A youngster from Bradford’s Tik-Tok success has meant that she has been able to quit her job and studies to focus on her social media accounts.
Katylee Bailey, 19, from Low Moor now has over 2 million followers on her Tik-Tok account that she first started a couple of years ago for ‘a bit of fun’ but is now earning up to £1000 per video.
Katylee said: “It was just for a bit of fun in the beginning because everyone else seemed to have it and it was a good way to make friends but until last year I had about 200,000 followers. I started posting properly during the lockdown and it just grew from there.”
Katylee said before she started ‘getting big last year’ she had just left college because of lockdown and then started university but ‘ended up dropping out to make social media her full-time job.’
She added that at first, her parents ‘were very worried’ because she left university’ but she knew that if it all went wrong she could go back when she’s older, or get another job so ‘ decided to take the risk.”
Her 15 to 30-second videos focus on her everyday life, and first took off when her ex-partner moved in during the lockdown as ‘people loved watching them together.’
She often records videos with her girlfriend and is active in the LGBTQ community.
She said that she has even had followers tell her that they have ‘helped them come out’ as a result of her videos around acceptance and self-belief.
She added: “No one should feel like they should be someone else, clearly I’ve got somewhere from just being myself.”
She said that growing up, she often received comments about being ‘unloved’ because ‘dad left her’ when she was a child, but she wants to ‘prove that whatever your situation and whatever people say, as long as you put your heart to something you can anything you want to achieve.”
She added: “I’d say if anyone’s wanting to do what I’ve done, just be yourself and don’t let anyone bring them down because if it’s something you want to do then you may as well take the opportunity and believe in yourself, because all you can do is be yourself and believe if people like you they’re going to like you for you.”
Katylee said that she has occasionally received hate and trolling online, but she just ‘remembers that they’re just people behind a screen.’
She said: “Thankfully I’m quite good at coping when I get any hate comments. I just remember that they’re just people behind a screen, it could be jealousy, it could be anything. Obviously, everyone has an opinion but some people are very vocal on their opinions.”
“Sometimes it can affect me but other times I just try my hardest to not let it bother me because I remember you’ve only got one life so why should I let someone that doesn’t even know me bring me down.”
Despite making up to eight videos a day, Katylee makes sure she ‘doesn’t rush or force herself ‘to do everything because mental health is important, and having to see herself ‘on camera every day can be overwhelming.’
Her goal for the future is to set up her own business and go into TV work and ‘just make the most of it.’
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