Within the past few months, @jasephats on TikTok has become a household name here at Texas A&M amongst students. With his fresh content ranging from interviewing students on campus, his Sip Spill Slay vlogs, and other hilarious content, he is taking TikTok by storm! I had the opportunity to sit down with him at Sweet Eugene’s and ask him some questions. Here they are!
Anyssa: Tell me a little bit about yourself. Who is Jase?
Jase: Jase is someone who loves fully and is very intentional with interactions. Someone who loves to wake up in the mornings and enjoy the first few sips of my coffee and just set and obtain my momentum for the day. That is Jase. Someone who enjoys and feeds off of interactions with people, loves family, loves friends, and loves all involvements. My job, my organizations, and watching the news. I like cooking. I love Tiktok, obviously. Other than that, Jase is just someone who loves.
Right after our first question, Jase had two girls come up to him, saying how much they loved his TikToks, and how they were watching them before they came to study at Sweets! He was so kind to them and approached them with such kindness. He can easily make friends and acquaintances everywhere he goes!
Anyssa: So tell me, what has the TikTok journey been like? How did this even start? Did it happen overnight? Was it gradual?
Jase: It was gradual, but I started posting in mid-December. And now, it’s May, and within the last 5 five months, I’m at 89,000 followers, which is weird and crazy. The first post I made was me saying the yassification of A&M and walking to a sound byte. I didn’t expect it to get any exposure. I was just really bored and had just gotten a TikTok. When it got exposed, I was shocked. I am all for someone when I have a moment. I want to continue it. I was like: now that I have this kind of exposure, what do I do with it? So I continued to make posts centered around me and my place at TAMU and the experiences that I’ve had so far.
Anyssa: My favorite TikToks is when you interview people on campus! How do you choose someone to interview?
Jase: Randomly! I wouldn’t say it is done strategically. I’m not looking for a set person. I just start yelling out if anyone would like to be in a TikTok, so the people in them are people who genuinely want to be.
Anyssa: So you do that, you do the interviews, Sip Spill Slay, what’s your favorite content to create?
Jase: All of it! I do love the interviews, that’s where I have the most fun interactions, and I get to meet lots of people. But also, I get more exposure as well as it gives a lot of insight. I like just talking about everyday things too.
Anyssa: What inspires your content? How do you come up with new ideas to stay relevant within all the content on the app?
Jase: Honestly, my focus is on remaining authentic. It’s important to know that people can see right through what you post, and I don’t want to be perceived as a character online. Who I am when I’m posting is who I am in real life. Authenticity is one of my core values. It’s important to be authentic in what you post and how you behave, as that will be received well by the audience, and also to stay on top of trends. Find your niche. My niche is TAMU because I love going here and providing exposure to the campus, and this is so fundamental for me. Remaining authentic to myself is what inspires me to stay relevant per se.
Anyssa: So you’re a Dutch Bros Mobster now? Explain that to me a little bit.
Jase: Dutch Bros is an amazing company through and through as it’s so customer-focused and employee-focused. I have loved how fundamental the company has been in my life and has provided me with such self-confidence in personal and professional settings. Someone who’s a Mobster gets to travel across the country and help open other Dutch Bros stands. They fly you out to certain locations, introduce culture into the area and help train new baristas!
Anyssa: Tell me about your experience so far at TAMU? I know this is only your first year, but how has it been?
Jase: Coming in, I struggled. I don’t know if it was stemming from the pandemic. But I definitely formed some levels of social anxiety, you know, with being in large crowds and having to adapt, especially with being myself without knowing who I was. Struggling with being one of those three out kids in high school and being myself. There was definitely a sense of tokenism, being that token gay kid for those girls and guys. It harmed my self-confidence and made me feel insecure. I didn’t know who I was and didn’t have a sense of identity. My experience has been so far so good, especially with my involvement in FLEX. I’m around people who have different life experiences, physically and intellectually, and I’ve made best friends with these people.
Anyssa: Have you ever dealt with any hateful speech on campus since we go to such a conservative school? I know I’ve dealt with it, and I hope you haven’t. But I’d love to get your insight on this.
Jase: No, I haven’t. And I’m so sorry you had to deal with that, and I hope that it continues to not happen. Not invalidating your experience, but I hope it gets easier and easier for generations to come. It shouldn’t happen in the first place. Let alone continue to happen. What’s so weird is that I experienced that in high school. But I have not experienced that in a university with close to 70,000 students. I hope that remains my experience. But if not, I’m prepared to face adversity.
Anyssa: What has been your favorite moment to happen when interviewing someone?
Jase: Honestly, I would say, overall, the interactions. I always tell myself the threshold between a stranger and a friend is made by you. I would define anyone as a friend. So having such a level of comfortability with people and interactions has been fulfilling. I love seeing people, and when they recognize me, they want a handshake. But I’m like: “Give me a hug!” My favorite thing is just being able to talk to my interviewees without the cameras or mic on and having those interactions.
Anyssa: Once you finish college and leave TAMU, would you keep creating content?
Jase: I wouldn’t define it to just be while I’m here. I don’t want to limit myself on my opportunities. Who knows in a month from here if I’ll even be relevant. You’ll just have these fifteen seconds of relevancy, and then you know, you’re done. Some people force themselves into content and bits that they get burnt out on. And I haven’t done that and don’t want to. I think that I will continue to post and enjoy the hobby without monetization for as long as possible.
Anyssa: Any parting words you want to leave the readers with?
Jase: I challenge everyone to be the most authentic version of themselves, whatever that means to you. I just don’t want you in any setting to feel like you are a character or have an act to perform to anyone, whether that is in a friend setting or work. Because then you have to keep it up, and then your battery dies. When you are authentic and redefine yourself, you find moments of solace and comfort, and that’s when you inch forward to self-love and self-confidence. Above all, remain authentic to yourself, pursue all interests, and recognize that I am proud of you and that if you are reading this, you belong at TAMU. And you belong because of who you are, and we accept and love you for who you are.