Skyla Paolino is not just an average freshman architecture student. She is a TikTok influencer with over 100,000 followers.

Not only does Paolino post get ready with me (GRWM) videos, she also uses her platform to encourage other women in the architecture field.

“My content that I post when it’s architecture-based is just a quick snippet of what I’m doing, because in class I can’t really talk about what I’m doing,” says Paolino. “However, I like to post myself in architecture, because it is a male-dominated field. I love to show women that they can do what men do equally. If an older woman sees a 19-year-old girl working on her dreams, maybe it will make her feel confident about what she’s doing.”

Since she grew up surrounded by similar occupations, Paolino’s future eventually became clear to her.

“My whole family is in architecture, engineering, construction and I truly love watching them do their work,” said Paolino. “Something that also made me turn my head was when I moved to New Jersey, we had to re-renovate my whole entire house. When the architect came over, he showed the blueprints and the layouts and the floorplans. I don’t know how, but I knew exactly what everything was and I was just so drawn to it. My dad brought up how it is a profession you can study, and I knew exactly what I wanted to do.”

Creating content while focusing on schoolwork is Paolino’s biggest challenge, yet she has been able to balance it out. Even though she doesn’t post on TikTok as frequently as other creators, she still manages to make time for her platform.

“It definitely took a minute to try to balance everything out and it was a little bit stressful, but once I got into the rhythm of it, I try to create content no matter where I go, even if it does or doesn’t get posted,” said Paolino.

Paolino also finds her biggest accomplishment to be her comment section on her posts. She actually reads all of her comments, something that other creators may not do often.

“To see that I help people is such a moving thing, because I’ve always wanted to be that [person] who inspires and helps. If someone’s struggling, I would love to be that content and comfort creator for them,” said Paolino. “I think that’s my proudest thing is that someone can notice me, and knowing that I made their day.”

To view Paolino’s content and keep up with her, follow her on TikTok.

Contact the writer: [email protected]