A YouTuber with millions of followers who grew up on a council estate in Peckham has shared the secrets to his success.
Harry Pinero first discovered his talent as an entertainer while making his friends and family laugh throughout his childhood.
The 31-year-old then found YouTube as a platform to showcase his talent while making a "positive influence" on the people watching him.
Harry, who now has more than two million followers on all social media platforms, first began his journey by posting a YouTube video in 2019.
He is known for his question-and-answer public videos while also filming content alongside his good friends Chunkz and Filly.
The most popular video on his channel, which has 1.5 million views, is titled "General knowledge with Chunkz and Darkest Man."
Away from YouTube, he has 1.1 million followers on Instagram, 260,000 followers on Twitter, and 1.1 million followers on TikTok.
Since coming on to the social media scene, he has made friends with other celebrities such as KSI, Raheem Sterling, and Stormzy.
Harry said that while growing up he and his community did not have the opportunities to develop and build a future for themselves – with children being “very limited” in activities they could do.
He told the News Shopper: “I'm from a very small community but growing up it felt like we were one big family.
“Where I grew up, children were very limited in the activities they could do.
“For example, we had one youth centre for hundreds of children to share.
“But no matter what, despite the troubles we went through as a community, we all had each other’s back and we still do look out for each other to this day.
“When you see someone reach a level of success, it's amazing because we came from almost nothing."
Harry's parents, who moved from Sierra Leone to England around 35 years ago, were a huge “inspiration” to his success.
After discovering that he wanted to be an entertainer at the age of 25, Harry clashed with his parents as they didn’t see him succeeding in the industry.
Harry explained: “The main thing for my parents was to have some sort of financial security.
“Everything they worked for was to provide me with a better future.
“It was when I turned 25 and I realised how hard they worked for me.
“But the difference between me and them was that I really knew what I wanted to do and what I had to give up to reach that goal.
“Whereas they were more focused on being more financially stable.
“This is where we clashed because I want to entertain other people and be this fun guy.
“But they didn’t really see the success in that. So, I had to convince them.
Despite the problems, Harry and his parents have become “much closer” as they now understand the industry.
He added: “I’m in such a blessed position in my life to give back to my parents.
“It’s the best feeling ever, whenever they have any problems, they come to me and I’m able to sort it out for them.
“I think that this is where the real happiness is, is to be able to give back to the people who looked after you.
“I think I get my grind and hustle from them because I saw them working 24/7 to make sure that I was in a good position."
Harry said his greatest personal achievement as a YouTuber was to be able to play in the Sidemen Charity football match.
YouTube group Sidemen FC took on YouTube Allstars at Charlton Athletic’s Valley Stadium on September 24 - squads filled with personalities from platforms such as TikTok, YouTube, and Twitch.
It was "incredible" for Harry to share the pitch with other entertainers while also playing the game he loves.
Harry said: “It’s moments like this you realise how far you’ve come in life as we had the opportunity to make a real difference to other people.
“It is crazy to think about how much influence you have on the world and how we can make people happy.
“I feel like the YouTube scene has definitely given me a bigger platform to be able to put a smile on people’s faces.”
Reflecting on his most recent video collaboration with Peperami, Harry said it was a “great feeling” to be able to film with his close friend Filly as they were pushed to their limits.
Harry added: “Me and Filly always work with each other, and we love acting and doing activities together.
“So when the opportunity presented itself, I knew that Peperami understood what we loved and put together a great video idea.
“We were in medieval clothing, and I never knew was LARPing was, but it was so well put together.
“Most importantly, we both enjoyed ourselves while doing it, so that’s what mattered the most.”
Harry wants to be remembered as someone who “pushed boundaries” and also wants to spread the message of “it’s not too late for anything.”
He said that his friends, family, and two-year-old son are a massive inspiration to him.
He also wants to set an example to the people following him on social media.
He explained: “I want to make sure that my family and my friends are able to see what I've done and are able to take me as an example.
“But more importantly, my son is my number one priority, and I'll do anything for him.
“When I work hard, it's not just for me anymore, it's for everyone else.
“I’ve got what I want now but I also want the best for them too.”
Harry advises other aspiring YouTubers and entertainers to make sure they enjoy what they do but need to “work hard” in achieving any kind of success in the industry.
He explained: “For me, I felt like it was my last chance to achieve something.
"But for others I would say, you've got to treat this as if you genuinely want this like it is your last breath.
“There’s so much work detail and concentration you have to put into this industry.
“I think people get lazy because they see how well people do things and make money.
“It’s not easy at all. You have to understand that there is a whole process to it, you have to literally, focus and make it your everything.”
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