After leaving Cal Poly Pomona without a plan, former computer science drop-out Yash Bhure cracked the code to making viral content, racking up more than 100,000 followers on TikTok and 20 million views on the platform.
After realizing his passion for content creating, Bhure left CPP in 2019 to invest more time growing his social media presence. His content features videos of him editing himself into other popular TikTok videos, conducting social experiments and sharing video editing hacks.
“I would consider myself a content creator, social media influencer and an entrepreneur,” said Bhure, a former computer science student at CPP.
He revealed that there needs to be an “attention-grabbing beginning” when it comes to making buzzworthy TikTok videos. This is either in a form of a text or a clip that creates shock value or is relatable to most viewers.
According to Bhure, people are attracted to things they are familiar with; some of his most viral TikTok videos include editing himself in other popular videos starring social media personalities Zach King, Charli D’amelio and Addison Rae.
Before fostering his social media presence, Bhure described himself as a shy introvert until his college years when he started challenging himself in social settings. Without knowing it at the time, he practiced exposure therapy to ease social anxiety.
According to the American Psychological Association, this form of therapy exposes an individual to situations they tend to avoid which reduces fear of the situation and decreases avoidance.
“I would literally put myself into minutes of awkward silence with completely random people. I would go up to people at CPP and ask them, ‘Can you give me the directions to…?’ and pretend that I am thinking for three minutes,” Bhure recalled.
Bhure’s confidence and self-esteem sky-rocketed, positively impacting the relationships in his life. This mindset encouraged the people around him to live more freely as well. Some of his friends have even thanked him for motivating them to try new things and take risks, he added.
During Bhure’s second year of college, he realized that there were content creators who filmed themselves interviewing other people and performing social experiments. Following in their footsteps, he began conducting his own social experiments at CPP. In one of his experiments, he asked random students if they were willing to take an hour out of their day to get to know each other. He tested to see how the students would react to being put in an unfamiliar social situation. All of them responded positively to the experiment, Bhure added.
His love for creating content and interacting with people motivated him to continue going to college for the social aspects of it.
In Bhure’s third and last year at CPP, he realized that he was passionate about people and wanted to pursue a career where he could impact people’s lives.
Bhure explained, “I could continue going to school to get a computer science degree and a job. Then, I’m at the office for eight hours a day, but I’m not helping people out.”
This decision, however, did not come easy. Bhure was on track for graduate school when he dropped out with a 3.7 GPA.
He knew that he was going to do well in the computer science field, but that was not enough to convince him to continue down that career path. Being a content creator allows Bhure to connect with people on a larger scale.
“My main goal is not to have a nice house; I don’t care about that. I genuinely want happiness, explore the world and understand people,” he said. “I want to make an impact on people. It allows me to do what I do and determines my decisions.”
As Bhure’s brand continues to grow, he strives to continue creating digital content.
“I want people to have positive afterthoughts after watching my videos,” Bhure said. “That’s how I want to impact people for the better. I want to show people that they are capable of a lot more than they think. That’s where all of this is headed in the future.”
Although he is happy that he decided to leave CPP to pursue his passion, he explained that students should take time to consider their reasons for wanting to drop out of school.
“I wouldn’t recommend people to drop out while they do not have anything else going on,” he said. “I would suggest that you try a bunch of things out to provide yourself with more self-awareness.”
To view Bhure’s TikTok videos, visit https://www.tiktok.com/@yashixv?lang=en.