfits are much like her personality: bright, quirky, colorful, darling and inspiring. Though it’s her fashion that initially draws you in, her comedy skits and hilarious lifestyle videos will have you officially obsessed. Her videos move fast — blink, and you’ll only see a blur of pink. Her day-in-the-life videos at UCLA might even leave your head spinning as she runs from her dorm to BPlate to Melnitz to the laundry room to Westwood Village to TFT to Wooden, then back to BPlate and then to the mall. I sweat just watching her.

Side by side images of Brandon Yoon sitting on outdoor stadium bleachers, smiling while recording a selfie video on a smartphone, then reviewing and editing the clip on the phone screen.

4. BRANDON YOON

TikTok (@byo0n): 724K
Instagram (@_brandonyoon_): 769K

You might not know Brandon Yoon, but you may know his grandmother. Yoon’s content spans a wide range of topics, with two constants: his experience at UCLA, and his experience helping his grandmother’s local business flourish so she can retire early. One of his top videos shares his grandmother’s story of immigrating to Los Angeles from South Korea and starting Sunny Cleaners on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood. You can also see Yoon on campus posing in front of Royce Hall during golden hour, or earning a grade of “6-7” on a final exam. Most recently, he’s gone viral as a contestant seeking love in a speed dating challenge for the YouTube channel Nectar, filmed in front of a live student audience in the Ackerman Grand Ballroom. Yoon’s most promising love connection? A first-year whose mom had followed Yoon and then urged her daughter to date him.

5. ELLIE YONG

TikTok (@smol.elliephant): 3.7K
Instagram (@smol_elliephant): 249K

Need someone to push you to the gym and get you strong? Ellie Yong has got you covered. Via her handle @smol_elliphant, Yong runs a small online fitness empire out of her dorm room. Her regular videos are honest and encouraging, showing young women who’ve never even been to the gym how to start their fitness journeys using a no-excuse mindset. She also shows the joys and community of fitness, bringing her followers on a labyrinthine run through Osaka and demonstrating how she ties a purple belt on her UCLA jiu-jitsu uniform. Cyberspace is overrun with fitness influencers, but Yong’s content has you hanging on every motivational word — all spoken in front of the bunk bed of her dorm room.

Split image: Chloe Kang records at a desk, pointing to a laptop in one panel and laughing with a notebook over her face in the other, with a smartphone on a tabletop stand in both scenes.

6. CHLOE KANG

TikTok (@imchloekang): 155K
Instagram (@imchloekang) 159K

Just when we thought the perfect meet-cute — a rom-com trope where two characters destined to fall in love happen upon each other adorably and spontaneously — was only in the movies, Chloe Kang proves us wrong. Kang, a sophomore economics student, posts videos about her travels, her life at UCLA and her creative projects. Her most recent endeavor, however, has been investigating her accidental on-camera meet-cute: While she was recording her outfit on the rainy streets of Seoul, a stranger gave her his umbrella (and his slyly attached number). The video of the exchange garnered nearly 200 million views, with her followers having been famished for more “Umbrella Guy” ever since. Apart from divulging the trials of her love life, Kang also posts cinematic music videos that look more like short films, often using the Royce Hall arches and Janss Steps as her soundstages. Follow her page for cinematic depictions of campus set to moving music. Or, more likely, if you (like us) want to know her status with “Umbrella Guy.”

Caitlin Kim smiles at a smartphone recording video on a desk in front of a lighted vanity mirror, with a laptop and personal items visible in the room.

7. CAITLIN KIM

TikTok (@caitlinkim): 314K
Instagram @caitlinkimchi): 4.2K

First-year Caitlin Kim is a typical undergraduate influencer: she posts dances and food reviews, OOTDs (that’s “outfit of the day” for you luddites) and lip-syncs. Her most popular videos, however, feature digit-forward dancing: Kim films videos of herself “gloving” — performing a miniature light show using gloves with LED lights adorning the fingers. Using choreographed and mesmerizing micro-movements, she synchronizes all 10 lights to the beat drops of EDM songs. Her most popular gloving video earned 2.9 million views and features not just her dexterity and her fully lit dorm room, but also her endearing humor. When one commenter asked, “girl why won’t you turn off the lights 😭😭,” Kim responded, “I WILL TOMORROW TRUSTT.”

Charlie Kratus, in business attire, stands between stone columns, smiling and pointing while holding a microphone, with a campus building visible in the background.

8. CHARLIE KRATUS (Good Morning UCLA)

TikTok (@goodmorningucla): 85.3K
Instagram (@goodmorningucla): 61K

No one (and we do mean no one) is more excited to wake up every day as a Bruin than third-year Charlie Kratus. His @goodmorningucla pages feature a different part of UCLA every day, showing off clubs to potential new members, highlighting restaurants in Westwood Village and just offering general news he thinks all Bruins should know. He’s not afraid to be ridiculous (he once ran a marathon through the Westwood In-N-Out drive-thru) or to post a scathing exposé of USC’s subpar dining halls (he once went undercover as a Trojan while interviewing on USC’s campus). Fueled by blue-and-gold blood and near-lethal levels of positivity, Kratus has happily embraced his role as UCLA’s unofficial ambassador and mascot. Look for him around campus, and you might just be lucky enough to hear his signature “GOOOOOOOD MORNING UCLA!”

9. CHARLOTTE ELISE

TikTok (@charlotteelise): 3.3M
Instagram (@charlotteelise): 421K
YouTube (@CharlotteElise): 253K

Need to know what a day in the life of a UCLA student is like? Charlotte Elise is happy to walk you through it. Though Elise’s content covers everything from beauty to hair care to outfit inspiration and lifestyle, her Bruin focus shines on her YouTube channel, where she films snippets of her day and compiles them into sunshine-filled and aesthetically pleasing microcosms of her life. Her most popular YouTube video is a lighthearted documentation of her move-in process to her UCLA dorm, where her bright decorations and sparkling attitude completely transform a blank freshman room into an impressive, cozy campus home. Elise’s bubbly attitude flips move-in, a typically stressful time, into a feel-good watch that generated more than 1.4 million views. Her fans are obsessed with both her aesthetic and her positivity. As one user commented, “i could actually imagine her as the main character of a book.”

10. CASH PETERMAN

TikTok (@cash_peterman): 298K
Instagram (@cash_peterman): 561K
YouTube (@cash_peterman): 137K

If you ever want the inside scoop on UCLA football, Cash Peterman can take you inside the huddle. A just-graduated kicker and punter for the Bruins, Peterman brings a sly mirth and realness that go way beyond locker room humor. His short skits with football-centered humor garner thousands of views on TikTok; one video shows him praying to an offensive lineman who “has 100 lbs.” on him, and hearing said lineman’s ominous voice saying, “It’s time to go to heaven, my child.” His YouTube videos have a narrative approach, showing insider details on how UCLA athletes eat, train, sleep, strategize and just hang out, on and off the field. Go Bruins!

Read more from UCLA Magazine’s Summer 2026 issue.