Welcome to YouTube Millionaires, where we profile channels that have recently crossed the one million subscriber mark. There are channels crossing this threshold every week, and each creator has a story to tell about YouTube success. Read previous installments here.
Mackenzie Turner was going to be a teacher. She’d always loved kids, and she’d never really considered another career. Teaching just seemed like a natural fit. She was smack in the middle of university, getting a two-year teaching degree, when COVID hit.
Stuck at home, she downloaded TikTok and started making videos. They weren’t super serious–just a way to alleviate boredom. But she was still making them when she got a job at a daycare, and that’s when things started to change.
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“When I was getting into social media and working at the daycare, I’m babysitting these kids and all they want to do is watch YouTube videos of people playing Roblox. I didn’t even know what Roblox was, so I’m like, ‘What are we even doing here? What are we watching?'” Turner says.
The kids begged her to join them playing Roblox, and eventually–though she’d never really been into games as a kid herself–she gave in. “They were like, ‘You should make Roblox videos. You should make Roblox videos,'” she laughs. “I’m taking advice from seven-year-old little kids and I’m like, ‘Okay, yes. Sure. Great idea.’
Turns out, it actually was a great idea.
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Turner expanded from TikTok (where she has 5.4 million followers) to YouTube, where she now has three channels. Her core channel is all Roblox all the time, with scripted videos she thinks of as the YouTube equivalent to SpongeBob SquarePants. She uploads one story-driven video at 8 a.m. Pacific every single day, so her young audience knows when to tune in the same way the kids of yore used to tune in for morning cartoons.
She could never have guessed that her daycare charges would help change her career, but that’s exactly what they’ve done. She ended up taking a leave from her degree and deciding not to teach, feeling that “I’m made to do more” than teaching, she says. “I feel like there’s more in me I need to do.”
Most recently, her growing online presence caught the attention of DRESSX, a digital fashion company/NFT producer that’s worked with real-life brands like Dior, Balenciaga, Off-White, and Dolce & Gabbana to make virtual versions of their clothing. Working with DRESSX, Turner was able to digitize some of her physical merch items–meaning she (and her fans) can now sport the same items both IRL and in Roblox.
We’ll let her tell you the rest below.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Tubefilter: For anybody who maybe doesn’t know you, can you give me a little bit of background about you, where you’re from, and your journey up to joining YouTube?
Mackenzie Turner: Yes, totally. I first started making content initially actually on TikTok during the whole COVID break. Everyone’s just bored, doesn’t know what to do with their lives. I was making videos on TikTok at first. Then eventually, once I grew that following, I started making my way over to YouTube and I started off with fun challenges for kids, like “24 hours in my car” challenges and stuff like that.
Then eventually I created another channel, my Roblox channel, and that’s how this all came about. Now I post Roblox videos every single day. I haven’t skipped a day in, I think, two years now, which is crazy to me. Every single day we post on Roblox. That’s how it started. We started with TikTok and spiralled and now here we are on YouTube.
Tubefilter: What were you doing pre-pandemic? Were you in college? Did you have another career? How was it?
Mackenzie Turner: I was going to school at university. I did university for about two years. I was going to school to become a teacher, and because I loved working with kids, I knew something to do involving kids was definitely my passion. Then at the same time, while I was going to school for two years, I started doing TikTok, and then it just became a point where I was like, “Wow, you could actually make money on the internet?”
There was a time where I told my mom because she’s a very “Let’s go to school” vibe. I told my mom. I was like, “Okay, I’m just going to take a break from school. Like a one-year break right in the middle of a two-year degree, which is kind of weird.” She’s like, “Okay, as long as you promise you’ll go back.” I’m like, “Yes, don’t worry. It’s a break. It’s a break.”
Tubefilter: Totally. Just a break.
Mackenzie Turner: Yes, exactly, right? I took a break. I’m still on my break. [laughs] A few years later, still on my break. I was going to school to become a teacher, work with kids, and then it just spiraled and now I make videos for kids, which is amazing.
Tubefilter: Yes. I know teaching certification in Canada is really intense–the level of control they want to have over you and your behavior and what you do with your life. I’m sure you have a lot more freedom.
Mackenzie Turner: Totally. Yes, for sure. There’s so many courses you need to take and programs that you need to get into that have way long waiting lists and most people don’t even get into them. That’s crazy to even think of because it’s like, being a teacher, I don’t know, I feel like it shouldn’t be that difficult and strict, but it obviously is.
Tubefilter: Was there a specific point that convinced you to take your quote-unquote “year” break? Did you hit a certain income level? Did you hit a follower level? What was that sort of tipping point for you?
Mackenzie Turner: I think it was just kind of in general, I was very much like…Being a teacher, it was very limiting for me, and I felt like I had more potential, but I didn’t really know what that was. I remember having a conversation with my dad in the car and I was like, “Dad, I feel like being a teacher, but I feel like I’m made to do more. I feel like there’s more in me I need to do.” He’s just like, “Oh okay.” He’s just like, “What does that even mean?” I’m like, “I don’t know what that means.”
Then I started doing TikTok. I think I made like $3,000 from like a brand deal. I was like, “Oh my god, this is insane.”
Because I was doing full-time school, I was also doing part-time working at a daycare. I was so busy and I was making TikToks in the bathroom of the daycare. I remember doing that stuff, just lip-syncing stuff. Eventually, I was just like, “Well, I made $3,000. I’m going to take a break and I’m going to see how much I can grow, how much money I can make.”
We just took it from there. My boyfriend at the time, he was helping me. I took a year off and then we grew it from there. Then it was all gone from there, whole history.
Tubefilter: Were you into Roblox and other video games before this, or was that something that came with your audience? How did you develop your whole niche?
Mackenzie Turner: Growing up, I wasn’t really in the realm of video games. I wasn’t really familiar with video games growing up. My family wasn’t into games. My family is very artsy and artistic. My dad’s in a band and my brother’s in a band, and my mom’s just my mom. When I was getting into social media and working at the daycare, I’m babysitting these kids and all they want to do is watch YouTube videos of people playing Roblox. I didn’t even know what Roblox was, so I’m like, “What are we even doing here? What are we watching?”
All these kids, their parents give them their tablets, and they just sit in the corner and they play Roblox. Eventually, I just started playing Roblox with them because they’re like, “Play with me. Play with me.” I’m like, “Okay, sure.” Once I got into doing TikTok and stuff, I was still working at the daycare at the time, and they were like, “You should make Roblox videos. You should make Roblox videos.” I’m taking advice from seven-year-old little kids and I’m like, “Okay, yes. Sure. Great idea.”
Tubefilter: It really worked out.
Mackenzie Turner: Yes, it totally worked out. At first, I was doing gameplay, not very much thought put into my videos, just turning the camera on and doing whatever I wanted, and then as time progressed, we structured our videos a little bit more, thoughtful and everything has more of an intention now, which is great. Yes, that’s how it started. I was influenced by the kids around me to start making Roblox videos.
Tubefilter: What’s your current production process? I know you have two different channels and your non-Roblox videos are really involved and seem pretty time-consuming from a viewer standpoint.
Mackenzie Turner: Yes, definitely. We outsource a lot of things for our Roblox channel specifically. I have two or three different writers creating scripts because our Roblox videos are very roleplay-based. The idea is I wanted to bring a TV show or something like SpongeBob SquarePants to Roblox, because that’s where all the kids are. That’s the cool thing right now. They’re not always on TV watching a SpongeBob episode. I wanted to create a different TV episode every single day while using Roblox. Essentially, that’s what I did.
We have three scriptwriters. We actually taught my brother how to edit our videos. After I film and record a video, I send the video off to my brother and he edits all the videos every single day and he sends them back to us. We have recently hired a thumbnail artist. I used to create the thumbnails by myself. I go back and forth with the thumbnails specifically because I have a very hard time giving other people control. I’m like, “Ugh, I want to do everything myself,” because I’m like, I just feel like I can do everything the best. Obviously, if you find the right people, other people can definitely do it better if that’s their forte, which I’m still getting used to.
Other than that, for filming and recording our videos, I actually have my best friend. We grew up together in middle school and high school and she works for me. We call her my assistant, but she really just comes over and she films videos with me. She handles all the other characters throughout our videos that interact with me. I have my gaming setup and I play the Mackenzie character. Obviously, I’m Mackenzie. My friend, she sits at a computer right in front of me, and she’s got six or seven laptops open and she’s playing all the characters interacting with me.
That’s pretty much how we have our setup for all of our Roblox videos. For me to be able to make a video every single day, I want it to be super easy, just very tick off the box. I also don’t want to be working every single day. When she comes over, she only comes over about three times a week and we bust out about three or four videos a day when she comes over.
Tubefilter: That’s wild. Clearly, you have it down to a science.
Mackenzie Turner: Yes, totally. Before we actually hired people, it was just my boyfriend and I doing everything together. It was a crazy schedule. We were killing ourselves for four months doing it all together.
Tubefilter: Take me through the process of the start to end of a Roblox video. You said it starts with a script?
Mackenzie Turner: Essentially, it starts with a script. Our writers email it to us. We sync it all up with all the laptops and all of our iPhones and stuff. I have my iPhone just sitting right in front of me with the script, and we’re just going down each line and we tick them off as we complete each line as we go and we record the videos. Now it’s pretty quick. It takes us about an hour to record and then save the files, send them off to my brother. He’ll edit them. It takes him about three to four hours to edit a video. Then he’ll send it right back to us. Get our thumbnail from our thumbnail guy, and then we just upload.
Tubefilter: Then do you have a set upload schedule? A specific time?
Mackenzie Turner: Yes, we do have a set upload schedule. I like to post every single day at 8 a.m. PST. We also put our videos on a premiere, which means we upload it the night before. We can have people join the premiere and like the video before it’s even up. It gives them about 12 hours to see, “Oh, Mackenzie’s video’s coming on at eight o’clock tomorrow.” It’s time for them to get ready and build up that anticipation.
Tubefilter: Do you find that’s increased engagement in your videos?
Mackenzie Turner: I wouldn’t necessarily say it helps or doesn’t help because we’ve obviously had highs and lows throughout our videos. I would just say the main thing that I really love about premiering the videos is that I can be in the premieres with them as we’re watching the video and we can experience the video together. For example, when it starts at 8 a.m. I’m on there every day being like, “Who’s ready for today’s video?” Or if it’s a scary one, I’m like, “Are you guys scared? Are you guys excited?” Something like that. Or, “What do you guys think the video’s about today?” Just interacting with them throughout it.
I feel there’s definitely, I see a certain amount of people there every single day. I literally know them to a T. I’m like, “Oh, Lily’s here.” You know what I mean? I know those people who are there every single day. I feel like in the community aspect, it’s really good but viewer-wise, I wouldn’t say we’ve seen anything dramatically change.
Tubefilter: Got you. Have you thought about livestreaming at all?
Mackenzie Turner: Actually, we have thought about livestreaming, but I would say that Roblox skews much younger for platforms like Twitch and stuff like that. The only thing I’ve really considered is maybe we could livestream on TikTok, because I’ve seen a lot of more YouTubers do that. I’m nervous to do livestreaming, to be honest, because I feel like it’s very consuming and you have to put a lot of hours into it to even get places. To be honest, I don’t want to sit in front of my computer for 12 hours playing Roblox. I feel like since we’re managing a bunch of channels, I feel like my time is spent elsewhere, but definitely something in the future I could consider.
Tubefilter: How many people are on the team now total?
Mackenzie Turner: I have three writers, I have one thumbnail artist, one editor for the Roblox channel, and then I have my boyfriend, and then my best friend who’s my assistant. Then on my in real-life channel, I also have a videographer and editor. He’s just one of our best friends from high school. He’s just a professional videographer. He edits and he films. We’ve got about…If we include Derek, who’s my manager, we’ve got about nine people.
Tubefilter: It’s cool that you have so many close friends and family who are able to help.
Mackenzie Turner: Yes, totally. I feel blessed that everyone’s got the right skillsets and we all just work together.
Tubefilter: You recently did a DRESSX collaboration. Can you tell me about how that got started and the creation process?
Mackenzie Turner: Definitely. I’ve been on Roblox for a few years now and I always see creators making clothing items and stuff like that, but I’ve never really found someone specific to work with that I feel has really resonated with me or I’ve loved their style or anything that. DRESSX reached out to us and when I saw that they did amazing collabs with huge companies, I was like, “This is amazing. This would be a perfect fit.” I felt like they could really understand my vision of how I wanted to create certain styles or certain outfits of what I can’t always find in Roblox. They just helped it really come together.
For example, I’m always looking for new styles or new outfits. I always go on Pinterest and stuff. I’m looking for new outfits and styles. I had this one idea for a super cute iridescent pink jacket. Obviously, there’s nothing really like that on Roblox. When they came to me, it was the perfect timing because I was like, “I’m obsessed with iridescent things right now.” I was like, “Oh my gosh, yes, if we could create a super cute iridescent pink jacket, that would be amazing.” I have a signature Cuties necklace that I’ve created in real life with my merch store and they recreated that. Then we have a cute pink heart fanny pack that is coming up in my next merch launch that they also created.
They did an amazing job. They absolutely nailed it. They created all of my favorite items in three of my favorite colors, pink, purple, and blue. They literally just made my vision of everything come together in Roblox now. Now I can literally wear it every single day and all my characters can wear it and now all my fans can wear it too, which is amazing.
Tubefilter: It’s cool you can tie it in with your physical merch! You mentioned your next collection?
Mackenzie Turner: In real life, we have these cute heart-shaped fanny packs that we’ve been working on it for a while now, and it came out with DRESSX first. It was kind of a little teaser. Then when we go to drop it, they’re going to have it in real life and they’re going to have it on their Roblox character, which is going to be so cute.
Tubefilter: Do you have plans to do any other digital products or is this something you’re sitting on for now?
Mackenzie Turner: I think definitely I would love to continue working with DRESSX in the future if that’s something they’re into as well. I know I just created a super cute video yesterday utilizing all of my items in my Roblox game, and it was about how I became a fashion designer and I designed all these specific outfits. I can’t wait for that to come out. I want to see how that does for the performance of this collection as well, having a full dedicated video on it. I’m very curious to see about that, but yes, I would definitely love to create more items in the future.
Tubefilter: What are your overall goals or plans for being a creator? Clearly this whole thing changed your career trajectory dramatically.
Mackenzie Turner: Yes, totally. I feel like right now, as we’re doing with our Roblox channel, I want to keep posting every single day. I want to just keep developing with my fans as I’m growing up. Like with my family, I know my fans get really invested in my family. My mom and my dad, I have created videos with them in Roblox and they’ve been on camera with me, which is so fun. I love involving my friends and family.
I feel like I create a lot of individualized content, whether it’s in my real-life content or my gaming content. I don’t involve too many people. But I think that’s something I definitely want to start branching out into, because I feel like fans have more of a connection when there’s more people involved and a cooler dynamic whether you’re with your mom or your dad or your dog or your best friend. Definitely, I want to start involving more people in my videos. I want to keep grinding out YouTube. I feel like that’s where I’m supposed to be right now.
I’ve actually got three YouTube channels right now and we’re trying to grow them as much as we can. I’m enjoying that. I’ve got a set schedule pretty much every single day. I like to feel organized, and if I’m not organized, I feel like I can’t get anything done. Getting on a good schedule for me is really important. Yes, I just want to keep creating videos. One thing we’ve done about a year or maybe two years ago was I created a song which did amazing, so I want to create more music in the future. I created a little song that was in Roblox and I think creating these music videos, or visual music videos but in a game too, is another aspect of me taking my TV videos and also putting them in a game. That’s something I definitely want to continue doing as well.
Tubefilter: That’s right, that music video is one of the top-viewed videos on your channel.
Mackenzie Turner: Yes, I know, right? It’s crazy to me. I can’t believe a song like that did it so well, but they love it. I guess a song has such longevity to it, which is amazing. You could listen to a song a thousand times, probably more than a thousand times. A video, you can only watch a couple times before you’re sick of it.
Tubefilter: Is there anything else you want readers to know about you?
Mackenzie Turner: I feel like a lot of fans or people who watch my videos are always asking, “Oh, I want to be a YouTuber. How can I be a YouTuber? What should I do? I want to be just like you.” Well, I love it when people say, “I want to be just like you,” but I really want people to be just like them. They need to find some unique thing about themselves. If they really want to do YouTube or really want to get on social media, you need to find something unique about yourself that you can really bring out and stand out.
I feel like in YouTube, there is so much competition and everyone wants to be a YouTuber now, which is amazing, but really find that little special thing in you and roll with it. Roll with it, go with it, milk it out so you can stand out from the crowd. I feel like that’s important because a lot of people say, “I want to be just like you.” I’m like, “No, you have to be just like you.”
