Together with Meritrust Credit Union

With 12 branches across the Wichita area, Meritrust continues to make life easier — from everyday banking to long-term financial goals.

Now, they’re expanding that mission even further. Meritrust recently broke ground on their brand-new Amidon branch, marking a return to a community they’re proud to serve.

This new location represents more than a building — it’s their ongoing commitment to Wichita’s neighborhoods, families, and future.

Who is D’Aydrian Harding?

Wichita has a creator who can pull 5,000 people to a gym in days, sell out merch across oceans, and still show up to Riverfest with a camera and a grin. D’Aydrian Harding (and his co-star/support system, Momma Harding) are shaping how a Midwest city shows up on the internet.

We had the power Momma & Son duo on our Wichita Life Podcast a couple of months ago, so check that out for the full story:

By the Numbers

D’Aydrian Harding

• Youtube: 4.09 million subscribers

• Instagram: 1.3 million followers

• Tiktok: 11.7 million followers

Momma Harding:

• Instagram: 116k followers

• Tiktok: 762.8k followers

Background & Roots

Born and raised in Wichita, D’Aydrian grew up disciplined and busy: six years as an honor student, church activities, scholarships, and no job until 18 (Momma Harding’s rule to “keep the main thing the main thing”). He briefly studied engineering at Wichita State and was accepted into WSU Tech’s robotics program before an early fork in the road: finish school or bet on content. He chose the bet.

Momma Harding is Wichita to the core, too - save for a short Colorado stint “many decades ago.” She raised two boys here and, three years ago, accidentally became an influencer herself by simply… being Mom on camera. She set a goal of 10,000 TikTok followers and now sits at over 760,000, posting mainly to Stories and popping into her son’s world as the beloved “rare Pokémon” cameo fans are always hunting.

The Rise: From “Cheat Code” to YouTuber

The spark was “a movie” as the kids say. In March 2020, DaBaby played Wichita. VIP tickets (courtesy of Momma Harding) put D’Aydrian at the rail; he rapped every lyric so hard the artist stopped the show and pulled him on stage. The TikTok clips of that moment rocketed him from a few hundred followers to 50,000 in days. He could’ve been “the kid DaBaby brought up.” He decided to be D’Aydrian Harding instead.

He posted relentlessly, deleted hundreds of misses, rode trends to get seen, then pivoted into the voice he preferred: off-the-cuff comedy and public interactions—never skits, never scripts. Six months later he crossed 1 million on TikTok, left school, and tried an Atlanta creator house—“worst decision of my life,” he says—then boomeranged to solo mode and back to Wichita with a hardened sense of what he didn’t want: chaos, substances, distractions.

The most important strategic call came next: a platform migration. “TikTok fame ain’t real,” he says, pointing out how weak that clout is at a live event or at the register. He funneled TikTok traffic to YouTube, posting only YouTube clips until the algorithm got the hint. Today, with ~4M on YouTube, he can’t move through an airport without dap lines forming. I saw this first hand at the TBT tournament with a long line at half time to get their picture taken with him. Recognition and revenue both followed the long-form.

Content & Style: Improv Over Script

What sets him apart is not a format—it’s a frequency: that improvisational, in-the-moment feel where the audience experiences the day exactly as he does. If he’s furniture shopping with Mom, that’s the video. If he’s hooping at a rec center, that’s the video. No storyboards. No table reads. Just energy, rapport, and a willingness to be the same person on camera that he is at Kobe’s hibachi (a favorite in Wichita).

Basketball is a recurring language: dunking in mismatched black-and-yellow Crocs, celebrity games, assistant-coaching friends on the road. He also streams—preferably IRL with a backpack, not trapped at a desk—and pulled ~600,000 unique viewers across his first three-hour stream session. On Twitch he’s near 300K; on YouTube Live, laughter is live, not a week delayed.

Business & Brand: Ads, Merch, and Selective Partners

The business is classic creator flywheel with some firm guardrails. Revenue is anchored by YouTube AdSense and merch. Sponsorships happen, but only if they fit his world—think sports betting tie-ins during football season that he turns into full-on sketches. He avoids hawking products he doesn’t use and openly turns down “bad money.”

Two pillars of the brand are “Stay Sober” and “Thank You, Jesus.” The sobriety message began at home. He’s 24 and still doesn’t drink—part conviction, part example. The faith-forward drop brought both sales and louder critics (“now you can’t roast,” “now you can’t cuss”), but he wears the tension. The merch machine itself is serious—now operated by Sony after the family hand-packed orders for years.

Then there’s the Crocs thing. The mismatched black/yellow look has become a signature; thousands of fans buy two pairs just to wear one of each. He’s itching for the inevitable official collab: “Sell them in a single box.” When it happens, expect it to go.

He’s not “a rapper,” but the music lane is open. The track “Big Body” with DaBaby—yes, the same artist who yanked him on stage in 2020—has tens of millions of streams, and Mom appears in every video on purpose. He’ll drop again only if it’s fun or a special collab calls.

Touring proved the brand travels: 34 cities, 500–2,000 fans a night. Not a concert—an interactive hangout with trivia, mini-games, messages about sobriety, and a lot of crowd work. Australia is likely next.

Community, Controversy & The Mom Effect

Harding’s relationship with fans is tactile. He keeps photo lines moving, but lingers when he can. He shows the interactions in videos so people know he likes meeting them. The citywide Sports Forum hoop event—free by design—became a case study in scale when thousands more than capacity arrived. Lesson learned: next time, use a bigger venue and more doors.

There’s criticism, sure. The faith merch drew nitpicks. Some see the gambling bits and cry hypocrisy against “Stay Sober.” He engages the lines honestly: sobriety isn’t the same as abstaining from every vice, and he doesn’t endorse addiction. He’s far more vocal about the lives changed in the other direction—parents who say his message kept a kid from vaping, even a couple who say watching together helped them step away from substances and reconcile.

Through all of it, Momma Harding is the stabilizer and a star in her own right. She taught the leaving-the-party rule if the vibe turns, modeled boundaries, and stayed transparent with her son through every messy chapter—Atlanta house and all. Fans recognize her without him; in the Harding universe, that’s not a gimmick. It’s the point.

Impact & Future

D’Aydrian has reframed Wichita’s internet image from “flyover” to “pull-up.” He’s shown you can build national reach from Walmart aisles and local gyms, that Koch Arena would likely fill if he ran a creator classic, and that staying based here isn’t a handicap. It’s a hook.

In the broader creator economy, he’s a playbook for platform migration (short to long), personality-led improv (over formats anyone can copy), and values-first monetization - ads + merch > random sponsored content (except for Crocs - hit him up). Long-term, he’s non-doctrinaire: keep doing what feels true, whether that’s public vlogs, IRL streams, game streams, tours, bigger business moves, or a black-and-yellow Croc that finally ships as one pair.

Ask him where he’ll be in 5–10 years and the answer is refreshingly simple: wherever joy and authenticity are. The only constant is Wichita—the W tattoo, the sunflower palette, the pride—and a mom who will still cameo like a rare card when the timing is perfect.

What do you want to see us go deep on in a future deep dive?

Let us know!

Quick Event Rundown

• BooFest | Exploration Place | October 17-18, 24-25

• Wild Lights | Sedgwick County Zoo | 10/15 - 12/21

• The Kickback | SouthWest Boys Club | 10/23

• Nate Bargatze | Intrust Bank Arena | 12/10 (rescheduled from September)