Influencing an Audience of 2.2 Billion: Sophie Silva on Fashion, Success, and Creating Global Relationships

“I highly recommend you do not do 31 Halloween costumes while also trying to move across the country. Logistically, it doesn’t make a lot of sense,” said Sophie Silva at the Female Influencer Summit hosted by Harvard Women in Entrepreneurship on Nov. 15.

Silva is a fashion content creator with 14.67 million followers across YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok. Known for her extravagant costumes, fast-paced editing, and sassy sense of humor, the recent UCLA grad garnered a total of 2 billion views on her “31 Days of Halloween Costumes” across YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok in October 2025.

Last fall, Harvard students were even given the opportunity to speak directly with Silva about her experience with the “31 Days” series. Throughout her career, Silva has received many high-profile opportunities, such as being invited to the “Bridgerton” Season 4 world premiere at Palais Brongniart in Paris. Despite her ever-increasing fame, many of her audience gravitate towards her for her down-to-earth personality and relatability.

“I think for Sophie, the most impressive content for me is her 31 Halloween costumes, which is very impressive, and I think it’s very rare to see creators so serious about their content. I literally checked them one by one,” said audience member Richelle Liu in an interview with The Crimson, who had traveled from New York City to see Silva speak in person.

Silva’s outfits vary widely in cost and accessibility. Many of her videos feature Silva creating her own costumes through elaborate makeup, painting herself to replicate various characters, such as Sally from the 1993 film “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” or even DIY-ing accessories, like the cat ears for the Cheshire Cat.

On the other hand, some of Silva’s ensembles are so intricate that she’s built a relationship with designer Molly Nguyen in Vietnam, who custom makes pieces for her. Silva began planning her Halloween series in April, organizing shipments from small businesses in Vietnam, Ukraine, Mexico, “literally everywhere.”

“The logistical nightmare of shipping all happened in the summer,” said Silva.

After the hazardous transportation schedule, the filming schedule was incredibly rigorous. Last fall, Silva was still reeling from the shooting.

“My completely honest answer is ‘I was a hot mess, and I still am a hot mess.’ Coming out of October, we’re still playing catch-up,” said Silva.

Curating costumes is not Silva’s only job — managing her online persona is time-demanding and can be emotionally draining as well.

“I gained like two or three million followers in a month on TikTok, and another million on both YouTube and Instagram in a month, which is crazy to say that out loud. And I think my brain can’t really process that. And a lot of opportunities are coming in because I’m with a new agency now, and we’re doing a lot of brand work, and it’s something I’m not totally used to,” said Silva.

Silva’s honesty was not reserved for those who attended the Female Influencer Summit — it extends to her online audience as well.

“I’m not going to get up here and tell you I have a beautifully done spreadsheet and ‘I’m so organized’ because I’m just not. But it gets done. And that’s something I pride myself on, is that it always gets done, no matter what. I will refer to myself as Type C — she does it. It gets done,” said Silva.

Driving this massive amount of costume curating, organizing, shipping, filming, and editing, are the reactions from fans.

“If I’m running on four hours of sleep, and I have to paint my face and turn myself into Padmé, where the headpiece will give a migraine for hours, the one thing that will keep me motivated is just knowing that so many people are checking in every single day,” said Silva.

While Silva may be known for her fashion sense, her success began with a more personal story.

Silva’s social media blew up in 2023, when she created a video diary of her experiences with binge eating, called “Dumb Things that My Food Addiction Made Me Do In the Past.”

“It sounds kind of crazy to put that out online, but the reason I did it was because when I was really, really struggling back in high school and freshman year of college, I had no one to look up to on social media. I didn’t really see anyone who looked like me who was talking about something so inherently — I say shameful lightly, but it’s a disorder a lot of people keep under the wraps, under the covers,” said Silva.

Although Silva’s intention was to create a personal diary that others might find helpful, she gained 250,000 followers in three weeks.

“It just kind of fell into my hands,” said Silva.

After a year of creating content about her eating disorder, Silva decided to pivot.

“I realized I don’t want my entire online presence to be just that, just like I don’t want my entire presence as a human to be tied to my mental disorder. Because I do think that it would be a disservice to say to women who are struggling that ‘You’re just your disorder.’ You can have hobbies and passions and be into fashion,” said Silva.

In the future, Silva hopes to continue to speak about her eating disorder. As a Global Studies major at UCLA, Silva applies the critical thinking skills and ethical compass she gained in undergrad to her content creation as well.

“I’m stubborn, though, and don’t want to completely axe my international audience so we’ll work with the brands that go across borders,” said Silva.

Although brands often choose influencers who target the U.S. market, Silva has maintained her international audience.

Having studied abroad at The Hague in the Netherlands — where the International Court of Justice is based — Silva is conscious of the global nature of her work, which reaches every “corner of the world.”

Audience member Ishika Nag ’27, has been a fan of Silva since her mental health journal days, but found the global side of Silva’s content fascinating.

“What I really loved about the event is getting to hear about [Silva’s] different layers, and especially hearing that she did research abroad in The Hague. I had no idea, and I think it’s really interesting to see a creator that I have been seeing on my FYP for the past however many years have a very layered human side to her that is very rich,” said Nag.

In spite of the digital nature of her work, Silva emphasized that in-person talks offer something that work online may not.

“Ever since Covid, I feel like I’ve been living my life online because I’m a content creator, which is nice because you can do it from anywhere. But there’s something unmatched about being able to talk to people face to face and be working humans. This is what we’re meant to do. And so, I feel like my true passion honestly is with live audiences, which is why I honestly probably need to do more of that for my career,” said Silva in an interview with The Crimson after the event.

What’s next for Sophie Silva?

“This is crazy, but I want to try stand-up in New York.”

—Staff writer Laura B. Martens can be reached at [email protected].