Her YouTube channel has 256,000 followers. More than 1.5 million people have watched her video about study tips and memorization techniques. Beatrice Naujalyte is the author and content creator behind “The Bliss Bean”, a popular self-development and lifestyle YouTube channel that gains more followers every day. It’s some achievement for this young entrepreneur and influencer who, since September, has been studying the Bachelor in Communication and Digital Media at the IE University campus in Segovia.
An American of Lithuanian origin, Beatrice belongs to the generation of “digital natives” who grew up alongside the rapid evolution of the internet in the first decade of the millennium. Her generation go about their day-to-day amid the unstoppable expansion of digital communication—from social networks to e-commerce, instant messaging, video calls, or the “Internet of Things”. For young people of her age, new technologies are fully integrated into all areas of daily life. They tend towards communication that is direct and immediate, and it doesn’t matter where in the world their audience is.
The shyness that appears in Naujalyte when you talk to her vanishes like a sugar cube in coffee when she stands in front of her camera, effortlessly connecting with tens of thousands of followers. Her messages are practical, swift, genuine, clear, and very visual; she is a born communicator. And although she shows a certain pride in being supported by so many subscribers across different networks (she has almost 36,000 followers on Instagram, for example), she admits that managing her channel is a lot of work, requiring that she constantly learns about media, business and self-improvement. “The part that takes me the most time is editing—but I do enjoy it a lot. I can’t function without a solid schedule that tells me exactly what I have to and when”, says Naujalyte, acknowledging that “I’m still finding a balance between the time I devote to university, my YouTube channel, and finding creative inspiration.”
¨I’ve recently started working with an agency that manages my brand sponsorships.¨
Her main goal with The Bliss Bean is to provide the best advice for planning, productivity and personal development, aimed at those looking to live more purposeful and happier lives while building a strong community of individuals who are passionate about personal growth. “Since this summer, I’ve had an assistant to help me coordinate everything. Having that support takes care of a lot of administrative tasks like uploading videos, editing podcast episodes, and organizing my emails. I’ve recently started working with an agency that manages my brand sponsorships, which saves me a lot of time and stress,” she says.
A born communicator
Even at a young age, Naujalyte demonstrated a natural gift for communication. “I’ve played with cameras ever since I was little. I’ve always been interested in creating content and sharing it with the world,” she says. As a student reporter at high school, the young American produced documentaries and developed a photography project inspired by Humans of New York, the well-known blog by Brandon Stanton. Before coming to university in Spain, she also volunteered within her community in the US, learned photography and video skills, and worked for brands such as Squarespace, Skillshare and Lingoda, where she produced creative campaigns on social media.
In 2018, her passion project became a reality: The Bliss Bean. In just three years the YouTube channel has reached over 250,000 subscribers, with videos about organization and self care amassing more than ten million views in total. The Bliss Bean also includes a weekly newsletter with more than 20,000 readers, Instagram content, and a podcast with thousands of listeners. This has inspired and motivated countless subscribers to pursue their goals and transform their lives. “I think the key ingredient to my success has been my perseverance,” she explains modestly, adding that “I try to infuse humor and positivity into my content, because I believe that personal development should be something fun.”
Her sudden online success prompted her to publish her first book this year: Plan and Organize Your Life: Achieve Your Goals by Creating Intentional Habits and Routines for Success. The book is a comprehensive and interactive “planning bible,” full of proven tips on organization, adopting good and simple habits, and working towards true self improvement and personal growth.
¨Sometimes it feels like an influencer is your friend, although, in most cases, they don’t know you.¨
As part of the influencer phenomenon, Naujalyte recognizes that they’re “a less formal source of ideas and opinions than traditional media.” Nonetheless, she believes “it’s more engaging, for example, to take travel advice from an influencer who you follow closely and identify with, than from an article you randomly find in a travel magazine. It’s like having a role model on the internet,” she points out. “Sometimes it feels like the influencer is your friend, although, in most cases, they don’t know you. These one-sided relationships are known as “parasocial relationships”, which is a concept that really fascinates me—as well as the effect that social media has on people. Obviously, the internet has its disadvantages, so I advocate for conscious use of digital media. But I also try to use my platform to demonstrate that these tools can be used in a positive way,” she emphasizes.
On the question of why she chose to study in Spain, Naujalyte responds naturally: “I was born in Lithuania and moved to the US when I was four years old. In a way, coming to Europe was like coming home. I was very interested in the Bachelor in Communication and Digital Media offered by IE University, particularly its entrepreneurial focus. I also studied Spanish in high school, so I didn’t have to learn a new language from scratch but I could improve my knowledge if I lived here.” The communications student is already set on her opinion of Segovia. “It’s a beautiful city, and it’s much bigger than I thought; there are loads of places to explore and get some fresh air. One thing I really enjoy is going to coffee shops around the city.”
Right now, The Bliss Bean is Naujalyte’s big project. She knows that she wants to keep improving, explaining “I intend to maybe upload videos less frequently, but always ensure a high quality.” Committed to making content her way, Naujalyte knows where she stands: “I don’t ever want to feel like I’m a hamster running on a wheel, producing content just to meet deadlines.”