INFLUENCERS are often expected to have immaculate homes, lavish lifestyles and carefully crafted online personas. Then there's this Basingstoke woman with an entirely pink house, a cat called Princess Zelda, a Christmas number one anthem, and a habit of telling the internet exactly what's going on in her life.
That unapologetic authenticity has helped build an audience of hundreds of thousands across social media platforms.
Today, she documents everything from marathon training and weight loss to gaming, pop culture and the occasional celebrity event.
Looking back, however, things started much more simply.
"I was the annoying kid at school with a YouTube channel," laughed 29-year-old Pia Blossom.
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Long before "content creator" was considered a viable career, Pia was filming videos in her bedroom and uploading them online simply because she enjoyed it.
"I was making videos of me making cupcakes at home and things like that," she said.
"I just sort of never stopped."
While social media fame may appear to happen overnight, Pia's journey was years in the making. She continued creating content throughout her teens and twenties, even when those around her did not always understand it.
In fact, she admits she was bullied at school because of her videos.
@piablossom_x @Ann Russell She/Her ♬ original sound - dj auxlord
"A lot of my journey was just posting when nobody was watching, and nobody was liking it," she said.
"I was at school getting heavily bullied for it and still just posting all the time because I wanted to do it."
Her persistence eventually paid off.
The breakthrough came in 2022 when a TikTok video about an old date and a shared Netflix account unexpectedly exploded online.
After going on a date with a man years earlier, Pia had continued using his Netflix login, despite having no way to contact him.
"I made a video asking if anybody knew this guy whose Netflix I'd been using because I wanted to say thank you," she explained.
The video amassed more than 12m views and brought around 50,000 new followers.
Even more surprisingly, it achieved its intended goal.
"I found him through the video," she laughed.
"We're really good friends now."
Pia insists there was no secret formula to success.
"Every time you post, it's like buying a lottery ticket," she said.
"One day, my lottery ticket was that 12m-view video."
For Pia, success online has never been about creating a perfect version of herself.
Instead, she puts much of her real life in front of the camera, whether she is documenting marathon training, opening Hello Kitty collectibles, talking about weight loss, or attending major entertainment events.
"I think I am very unashamedly myself. I don't really get embarrassed by anything.
"I have an entirely pink house, and I think people aren't used to that."
That authenticity appears to be what resonates with her audience.
Rather than chasing trends or creating an idealised version of her life, Pia believes the reason people connect with her content is because it feels genuine.
"I talk to my camera like it's my friend," she said.
"When I meet followers, they feel like they know me, and I have this really nice connection with them."
Despite being remarkably open online, not every aspect of Pia's life makes it into her content.
Married and settled in Basingstoke, she said her husband prefers to stay out of the spotlight, remaining behind the scenes while she shares much of her life with followers.
Although many people associate influencers with London, luxury lifestyles, and endless travel, Pia has remained firmly rooted in Hampshire.
Originally from Woking, Pia moved to Basingstoke years ago for a relationship.
She never left.
"I moved here for a boyfriend, and I stayed because I've been here years longer than he has now," she joked.
While her online career has taken her to exclusive events and partnerships with major brands, Pia still struggles to believe some of the opportunities she receives.
Recent projects have seen her attend events linked to The Great British Bake Off, visit the BBC Proms and create content around her interests in gaming, pop culture and television.
She has also worked with brands including Amazon, Sony, Sky and NOW TV.
Alongside her social media work, Pia is also a Twitch Partner, streaming gaming content to her audience online.
"Every day I'm like, 'I can't believe I'm at this event'," she said.
"I'm just a very normal girl."
One of the more unusual moments of her online career came when she joined a group of creators to record a charity Christmas single in support of the Trussell Trust.
The song went on to top the Big Top 40 Christmas chart, helping raise awareness for food banks across the country.
"Nobody on it was a singer," she laughed.
"It was just a bit of fun to raise money for charity."
She still values normality and keeps a part-time job alongside content creation.
"I don't need it," she said.
"But it's just a normal job in a normal town. It keeps the normality for me."
Yet perhaps the biggest transformation in Pia's life hasn't happened online at all.
Having lost around 10 stone, Pia has documented her weight-loss journey online and has become increasingly passionate about fitness.
Like many people trying to lose weight, she said the journey was not straightforward.
"I had tried and failed and tried and failed and tried and failed," she said.
"Then one day I tried and it worked."
The biggest change, she said, was abandoning the all-or-nothing mindset that had previously held her back.
"If I have a bad day, I don't go, 'Well now I'm going to eat everything because I've already messed up today'.
"I think that was the big difference for me."
She discovered a love for running through her brothers and now actively takes on running challenges, including marathons, for fun.
"I was always the fat one in the family," she said candidly.
"When I lost weight, I thought maybe I could try running."
Less than a year after taking up the sport, she completed her first marathon and already has more planned.
She regularly trains around Basingstoke's parks and green spaces, sharing her fondness for the War Memorial Park, Eastrop Park and Black Dam Ponds.
"It gives me that time to switch off," she said.
"It's how I decompress."
Pia has also used her growing platform to support causes including the Trussell Trust, Samaritans and Cats Protection.
"Anything to do with a good cause, I'll always say yes to," she said.
"I think it's a really good way to use your platform."
Despite building an audience numbering in the hundreds of thousands, she insists the approach that got her started is still the same one she follows today.
"A lot of content creators are weird people," she laughed.
"I'm a weird person.
"You have to just be weird and be proud of it."
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