Houston YouTube stars

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- They are not your typical stars. Their popularity isn't based on a movie or singing career. But here in Houston, there are several YouTubers who have built an almost "rock star" like following.

Bunny Meyer is known as Grav3yardgril to her YouTube family. Take a look at some of her videos: CLICK HERE.

Since she created her YouTube channel in 2010, she has amassed more than six million subscribers and is working towards hitting a billion views this year.

"I was going to do this as a happy distraction for myself and hopefully meet some new friends out of there," said Bunny. "I remember still freaking when a hundred people had subscribed and I was like oh my God this is so amazing!"

Bunny's said her subscribers are more than friends. She considers them her swamp family, a name she affectionately coined based on her love of the History Channel show, Swamp People.

"I always say this channel is not really so much about me. It's about like the swamp family; us as a community," said Bunny.

Grav3yardgirl has created a connection with her swamp family by vlogging on everything from fashion to viewer mail to her insanely popular product testing series.

However, Bunny also relates to her YouTube family on a deeper level.

"Somethings I talk about my struggles with anxiety or my struggles with depression," said Bunny. "There are of course a lot of subscribers out there that connect with that."

On occasion Bunny teams up with her good friend and fellow YouTube star, "LeighAnnSays", who has more than 700 Thousand subscribers of her own.

"It varies everyday," said Leigh Ann. "But as a whole through all my videos I've gotten 53 million views."

She says the secret to her YouTube success is simple.

"You just always have to try something and see if people like it," said Leigh Ann. "Either way you have to be true to yourself and put out the content that you would want to watch."

Leigh Ann's YouTube beauty channel is a labor of love. In addition to the many hours she spends on her videos, she also works a full time job. Take a look at some of her videos: CLICK HERE.

17-year-old Jose Armando Bustamante is all too familiar with the YouTube workload. The Houston high school senior is the engine behind the popular Retrosnickers channel, which currently has more than 18 million views.

(Warning: video below may contain explicit language)

"Right now I have less classes so I'm able to work more you know, but I still have to keep that balance with school and YouTube," said Jose.

He taught himself how to restore popular sneakers and has turned the process into a thriving YouTube business.

"I remember sitting in my old room and my old computer and looking at the screen I had just made this channel and it had zero subscribers and I told myself I'm going to make this a successful channel," said Jose.

It takes Jose about two months to shoot and edit his YouTube sneaker restoration videos. He releases one every week, always on Tuesdays at 6 p.m.

"Where the channel's at now, I'm happy with it but there is so much more to get and more to grow," said Jose.

Not everyone with dreams of YouTube success will hit the big time, but these Houston-area YouTubers say with enough dedication and hard work it can be done.