Meet Samantha McGraw | Full Time Cruelty Free Content Creator/Influencer (@sammcgraww)

We had the good fortune of connecting with Samantha McGraw and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Samantha, let’s talk legacy – what do you want yours to be?
As a full time content creator in the Cruelty Free space, I hope people remember the WHY behind everything I am advocating for. My whole platform on TikTok (@sammcgraww) is dedicated to raising awareness to how we can change the cosmetics and product industry. There are SO many cruelty free swaps for products that animal test or sell in China. (If you sell in China, your brand can be subject to post market animal testing, which we still consider an avoidable form of testing.) I was NOT always cruelty free and it took a very disturbing video plus adopting my dog, Ted, out of animal testing to send me down a rabbit hole and learn about the disgusting things happening in laboratories across the world. People often think testing is just putting makeup on animals, which I used to think too, but T IS NOT THAT. It is painful/inhumane and there are plenty of alternatives to animal testing now that do not harm any living being. I want to make a change in this world so that Teds friends/family members still stuck in testing never have to suffer again.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I started YouTubing when I was in the fourth grade. My best friend at the time and I had a silly web show inspired by ICarly. My mom got me a camera from Walmart and a subscription to One True Media for beginner editing software access. I looked forward to every weekend because my friends would come over and we would film for hours. I’d even try to sneak my camera into school and film in empty classrooms before the day began! In 2010 I was rushed into an unexpected surgery that left me in and out of the hospital and wheelchair bound for a few years. Even through the pain, I still wanted to film. I started using my web show to raise awareness and collect donations for the hospital that was treating my condition. Looking back at this now, as a 26 year old, I can say this is the start of combining my passion of filming with advocacy work.

Going into High School I was finally able to walk again and embarrassed of what people would think of my web show, which was all from elementary/middle school and showed videos of me when I was hospital bound. I removed my web show from YouTube and focused on my studies once more. I became obsessed with my agriculture course and started to think that I would like to pursue a pre vet path for college. After touring many of the New England Pre Vet programs, I really fell in love with University of New Hampshire (UNH). I had an almost perfect GPA and plenty of extra circular activities under my belt to put on my college application. I applied to UNH as my top school for Pre Vet, followed by Mount Ida College (MIC) for their Vet Tech Program, and a safety school Bridgewater State University (BSU) as an undecided major.

In the weeks to come I had the biggest shock and let down of my whole high school expirence; being rejected. Not only was I rejected from the Pre Vet program at UNH, but I was also given no scholarship for the MIC Vet Tech program. UNH would not change their decision, but MIC was flexible and said they would give me a small scholarship if I was interested in joining the freshman class as a communications major. I accepted MIC’s counter offer with the intentions of transferring into the vet tech program after a year.

My first year at MIC was weird… My media communications program had all of about 4 people in the major and the courses made me raise an eyebrow. My first semester I took a painting class they referred to as “color theory,” some general education courses, and a studio filming course. The studio filming course was by far my favorite and gave me my passion for video creation back. I realized that the universe may have been sending me a sign to get back to filming and editing, so that’s exactly what I did. Again, my educational world came crashing down when my program at MIC decided to shut down at the end of my freshman year leaving me with no choice but to transfer. I still had an active offer for acceptance to BSU, so I ended up at my safety school. I would be lying if I didn’t say I felt lost… maybe the universe was telling me NOT to pursue film. In fact, one year after transferring, MIC officially closed its doors on all of its students, leaving everyone needing to transfer to new schools. The one good thing that came out of this was getting a call that the vet tech program had 20+ beagles to rehome due to the closure. I was able to adopt my boy Ted and bring him to BSU with me the next year after that.

I tried out a ton of other majors over the next three years, 6 majors to be exact! Each time I switched I told myself, “maybe this is my passion!” After 6 failed attempts to find the passion I longed for, I switched back into a communications major and did two more years of college. While BSU did not have any hands on classes like MIC did with filming in the studio, I was able to join a sorority and started making recruitment videos. I also completed an internship where my director Arthur Slotnick allowed me to make some creative videos and graphics for his technology department.

After graduating COVID 2020 hit and I worked from home as an Admin for an Environmental Health company. It was a great company to work for, but I was back to square one doing something everyday that I had absolutely no passion for. This was the year TikTok started trending though, and since I was so bored at home working an admin job during COVID, I figured, why not download this app and see what the hype is all about… I posted a few videos and noticed traction on my account.

Fast forward a year later and I was approaching 200k followers and a job offer from a social media agency to be their TikTok Manager. I accepted the job in the middle of my move from Boston to Miami and began working the minute I parked my car. I LOVED working in social media and while I was the TikTok Manager, I began to dip my toes into Influencer Management. A year after that I was offered a job from IMAGE Skincare to be their Influencer Manager. I accepted the position and was under the direction of Linda Popowytsch who taught me so much in my first few months working there. We went on many LA trips where I was able to network with huge influencers as well as realize that these people are making full careers off of their video creation. Linda knew that I had my own following, but was posting less because I was rather focused on growing my career in Influencer Management. She always encouraged me to post on my channel though and to find time after work hours to go and create.

I finally decided to take her advice. I combined my passion of creating with advocacy work. I rebranded my whole channel and started talking about animal testing in the cosmetics industry. My dog was a symbol of animal testing since MIC saved that group of dogs out of animal testing and was going to use them for educational research. Since the college shut down, Ted had a new chance at a happy life. I was able to give that to him, making me realize not all dogs in testing would be this lucky. My channel began to pick up traction and millions of people began to learn about the horrors of animal testing. I grew another 150,000 followers in one month.

As my account traction picked up, we got notice from IMAGE that we needed to head back to the office full time. As someone who thrives physically/mentally in a remote capacity and does not own a vehicle/drive anymore, I had to accept a lay off from the company. I think I cried for like a month straight scared that I was going to go broke and not find work. Through all of this, I continued to create. As my follower count rose to 400,000 followers, I noticed a ton of inbound brand deals coming through. They were mostly cruelty free beauty companies wanting me to show their products to my followers. I thought back to the trips to LA where so many creators/influencers were doing video creation full time and realized that I could actually do that too. I signed on to a wonderful talent agency who believed in my messaging of not only being an advocate for animals, but also changing the the beauty/product space to becoming cruelty free.

Since then, my account has been growing daily. Ted and I just hit 500k on TikTok and 20k on Instagram. I am able to work with dream brands and have helped so many of my followers go cruelty free. The fact that I am able to work for myself, promoting my passion for animal welfare through my art of content creation feels like a dream. Everything that has happened in my life feels like it has led me to this moment. I am thankful for all of the ups and downs and want to truly use my social media to create change.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I live in Fort Lauderdale now and start every morning off with a walk around Las Olas Riverwalk with Ted in his dog stroller. We both also love BarkYard n’ Brews which is like an off leash dog park and beer garden! My favorite place to eat is Casa Sensi which has amazing sushi. They also have a Woof Roll which is dog beef sushi… Ted loves it! There is also this event by Flamingo Flea every year which is called “Doggy Brunch.” It is a great event where you can bring your dogs for drinks, food, and shopping. This year it was held at Tarpon River Brewing.

When I have a moment of being dog free, my friends and I love karaoke Tuesday’s at Tin Roof. I also help run a networking group with my friend Shelly Teal called the FTL Gals. We hold monthly events like bar hops, hot girl walks, and yoga! I love to help organize these events and meet women from the South FL area.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Today I am dedicating my shoutout to an advocacy group called The Beagle Freedom Project. Their main goal is to rescue beagles out of animal testing and rehome them into loving families. While my dog Ted, was not directly from The Beagle Freedom Project, I do applaud the volunteers daily work to change the system so that suffering beagles have a chance at a new life. They will keep fighting until all of the cages are emptied and that really inspires me.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sammcgraww/

Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@sammcgraww