Sophomore theater performance student Jojo Radecky, @jojorakecky on TikTok, embodied her creativity and became a star on TikTok overnight.

The newer social media app, TikTok, was created in September 2016 after buying out the former app Musical.ly. However, the app didn’t gain popularity by the masses until early 2019.

Hopping on the trend, Radecky created her first post on TikTok in September 2019, which consisted of her dancing along to “Trap 3 Little Pigs” with friends, which only received 300 views.

After creating a plethora of different content on TikTok, Radecky said she decided to create live theatre content once she saw it started trending.

“Once I saw others perform their musical theatre resume on TikTok, I figured I should give it a try,” Radecky said. “After my first one did pretty well, I figured I should continue creating this type of content.”

Once Radecky uploaded her first TikTok covering a song from “Mean Girls” the musical, her content started to blow up.

In the video, Radecky is playing the role of Karen, from the section “Meet the Plastics.”

The video has now accumulated over 270,000 likes, and close to 1 million views. Another video she posted on the same night also blew up, accumulating over 100,000 likes and close to 400,000 views.

“While creating the video, I didn’t think I would get thousands of people to notice me,” Radecky said. “When I woke up the video had completely blown up, and I was in shock.”

Shortly after the release of the video, the replacement Karen on Broadway, Laura Leigh Turner, noticed Radecky.

Turner had reposted the video of Radecky on her Instagram story, expressing her love for Radecky’s acting and TikTok.

“I started shaking and freaking out,” Radecky said. “Karen has always been my dream role, so to get noticed by someone who plays her was amazing.”

While creating her original content, Radecky said she often looks at her inspirations for guidance.

Some of her inspirations for her character include actress from the original Mean Girls movie, Amanda Seyfried, Kate Rockwell, who played Karen on Broadway, along with anyone else who had played the role.

“I try to come up with all of my own content,” Radecky said. “I incorporate important aspects from the movie, musical and character into my TikTok.”

With over 25,000 followers looking up to Radecky, she said inspiring them through her content has become a priority.

Radecky often goes live on TikTok and Instagram to speak with her viewers. Along with this, Radecky said she leaves her direct message box unlocked so her fans can reach her with any questions.

“This industry is very hard, and sometimes you’re going to get rejected,” Radecky said. “It’s important to remain optimistic and stay true to yourself.”

Andre Claudio covers fashion. Contact him at [email protected].