Lex Morales, a second year business student here at Northeastern concentrating in marketing, is taking over TikTok. Her videos depicting different types of teachers and the classic situations students deal with everyday have attracted over 1 million followers, and she continues to grow her platform today by living part-time in LA to collaborate and network with other influencers. Spending the other half of her time here in Boston, Lex has been able to grow her platform and expand her marketing and social media skills for future co-ops. I sat down with Lex to talk about her journey here at Northeastern, how it has influenced her life as a TikTok star and how she wants to act as a source of inspiration for young girls to step out of their comfort zone and explore social media.
Tell us about your life here on campus. What activities are you involved in?
Life is kind of crazy being on campus. I’m doing a lot of traveling right now, just for various collabs and personal life, but being on campus is crazy. I am only part of one club right now on campus, WISE, the Women’s Interdisciplinary Society of Entrepreneurship. Especially with this semester, I’m looking for jobs and co-ops, which is a totally different and new thing on my plate. I’m learning to balance out school, TikTok, and friends. It’s good but hectic.
What made you pick Northeastern? And what are your favorite parts now?
Obviously, co-op is extremely attractive. Before TikTok, I’ve always been very career-oriented and I’ve always wanted to go to a school that’s not just classes, partying, classes, partying. Northeastern encourages that experiential learning aspect and it is such a different and unique college experience. Everyone here is very career-motivated and always looking for other ways to learn outside the classroom. You can learn in so many different ways with co-ops, dialogues, study abroad, research, and more. Everyone is an outsider thinker.
Now, what about TikTok? What are your day to day responsibilities?
Over the summer, I was making about one to two videos a day, but now in college, that is really hard. I was first aiming for once every other day, but now I’m focusing on one to two really good videos a week. When I start my week, I plan out my videos, even though some of my best videos come to me randomly. I’m always on my notes app on my phone. I’m in class and I’ll think of a video idea and I’ll go home and film it. With me, it’s just keeping track of putting out those videos and doing my schoolwork. My day-to-day responsibilities are more like going on the app, seeing what is trending, seeing what ideas I can make, and connecting with other creators. I’ve actually been doing more networking with local TikTokers rather than having to go to LA to meet up with creators like CoffeeBae who I’ve been hanging out with.
What made you want to start making TikToks?
I literally made one video and it just blew up my entire channel. I really just started it for fun and then the whole Principal Janet came from my mom who is a school teacher. She would always come home with stories about her principal and she sometimes acts like Principal Janet, so I get a lot of inspiration from her. I really was just trying to have fun in quarantine and you can make one video and it suddenly becomes serious. So I thought, “you know what, I’m just going to roll with it.”
How do you handle both being an influencer and a college student?
I try not to be an influencer around my college friends, but it is sometimes hard balancing it. I try to stay true to myself, especially when it comes to friendships. But my roommates have been super helpful by filming my campaigns or picking up my PR packages from the mailroom. I do try to separate friends from social media because I don’t want one to overpower the other.
What do you do to have fun?
Because we are in a COVID-19 nation, I like to spend time in my dorm with my friends. I sometimes go to dinners outside, of course, being socially distant. But fun can be a stretch term with these times, especially as a college student. Even though it’s become somewhat of a job for me, I still find making TikToks super fun and a way to loosen up.
What are your plans for the future? Being a marketing major, do you want to continue with social media?
I’ve honestly felt like I’ve learned a lot about advertising and marketing through TikTok, with my paid campaigns and promotions. It’s giving me a lot of insight and education in the marketing world. I’ve been on the other side, being an influencer in the commercials and advertisements. I see a lot of the stuff that marketing teams don’t see. I think it will help me going into co-op because I have a unique experience to offer. I’m only 19, so I haven’t figured out what I want to do with my career yet, but I do think marketing would be really cool and fascinating with my experiences. I definitely want to continue with social media. It is something that I love. People commenting things like “you made my day” or “this made me laugh” are just so nice receiving those. It is work and I am in college, but I do want to continue with it. I don’t know if it will be TikTok, or Youtube, or something else.
What was it like entering into the TikTok community?
It was definitely very overwhelming. But speaking genuinely, the majority of people in the TikTok community are very welcoming and open to hanging out, making videos and collabing, helping each other out. There are definitely downsides to any community, but if you find the right group of people, it can be very rewarding. I’ve met some of my best friends on TikTok. I think TikTok is a different community than it was a year ago, and we are even seeing improvements with the company and users to make it more accepting and welcoming.
Who are the most influential women in your life? How have they helped you grow?
My mom has honestly been the biggest support of my career. She has always backed me with what I want to do, and I really owe a lot of my TikTok success to her because my character is based on her. I’ve always looked up to her. She is very hardworking and she didn’t come from a lot. Teaching was her dream job and now that’s what she does…When I first went to LA, she was the only person I told and she was like “just go, you got to do it, you got to put yourself out there.
How do you like to use your platform to empower other young girls? Any words of encouragement for people who want to venture into social media?
Social media is super scary at first because there are a lot of disingenuous people, especially being a young girl. You see all these pictures of models, and now with TikTok, girls are dancing half-naked and talking about mature topics beyond their ages. The biggest thing for me is, I would never have expected myself to post videos acting like a complete weirdo [while] looking ugly and talking crazy, but those are the videos that get millions of views. You have to be original, authentic, and be yourself. Be weird and don’t be afraid to act differently. Stay true to yourself, especially on social media.
Follow Lex Morales on:
TikTok: @lexlyfe
Instagram: lexlyfee