SSSniperWolf Almost Had A Different Career Before Getting Big On YouTube
There's no denying that SSSniperWolf (real name Alia Shelesh) is primarily associated with gaming. After all, she's amassed a following of over 33 million subscribers on her gaming YouTube channel alone. It might surprise many to know, then, that once upon a time, she almost embarked on a different path altogether.
SSSniperWolf previously revealed that she first got into gaming when she was a kid. Speaking to British Vogue in a profile on her and two other female gamers, she explained that her father bought a PlayStation for her and her younger brother in an effort to get them to get along. "It worked," she told the outlet. However, a ceasefire between siblings wasn't the only good to come of their newfound love of gaming. Far from it, it became a source of constant inspiration to SSSniperWolf. On top of enjoying the gaming itself, she began consuming gaming content. "One day [I] thought to myself, 'Hey, I can do that too.' So I started my own YouTube channel," she recounted.
That said, this isn't where we say, 'the rest is history.' While SSSniperWolf's love of gaming and decision to go pro were a long time coming, there was a time she considered going another route. And no, we're not talking about her other great hobby — the "Martha Stewart sh**" she spoke about in a 2014 video. Though her love of crafts did lead to another YouTube channel, Little Lia, she was once on track to do something completely unexpected.
She almost went into healthcare
SSSniperWolf may have loved gaming from an early age, but when the time came to consider career choices, gaming content (or any content creation, for that matter) wasn't the first thing that came to mind. Au contraire, as she explained in a YouTube video titled, "Why I Dropped Out of School," after taking a few classes at her local community college (an experience she hated every minute of, and which prompted her to move to a different university), she had her sights set on a job in the medical fraternity.
"I was stuck between nursing and pharmacy," she shared. Though she initially leaned towards the latter, SSSniperWolf laughed that after the grueling schedule of pre-pharmacy, she switched gears to nursing. "I could save lives, and I was really nocturnal at the time, so I thought working night shifts sounded really exciting," she explained. However, once again, after meeting the requirements to get into nursing, she wasn't completely sold on the idea and opted out.
Luckily for SSSniperWolf, quitting university didn't mean she was out of options. As she shared in another YouTube video a few months later, she had long been running her own resell business on eBay. In fact, that very business is another avenue she took before becoming a YouTube sensation — and it certainly helped her pay her way during her early days on the platform.
She started a business in middle school
Given her incredible following, it only makes sense that SSSniperWolf has been featured in Forbes. That said, something tells us even if she hadn't started her own YouTube channel, she'd still have been featured by the magazine for her impressive business acumen.
In a 2014 video detailing her start in business, SSSniperWolf shared that it was through a gaming forum, Gaia Online, that she first learned to "Buy low and sell more, and make a profit." While that started as a way for her to make a buck on the game itself, she soon put what she had learned into practice in the real world. As she recounted, after spotting Jack Sparrow action figures on clearance sale at Best Buy for 25 cents a pop, she bought the lot, then sold them online at a markup. "I pretty much turned $2 into over $100," she pointed out. That eventually snowballed, and while she had her fair share of hiccups along the way (like her dad using her success for his benefit on multiple occasions, even putting the car she bought in his name and making her take the bus), it was that income that allowed her to spend more time growing her YouTube channel.
SSSniperWolf may have opted out of life in healthcare, but it's safe to say this businesswoman-turned-medical school dropout (turned YouTube sensation) has no regrets.