How'd That French Guy Get So Famous?

Who knew Snapchat could make someone famous enough to land a seat at the White House Correspondents' Dinner? Well, meet Jerome Jarre, a Snapchat digital video celebrity and the 24-year-old sitting at Arianna Huffington’s table. For Snapchat aficionados, Jarre’s face is probably quite familiar. Even for those who don’t follow Snapchat celebrities, Jarre’s face probably still looks at least somewhat recognizable, as he’s been profiled in both The New Yorker and The New York Times. So, who exactly is he and how did he get so famous?

According to The New York Times, Jarre is recognizable to teens today as simply, “that French guy”. The Frenchman first became famous on Vine, where his six-second videos earned him eigh million followers. Then, he ventured into Snapchat. He created the Snapchat username JeromeJarre and made an account that was a hybrid between a talk show and motivational talks, along with Snapchat art creations. He quickly racked up one and a half million followers.

Now, Jarre is making as much as $25,000 for one of his Vines and $35,000 for a single Snapchat, according to Business Insider’s report on him in September 2014. Recently, an advertising agency offered Jarre $1 million just to plug a brand in one of his social media videos. When Jarre made an appearance in São Paulo, Brazil, riot police had to be called in to keep the crowd of thousands under control, The New York Times reports. Even Robert DeNiro, Pharrell Williams, and Aaron Paul have appeared in his videos. Here's a Vine of Jarre and Anna Wintour at Paris Fashion Week:

And him with Ariana Grande at the MTV Video Music Awards:

Jarre’s rise to this level of stardom was extraordinarily quick. When he was 19, he dropped out of college to try his hand at entrepreneurship. He travelled to China and then to Toronto, where he tried to start multiple companies that all, ultimately, were unsuccessful. After yet another one of his ventures failed, Jarre decided to purchase a one-way bus ticket to New York City. He had no job prospects, spoke broken English, only owned two suitcases full of belongings, and had about $400 to his name.

But rather than job-hunting, Jarre spent his time reading self-help books by social media marketer and VaynerMedia head Gary Vaynerchuk. In the midst of couch surfing, Jarre convinced Vaynerchuk to create a business with him. The two created a marketing firm called Grape Story, which supports other Vine, Instagram, and Snapchat artists like Jarre. And now he's famous.

With innovation and creativity like that, it starts to make sense how Jarre found himself at dinner with the president of the United States.

Images: Getty Images (1)