8 DECEMBER 18 - 24, 2025 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER CLASSIFIED | MUSIC | DISH | CULTURE | UNFAIR PARK | CONTENTS I n the modern day, content creators are unashamed to sprint toward 15 minutes of fame through virality online; Quenlin Blackwell is in it for the long run. The Allen native and mega-creator has achieved suc- cess across various platforms, even as trends and algorithms have evolved to become increasingly challenging to navigate. As a teen- ager, Blackwell found early viral success on YouTube and Vine (re- member that?), but in the decade since, she has amassed an audi- ence eager to trace her digital foot- print across platforms like Instagram and TikTok. As she has continued to grow up on social media, Blackwell, now 24, has defined what it means to be an ‘It Girl’ of Gen Z. We recently caught up with her via Zoom on a buzzy November af- ternoon. The night before, she hosted GQ’s Men of the Year red carpet, stunning in vintage Mugler from the archives. Our interview is one of several she has this day, and the next day, she will film an epi- sode of her YouTube series Feed- ing Starving Celebrities, which has featured fellow Gen Z juggernauts like Addison Rae, Lil Yachty and PinkPantheress. From the other side of the screen, an It Girl’s omnipresence might often seem daunting to the average scroller, but Blackwell says she always knew her social media presence would get her this far. “I’ve always had a dream of en- tertaining people on a big scale,” Blackwell tells the Observer. “And I have done everything in my power to put myself in the position that I am now. So I’m literally like, ‘Oh, your hard work literally does pay off.’ I’ve been doing this for the past de- cade. I have YouTube videos from when I was 12. Every time I would come home from elementary school, I would be like, ‘If we keep making these videos, I will be on the Ellen show. That was the pinnacle of ce- lebrity at the time. But now, it’s got- ten me on an HBO show.” In a recent episode of Rachel Sennott’s HBO series I Love LA, which also features Dallas’ Froy Gutierrez, Blackwell plays a fic- tional version of herself, hosting a party at the home of Elijah Wood. During the party, chaos ensues as fellow influencer Tallulah Stiel (played by Odessa A’zion) tries to get close to Blackwell in an effort to elevate her own TikTok pres- ence. Meanwhile, Maia (Sennott) and Alani (True Whitaker) at- tempt to seduce Wood, while Charlie (Jordan Firstman) be- friends Christian pop star Lukas Landry (Gutierrez) in hopes of be- coming his stylist. It’s a rather pro- portionate caricature of the LA life Blackwell knows well these days. The episode’s chaos unfolds as Stiel and Blackwell record various re-creations of a scene from Kramer vs. Kramer, before Black- well later reveals her “click farm,” a collection of old phones that ma- nipulate her online engagement. “[When I read the script] I was like, ‘Am I awake right now? Or is this literally a dream,”’ Blackwell says. “Because Rachel immortalized me in HBO. The episode is using my name, I’m playing this crazy version of [my- self ], and it’s insane. Like, me and Elijah Wood are homies and I’m inviting them all to the house, I’m tweaked out, it’s nuts. I read the episode and I was like, ‘Are we sure that this is me?’ And they’re like, ‘yes.’” While the show is meant to ex- aggerate the outrageousness of Hollywood culture, Blackwell has a bit more structure in her day-to- day. Though no two days look alike for her, she understands her online presence has become a business. Unlike most breakout creators so far into their careers, she doesn’t have a manager and answers emails herself. “I am my manager,” she says. “So I do all of the logistics side of it in the morning.” By afternoon, she goes to a workout class or spends time outside. “So I don’t turn into a crazy person,” she says. The rest of her days are often spent filming content. The next day, she does it all over again. “Quen is a natural talent. That is obvious,” Firstman tells the Ob- server. “But what I didn’t know is that she is a consummate profes- sional. She came [to the set of I Love LA] prepared and focused and still had the freedom to improvise and add an incredible, funny and terrify- ing energy. I actually saw Quen on Vine a decade or more ago, and about five years later, I called my agents and said, ‘I want to meet with her and help her develop something for TV.’ I’ve always known she was a star, and it’s so exciting to see the world finally notice.” Having grown up in North Texas, many of Blackwell’s Friday Quenlin Blackwell’s journey as a viral content creator has taken her from Allen to Hollywood, cementing her as an ‘It Girl’ along the way. BY ALEX GONZALEZ UNDER HER INFLUENCE Quenlin Blackwell grew up in Allen, Texas. Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for HBO . Culture UNDER HER
