--- description: Find out why Haliey Welch is one of the 100 most influential digital voices of 2025. title: Haliey Welch: TIME100 Creators 2025 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt57bbd51fa33336e5/6998c81d7323af51922bcabd/TIME100-Creators-2025-Hailey-Welch-076.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Jul 09, 2025 # Haliey Welch @hay\_welch by Leslie Horn Peterson  Krystle Lina It only took two words to change Haliey Welch’s life forever. In June 2024, during an impromptu on-the-street interview with content creators _Tim & Dee TV,_ the Tennessee native uttered the onomatopoeic phrase “hawk tuah” to answer a question about a sex act. The [video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7tydu%5FerZo "undefined"), which has 9.4 million views to date on YouTube, turned her into a viral sensation. Known to most as “Hawk Tuah Girl,” Welch has a healthy sense of humor about what happened after—but her life hasn’t been, as she puts it in an interview with TIME, “all sunshine and rainbows.” Over the last year, Welch has capitalized on her momentum, amassing more than 4 million followers across [TikTok](https://www.tiktok.com/@hay%5Fwelch?lang=en "undefined") and [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/hay%5Fwelch/?hl=en "undefined")—but not without some controversy. Last September, she launched her [podcast](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/talk-tuah-with-haliey-welch/id1766136455 "undefined"), _Talk Tuah,_ in partnership with Betr, [Jake Paul](https://time.com/6252093/logan-paul-cryptozoo-liquid-marketplace/ "undefined")’s sports betting company, which quickly climbed Spotify’s podcast charts; just three months later, she found herself at the center of a cryptocurrency scandal. Reflecting on the experience, she says, “You really gotta watch who you trust with your name.” Now, at 22, Welch is taking control of her narrative. She’s relaunched her podcast under her own production company, is working on a tell-all documentary, and will make a cameo in _Chad Powers_, [Glen Powell](https://time.com/6313456/hit-man/ "undefined")’s upcoming Hulu series. While she’s open to acting in the future, her immediate plans are more personal: she’s set on visiting every animal shelter in Tennessee. Welch, who founded the nonprofit Paws Across America, hopes “to do something good and inspire other people to do good,” she says. “That’s my whole purpose.” _Data and insights powered by #paid_ Haliey Welch Is on the 2025 TIME100 Creators List ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-creators-2025/7299122/hawk-tuah/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-creators-2025/7299122/hawk-tuah/"},"headline":"Hawk Tuah: TIME100 Creators 2025","datePublished":"2025-07-09T11:37:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-03T00:51:23.975Z","description":"Find out why Haliey Welch is one of the 100 most influential digital voices of 2025.","url":"https://time.com/collections/time100-creators-2025/7299122/hawk-tuah/","keywords":["Social Media","list","franchise","Magazine","Special Project","sponsorshipblock","Accolades"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt57bbd51fa33336e5/6998c81d7323af51922bcabd/TIME100-Creators-2025-Hailey-Welch-076.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt57bbd51fa33336e5/6998c81d7323af51922bcabd/TIME100-Creators-2025-Hailey-Welch-076.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-creators-2025/7299122/hawk-tuah/","name":"Hawk Tuah: TIME100 Creators 2025"}}]}] ```