Lauren Riihimaki

Early life and education

Lauren Riihimaki was born on August 11, 1993, in St. Catharines, Ontario, to a family of Finnish, Ukrainian, and Japanese descent. Her early creative instincts were nurtured at a young age, with formative experiences including making embroidered friendship bracelets at the YMCA of Niagara summer camp. Throughout her childhood and teenage years in St. Catharines, she consistently gravitated towards artistic pursuits, from colouring books as a toddler to altering her own clothes and even teaching music at the Niagara Conservatory of Music. She attended Sir Winston Churchill Secondary School, where she valued art classes as a pressure-free outlet for pure creativity. At age 18, eager for new experiences, Riihimaki moved to Toronto to pursue post-secondary education. She enrolled in the Graphic Communications Management program at Toronto Metropolitan University, then known as Ryerson University, though she later expressed that the technical program did not fully satisfy her creative drive.

YouTube career and rise to prominence

Riihimaki launched her YouTube channel, LaurDIY, on December 1, 2011, initially as an outlet to share sewing tutorial videos she had been posting on a personal blog. The channel focused on accessible do-it-yourself projects for room décor, school supplies, clothing, and food, carving out a niche in the platform's early DIY community. Her subscriber base grew steadily, and she reached a significant milestone in October 2014 when she hit one million subscribers while sitting in a university class. After graduating in 2015, she made the decision to pursue content creation as a full-time career, a move she announced publicly in a 2016 'Draw My Life' video. That same video also revealed her relocation to Los Angeles to be closer to the central hub of the digital creator industry. The core LaurDIY channel, dedicated to tutorial content, has remained her primary platform, amassing over 8.8 million subscribers by 2026. She later expanded her digital presence with two additional channels: LaurDIY Vlogs for personal daily life content and WILD 'TIL 9 for podcast-style discussions, which together had garnered hundreds of thousands of subscribers.

Her content and community management have been central to her success. She cultivated a dedicated fanbase known as the 'Pretty Little Laurs,' who actively engage by recreating her DIY projects and sharing their results on social media. Riihimaki has spoken openly about the realities of online fame, including public recognition and managing the expectations of being a role model to a younger audience. She emphasizes focusing on the overwhelmingly positive feedback from her community while acknowledging that critical comments are an inherent part of sharing one's life online. Her approach has helped maintain a tight-knit and supportive environment around her brand for over a decade, and she has advised other creators to balance being appropriate for all ages with being authentically themselves.

Television, web series, and awards

Riihimaki's success on YouTube led to opportunities in scripted and unscripted television. In 2017, she appeared as The Engineer in the second season of the YouTube Premium mystery series 'Escape the Night,' created by fellow creator Joey Graceffa. That same year, she expanded into the digital streaming space with the premiere of her own web series, 'Served By LaurDIY,' on Facebook Watch. Her most significant television role came in 2019 when she was announced as the host and an executive producer for 'Craftopia,' a crafting competition series on HBO Max. The show, which featured young contestants tackling creative challenges, ran for two seasons and in 2021 received a nomination for a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Art Direction/Set Decoration/Scenic Design. Her work has been recognized with major industry awards, solidifying her status as a leading voice in digital lifestyle content.

• 2017: Won the Streamy Award in the Lifestyle category at the awards' debut ceremony.
• 2018: Won the Shorty Award in the House & Home category at the tenth annual Shorty Awards ceremony.
• 2021: 'Craftopia' was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Art Direction/Set Decoration/Scenic Design.

Business ventures and brand partnerships

Beyond content creation, Riihimaki has developed a substantial portfolio of commercial collaborations and entrepreneurial ventures. She has partnered with numerous major brands, often integrating products into her DIY tutorials and lifestyle content. Notable partnerships have included Disney, Starbucks, and PopSockets. A long-standing collaboration has been with the Canadian fashion retailer Ardene, which began in 2017. For Ardene, she designed and released her own exclusive line of onesies and sleepwear, blending her creative vision with accessible fashion. These partnerships demonstrate her influence as a tastemaker and her ability to translate online engagement into tangible product success. In 2025, Riihimaki launched her own company, Fuzzboy Originals, a dog lifestyle brand inspired by her two mini bull terriers, Moose and Diggy. The brand debuted with a collection of functional dog-walking accessories, including treat pouches, waste bag holders, and walking bags, all designed with an emphasis on stylish, everyday utility. This venture marked a natural extension of her personal brand, which frequently features her pets and focuses on curated, practical living.

Personal life and public persona

Riihimaki has shared aspects of her personal life with her audience throughout her career. She was in a relationship with fellow YouTuber Alexander 'Alex' Burriss (known as Alex Wassabi) from 2015 to 2018. In 2019, she began dating singer and entrepreneur Jeremy Lewis, whom she had first met years prior during the production of a 'Roast Yourself Rap' video. The couple announced their engagement on social media in December 2022 and were married on April 7, 2024. Her family, particularly her mother Gail (often referred to by fans as MomDIY), occasionally features in her content, and Riihimaki has spoken fondly of her roots in St. Catharines. Despite her move to Los Angeles, she maintains strong ties to her hometown and family in Ontario, visiting regularly and reflecting on how her Niagara region upbringing shaped her creative foundation.

Cultural impact and legacy

Lauren Riihimaki's career trajectory is emblematic of the first generation of professional digital content creators in Canada. She entered the YouTube space at a time when being a 'YouTuber' was not a conventional career path, and her sustained success helped legitimize content creation as a viable profession. Her focus on accessible, empowering DIY projects democratized crafting and design for a global, primarily young, female audience. Riihimaki has been candid about the pressures of the industry, including creative burnout and the weight of audience expectations, using her platform to discuss the realities behind the curated online persona. In interviews, she has reflected on the need to reconnect with the pure, unpressured joy of creation that defined her early years in St. Catharines. As she continues to evolve her brand through television, entrepreneurship, and new creative formats like room-flipping her Los Angeles home, LaurDIY remains a prominent and influential figure who helped define the DIY and lifestyle genre on the internet.

Questions about Lauren Riihimaki

How did LaurDIY get her start?

Lauren Riihimaki began her creative journey as a child, learning crafts like embroidered friendship bracelets at a YMCA summer camp in Niagara, Ontario. She started her YouTube channel, LaurDIY, on December 1, 2011, while in her first year of university in Toronto, initially to share sewing tutorial videos she had been posting on a personal blog. The channel grew organically, and she hit one million subscribers in October 2014. After graduating from Toronto Metropolitan University in 2015, she moved to Los Angeles and pursued content creation as a full-time career.

What is LaurDIY's real name and background?

Her real name is Lauren Kobayashi Riihimaki. She was born on August 11, 1993, in St. Catharines, Ontario. She is of Finnish and Ukrainian descent through her father and Japanese descent through her mother. Riihimaki is a graduate of Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University), where she earned a Bachelor of Technology in Graphic Communications Management in 2015.

What TV shows has LaurDIY been on?

Riihimaki has appeared in several television and digital series. She played The Engineer in Season 2 of the YouTube Premium series 'Escape the Night' in 2017. From 2019, she served as the host and an executive producer for the HBO Max crafting competition series 'Craftopia,' which ran for two seasons and earned a Daytime Emmy nomination in 2021. She also created and starred in the web series 'Served By LaurDIY' for Facebook Watch in 2017.

What brands has LaurDIY worked with?

LaurDIY has established numerous brand partnerships throughout her career. She has collaborated with major companies like Disney, Starbucks, and PopSockets. A significant and recurring partnership has been with the Canadian fashion retailer Ardene, for which she designed an exclusive line of onesies and sleepwear starting in 2017. These collaborations often integrate products into her DIY tutorials and lifestyle content.

Is LaurDIY married?

Yes, Lauren Riihimaki is married. She began dating singer and entrepreneur Jeremy Lewis in 2019 after knowing him for several years. The couple announced their engagement in December 2022 and were married on April 7, 2024. Lewis had previously worked at a music distribution company that handled her work, and they first met during the filming of a popular 'Roast Yourself Rap' video in 2015.

What is Fuzzboy Originals?

Fuzzboy Originals is a dog lifestyle brand founded by Lauren Riihimaki in 2025. The brand was directly inspired by her two mini bull terriers, Moose and Diggy. It debuted with a collection of functional dog walking accessories designed for style and everyday utility. The initial product line included items such as treat pouches, waste bags, and walking bags. This venture represents one of Riihimaki's entrepreneurial pursuits beyond her core content creation work.

Sources and further reading

• Lauren Riihimaki (Wikipedia)
• How L.A.-based YouTube star LaurDIY started out as a kid ... (cbc.ca)
• From YMCA Day Camper to creator: LaurDIY featured by ... (ymcaofniagara.org)
• Living With Online Fame: LaurDIY, Faze (faze.ca)

Checked by the Novello Desserts desk. Last updated 2026-10-28.