In the Haven with Abby Catlin: A Postcard from Florida
Interviewed & Written By : Hannah Corbett
We know her as the girl whose videos feel like little postcards from the beach. And until recently, Abby Catlin lived by the rhythm of hospital shifts—12-hour days, overnight rotations, missed holidays, and the emotionally intense work of caring for newborns in the NICU. But beneath her nursing career, something more creative was calling.
“I didn’t know what I wanted to be,” she admits. “I loved helping people, so I became a nurse. I wasn’t passionate about anything really.” It was a practical choice, one that made sense and followed a structured path. And for a while, it worked. “It’s a good job out of college. But it’s hard. There’s really no flexibility—when you’re working, you’re there.”
The reality of hospital life began to weigh on her. Exhausting shifts. Missed time with friends and family.
An ever-present feeling that her creative side was being ignored. “I wanted to be creative in some way. So I thought—I’ll try social media.”
At first, she juggled both. Working as a nurse three days a week left her time to rest, recover, and post. Slowly, that balance began to shift. “I then switched to working just one or two days a week. I thought, "I don't think I’ll ever stop nursing—it's stable, and I love the girls I worked with.”But social media kept growing. Opportunities became more consistent. And she found herself thinking more about the content than patient charts.
Still, the decision to leave wasn’t impulsive. “I thought about it for months. I talked with my fiancé, my family. I wanted to be 100% sure this was the right decision—and one day, I was.” She officially stepped away from the hospital—and into a completely new kind of hustle.
Now, her days look a lot different: camera roll filled with the sunrise, beach walks with her dog Navy, and editing content from her coastal home. But with the freedom came new challenges.
I’m actually busier now than when I was a nurse,” Abby admits with a laugh. “I do a lot of content in the morning. I do the sunrise. I love waking up early. It's a lot of emailing, posting. I try to remember to take pictures, but it’s very time-consuming.” That early start has become a ritual she genuinely enjoys. “Some non-negotiables for me: I wake up without fail, I make coffee when the sun is rising. The mornings are so special to me.” It wasn’t always this way. “I was not a morning person until I was a nurse and had to be up early, and then my body got used to it and I realized how much I love the mornings.” Still, she sometimes catches herself in creator mode.
“When I see something pretty, I’m like, ‘Oh, I need to take a picture or a video of that.’ And then I’m like, wait... is that normal? But when I’m on a brand trip, I’m like, ‘Oh, everyone is doing it.’”
Despite the nonstop pace, her love for the work hasn’t faded. “But I love making videos. That’s why I love YouTube—because I have a bunch of memories to look back on and they're just my friends, I can just be myself on YouTube."
” And it helps to have a strong, loyal community behind her. “When I first started, there were girls in the very beginning who followed me. I followed them back, and I definitely feel safe on TikTok. The community of girls and the support.
Even though her workday is jam-packed, Abby admits, “It’s hard to know when to turn work mode off. I’m always on my phone.” The shift to work-life balance can be especially challenging when your entire job lives on a screen. “When I’m with people, I’m not a content creator. When I’m with my family, I really try to disconnect from that. I’m turning my phone off… When I’m with my friend group, like, we don’t have our phones out. We don’t take pictures,” she adds. “It’s just about being present.” She’s learning to find that delicate balance between digital engagement and real-life connection—one that feels authentic and true to herself. But the struggle to switch off is real.
“Not that being an influencer is hard, but the hardest part is turning off the phone,” she explains.
Her content reflects that realness. She’s not trying to be an influencer in a mansion with unattainable style. “I just want to be a normal person that people can relate to. That’s who I am…
Just showing my life and hoping I have a calming, relatable presence.
I also love posting outfits—I love watching other people's outfit videos."
And that authenticity is what makes Abby stand out. “I used to copy what I saw going viral. But the biggest growth came when I stopped doing that. The night-in-my-life hotel vlog—that one changed everything. I gained 20,000 followers from that, got management. That was the turning point.”
Her night-in-the-life vlogs have since become one of her favorite styles to film. "Those are very similar to my morning-in-the-lifes. Me and Oakley usually make dinner, hang out with the Navy. I’m a homebody, so nothing super exciting.” It’s in these small, everyday moments that Abby’s true personality shines, and it’s exactly what resonates with her audience.
Speaking of Navy—since obviously we had to talk about the golden retriever who is front and center in nearly all of her content . “For the longest time, I never wanted a dog,” Abby admits. “I just wasn’t a big animal person, but my boyfriend and I decided to get a golden retriever, and it’s been a game-changer.”
“We were between Navy and Chevy,” she shares, laughing. And while getting a dog might seem like a small life shift on the outside, for Abby, it was more like turning on a new light in a room she didn’t realize was dim. “I really think Navy has changed me as a person,” she says. “I now have someone to care for every day, and it’s like having a little son. He keeps me company all day, and I’m never really alone anymore.”
Despite her vibrant online persona, she admits she has always been more reserved in person.
“I used to be really shy, but this job has helped me grow in so many ways. I’ve had to talk to so many people and put myself out there. It’s made me less shy and more confident.”
This transformation was especially clear when attending brand trips and events. “The first event I went to, I was so nervous. I was pretty quiet,” she says. “But over time, I realized everyone is just a person, even if they have millions of followers. We all have things in common, and I’ve been able to make connections and feel comfortable in those settings.”
This shift in perspective also helped her navigate the pressures of social media, where comparisons and feelings of inadequacy can often take hold. “I’ve learned to remind myself that these people are just like me. No one is as perfect as their social media accounts might make them seem.”
It’s a lesson many of us can relate to. With social media now playing such a massive role in our lives, it’s easy to forget that influencers are, at their core, just people too.
As for what’s next, Abby’s vision for the future is both ambitious and deeply rooted in the life she’s building now.
“Eventually, I’d love to have my own brand”
…maybe a clothing line or something that just feels really me,” she shares. “I want to create something that lasts, that reflects the lifestyle I share online but also stands on its own.”
In five years, she imagines a life that’s evolved but still grounded in the same values. “I’ll probably be married, have kids,” she says with a smile. “Still in Florida—and my sister is actually moving back here in a few weeks, so I don’t see us leaving anytime soon”.
Her content feels like an open window into her world—one filled with beach breezes, cozy outfits, and a comforting energy that makes you want to slow down and stay awhile.
As we ended our conversation talking about both of our dogs and living at the beach, I couldn’t help but think about that saying everyone always says: “don’t meet your idols.” It’s a phrase that often feels rooted in the fear that meeting someone you admire might not live up to the image you’ve created of them in your head. But in this case, I couldn’t help but feel differently. Because in a way, content creators—or influencers, or whatever you want to call them—have impacted our lives in the same way actors or musicians have over the years. Their stories and their authentic moments make us feel connected to something. And all I could think about after talking with Abby was how happy I was that we got to chat, because the real person behind the screen—well, she’s just as warm, relatable, and genuine as she comes across in her videos.