THE FUTURE OF YOUTUBE: MEET RACHEL LIZA

Somewhere between childhood adventures and the early days of the internet, Rachel Thomas was growing up like many early Gen Z kids - running through neighborhoods until sunset, while the internet grew up alongside her.

Adopted from China as an infant and raised in Northern California, Rachel spent her early years surrounded by wonder. Disneyland became her second home, while the ocean called just as strongly - frequent trips to the Monterey Bay Aquarium shaping her love for beauty, movement, and storytelling.

Homeschooled throughout her childhood, Rachel had the freedom to fully explore her interests. She spent her early years figure skating - what began as a childhood sport to pass for PE class would eventually grow into something much bigger. At the same time, inspired by her favorite YouTubers, Rachel began creating videos of her own, documenting her life through lifestyle vlogs and sewing tutorials. She took on the screen name Rachel Liza in 2017, a spin off her middle name, and it stuck.

Now based in Seattle, Washington, Rachel is a professional figure skater. She performs in shows, while also creating across social media and YouTube. Her work captures life with honesty and intention - sharing moments like moving out for the first time, navigating injury, and opening up about mental health and wellness.

Rachel is also my best friend, which makes this interview especially meaningful to me. We met at church camp in middle school, when she just moved to Washington. It took a little time to warm up, but we’ve clearly stuck together for a reason. While we’re very different kinds of creatives, we love supporting each other - whether that means exchanging ideas, showing up for each other’s events, or traveling together.

We’ve been planning this photoshoot and interview for months, but living on opposite coasts meant getting creative. Alongside designer Chelsea Joynes (@cj_icewear_designs on IG), we brought the vision to life - customizing a one-of-a-kind dress inspired by the feeling of a sunrise and a dream. You can watch the dress’s full process come together in Rachel’s YouTube video, linked at the bottom of this page.

Working around conflicting timezones and schedules, Rachel hopped on the phone for an interview. We talked skating, YouTube, dream collaborations and her dream brands to collaborate with.

Read on for a sweet interview with YouTube’s next star, your “Figure Skating Big Sis,” Rachel Liza:

SYDNETH

So… who is “Rachel Liza”? Tell us your story!

RACHEL

I'm Rachel Liza! I'm a professional figure skater and YouTuber that has been making videos for eight years. I like to say, “It’s your Figure Skating Big Sis, Rachel” to my subscribers.

My goal with my videos is to comfort and inspire people to either start figure skating, or do something that they've always wanted to do.

I was adopted at nine months old. We lived in California up until I was 13, and then we moved up to the Pacific Northwest.

With figure skating, I started out with syncro, and then I pursued single skating and competing. Once I graduated high school, I was a double gold medalist, which means I passed two of the big figure skating tests that you take throughout your figure skating career.

I went to showcase Nationals and then last Christmas, I was in my first professional figure skating show called “Nancy Kerrigan’s ‘Holiday Spectacular on Ice’”.

SYDNETH

How long have you been skating for?

RACHEL

I've been skating for 19 years now.

SYDNETH

Sheesh! What brands do you currently skate with?  

RACHEL

I skate with Risport skates, and then I use Gold Seal blades.

SYDNETH

We recently collaborated on a pretty sick photoshoot that will be featured in this interview. Tell us about the process of making that beautiful dress!

RACHEL

Yes! We collaborated with one of my friends, Chelsea. She has an icewear business where she bedazzles and decorates figure skating dresses. Her work is amazing, and I really love her style. She does a lot of fun, different kinds of patterns to really make figure skating dresses pop.

I knew Sydney was going to be in town, and we've been thinking about doing a figure skating photoshoot. So I talked to Chelsea, and she helped our idea come to life!

We started out with a plain white dress that was ordered online. She airbrushed it super softly with pink and yellow, to add a whimsical flowery effect. Then she sewed on a pink sparkly applique and blinged it up.

My followers let me know that it looks like Glinda's dress from the Ozdust Ballroom, or Zara Larsson’s “Midnight Sun”. It’s actually pretty accurate. So it was really cool how our idea was inherently inspired by other things.

SYDNETH

What has been the hardest skill to master recently? 

RACHEL

Since I've been going through an injury, the hardest thing for me is knowing if I'm actually in pain, or if I just need to push through something hard, like soreness. Like, knowing my body well enough to know what my limits are.

SYDNETH

Is resting hard?

RACHEL

Yes, I'm not very good at that.

SYDNETH

You recently finished your first show contract.  How was the experience?

RACHEL

It was so cool. It's different than anything else I've ever done, but there's also really no other way to experience something like that.

I've done typical rehearsal-type shows for my rink back home, but we only did rehearsals once a week. But in the show world, two weeks is typical to learn an entire show, which is around two and a half hours long. It's a lot more to learn in a short period of time, with a bunch of new people you've never met ever in your life.

And then you hang out with them for however long the show is, and then we all go back home and it's crazy.

SYDNETH

What's something you miss most about it?

RACHEL

I miss being around such driven, motivated people. It's really cool to be around so many different kinds of people, but we’re all very passionate about what we do.

SYDNETH

What was the hardest challenge of being a content creator while you were doing your show?

RACHEL

Being a professional figure skater is very physically and mentally tiring, just because I think I'm an ambivert. Being around a lot of people can be a good thing for me, but I also need my alone time as well. We can have up to 10 shows a week, and two in a day sometimes.

Making YouTube videos was really hard because I didn't want to miss out on the limited time I had with my costars. It was hard to decide on which activities I would do or wouldn't do, but by the end of the contract, I decided to just take a break from it and look at the footage when I got home.

It's such a unique experience and I won't be able to accurately share about it if I don't actually experience it, in the moment. Being present in the experience is more important to me than posting it on time.

SYDNETH

Do you have any plans to do more shows in the future?  

RACHEL

Yes. I'm actually heading to South America with “Disney on Ice”.

SYDNETH

What!?

RACHEL

I'm actually going to be leaving in a few weeks, going on tour with Disney! I've never been to South America before, so it's gonna be so cool and such an amazing experience.

Ever since I wanted to pursue show skating, Disney On Ice has been one of the biggest groups there are. I used to live in California, and had a friend that would get us into the parks. I’ve been a Disney girl since I was a kid. It was a huge part of my childhood.

It's really surreal being able to join them on tour, because when I was younger, I didn't know that was even an option.

SYDNETH

Who are your biggest inspirations on YouTube?

RACHEL

When I was younger, I loved my OG's. Alisha Marie, Ava Jules… we’re actually friends now, which is really cool! Jasmine Le, I really like her editing style.

I really like ur mom ashley.  She's one of my favorite YouTubers right now. She has her own matcha brand. Also Nicole Laeno is so sweet. It's cool that she's a dancer as well. And then there’s uncomfy. I love how calming her videos are and they're very comforting.

SYDNETH

What video are you most proud of?  

RACHEL

I really like the live audition video I made when I was in Sun Valley. That was pretty hard for me to make. Also the video right before that, where I was preparing for the audition, because that was just a really rough season for me.

I was actually looking at my little Bible verse that I have over the sink that I really like. It says ‘But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” (2 Cor. 12:9)

So I believe that being more open about my weaknesses and things that I'm going through will help share Jesus with other people and encourage them.

Even though that was a really hard video for me to make, the comments really showed me that it's helping like so many more people and it impacted others. That's good. I really like how it turned out.

SYDNETH

Do you go back and watch your videos?

RACHEL

Sometimes. I'm kinda in a rut with one of my videos right now, so I’m trying to find inspiration from stuff that I've created before. I'm learning new techniques to keep editing fun and just continue improving.

SYDNETH

What’s the hardest part about being a creator in a world where that isn't the norm? Specifically talking about Seattle, where it’s typically so tech-focused, but whatever space comes to your mind!

RACHEL

It's really hard to not have coworkers or people to converse with, and like, be in community.

I do get a lot of comments that are really sweet and kind and encouraging, but I also love getting real feedback. I love improving, but it's hard to get feedback or feel inspired sometimes.

I ask my friends, but a lot of them aren’t in those spaces so they often don’t understand the weight of the question that I'm asking. They'll say, “Oh, I like it.” And I ask, “But how's the editing? Do you think it was engaging”, stuff like that?

And I can read my analytics for that, but it's much different hearing it from an actual person.

Also, there aren't that many figure skating-specific creators in the Pacific Northwest. I'm friends with a lot of the figure skating creators and most of them are based on the East Coast, which is super great, but I’d have to fly out and visit them.

SYDNETH

What are your thoughts on social media at the moment, as both a content creator and consumer?

RACHEL

Specifically tied to professional figure skating, and sports in general, I think we need to talk more about the real struggles that athletes have.

There’s a lot of “challenge” videos out there, where people will attempt to do crazy challenges like running multiple marathons in a row or trying to do something seemingly impossible.

It’s fun to watch, and pretty entertaining, but I believe that people are craving real life stories, whether it be real athletes or people who are just doing sports for the fun of it. I see a lot of people missing the authentic side of social media where they feel connected to their favorite creators, and can related to them in some way * changed

Also as athletes, I don’t think we’re very open about our obstacles that we have to face, physically and mentally, and I don’t blame them, it’s hard. I prefer to talk about things that I’ve struggled with in the past tense because sharing my struggles with thousands of people is scary, and it’s honestly sad telling people that you’re not doing well.

But at the same time, the amount of people you can comfort through showing your hardships is so worth sharing when I’m struggling. If I can affect someone positively by sharing how I’m dealing with something negative in my life, I’ll do it!

Michelle Khare, one of my favorite Youtubers that I really like, does a lot of extreme physical challenges, but she weaves such amazing stories of her overcoming hardship while doing these huge challenges.

I would love to see more people in the sports space just talking about their journey in sports, and shedding more light on certain sports that don't get talked about too.

SYDNETH

What's your video creation process like? Do you script your videos, or do you just film them and hope for the best?

RACHEL

Sometimes I film them and hope for the best, especially if it's something that isn't in a controlled environment, like vlogs.

Most of my videos are actually vlogs. A lot of the time, I have a very loose script of parts where I want to talk, and parts where I want to just record life.

I like to put tidbits of what's going on in my life, or update people on things I’ve talked about before, or share my experiences with them.

SYDNETH

What's your dream collaboration? Whether it be creators or brands that you want to work with?

RACHEL

I love Gentle Monster. I think they’re so cool, and I’d love to work with them. If they ever did some sort of figure skating concept, I would love to work together.

I would really like to work with Laufey. Like, she has to make a figure skating music video at some point. She'd have to invite Alysa Liu, and obviously, me too.

I would also love to work with the ISU or US Figure Skating at some point, or be directly invited to the Olympics in the next four years.

SYDNETH

As a creator, right?

RACHEL

Yes, as a creator, haha.  

SYDNETH

She does not want to skate in the Olympics, guys.

RACHEL

I don't want to be in the Olympics, guys.

I’d also love to work with Sandy Liang, or Sundae School. I really like puffer jackets for the ice.  

SYDNETH

Who are some musicians that you love?

RACHEL

Ooh. Raye's new album? So good. Olivia Dean. I love Olivia Dean.

I mostly listen to pop and K-pop and then Christian pop as well.

And then I've been really liking girl groups recently, like Hearts2Hearts, KiiiKiii.

SYDNETH

What's your dream song to skate to?

RACHEL

My dream song is “Escaper” by Sarah Kinsley. I've been wanting to skate to that one, but I haven't really had the opportunity yet.  

SYDNETH

What inspires you?

RACHEL

I love meeting new people, doing cool experiences and things out of the ordinary.

I love having goals and accomplishments and I always want to improve, and I always want to learn new things. So there's kind of never an end to the things that I want to try or do.

SYDNETH

If you weren't skating, what career path would you want to pursue?  

RACHEL

Marine biologist. I used to want to be a marine biologist when I was a kid.

I've been learning some really interesting things about the ocean recently, like about how we are trying to figure out how to find this giant squid that nobody's ever seen because it's really deep in the ocean and you can't get that deep in the ocean without getting squished.

And how you can get DNA of the ocean from the little particles in the ocean.

It's very cool, and I think I would love to do that, especially since it doesn't require any physical activity, so I can do it when I'm too old to figure skate.

SYDNETH

What was your dream as a child?

RACHEL

To become a fashion designer.  

Actually, it was a fashion designer, but then I found out YouTube was a career and I wanted to do that.

SYDNETH

And now you get to do it! Are you proud of who you grew up to become?

RACHEL

Yes, I am.

It’s hard. I'm still growing up, but it's hard growing up.

Like, you know, trying to be like a good person who treats others with kindness.

SYDNETH

Aw. I think you're doing a great job. I’m proud of you, Rachel :)

Special thanks to Rachel Liza, Chelsea Joynes & Sno-King Ice Arena <3

Photos by Sydney Wright (SYDNETH) (@sydneth_) in collaboration with Rachel Liza (@rachel.liza)
Dress Customization by Chelsea Joynes (@cj_icewear_designs)
Shot at Sno-King Ice Arena in Kirkland, Washington

Written by Sydney Wright (SYDNETH)

THE FUTURE OF YOUTUBE: MEET RACHEL LIZA

A WEEKEND WITH 1VERSE; SHINING ACROSS NYC

SYDNEY WRIGHT