Erika Michaelanne Costell (born November 12, 1992) is an American Internet personality. Her career began when she became associated with Team 10, an

influencer A social media influencer, or simply influencer (also known as an online influencer), is a person who builds a grassroots online presence through engaging content such as photos, videos, and updates. This is done by using direct audience intera ...

marketing management agency. After dating

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

Jake Paul Jake Joseph Paul (born January 17, 1997) is an American Professional boxing, professional boxer, influencer and actor. He began his career posting videos on Vine (service), Vine in September 2013 and had amassed 5.3 million followers and 2 bi ...

and featuring in his videos, Costell started her own

YouTube channel YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in San B ...

, which increased her popularity.

Early life and education

Costell was born in

Toledo, Ohio Toledo ( ) is a city in Lucas County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is located at the western end of Lake Erie along the Maumee River. Toledo is the List of cities in Ohio, fourth-most populous city in Ohio and List of United Sta ...

, but she was raised in

Bedford Township, Monroe County, Michigan Bedford Township is a civil township of Monroe County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the township population was 31,813. Bedford Township was organized in 1836. Sharing a southern border with the city of Toledo, Ohio, ab ...

, growing up with 12 siblings. At the age of 16, she began modeling while attending high school at Bedford High School in Michigan. She was previously represented by Wilhelmina International and the DAN Talent Group. After completing high school in 2011, she attended

Middle Tennessee State University Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU or MT) is a Public university, public research university in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Founded in 1911 as a normal school, the university consists of eight Undergraduate education, undergraduate colleges as ...

. She majored in business administration and left the university before her final semester in order to pursue modeling in Los Angeles.

Career

In 2015, Costell became the first employee of

's Team 10 on the business side as his assistant and later went on to be the COO

Chief Operations Officer A chief operating officer (COO), also called chief operations officer, is an executive in charge of the daily operations of an organization (i.e. personnel, resources, and logistics). COOs are usually second-in-command immediately after the CEO, ...

. In 2017, she began a YouTube channel where she regularly posts

vlogs A vlog (), also known as a video blog or video log, is a form of blog for which the medium is video. Vlog entries often combine embedded video (or a video link) with supporting text, images, and other metadata. Entries can be recorded in one ta ...

reaction video A reaction video, or a react video, is a video in which one or more persons react to something. Videos showing the emotional reactions, criticism or commentary of people viewing movies, television series episodes, film trailers, music videos, news, ...

s and

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

s. Following her 2018 breakup with Paul, she left Team 10 to pursue her own independent career, and signed with The Orchard for music. In 2017, her single " Jerika" with Paul was featured on the ''

Billboard Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), ...

'' and the ''

Canadian Hot 100 The Canadian Hot 100 is a music industry record chart in Canada for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' magazine. It was launched on the issue dated March 31, 2007 as the standard record chart in Canada; a new chart ...

''. In 2020, Costell started a record label named BIA Entertainment, which she describes as "a music label by women, for women."

Discography

Extended plays

* ''Don't Worry'' (2019)

Singles

As lead artist

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Costell, Erika 1992 births Living people American child models Female models from Michigan Middle Tennessee State University alumni People from Calhoun County, Michigan Singers from Michigan American women video bloggers American video bloggers Fashion YouTubers People from Toledo, Ohio YouTubers from Michigan YouTubers from Ohio