After being rejected from her dream school of UCLA last year, YouTuber Nicole Laeno gained lots of attention from news channels including ABC and Good Morning America. Now, Laeno is a college freshman at San Diego State University and member of the dance team.
With her large social media presence on YouTube of 3.6 million subscribers, Instagram with 1.9 million followers, and TikTok with 5.7 million followers, Laeno qualifies as a celebrity, and to her credit, she uses her platform to promote a healthy lifestyle with skills like productivity and organization.
I discovered Laeno during her junior year of high school in one of her most common styles of videos, a “productive day in the life.” At the time, I was an 8th grader who was trying to get my life together before high school and a positive role model like Laeno helped me to build positive habits including a healthy morning and night routine.
Like many other influencers and teenagers as a young girl, Laeno had already been going through her fair share of ups and downs. After winning Hollywood Vibe’s Dance of the Year 2016-2017, she was cast in the DanceON series Dance-Off Juniors and Boss Cheer and also won the South Bay’s Dance Competition.
However, despite all of her success, Laeno didn’t enjoy dance because with her fame came lots of judgment from other kids her age. She even wanted to quit multiple times but continued her passion and soon created a YouTube account sharing day-in-the-life content, including a focus on promoting productivity.
Over time, she gained a large social media following. Through following her Instagram and YouTube, I was heavily influenced by her use of productivity platform Notion, a website and app used to make to-do lists and schedules. Laeno features Notion in many of her videos, using it to track her healthy morning and night routines.
While many other influencers share their “rot days in bed,” Laeno makes it clear that while those are sometimes important, maintaining a healthy and productive lifestyle is also crucial.
I decided to try Notion myself over the summer. I created my own Notion web page, and for the entire month of September, created to-do lists every day. Through watching Laeno’s videos, I learned some important tips to make the process of to-do lists and productivity easier.
One of Laeno’s biggest tips is to put even the smallest tasks on your to-do list, like combing your hair or brushing your teeth. For most, the feeling of checking off a box, whether physically or digitally, can provide a lot of motivation and momentum to get things done.
Notion also provides templates on its website to help give users helpful ideas. I’ve found through my own Notion page that I’m able to create an individual page and manage all my classes and schoolwork. I created a different page inside my main sophomore year page and added a description of each of my classes, including my teacher’s email and syllabus information.
I also like to keep a schoolwork log where I’ve been logging all of my assignments throughout the whole semester. I love opening my Notion because of how aesthetically pleasing it is and how I’ve customized it.
With Laeno being my main inspiration for using Notion, I’m glad I started it and recommend it to anyone struggling or looking for tips on productivity.
As a college student, a member of the dance team, and an influencer, Laeno’s life is filled with endless tasks, and making sure to complete all her work is crucial.
Notion, like many other platforms, comes with a free and paid version. Laeno herself promotes the free version, while the paid version comes with perks like unlimited file uploads, and media on your personal page.
Using the free version, I’ve been able to do everything that I wanted to do and more. Social media stars are sometimes a brain-rotting waste of time to follow, but motivational figures like Laeno can also be inspirations and role models.
