Welcome to On the Rise, where we find and profile breakout creators who are in the midst of extraordinary growth. You can check out previous installments of Creators on the Rise here, and installments of Streamers on the Rise here.
hammybanks says she’s still a “baby creator.”
But she’s come a long way from making her earliest videos.
Subscribe to get the latest creator news
She first picked up a camera way back in 2017, while she was working for Disney. She’d originally gone to college for dental hygiene, but found herself drawn to hospitality management, and went from there into the Disney College Program.
“[T]hat’s where I thought I saw myself in the future,” she says. “[J]ust moving to Florida, going to work for the mouse for the rest of my life.”
While working for Disney, she started recording vlogs, and while she found that she loved creating videos, she “wasn’t in the right headspace to continue with the vlogging journey,” she says. She put down the camera, finished college, and moved in with her husband, ready to keep working in the hospitality space.
Then COVID hit. Her job was eliminated. Stuck at home, and seeing her husband enjoying his longtime gaming hobby, she ended up getting into video games, too. She bought a Nintendo Switch and decided to download Fortnite (why Fortnite? because it was free to play). It wasn’t long before she got good, because “I had all the time in the world to continuously get those victory royales as I did,” she says. “Then I was like, ‘This is really fun. I’m going to take all of this unemployment money and invest it into a PC.'”
That’s exactly what she did. Around the same time, her husband began streaming, and seeing his content made Hammy miss her vlogging days. She figured, “Maybe I can just start streaming on my own and editing those videos.” She got on Twitch not long after, and then, while working a 9-to-5 job she picked up mid-COVID, began uploading videos–mostly couple-oriented gaming content–to TikTok and Instagram.
Now, two years later, content has become Hammy’s full-time job. She has nearly 200,000 followers on TikTok and nearly 75,000 on Instagram, and has big plans for 2024: YouTube Shorts, more streaming, and–last but certainly not least–a return to vlogging.
Check out our chat with her below.
@hammybanks I’m usually watching him get his butt whooped but still entertaining #bloompartner @Bloom Nutrition #gaming #couple #gamercouple #relationshipgoals #relationship #disneydreamlightvalley #leagueoflegends ♬ hotline bling (billie version) – hazel & instrumental version
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Tubefilter: Nice to meet you! We’re profiling you for On the Rise, our series about creators growing their audiences and their businesses in different ways across different platforms. I know you used to stream on Twitch, and you post content on TikTok and Instagram. To start, tell me about you and where you’re from. Any cool hobbies you had as a kid?
hammybanks: I’m Allison, also known as hammybanks on all my socials. I grew up in Fredericksburg, Virginia. I now currently live in Pennsylvania. I don’t know how much you want me to go into detail about my childhood, but I grew up as a creative, fun, singing, musical, dance-loving child. I was always trying different arts and crafts, and I was one of those kids that had an after-school activity every single day of the week. Then my dad passed away when I was 13, so we moved up to Pennsylvania to be closer to family. A year later, I met my husband. That was 13.5 years ago that we started dating. It was like my life has been either pre-Derek and then after Derek, because we’ve been together for so long.
Tubefilter: How did you end up on social media?
hammybanks: My baby creator journey was whenever I picked up my first little vlog camera back in 2017, 2018, when I worked for Disney.
Tubefilter: Wait, you worked for Disney?
hammybanks: I did.
Tubefilter: Okay, I’d like to hear about you working for Disney. Did you go to college for it?
hammybanks: Yes, I went to college. I first went for dental hygiene, and then I switched after a year into hospitality management. I felt like even though I picked hospitality, I really didn’t know what I was doing, but I mainly chose that just so I could do more things angled towards Disney, because that’s where I thought I saw myself in the future, was just moving to Florida, going to work for the mouse for the rest of my life. [laughs]
And then things changed. I did the Disney College Program three different times. I was so pissed. I angled into that. Then whenever I was doing that, I started vlogging. I threw out a couple vlogs, and then some things happened in Disney where I was not– I wasn’t in the right headspace to continue with the vlogging journey. Next after that, I completed college, moved in with my husband. COVID happened, he introduced me to gaming.
Now, this is where the story gets juicy. I picked up my first gaming console, which was the Switch. Me and my friend wanted a game to play during quarantine. It was Fortnite because it was free. I lost my job during COVID, so I had all the time in the world to continuously get those victory royales as I did. Then I was like, “This is really fun. I’m going to take all of this unemployment money and invest it into a PC.” [laughs] Then I started streaming.
Then after streaming, I started posting little gaming clips on Instagram and TikTok, and it wasn’t until I made one little sketch type of TikTok that took off a little bit. I don’t want to say it went viral, because it definitely wasn’t as viral as a lot of it, but I saw a lot of growth, and things happening after this one TikTok. I was like, “Yes, let’s just keep going, see how fun it is,” and now we’re here.
@hammybanks He’s gonna regret even turning on his computer… #gaming #relationshipgoals #couplegamers #lol #tiktokcouple #relationship #marriedlife #couple #gamercouple #marriage #relationships ♬ original sound – Brendita
Tubefilter: Interesting. You said you got tired of vlogging. What drove you to pick up making content again? I know you got laid off during the pandemic, but was there something that intrigued you about content creation and pulled you back to it?
hammybanks: My husband. He was the one who started streaming first. Then I was like, “Hmm, this is fun.” He wanted to get some little videos of him gaming, and I was like, “Oh, that makes me miss the time that I was vlogging and editing all those videos. Maybe I can just start streaming on my own and editing those videos.” That was my little kick in the butt.
Tubefilter: Then you started streaming, I noticed that you haven’t been live on Twitch in a while. Is there a reason that you fell off streaming and started to prefer TikTok and Instagram.
hammybanks: Work. 9:00 to 5:00.
Tubefilter: Oh, are you back to doing a 9:00 to 5:00?
hammybanks: No. I did after I lost my job and during COVID, and then picked up another 9:00 to 5:00 that I was at for the past three years. I recently just left that job, so now I am full-time content, and I will be picking up the streaming and starting YouTube. That’s my goal of 2024. I’m fresh out of the 9:00 to 5:00. Those are the things we’re working.
Tubefilter: Your content grew to the level where you felt comfortable quitting your job?
hammybanks: It did, and thankful.
Tubefilter: Are you planning to carry your short-form over to YouTube, or are you planning to try and do the long-form?
hammybanks: Right now, I’m recycling my content through TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. Then now, I’m working on my first vlog, my first vlog back, and that should be going out soon. That’ll be interesting to see how that goes.
Tubefilter: How does it feel to go back to vlogging?
hammybanks: I’m excited to get back into it. It’s been fun. Everything’s just coming back to me.
Tubefilter: That’s good. I’m glad that you’re able to find enjoyment in it again.
hammybanks: Yes, me too.
Tubefilter: Now that you are full-time on this, what does your production schedule look like?
hammybanks: I’m still trying to figure that out. Right now, it’s whatever’s thrown at me, I’ll try to get that done to the best of my ability. But yes, I’m still trying to work on that daily schedule. It’s hard. Something’s coming out of it. We’ll get there.
Tubefilter: With your husband, I know the two of you have your separate streaming setups-slash-recording setups, and they’re back-to-back, so you’re sharing each other’s space all the time. How does that work for you creatively?
hammybanks: It can get loud here at some points, but it was like…We moved from an apartment into the house that we’re in now. In the apartment, we had our main bedroom and the guest bedroom. When I started gaming as a hobby and investing in my PC, we figured, “Well, we need a place for these.” We put them both in the guest bedroom. We just carried the game room from one place to the other.
There are moments where I feel like I would love my own office space. In here is great for gaming. We do really well whenever he’s on his game and I’m on my game. It’s even better when we’re on the same game, because we can just talk just like this. Whenever I’m working and he’s doing and he’s playing, I would love to get my own little office space, because I do, I need the quiet to be able to think. If I have a distraction, obviously, I’m going to end up playing the game instead of working.
View this post on Instagram
Tubefilter: Got you. Then when you two, you do a lot of content together, how does your collaborative planning process work for content?
hammybanks: I do it all. [laughs] He’s just my little puppet. I place him in all the things, and I tell him all the things that I want him to say. I place him in all the places that I want him to be. He just goes with it. He’s like, “Okay. Yes, ma’am. On it.” There are some times where I’m just like, “Can I have some input on the caption? Do you think I should film this in a different way?” That’s pretty much the extent. Everything else just comes from my noggin.
Tubefilter: What has been your favorite part of this whole being online, doing social media adventure?
hammybanks: Oh, man. Getting to meet all people, getting to meet everybody who has a similar lifestyle to me, and getting to be creative again. I feel like I lost myself a little bit over the past few years. Now, I have an outlet to just test that part, that portion of my brain. I’m able to keep it busy and be creative again.
Tubefilter: Perfect. Yes, that reconnection, because you said you were quite a creative kid. I certainly feel like working a nine-to-five, it doesn’t leave a lot of room for that.
hammybanks: Growing up wanting to be on Broadway and just do all of that other stuff. I wasn’t focused about what I wanted to do in college or anything other than that. I kind of just went into college, “What am I even doing here?” I felt like I had no ambition whenever I was there because I was just like, “This isn’t anything that I’m interested in or anything like any of these types of majors that are at this college, I don’t want to do anything. I just want to have fun.” Then I just took all these random jobs that I never loved. Now, I get to do this, which is mind-boggling. I never thought I’d be able to do something like this and call it my nine-to-five that I love.
Tubefilter: You said you plan to get back to streaming?
hammybanks: Yes, very soon. I just got a new PC. My old one, definitely, she was falling apart. Just upgraded, and now I can run it and get it going.
Tubefilter: You’ll be balancing a lot of platforms in this coming year.
hammybanks: Exciting.
Tubefilter: Is your main platform right now TikTok? Is that where you’re growing the most?
hammybanks: See, I would say, I just have the most followers on TikTok. My community, and I feel like all of my friends that I make in this, that’s on Instagram. I feel like I connect with a lot more people on Instagram.
Tubefilter: What makes you feel that way?
hammybanks: The engagement is definitely different on Instagram than it is on TikTok. TikTok is the app that you go to just forget about your troubles in the day, and you just want your brain to melt and just keep scrolling. You just see a lot of things in a matter of seconds. While on Instagram, there’s the stories that help you connect with the creator. You can post pictures. I know you can post pictures on TikTok, but that’s not the same. I feel like there’s just a lot more personal connection on Instagram.
Tubefilter: Interesting. I’m curious if you’ll see a similar trend on YouTube as well, with your audience.
hammybanks: I’m excited. I’ve been posting YouTube Shorts. I enjoy YouTube Shorts, but I feel like everybody just forgets about her. Everybody just forgets about the Shorts.
Tubefilter: It’s a tricky one.
hammybanks: I like them. There’s good growth on there too.
View this post on Instagram
Tubefilter: Any other plans you have for the coming year?
hammybanks: I am working in a year-long ambassadorship with Samsung at the moment. I know we have some fun trips coming up. I’m excited to, hopefully, continue working with them in the upcoming year as well. Just getting my foot in the door back in the live streaming space and getting my foot in the door with the vlogging space. Hopefully getting my schedule down. That is my number one goal of 2024 is trying to get a schedule for myself or a routine. Let me say routine. Just getting a routine for myself to organize my life. I am scatterbrained just all over the place all the time. I just need to sit myself down and plan.
Tubefilter: It’s cool to speak to somebody who’s on the cusp of, “Yes, I’m going to be expanding into doing YouTube and doing Twitch.” Good luck out there.
hammybanks: Even though I’ve been doing this for two years, content creating, I still feel like I’m a baby creator. I haven’t reached my max potential yet. I’m testing the waters.
