Will Snapchat Spotlight Last Beyond Million-Dollar Payouts? [Video]

She first started using the app in 2014, at age 17, to send handmade drawings to her older siblings. When her drawings became more intricate, she started posting some of them on her Instagram page, which caught a BuzzFeed contributor’s attention. Touting her as one of “15 Snapchat Enthusiasts That Will Inspire You To Take Better Snaps,” CJ started making a name for herself, bolstered by a gig running Disney Parks’ Snapchat account for its 60th anniversary and collaborations with more established creators on the platform.

“I was just doodling with my siblings, and it turned into a full-time job,” she told Adweek recently. Without obvious mechanisms for growing an audience within the app, CJ built her subscriber base, now 153,000 strong, mainly through outside recognition and other platforms. Up until a few years ago, a flood of new connections could crash the …