This as-told-to essay is predicated on a transcribed dialog with Allison Chen, 21, from New York, about utilizing TikTok as a supply of earnings. The next has been edited for size and readability.
Throughout my sophomore 12 months at Duke College, I made a decision to maneuver to France for a sixth-month pastry faculty. I used to be a biology main then however had misplaced curiosity in my diploma. I’ve at all times liked cooking, notably baking, and I made a decision to take a while off from faculty to pursue that zeal.
Since learning at pastry faculty, I’ve labored as a pastry chef and have been constructing a baking TikTok account alongside my diploma. My creator aspect hustle has been far more profitable than any of my work in an precise kitchen, however I nonetheless do not suppose I will be a content material creator full-time instantly after college.
I went to a pastry faculty in France
France has the perfect pastries, and through my semester-long break from Duke in 2022, I attended École Ducasse to get my pastry diploma. This one was essentially the most fashionable of the pastry applications I checked out. My mother and father had been paying for my faculty schooling, so I used the cash they might have spent on the semester and put it towards pastry faculty as an alternative.
I realized about basic pastry methods and French desserts. We made issues like chocolate, croissants, and ice cream. I went to high school six hours a day, 4 days every week. The varsity was primarily based in rural France, so it was additionally a pleasant change of tempo. I really feel so fortunate that I may have this expertise; it was life-changing.
I completed this system in June 2022 and did a stage — which is an unpaid internship — in a patisserie in Paris.
I knew that I needed to complete my bachelor’s diploma, and returned to Duke in August. I began a part-time job the next January, working back-of-house as a pastry prep cook dinner in a restaurant close to my college campus. I needed to proceed to observe my baking abilities in a business setting.
Whereas at pastry faculty, I began making baking content material on TikTok
I downloaded the TikTok app a month earlier than going to pastry faculty. I had made a couple of TikToks earlier than, however whereas there, I would movie the chef’s demonstrations, displaying what my pastry seemed like and filming myself consuming it on the finish. I needed to doc my expertise so folks again residence may see what I used to be as much as.
My movies began to go semi-viral, and over a month into posting, I had a video that hit one million views. I shared movies every day, and folks appeared concerned about what I would be taught subsequent. I did not intend to monetize my movies, however after I bought again to the US, manufacturers began reaching out to me with deal presents.
Most manufacturers I work with are within the way of life house; they need me to assist promote their merchandise to a college-aged viewers. I’ve achieved advertisements for a TV present and language app previously.
More often than not, the manufacturers let me plan the video. I usually cook dinner or make a dessert according to the corporate’s theme or the product they had been selling. I would promote the product within the video, disclosing it was an advert.
Content material creation made me an earnings, however I needed to work in a restaurant for the expertise. It is at all times good to work in numerous kitchens to learn the way they function and to be taught new abilities.
I used to be in a position to make extra from content material creation than pastry work
My part-time job as a pastry cook dinner paid round $17 an hour. I labored between 10 and 12 hours every week on common. After I left in Might 2023, on the finish of the varsity time period, I would made round $3,000 over the 5 months.
It solidified that being a pastry chef alone was not a profitable profession. Whereas I’d like to proceed to bake all day, I am undecided I am reduce out for the lengthy hours and low pay of restaurant work.
After I was working at my part-time restaurant job, I posted 5 advertisements for 3 totally different firms on TikTok and made $23,600 — over $20,000 greater than the $3,000 I constructed from the precise job.
I now have nearly 350,000 followers on TikTok, round 260,000 followers on Instagram, and 200,000 subscribers on YouTube. Along with the cash I could make from model offers, I make as a lot as $500 a month via these platforms, together with YouTube advert income and the Creator Rewards Program.
Content material creation has given me an additional supply of earnings; I needn’t fear a lot about my future wage
It is laborious to be a extremely good pastry chef. It requires a variety of work and does not at all times include applicable compensation. I feel it is cool I have been in a position to complement my pastry work with cash from content material creation. However content material creation is actually freelance work, and the earnings is not constant, which might be nerve-racking. I am nonetheless creating wealth from content material and hope sometime to show it into my full time job.
I graduated from Duke in mid-Might after switching my main from biology to visible media research. For now, I feel I’ll get a job along with being a content material creator. I am pondering of making use of for an internship in advertising and marketing to attempt one thing totally different after which returning to a pastry store after I begin to miss baking.
Content material creation has helped me to pay for extra of my bills. In 2024, I began paying for my faculty tuition, which has allowed me to alleviate that burden from my mother and father, who had been paying for it beforehand.
It is also given me extra skilled freedom. After I get a full-time job, whether or not it is in advertising and marketing or pastry or one thing else, I might be extra versatile in regards to the wage I am incomes as a result of I’ve this different supply of earnings — I can do pastry work with out having to fret in regards to the low earnings from working in a kitchen.
