Inspiring his fans through cubing, Diamond Bar High School Class of 2021 alumnus Kevin Lee has amassed nearly a quarter of a million subscribers on his YouTube channel “Cubing Encoded.”
Lee’s journey began in 2015 when he decided to create his YouTube channel. He found himself spending his free time playing with Rubik’s cubes, and soon became an expert at the activity. This hobby manifested into his desire to share his passion for cubing with the world. But common among many content creators, things were rocky for him at the start.
“YouTube is an incredibly competitive landscape,” Lee said. “It was difficult having to constantly one-up myself week after week. Additionally, dealing with negative comments for the first time was a jarring experience.”
These experiences, although harsh, allowed Lee to learn invaluable lessons about videography and content that have greatly contributed to his current success. He learned how to captivate and retain his audience, use camera angles, lighting and brainstorm new video ideas. Lee quickly learned that success doesn’t happen overnight and that greatness takes time. With this, he set out to take incremental steps to fulfill his ambitions of becoming a YouTube sensation.
“I always set concrete numerical goals for my YouTube channel,” Lee said. “Eventually, I made it my goal to reach 100,000 subscribers, which took an immense amount of dedication and effort.”
Reaching a milestone of 100,000 subscribers in 2020, and now, over 50 million views on his channel, Lee wishes to expand beyond Rubik’s Cube-related content. Recently, he has been incorporating college-related content as well, including his “Study Abroad” and “Day in the life of a UC Berkeley Student” video logs.
Throughout the past two years, Lee’s focus and priority has shifted more towards his academic career. Currently majoring in business, Lee already has a job lined up for him at Australian software company, Atlassian, when he graduates. Despite this, Lee is still resolute in his wish to create content whenever possible, keeping the spirit of Cubing Encoded alive.
“I still hope to create content whenever possible,” Lee said.