Swii discusses online success as a social media influencer in Gympie

The latest rising social media star is a young woman from Gympie, Celeste De Ramirez, better known as ‘Swii’ online.

Online content creator Celeste De Ramirez, better known as ‘Swii’ online, is the latest breakout Australian influencer who is born and raised in Gympie.

An up and coming Gympie influencer is making waves online through the fun, captivating and often haunting content created daily for a dedicated fanbase.

Celeste De Ramirez, known as Swii online, is a 28-year-old Gympie local who has created an virtual community by thrilling fans through livestreaming horror-themed video games, and exploring haunted locations throughout the region.

Celeste, who’s main platform is the online streaming service Twitch, began her online career in 2021 and currently has more than 20,000 followers who are affectionately called Switties.

“When I was younger I did a lot of cosplay and started my online presence just posting cosplay photos. I got bullied at school a lot for it so the internet sort of became my escape from it all,” Celeste said.

“Then once people who followed my socials found out I played video games they started asking for YouTube videos and twitch streams – though it took me years to save up enough to get a PC and stable internet to do it, but now I play video games online as a full time job, so the wait was worth it.”

Celeste attending a ‘Cult of the Lamb’ event in Melbourne, an indie game created in Australian that has taken the world by storm.

Celeste described most of her fanbase as being ‘late teens and up’ who are ‘like minded people’ who shared the same interests and hobbies.

“We have community discord chats, movie nights, and I invite them to come join me for games on stream.

“I’d say I'm very involved with my community [as] it feels more like I’m hanging out with 100 friends [rather] than strangers on the internet.”

Celeste said her breakthrough-moment was when she hosted a ‘sub-athon’.

A sub-athon was when livestream viewers gave paid subscriptions to prevent a timer from running out and prevent the stream from expiring.

“I was live for 41 days. It brought a lot of eyes to my stream with people thinking the number of days I went for was totally insane.

“I started losing my mind by the end of it, though it was fun and now a yearly tradition. We are doing another one on December 1 actually, we want to break our personal record.”

Celeste describes most of her fanbase as being ‘late teens and up’ who are ‘like minded people’ who share the same interests and hobbies.

Celeste enjoyed supporting the community by bringing awareness to local businesses, she also regularly contributed to international fundraisers – the most recent one being for cancer research with the company Razor, a business that manufactured and sold computer equipment specially for online gamers.

While having a career online could be very lucrative, it did come with risks and challenges.

“The internet can be a scary place. I moved away from Brisbane as I had a stalker who broke into my house multiple times.

“I’ve had my private information leaked online and numerous threats for being female.

“I just try not to let it get to me, it unfortunately happens quite often.

“There have been a few times [where] it’s been a bit much and I’ve cried in my mum’s arms, but there’s nothing better than having a mother who supports you endlessly. I wouldn’t be here without her.

Celeste attending the PAX Australia event, which is a celebration of gaming and gaming culture that takes place annually in Boston, Seattle, Melbourne, and Philadelphia.

“I also have an incredibly solid moderation team, they are definitely a big reason I’ve been able to overcome so much and I’m incredibly appreciative of every single one of them.”

In regards to how Celeste handled online criticism, she said, “The internet is the internet. Some people will be negative to you for no reason, [but] I usually just laugh it off.”

“Most people like that are looking for a reaction and trying to upset you. My energy is better spent having fun and laughing with my viewers.”

Celeste hoped one day she could make it into the top 1000 creators on Twitch, which she said was ambitious as not many Australians were recognised on the platform “let alone someone not in a major city and a woman as well.”

For anyone hoping to follow the same career path Celeste has built for herself, her advice is “stick to it”.

For anyone hoping to follow the same career path Celeste built, her advice was “stick to it”.

“It’s all about consistency and dedication. It takes time for people to get where they are.

“I was on nine viewers for a very long time and now I do this as my full time job. Far too many people don’t see instant success and quit.

“It takes a lot of hard work behind the scenes. If you dedicate to it, and keep at it, you can get somewhere.”

You can follow Celeste and support her journey on the platforms Twitch, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, and Discord through her username Swii.

Originally published as Swii discusses online success as a social media influencer in Gympie