Today we’d like to introduce you to Miriam J.
Hi Miriam, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I was born and raised in South Florida. My mother was/is an amazing mother, however, my father figure was super toxic. I was raised with my younger sister Miriel J. We were both very sheltered and wasn’t able to participate in anything involving being social with other human beings outside of school. This forced us to be super close because we couldn’t make friends outside of our house. I was bullied in elementary and middle school for having really bad acne and awkward sense of humor. Kids used to call me pimple face, proactive, “butter face,” weird, etc. I remember this one boy telling me that I was one of the ugliest girls in school but I had a nice body so that’s what I had going for myself. This is when my insecurities officially began. I constantly begged my parents to allow me to wear makeup, my mother always had beautiful skin so she didn’t wear much makeup. Her skin tone was also way lighter than mine, so the little makeup she did have, I would sneak and wear it and people instantly knew because the shade was super off.
Then, one day when I was 12, my dad brought me to CVS, gave me $50 and told me that I could buy makeup. I was so excited and bought eyeliner, concealer, foundation, mascara, and lipgloss. I went home, practiced and went to school the next day feeling so confident. Being able to hide my acne and acne scars meant so much to me. I wore makeup every day and practiced daily until I perfected it.
When I got to high school, I was so good at applying my makeup that people asked me to do their makeup. Later on, I left my toxic household and headed to college at the University of South Florida in St. Petersburg. People always suggested that I start a YouTube channel doing makeup tutorials. So I did just that!
I was double majoring in biology and physics while working as a bottle girl, so it was super difficult to be consistent on YouTube with my hectic schedule. My channel had a very slow growth but I loved it because it made me happy.
When I graduated college, I moved to Orlando. I was still pushing out content but I wasn’t getting the feedback that I hoped for. Fast forward to 2019, Covid happened! I got laid off from my serving job at The Pub. My sister had been telling me about TikTok and I never wanted to download it because I thought it was childish. One day, I decided to download it out of boredom and began posting comedic videos. I grew to 100K followers within a couple of months and I realized, “Wow! This is so fun!” I continued to aggressively push out content, then I grew to 1 million within a year, this is when I realized that this is my calling. Currently, I’m sitting at 1.5 million followers and slowly seeing all of my dreams come true while making the world laugh.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Growing up with a toxic father figure has really affected me mentally as an adult. I constantly find myself doubting my abilities because he always taught me that the only way to be successful is to be a doctor, any other route is a failure. This mindset is so embedded into me that when I see things not going my way, I shut down because I feel like I’m failing before I even fail; so I just self-sabotage. Being bullied for my appearance was also a struggle for me. I used to refuse to get in front of a camera unless I had on a full face of makeup. No one other than family ever called me pretty without makeup, so I thought that I was only pretty with makeup. Now I’m more comfortable in my skin, but I still struggle with acne and find myself hesitating to post myself without makeup.
I also struggle with acceptance, sometimes I feel like my race is the reason why I don’t get many opportunities. I didn’t experience racism until I went to college, I was walking to my dorm from a long night of studying and this white man was walking by me and said “these niggers are everywhere these days.“ I remember instantly being terrified and conveniently campus PD was walking by and I ran to them and told them what happened. I was hysterical and All they did was say, “Okay, we will remove them off campus,” I didn’t really know what response I wanted them to have, but I know it wasn’t that. I was just left thinking, “so that’s it?“ This is the day I began to notice all of the racial inequality that I was a victim of from work, social settings, school and social media.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am a comedic content creator and I post videos that are relatable. Many people look at me and think, “oh, just a pretty girl, probably has nothing else to offer but her looks.“ then, you go to my page and you see that I have no filter. I make videos about the times I’ve pooped in the bathroom of someone I was dating and the toilet wouldn’t flush. Or videos of me picking my nose, taking my wig off or just being super goofy. People always tell me that they love my content because you wouldn’t expect it from someone who looks like me. I’m most proud at the fact that I impact people. I love when I get messages from people saying that I have allowed them to escape their toxic realities. I’ve had people tell me that I’ve helped them cope with their depression in a positive way.
Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
Sometimes I feel as though I was lucky when I first started TikTok. I couldn’t understand how I grew so quick, but now I know that I started at the perfect time. Hearing the experiences from others who are starting today, everyone is saying it’s so hard to grow. My experience was a little different, it was relatively easy for me to grow. Though I filmed daily and posted 2 to 3 times a day, you’d think that the consistency is what got me here. But, I think a little luck for sure played a role.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://jemi.so/miriamj
- Instagram: Instagram.com/EpitomeOfClassy
- Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/boujiebestie
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/c/MiriamJ
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@epitomeofclassy?_t=8VKYUOmMKw2&_r=1
