Welcome to Millionaires, where we profile creators who have recently crossed the one million follower mark on platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Twitch. There are creators crossing this threshold every week, and each of them has a story to tell about their success. Read previous installments here.
Giulia Amato doesn’t waste a minute of daylight.
When we ask her what her average day looks like, she tells us this topic is a crowd favorite. Then she reveals why: It’s because she gets up at the (in our opinion) superhuman hour of 4 a.m., every single day.
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If she didn’t, Amato says, she wouldn’t have time to get everything done. And “everything” is a lot; Amato is a full-time realtor and a full-time content creator. She used to be a dancer, and that’s how she ended up on TikTok. She remembers musical.ly being a thing when she was in high school, and then when ByteDance bought that app and folded its userbase into TikTok’s in 2018, “everyone was making fun of it,” she says. “I used that as my chance to get on the app.”
She posted some dances and lifestyle videos, but “never expected anything to come out of it.” But then, “little by little, I noticed a lot of people were wanting to watch my content,” she says.
A video where she went to lunch with her mom got 70,000 views. It was her biggest success at the time, and commenters on that video pointed out how much Amato looks like Addison Rae. So, Amato dueted Rae, and that video got 40 million views.
After she graduated from college in 2021, Amato committed to posting three TikTok videos every single day, “no matter what they were,” she says. “Just me making cute faces or doing little TikTok dances. Then once I gathered the audience and my viewers, I really started to hone in on more of the video types that I wanted to make and that fulfilled me. Like lifestyle content, vlog-style content, beauty, fashion, and I started implementing more of that and almost building a brand for myself to where I could start monetizing it and then therefore create an income and make it my job.”
At the same time, she followed her mom’s footsteps and became a full-time realtor–which is how we get back to her waking up at 4 a.m.
These days, she’s not making three videos every 24 hours. She’s focused more on quality over quantity, she says. That’s paying off for her: she now has nearly 3 million followers on TikTok, and nearly 120,000 on Instagram, which is the platform where she does the most connecting with fans, she says.
Amato is planning to spend 2024 getting into more longer-form content, and wants to start launching her own brands, beginning with a fragrance line.
Check out our chat with her below.
@nobeefonlychicken #stitch with @Christian ♬ original sound – GIULIA G AMATO
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Tubefilter: Nice to meet you! To start, imagine somebody’s reading this and they don’t know anything about you. Tell me a little bit about where you’re from and what life was like before you got on TikTok.
Giulia Amato: I’m from a small hometown in Michigan, near the Metro Detroit area. Life before social media was, I feel, pretty normal. Just the hometown life, going to school, hanging out with friends. I was a dancer ever since I was three or four years old, so that’s honestly what helped me get into social media. Pretty normal life.
Tubefilter: Were you a career dancer?
Giulia Amato: No. My parents put me in dance ever since I was little, and then I grew to love it for myself and I did it up until high school. It was never something I was going to pursue professionally.
Tubefilter: I know you got on TikTok during high school, is that right?
Giulia Amato: Yes.
Tubefilter: What prompted you to originally launch a TikTok account?
Giulia Amato: I feel like when it first transferred from musical.ly to TikTok, it was off-putting to everyone. Everyone was making fun of it, and I used that as my chance to get on the app. I never expected anything to come out of it, but I think naturally from being a dancer, when dances were super popular, I would just post silly little videos of me doing dances or just me doing little transition videos. Then little by little, I noticed a lot of people were wanting to watch my content. And from there, it just grew.
Tubefilter: Were there any particular videos that really took off and brought a lot of views for you?
Giulia Amato: I can remember the first video that was ever a lot of views to me at the time was, I think, 70,000. It was literally just a video of me out to lunch with my mom, and I was sipping this little drink. It was the most random video ever. That’s when I was like, “Wow, this could actually work.” Then my big, big video is when I did a duet with Addison Rae because people were saying that we looked alike.
Tubefilter: [laughs] That’s true, you do.
Giula: That one got like 30, 40 million views, and that was like, “Wow!”
Tubefilter: When did you graduate high school?
Giulia Amato: I graduated in 2021.
Tubefilter: By the time you graduated, did you think you wanted to do this as a job?
Giulia Amato: I never knew what I wanted to do in college because I feel like that’s the path that everyone says you have to take. I didn’t know if social media was something I wanted to do forever, but I knew that I could do it right now after I graduated and then if I wanted to go to college, it’s always very accessible. Then, very slowly, I just realized that it could become a job and that I could build a brand with it. Then it really became more of a mindset of like, “Okay, this is my job, and I love doing it.”
Tubefilter: When you decided that you wanted to make this a full-time pursuit, how did things shift for you in terms of your approach to content and what you were actively doing from day to day?
Giulia Amato: I went from just making sure that I was posting three videos every day, no matter what they were. Just me making cute faces or doing little TikTok dances. Then once I gathered the audience and my viewers, I really started to hone in on more of the video types that I wanted to make and that fulfilled me. Like lifestyle content, vlog-style content, beauty, fashion, and I started implementing more of that and almost building a brand for myself to where I could start monetizing it and then therefore create an income and make it my job.
Tubefilter: I know that over the last few years, you’ve been able to work with a lot of big brands.
Giulia Amato: Yes.
Tubefilter: When did brand deals enter for you?
Giulia Amato: I think it started with the song promos. I was getting a ton of those again when the TikTok dances were really big, those were super easy to do, were just the transition videos. I think I started working with actual brands probably one year in, it was more of the smaller tier brands, some newer brands that were skincare but even now it’s cool to see that some of them are in Sephora today. I knew them when they were just baby brands.
Tubefilter: You were posting three videos every day, no matter what. Is that still your schedule?
Giulia Amato: No. Now I focus on, I’d rather put out one good video than three videos that it takes me 20 minutes to film. It’s more intentional, definitely, with my content now. It does take longer to film. I feel like the content style in general, on the app, the content that’s currently performing well, is longer-formatted. It’s not just silly little dances anymore. You have to give something of substance to your audience. It definitely takes longer to film. I would say putting out less content but making it more valuable to the audience is more of what I do now.
Tubefilter: Do you work with an editor or anybody, or do you still edit all your own content?
Giulia Amato: No. For the most part, I edit all my own content. If I need help, I may ask little things from my sister, but I really enjoy the editing aspect of it. For now, I like to edit all my content.
Tubefilter: In terms of your average day, what’s your production schedule like and what are you getting up to behind the scenes?
Giulia Amato: This is a crowd favorite. I wake up at 4 a.m. every day.
Tubefilter: Oh my god.
Giulia Amato: First thing I do is I go and hit two workouts, and then I come back. I do my little morning routine. I love to journal, and I love to do my little Bible study. Then I’ll get ready for the day. Then immediately that goes into either filming or editing, depending on what the lighting situation outside is looking like. Because again, I currently live in Michigan, and some days it’s raining, some days it’s snowing, some days it’s sunny, you just never know. Depending on how all that works, I’ll edit, and I’ll film, get all that stuff done.
I’m also a full-time realtor. If I have a listing client or a buyer dealing with their situation and do whatever needs to be done, whether it’s a new client or we’re just getting into it, like the contract signing, or we’re taking photos of the house, or I’m hosting an open house, and then just always being on hand to take calls for that. Then I always make sure every day to take time to go visit a family member just to make me feel good and also keep me inspired. Just making sure I’m doing things that I love.
I have a bunch of weird little side hobbies. I’m really into stocks and day trading, playing chess. I love to cook. Just finding little things, just going on a walk, things that keep me inspired so that I’m keeping my content good and fresh and new and original to me. Then usually, I’ll just make dinner and then wind down and go to sleep.
Tubefilter: How did you get into real estate?
Giulia Amato: My mom is a real estate agent, and she’s been in the field for quite a while. Then, weird enough, actually Selling Sunset, it was what really pushed me to pursue it. Of course, very glamourized, dramatic, definitely a reality TV show. It is not the same at all, but just the love for beautiful homes and architecture and helping these people find their dream home was something that I really saw that I could jump on and help people with.
Tubefilter: So you’re balancing a full-time job and also content, which is another full-time job. You are the strongest person on Earth to get up at 4 a.m. I don’t know how you do it.
Giulia Amato: That’s why I have to wake up at 4 a.m. I got all this stuff to do.
Tubefilter: Do you see your real estate and your social media as separate entities, or do you feel like sometimes they feed into each other?
Giulia Amato: I think, at least for now, they’re separate entities. I know everyone that’s around me tells me to make them in one. I will film some content regarding social media, but that’s not my niche, and it’s not something that I think I would really feel passionate about posting about. It’s more of an in-person thing where I love to help people find their dream homes and all that kind of stuff. Content is I like focusing on more of the things that I personally enjoy that make me, me. For the real estate, I want to make sure that I’m devoting the time to my clients that is needed on the sale.
I really only work with people that are close to me like family, friends or friends of friends. The aspect of prospecting on social media doesn’t work in my favor as much. Maybe in the future, but for now, that’s how I like to keep it.
Tubefilter: What has been your favorite part of growing an online audience?
Giulia Amato: My favorite part of growing an online audience is definitely, I love going live on TikTok and connecting with people and just hearing their stories and talking with them. Even just simple little mundane conversations has been the coolest part. Then seeing that translates to in-person, people coming up to me and telling me how their content has inspired them to get closer to God because I love to show my faith on social media, or I’ve inspired them to start working out or just taking better care of themselves, or whether it’s something little updating their beauty routine with a lipstick that I love…
It’s just really cool to see how I can change someone’s lives without even meeting them over a screen, and then being able to meet them in person. Definitely one of the coolest things.
Tubefilter: Really interesting that you do TikTok Lives. When did that come into things for you?
Giulia Amato: Honestly, I’ve always been doing them. Since I started on TikTok, and especially through the whole quarantine era, I just was always live, because it was Fortnite and then go live on TikTok. There was nothing else to do. Now, I try to do it every day. I’ll usually do like it’s like a “get ready with me” live. Anytime I’m doing my makeup where I can just chat and then also be doing something, just engage with my audience.
Tubefilter: Do you do Instagram DMs with viewers, or is there any other direct way that you connect with viewers?
Giulia Amato: I do do Instagram DMs. It’s so funny. I have friends now that started off as being fans, and then I met them in person. They’ve come to my birthday parties, and we talk all the time. Definitely Instagram DMs. Honestly, I don’t think I ever even go on TikTok DMs. I’m not even sure I know how that works. Also my Instagram comments, I reply to every single comment on my Instagram posts.
Tubefilter: Do you feel like you have a closer connection with the average individual viewer on Instagram versus TikTok?
Giulia Amato: I would say so. I just think Instagram is a little bit more intimate because there’s less people on there. I think it’s more of the superfans, as I like to call it, that are on Instagram. I feel like TikTok is a lot easier to just have people follow, just watch your content. If someone really wants to get to know you or they really love you and your content, that will transfer over to Instagram. It’s definitely easier to connect with them over Instagram.
Tubefilter: Do you have any kind of goals or plans that you’re working on over the next year or so in terms of developing your content?
Giulia Amato: Content-wise, I’m really getting into more of a cinematic content feel with more of a higher quality, like filming on a camera versus an iPhone. I’ve been playing around a lot with that on YouTube and TikTok. I’m really trying to find how I can implement my own style and personality into more of the cinematic feel so that I can almost start a series with it. I want to work on a new series that involves more of a cinematic feel. Then brand-wise, I have realized over the past year and developed a love for fragrance. Right now, I’m trying to build something in regards to a personal fragrance that I can then share with others.
Tubefilter: Oh, interested! What drew you to fragrance? Do you just like wearing perfume?
Giulia Amato: I love wearing perfume. This is a funny little, I don’t even know, thing that I like to do, and I do film it, too, or I’ve started filming it, at least. I realized that during my free time, I just try to find ways to feel inspired, feel me. I found myself, I would go into department stores, whether I was in Miami for I spoke at a conference or in New York for Fashion Week, and any time of spare time, I would go into department stores, I’d always find myself in the fragrance section, and I would just go around smelling the perfumes. It doesn’t matter if I have to smell them 10 times. I just loved the different aspects of the notes and smelling them, the different accords.
It just, something about it drew me in. I think it’s because everyone, it’s so individual to have their own fragrance. I think it’s such a cool concept to be like, “Oh, no one’s ever heard of this one. This is mine that I love, and this is why.” That is what drew me in. Then there was a particular fragrance that I was super inspired by, which I can’t share now, but which led me to almost inspire me to want to create my own for myself. Then I realized I was like, “If I want this, other people might want something like this, too.”
Tubefilter: Definitely. I wanted to go back to, you mentioned you want to do more cinematic content across all of your platforms. Right now, do you have different strategies in your approach to TikTok versus YouTube?
Giulia Amato: Yes. There was a point where I was consistently posting on YouTube, but I think for YouTube, I never found a style that I loved. Pretty much all of my videos, and I’m proud of all my YouTube videos, but pretty much they’re all different styles. The last one that I had posted was from Fashion Week. That one was super full-on cinematic. Then none of my other ones were like that. Some of them were total vlogs, some of them were like a Q&A style. YouTube is definitely more of where I’m playing around with my content styles, whereas TikTok, I usually stick to the vlog and the lifestyle.
I have posted some videos with more of a cinematic feel. Again, I’m just trying to find exactly what I love, but I definitely want to play around with it more on TikTok.
Tubefilter: I think to wrap up, I’d just ask, you’ve been online through your formative years of becoming an adult. What has this experience given you as a person?
Giulia Amato: This experience has definitely given me an outlook different from everybody else. It’s allowed me to experience parts of life that not even most people my age will ever experience, but most people will never experience their life. Being able to experience that and appreciate that at such a young age, I think really set me forward in regards to my mindset and just realizing what is achievable and seeing what all these top people are doing and being put in rooms with CEOs at the age of 17. It shows you what’s possible. It also has allowed me to make a lot of mistakes along the way that I think almost set me up better now to plan my future, I guess.
Tubefilter: Is there anything else that you want people to know about you? Anything else you want to share?
Giulia Amato: Probably just that in the past few months, I realized how important my faith was. I’m a Christian. I come from a Christian household but translating that from growing up Christian to my own faith, it’s something that’s definitely super important to me. I’m definitely trying to also spread the gospel and God’s word into my content. That’s another part of the whole figuring out how that plays. That’s definitely something that is going to be coming more into my content in the future.
Giulia Amato is repped by Viral Nation.
