Real West Virginian of the Week: Autumn Collette Martin shows West Virginia stories can reach far beyond the state

By Hannah Yost, RealWV

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Autumn Collette Martin did not set out to build an online community.

The Sissonville native, now living in Charleston, first started her page as part of her photography business. Online, many followers know her as Autumn Collette — a name that uses her middle name. Over time, though, something unexpected happened. The personal stories, shopping finds, everyday moments, and pieces of her life that she shared began connecting with people in a way she had not anticipated.

Before long, the content she posted outside of photography began performing better than the photography itself. What started as a creative outlet slowly grew into a larger platform, and Martin found herself building a community she never expected.

For Martin, the role of content creator is one she takes seriously. She takes pride in being authentic with her audience, sharing parts of her life that feel meaningful, useful, funny, or familiar without becoming someone she is not.

Her journey to content creation was not a straight line.

Martin first went to school for nursing, but quickly learned that the field was not for her.

“I figured out that I couldn’t give shots,” she said. “I still have a fear of shots to this day.”

After earning a degree and trying to figure out her next step, her mother suggested she substitute teach until she decided what she wanted to do. Martin began subbing, fell in love with teaching, and eventually became certified.

She spent seven years as a special education teacher before later moving into sales and starting her own photography business.

That photography page became the beginning of something much larger.

Martin said her page has been around since 2020, but it really began to grow in 2025. As she shared more of her life, including Walmart finds and personal stories, she noticed a deeper connection forming with her audience.

“I feel like I really found my passion in what I’m doing right now,” Martin said.

Part of that connection comes from the fact that people feel as if they have grown alongside her. Some followers have been with her since the beginning of the page, watching different chapters of her life unfold in real time.

“It feels like I’ve kind of grown up with these people,” Martin said.

Still, she is intentional about what she shares. Martin’s public page, Autumn Collette, uses her middle name. Her personal Facebook page remains more private, allowing her to keep some parts of her life separate from the internet.

The things she shares publicly are the things she is comfortable with people knowing and the stories she feels may connect with others.

One of those stories is her connection to West Virginia.

Martin was born and raised in Sissonville. Although her parents and brother now live in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, West Virginia remains home for her. She has considered whether to leave, especially after the death of her grandmother, whom she affectionately called Mamaw, but she continues to feel pulled back to the place that shaped her.

“My life is here,” Martin said. “West Virginia is my life and it is my home.”

She said she has no real intention of leaving because she believes West Virginia is beautiful, has much to offer, and is filled with incredible people.

“I’m really proud to be from here,” Martin said.

That pride shows up in her content. While many of her posts focus on shopping finds from places like Walmart, Target, Lowe’s, and Sam’s Club, she also uses her platform to share feel-good stories connected to West Virginia.

She believes those stories happen often but are not always reported or recognized.

“West Virginia really does, for some reason, we get a bad reputation,” Martin said. “I like to use my platform to show people that we really aren’t that stereotype.”

As her following has grown, Martin has found that her online community has changed her everyday life.

She is often recognized when she leaves the house — sometimes as the woman who posts Walmart finds, sometimes as Nemo’s mom, sometimes as the granddaughter of the “Taco Bell Queen,” and more recently, as the West Virginian who won on Wheel of Fortune.

For Martin, being recognized never feels annoying. It feels like an honor.

“My favorite thing in the world is when someone recognizes me for being the girl that posts her Mamaw,” she said.

Those encounters remind her that people are connecting not just with what she posts, but with the heart behind it. Recently, a woman stopped her in Walmart and told her she followed her page and connected deeply with Martin’s stories about her late Mamaw because they reminded her of her own mother, who had passed away.

Moments like that mean the world to Martin.

She said they also remind her why leaving West Virginia would feel different.

“If I moved to Myrtle Beach, I wouldn’t get that,” Martin said. “You don’t get that sense of community when you start over somewhere.”

That sense of community is part of what keeps her here — and part of what she hopes other young West Virginians understand.

For those who believe they have to move somewhere bigger to build a creative career or find an audience, Martin’s answer is direct.

“Absolutely not,” she said.

She believes people can build an audience from anywhere if they are creating content that is meaningful and relatable.

“I don’t think that you have to live in these big cities to be a successful content creator,” Martin said. “As long as the content that you’re creating is meaningful, then you could live on a hill in the middle of nowhere. But if you’re creating content that your audience is relating to or connecting with, then you’re good to go.”

That belief became even more meaningful when Martin’s story reached a national audience.

Martin had applied to be on Wheel of Fortune in December 2024 and completed Zoom auditions in January 2025. She was told that if she did not hear back within a year, she had not been selected for that season and could reapply.

Months passed, and Martin assumed she had not been chosen.

Then, on July 20, just days after her Mamaw died and less than a month after Martin tore her Achilles, she received an email at 4:33 p.m. informing her that she had been selected as a contestant. The taping would take place Aug. 19 — the day after her 35th birthday.

At a time when she expected her birthday to be filled with grief, the opportunity changed everything.

“I went from thinking I’m going to be doing absolutely nothing but laying on the couch and crying to I’m going to be flying to L.A. on my birthday to compete on Wheel of Fortune the next day,” Martin said.

Wheel of Fortune had long been one of her favorite shows, one she watched every day. Being selected felt surreal, especially because she had not reapplied.

“I can’t help but think that she had something to do with this,” Martin said of her Mamaw.

Walking onto the Wheel of Fortune set was one of the most unforgettable moments of her life. The contestants were sequestered without phones, and Martin said nearly everyone had the same reaction when they entered the studio.

“We were all saying, ‘Oh my gosh, this is crazy,’” she said. “You’re like, ‘Oh my gosh, I see this on TV every day. I never imagined this would be me.’”

Martin did more than appear on the show. She won the game and the bonus round.

She remembers winning the prize puzzle and smiling so hard that her cheeks hurt. She kept telling host Ryan Seacrest that she could not believe it.

“He looked at me at one point and he said, ‘You better believe it because it happened,’” Martin said.

She had trained before going on the show and believed she could do well, but she did not expect to solve nearly every puzzle.

Her goal had been to make it to the bonus round. Winning it was something else entirely.

“My only goal was to make it to the bonus round because I know how hard the bonus round is,” Martin said.

Her mother, brother, and brother’s partner traveled with her to the taping. Her father does not like to fly, but Martin said having the three of them there made the experience unforgettable.

When Martin won and saw her family running toward her, it became one of the best moments of her life.

That day also led to another story that captured people’s attention online.

On the morning of the taping, Martin had scheduled an Uber to take her to the studio. She was still in a boot with a knee scooter and cane because of her Achilles injury. When her driver, Julio, arrived, she said he immediately showed kindness.

“He was just such sunshine,” Martin said.

She was nervous that morning, knowing she would be sequestered and unable to talk with her family once she arrived. During the ride, she told Julio about the show and explained how Wheel of Fortune worked. She jokingly told him there was a small chance she could win $1 million, and if that happened, she would have to send him a bigger tip.

After the episode aired and people knew how much she had won, Martin tried to find him. Too much time had passed to adjust the tip through Uber or report an item as lost to reconnect. So she turned to the internet.

Eventually, she found him through a car rental site connected to the van he had driven that morning. She rented the vehicle just so she could message him through the app.

Julio remembered her.

Martin was able to send him money through Venmo, fulfilling the promise she had made that morning. When he told her he preferred not to be on TikTok or social media, she respected his request and removed the video she had posted searching for him.

For Martin, finding him was about honoring someone who had shown her kindness on one of the biggest days of her life.

“He was such an important part in my day, whether he realized it or not,” she said.

She believes that instinct to circle back, remember kindness, and give when possible is tied to how she was raised in West Virginia.

“My parents and my brother and my Mamaw, they’ve always raised me to give kindness first and to look out for other people and to give when and where you can,” Martin said.

That sense of kindness, humor, loyalty, and community has become part of what people see in her online.

Even after national television and viral posts, Martin does not see herself as a celebrity. She still feels like the same person — a woman from Sissonville who loves her dog Nemo, misses her Mamaw, shares Walmart finds, and wants people to feel less alone through the stories she tells.

She also wants people to see that West Virginia can be part of a modern creative career, not something someone has to leave behind in order to succeed.

When she was on Wheel of Fortune and told other contestants what she did, she said people were surprised. Content creators are often associated with places like Miami, Los Angeles, New York, or Texas — not West Virginia.

That is part of why she wants to stay.

“We can be content creators and we can live in West Virginia,” Martin said.

For Martin, being a content creator in West Virginia is not a limitation. It is part of what makes her story meaningful.

Her audience knows where she is from. They know the stores she visits, the stories she tells, the grief she has carried, the joy she has shared, and the way she continues to represent her home with pride.

In doing so, she is helping show that the Mountain State is not behind or forgotten. It is filled with people whose stories can travel far beyond its borders.

And sometimes, those stories begin with a Sissonville native, a Walmart find, a beloved Mamaw, a dog named Nemo, and a choice to stay — proving that West Virginia stories can reach far beyond the Mountain State.

Know someone who should be featured? Email your nomination to news@therealwv.com.