Sommer Ray
Sommer Ray (born September 15, 1996) is an American fitness model and social media personality. Ray formerly was a youth competitive bodybuilder.
Sommer Ray | ||||||||||
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Personal information | ||||||||||
Born | Sommer Ray September 15, 1996 Colorado, U.S. | |||||||||
Occupation(s) | YouTuber and Internet personality | |||||||||
YouTube information | ||||||||||
Channel | ||||||||||
Years active | 2012–present | |||||||||
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Subscribers | 1.79 million[1] | |||||||||
Total views | 84.75 million[1] | |||||||||
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Last updated: October 8, 2023 |
Early life
Sommer Ray was born on September 15, 1996, in Colorado.[2]
Ray's first coach in bodybuilding was her father. She dropped out of high school due to excessive bullying, citing "slut-shaming" from not only her peers but her hometown over the bodybuilding photos that she would post on her social media; she perceives her early social media career as the result of hard work and not the sexualization of her character.[3]
Career
Bodybuilding and fitness
Ray started competing in bikini bodybuilding at the age of sixteen. In the 2015 NPC Colorado State Championships, she won first place in the teenage and class D categories, as well as 16th place in NPC's national championships. Ray stopped competing in shows after turning 18, citing the prevalence of performance-enhancing substances in the fitness industry as the reason for her quitting.[4]
Internet career
Ray accredits the growth of her social media following with her collaborations with WorldStarHipHop, though places greater emphasis on her lack of performance-enhancing drugs and photograph manipulation.[3] She was also affiliated with members of the FaZe Clan and RiceGum as a member of the "Clout Gang", a group of social media influencers.[5]
She additionally co-hosted a Studio 71-produced podcast with influencer Amanda Cerny titled OHoney, which originally focused on dating advice and released 50 episodes from January to May 2020.[6][7][8] A 2017-18 thesis from the University of Padua in Italy found that Ray made £20,000 British pounds ($25739.94 USD) per post, and on average 500,000 likes per post.[9] As of July 2023, Ray has accumulated over 25 million followers on Instagram and a further 12 million on TikTok.[10]
Role in Save the Kids token
Ray has often been affiliated with Internet personalities who themselves have received controversies for partaking in purported scams.[5] The largest of these was in 2021, where Ray was among the personalities who promoted Save the Kids token, a charitable cryptocurrency altcoin which later turned into a pump and dump. Ray's involvement was only limited to promoting the coin, and an investigation by YouTuber Stephen Findeisen (known online as Coffeezilla) showed that Ray was not among the masterminds of the pump and dump.[11][12]
Personal life
She has refused to get plastic surgery despite many firms sending her offers to waive fees for the practice in exchange for promotion, as has expressed disdain for competitors in bodybuilding who use steroids and other performance enhancing substances. In furtherance of this commitment, Ray created a second Instagram account which deliberately excludes most edited photos.[3][4]
References
- "About Sommer Ray". YouTube.
- Pellot, Emerald (2021-03-25). "Who is Sommer Ray? The fitness model is blowing up on social media". In the Know. Retrieved 2023-08-03.
- Narins, Elizabeth (2018-05-09). "Instagram Star Sommer Ray Reveals Her Unconventional Butt Workout". Cosmopolitan. Retrieved 2023-08-03.
- LaCroix, Emy (2018-05-05). "Sommer Ray Dishes About Her Fitness App, Insecurity, and Childhood!". Life & Style. Retrieved 2023-08-10.
- Tiffany, Kaitlyn (2019-12-23). "Why Kids Online Are Chasing 'Clout'". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2023-08-03.
- "OHoney with Amanda Cerny & Sommer Ray on Apple Podcasts". Apple Podcasts. 2020-05-13. Retrieved 2023-08-03.
- Leskin, Paige (October 18, 2019). "From David Dobrik to The Rock, these are teens' favorite people to follow on YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter". Business Insider. Retrieved 2023-08-03.
- Jarvey, Natalie (2019-04-30). "Influencers Amanda Cerny and Sommer Ray to Launch Dating Advice Podcast". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2023-08-03.
- Stellato, Cristina (2018). Can I be an influencer when I grow up? Public relations 3.0 and the birth of new professionals (PDF) (Masters thesis) (in Italian). University of Padua.
- "Clubhouse Media Group, Inc. Closes Another Promotional Deal With Sommer Ray". www.mysuncoast.com. 2023-07-31. Retrieved 2023-08-02.
- Asarch, Steven (2021-07-02). "FaZe Clan members suspended following allegations that their Save the Kids cryptocurrency may have been a scam". Insider. Retrieved 2022-09-28.
- Sacco, Dom (July 14, 2021). "Frazier Kay to sue Coffeezilla over Save the Kids crypto investigation". esports-news.co.uk. Retrieved 2022-09-28.