Sarah Gray: I’ve always been drawn to whimsical things
A conversation with the content creator
Welcome to Human Pursuits, the column that features need-to-know names and stories in media and other creative spaces. Today, a conversation with content creator Sarah Gray.
The vlogs often possess a dream-like quality.
Close-up shots. The sun peeking through the clouds over Victoria, B.C., milk splashing into coffee, puddles of rainwater.
There are no ring-lights or gamer chairs, no graphics flashing across the screen telling viewers to “Like and Subscribe.”
It’s mostly just camcorder viz. speaking directly to the camera. A burst of on-screen marginalia. Small pictures (two white lambs frolicking in the dewy grass) and phrases in plain white text (“somewhere in between ancient and ephemeral”).
The 30-year-old content creator has amassed an audience of thousands doing exactly this: sharing her perspective, lingering on the small details. In a digital ecosystem that often feels akin to a casino – slick, loud, painfully 4K – Sarah’s low-fi videos stand apart by merely feeling lived in.
There’s no hard sell or attempt to project status. Just a slice of life and some thoughts on how to make yours more pleasant.
I’ve been a fan for a minute, and we share some friends in common.
And so, we had much to discuss.
Our edited and condensed conversation touched on Sarah’s recent heartbreak, her early vlogging inspirations, the thrill of the hunt, embracing whimsy, summer bucket lists, and more.
ES: Have you been interviewed before?
SGM: A couple of times but many, many moons ago.
ES: What was it about?
SGM: Mostly content stuff. It’s a fun reminder that I’ve been doing this a while.
ES: My interviews have been described as “meandering,” so I hope it’s okay if we kinda go all over.
SG: I’m a meandering person, so….
ES: When did you start making content?
SG: I started making YouTube videos the summer after I graduated high school. I couldn’t bear the thought of my classmates seeing my stuff, so I waited til after I was done. I loved watching other YouTubers, and it felt like a fun thing to do. That was in 2013.
I only got serious about it after I graduated from university. The pandemic was instrumental in that sense. Brands and companies were starting to take micro influencers more seriously. I’ve been a full-time content creator for the past four years.
ES: What were you like in high school?
SG: Loaded question. I think I had the same interests I do now. I was always into thrifting and stuff. I collected magazines. It was just that classic teenager thing of trying to be quirky and interesting… I think people found it cool, but I was putting in a lot of effort. It was purposeful.
ES: Similar interests, but I’m guessing you were shier about expressing them?
SG: To a certain extent. I’m also a Leo and an only child. Laughs. The prospect of getting attention for the things I like was intriguing. I don’t know if I would have continued sharing my interests this long if people weren’t paying attention.
ES: That’s funny. I’m a Pisces, and I think the first year of this newsletter was me navigating the idea that by sharing stuff, I was giving people some sense of me. I didn’t like the idea that someone could read one thing I wrote and think they knew everything about me. I’m a complicated little fish. I like things to be more fluid. Laughs.
SG: I feel that way, too. It’s strange being perceived. I still go and delete old videos from time to time. I’m a different person every single day.
ES: Have you always lived in Victoria?
SG: No, I grew up in East Vancouver. I moved here for university and stayed. I love it.
ES: It’s a different pace of life out there, hey?
SG: Very different. I was a bit shell-shocked at first by how sleepy it is. I was 21 and wanted to go out, and everything was closed at 8 p.m. But it’s really grown on me. I love being able to walk to my friends’ houses. I rarely use my car, and everyone is so friendly.
ES: It’s remarkable what a walkable city can do for a young woman’s mindset.
SG: Exactly. Laughs.
ES: You mentioned that you’re a bit of a quirked-up chica. Sometimes I watch your videos and have no frame of reference for your taste. You’re buying or reading or enjoying things I’ve never even heard of. What is your discovery process like?
SG: Great question. I’ve always been drawn to whimsical things. I think my mom can take the credit for that. She’s a very whimsical, sentimental person, and I think, with that, comes an interest in esoteric stuff, you know? Things that are a bit kooky.
My friends are this way too. I’m often inspired by them and the things that they notice. If they’re interested in something, I think “Oh, that’s really cool, I should pay attention to it.”
That translates to the way I film my YouTube videos to an extent. I try to capture things someone may not notice. As I’ve gotten older and developed my creativity, I’ve become more comfortable with accepting the things I'm good at and embracing my strengths. I think I’m a very observant person. I’m astute to those tiny things that are so often overlooked. I love watching random YouTube videos about ancient artifacts. I don’t know if you’ve seen them, but there are these great ASMR videos from the Victoria and Albert Museum, which are right up my alley. Laughs.
I’ve always been drawn to whimsical things. I think my mom can take the credit for that. She’s a very whimsical, sentimental person…
ES: Hearing what you’re saying, it seems like you’re interested in the material world. I don’t always pay that much attention to objects. It’s a real skill.
SG: It’s also just enjoyable to be on the hunt for something. There’s a real hunter-gatherer mindset to collecting things that embody how I see the world. I get to enjoy them for myself and share them with others. It feels nice.
ES: It sounds like your mom really helped inform your taste?
SG: She influenced almost all of it. Maybe she’ll read this and be like, “Wow, you're finally admitting it.” I was just at a thrift store by my house, recently, and I found a copy of A Very Special Christmas on cassette... It’s that one where a bunch of different artists come together to do different renditions of Christmas music. I don’t even have a cassette player, but I needed to have it because it reminded me of when I was younger.
The gentleman who helped me at the check-out said, “I can’t believe you know about this.” I told him my mom introduced me to it. It really had me thinking. I realized all of the things that I love, or pay attention to, are because of my mom.
ES: It’s crazy how you can build a whole ass personality off the things other people like. Laughs.
SG: Because I don’t have any siblings, I think it was easier when I was young to think I found everything all by myself, but it’s mostly because my mom showed me.
ES: I wanted to ask you about a book you mention a lot. The Philosophy of Home. It seems like a seminal text.
SG: Yes, by Emanuele Coccia.
ES: Let’s talk about it.
SG: I couldn’t believe it when I found it. I haven’t done much research on him, which I feel bad about. I know that he teaches and is very prolific in his work, but… I watched this YouTube video from Rachel Nguyen of That’s Chic, who is my idol. She's incredible. Everything she does is touched with magic. She had this term she kept using. “Spiritual housekeeping”. It stuck with me, and that somersaulted into wanting to learn more about how I felt about the home.
For so long, I’ve been drawn to making this little nest for myself, no matter where I am, and collecting these things. Philosophy of Home was the first time I’d ever read something that explained exactly what I was doing.
My mom and I used to drive around and look at people’s homes. We’d play that game that people play: “How would we decorate it? What would we do?” We came to the conclusion that not everyone cares about their space that much. I don’t mean that in a bad way. A lot of people simply view their home in practical terms. I think that book divulged to me that it's so much more than that. It helped me understand that there is a philosophy to doing it, and it’s not just something that you randomly come upon. I find that idea terribly interesting, but maybe it's time for a new book to come into my circulation, because I’ve been talking about it quite a bit.
ES: What was the last book you read that wasn’t The Philosophy of Home?
SG: I just started The Neapolitan Quartet by Elena Ferrante. I read the first one and loved it. I instantly bought the second, but I haven’t touched that yet…
I’m also reading Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar right now, which also comes highly recommended. I’m only halfway through, so I can’t give you a fully formed opinion, but I’m enjoying it.
ES: My wife and I are also slowly working through The Neapolitan Quartet. She really liked book one. I thought it was okay, but I liked the ending… If you like those books I would recommend Valley of the Dolls. It’s one of my favourite books ever. It’s like my Philosophy of Home. It’s about three female friends, and it tracks their lives and the tragedies that befall them. It’s a page-turner.
SG: We love that dynamic, hey? Girlfriends.
ES: It’s a tale as old as time, to be honest. Look at the latest season of The White Lotus.
SG: It never tires. It’s so dynamic and complex. It’s so interesting.
ES: I understand if you don’t want to talk about it, but given that you’ve been open about your recent breakup, I wanted to ask how you’re doing. A close friend of mine is going through a similar situation. It’s hard.
SG: I think I’m on the other side of the really difficult part. Not to keep harping on this, but I think being able to cultivate a space for myself has been instrumental in that…
One thing that I’ve also found informative has been getting back in touch with things outside of the Internet, which is what consumes the most of my time on any given day. Every Substack seems to be about “I stopped using my phone for a week,” but, heck, it works. It’s so true. I’ve been painting and trying to build my garden. I have all my seeds here. I want to grow some vegetables.
I’ve also come to understand that all of the people in my life still see me as a whole person. So often we focus on one person seeing you that way, knowing you completely, but in truth, everyone who loves you sees you that way as well. It’s helpful for me to know I’m still the same person, and that people still value these things about me.
We’re also getting into spring and summer–
ES: We can’t overstate that fact enough.
SG: It’s so helpful!
ES: I wrote a couple of weeks ago that I sometimes convince myself I don’t experience seasonal affective disorder until the sun arrives and reminds me that life is worth living.
SG: It’s quite a shock. A lot of people don’t understand how dark it is here. When it gets nice out, I realize how badly I was trying to convince myself I was having a good time. Laughs.
ES: What’s your summer bucket list?
SG: I’d love to visit B.C.’s Gulf Islands. I am so lucky to be here and to have those areas so accessible to me. I love camping. That’s something that I haven’t done in a long time. I’m guilty of relying on partners to be my camping person. My goal is not to do that. I also want to build my garden, like I said…
I turned 30 last summer, and I feel like everything is feeding into that feeling of starting a new decade… I’m urging myself to try new things.
ES: That’s a great perspective. I know Leos are often independent, but do you have any advice for someone reading this who’s maybe recently single and struggling with that?
SG: Laughs. I admit, my independence is a little bit inherent… I’m comfortable being alone, but I’m addicted to hanging out with my friends. I love being around people. It’s been a transition to be by myself again, and do things by myself.
I think my advice for anyone struggling to enjoy their own company is to focus on how rewarding it can be. It’s a cool experience. Maybe it’s like the winter gloom, where I convince myself that everything’s a positive experience and that’s how I get through things. Laughs. But just try it out… Nothing worthwhile comes from being completely comfortable all the time.
So often we focus on one person seeing you that way, knowing you completely, but in truth, everyone who loves you sees you that way as well.
ES: Does your audience care about your personal life very much? Or are they too busy trying to ID what pants you’re wearing that day?
SG: Laughs. People do ask me stuff like that. I share more when it’s a patron-exclusive situation, or within my membership, because I feel quite close with those people. We’re chit-chatting all the time.
Recently, I’ve become more private. Part of that is just wanting some boundaries on my personal life, but the other thing is, I don’t know if I have the answers to the questions people are asking. I’m just a person; that’s not to sound flippant, but I want to be thoughtful and purposeful with what I share with people, and sometimes I don’t feel confident sharing those things… It’s something I think about a lot when I'm creating.
ES: I think about that a lot too. It feels like there’s this expectation that you commodify your own life, and it’s not always clear how to approach it.
SG: I know every creator says this, but my audience is truly the best. They’re so incredibly kind and generous, and they share such incredible stories with me. I’m always blown away. I’ll read comments and be crying because I can’t believe that they’re willing to share this stuff with me. They also respect the things I want to share, and I don’t think they would want to push me into something I don’t want to do.
That said, I don’t have any interest in growing a big audience. I feel very comfortable with where things are at. I think about numbers a bit, and what’s going on, obviously, but I’m pretty comfy with what they expect of me, and what I expect of them.
ES: I was actually wondering what growth looks like for you. Is it just to keep doing what you’re doing?
SG: Right now, it’s mainly to continue doing this. I love making videos, and if I can do it for X-amount of years, I’d be super happy and grateful. I do toy with the idea of doing something else Internet adjacent at some point, but if I’m being honest, I’m not super career-orientated. It’s never been something I’ve been interested in, which is probably why I never got a job after I graduated.
ES: Oh, mama, I do not aspire to labour. Laughs.
SG: Exactly. Anything that can let me be creative in this way, I’m grateful for.
Sarah Gray is a content creator. She lives in Victoria, B.C. You can follow her on Instagram, TikTok, Substack, and YouTube.