Last week, TikTok user Reesa Teesa accomplished something that the popular social media app has likely never seen by any user, let alone a Black woman: She got more than two and a half million followers to her page in a week thanks to her ultra-viral “Who TF Did I Marry?” series.
White folks are expressing their naked shock at Teesa’s success, wondering aloud the “secret sauce” that got her there – even though Black folks already know the answer.
Business coach Milana Sarenac talked about how Teesa nailed it while “doing so many things wrong,” but she didn’t reveal the real reason behind her series heading toward 200 million views.
Pearlmania, another tiktoker, went on a mini rant to his 2.4 million followers about how Hollywood needs to lock down Teesa to develop programming instead of spending money on trash content like the “Madame Web” flick. But he, too, couldn’t tell his users why she knocked it out of every park.
The Goddess of Numerology, however, figured it out: She candidly explained to her 13.4 million followers that Teesa gained so many followers because the masses are “tired of curated content” and “crave authenticity.”
That, friends, is the key word: Authenticity.
Intuition would suggest that Teesa’s (née Teresa McCoy) tale of her Black marriage gone awry because of a lying, cheating, ain’t-shit husband drawn out over 50 parts would only appeal to other Black people. But that two-plus-million followers that Teesa’s TikTok page gained this week alone assuredly isn’t just us.
The Secret Sauce is...
The numerology lady is correct in that Teesa’s tale is the talk of all social media – and not just Black Twitter/X — because we’re in need of something fresh, innovative and real from our viral content. Leave it to Black folks to bring us there with our unabashed authenticity.
The irony of Teesa’s success, of course, is that the rest of the world tends to shun our brand of realness: Author Randi B. eloquently explained that Black authenticity is a cultural value that often gets us in trouble in white spaces that tend to value politeness – no matter how fake it is.
In the social media realm, however, everyone is here for that Black realness: Teesa is just the latest in a series of Black creators who shook their respective mediums with trend-bucking content that caught fire: Keith Lee, a former MMA fighter based in Las Vegas, is currently the biggest food critic on TikTok. With nearly 16 million followers, the popularity of his reviews have resulted in the “Keith Lee Effect,” in which his endorsements singlehandedly resurrect failing businesses.
Overall, Lee has garnered 700 million views. Collectively, Sharpe, Lee and Reesa Teesa have collected a billion views: Shannon Sharpe’s “Club Shay Shay” podcast, which started back in 2021, hit a record-setting stride the first week of this year with his Katt Williams episode becoming one of YouTube’s most watched interviews ever, captivating the world for weeks on its way to 60 million views.
A Billion Views and Breaking the Rules:
The only thing Sharpe, Lee and Teesa have in common outside of being Black is that they’ve all made a handsome amount of money (or are in the process of making, in Teesa’s case) doing what they say you’re not supposed to do.
You see, many content creators make money by making content explaining how to make money on social media — often by way of asking you to pay for a “class.” Articles galore provide rundowns on how to monetize the various social media platforms. But virtually none of these articles or “teachers” would’ve suggested the routes that Lee, Sharpe or Teesa have taken to reach more than a billion collective views.
Lee is a stripped-down family dude who’s big into his Christian faith. He speaks in a monotone cadence and his videos are generally devoid of graphics, music or edits. Lee doesn’t review fancy, high-dollar restaurants with women who bring out steaks with sparklers that most of his viewers can’t afford — he instead focuses on Black owned and operated mom-and-pop restaurants.
He also doesn’t go the usual influencer route to get as much money and free goodies as he can, instead coming out of his own pockets to pay for his meals, often for far more than the food he purchases costs. But even with an utter lack of pretentiousness, Lee’s unfavorable reviews of Atlanta restaurants shook up the internet for weeks and netted him thousands of new followers.
Sharpe has gotten flack from “real journalists” over his interview style, which he’ll be the first to admit is not a technique he learned in J School but is a simple one-on-one conversation among friends. The Williams interview exploded precisely because he didn’t do what “regular” journalists would: Rein him in and control the interview instead of letting him cook for a full half hour.
Teesa didn’t make the under-one-minute, easily digestible videos that conventional TikTok wisdom dictates go viral quickly – her videos are nearly 10 minutes each, and her story of ex-husband “Legion” stretches more than eight hours and requires note taking.
Channels with thousands or millions of followers usually post content with high production values, but Teesa’s videos run the gamut from a brightly lit room to her car seat in the dark. In some videos, she’s glammed up; in others, she’s makeup-free and in a bonnet. Teesa is not preternaturally attractive and there’s no music or fancy editing – just a Black woman telling a relatable story about how her husband deceived her…and changing the game in the process.
On an internet in which everyone postures in the interest of going viral or attempting to make a career as an “influencer,” these three creators have garnered so many views demonstrating the staying power of Black authenticity. There’s no posturing, bullshitting, or body modification —just
Just as soon as non-Black folks will steal from us without giving credit, they will also pull up a chair to see us shed any manner of façade or code-switching and go native, which is precisely why the biggest news story of last week was Fulton County Ga. District Attorney Fani Willis’ very fiery – and very Black — testimony in defense of her reputation.
Black folks changing the social media game should come as no surprise considering we change just about every game we touch – peep Simone Biles, Serena Williams, Tiger Woods and other Black athletes who came in and became the very best at sports at which we were never “supposed” to be good.
So, as Black content creators rewrite the playbook for social media exposure and profitability in front of your eyes, take heed: Being Black and real in America is more than enough to get souls paying attention…and to make you a bag in the process.