CHICAGO (NewsNation Now) — Timo Bach’s high-energy science and history TikTok videos have attracted millions of views and young fans from around the world. 

His quick takes on Science IRL and History IRL make dense topics easier to understand — and even fun. 

But Bach says he started on a different path in the entertainment industry, where he felt typecast into doing entertainment-related content as an LGBTQ person, even though policy, history and science were his true passions.

So he decided to blaze his own path and make videos about history and STEM for TikTok, eventually gaining over 100 million views in 2020 alone.

“What it shows me is that you can be cast and let people put things on you, but until you do what you are really passionate about it’s not going to be successful,“ Bach said. 

Watch the full interview with Timo Bach during Social Hour on NewsNation Early Edition tonight at 6/5pm CT.

Bach said his experience has taught him the power of persistence. As a kid, he had to overcome learning challenges posed by dyslexia and poor eyesight. He eventually left high school with a reading level far behind his classmates.

“In second grade, my teacher thought I was so belligerent because I would never pay attention to the board and I would never read, two things I couldn’t really do at the time,” Bach said.

Even after working his way towards graduating near the top of his class, he faced another obstacle when he found he couldn’t afford law school. 

“I’ve found even today as I’m struggling with issues, not necessarily having the money to fund certain things, whatever, if you’re passionate and you’re persistent you can really reach and follow the life that you’re meant to lead,” Bach said. 

Moving forward, Bach said he hopes to engage more kids from the LGBTQ+ and other minority communities to encourage them to enter the STEM field through a new effort called Team STEAM. 

Part of his message is that it doesn’t take being a social media influencer to be truly influential.

“You can not only be influential in the sense of you can get millions of followers on social media, but you can be influential, you can get this degree, you can get this knowledge in your head and create something that changes the world,” Bach said.