Jennelle Eliana Long: 2.26 million subscribers

The solo van traveler Jennelle Eliana Long went viral this summer after gaining 1.5 million YouTube subscribers in a month of posting her first video.

Her second video posted to YouTube, titled "How I Shower Living in a Van," amassed 12 million views in two weeks. There has been a rise in interest around sustainable living on YouTube, and Long isn't the first in this genre to have a video be picked up and recommended by the platform.

Business Insider spoke to Long in July about how it all happened and her reaction. She said that she wasn't prepared to get so many views at once and that her popularity had come with some downsides.

Long said shortly after her online fame, a stranger showed up where she was visiting family and asked to see her. The incident led her to question whether she should be thinking about her personal security with her newly acquired online success.

Long's rise on YouTube also shows how creators don't need fancy or expensive equipment to build a successful channel.

Long said she uses only her iPhone X to film and edit her videos and uses the $29.99 LumaFusion app to edit them, a tripod, and an occasional microphone.

Read the full post where she tells us how it all happened.