Meet the feet pic-selling, kitten-loving TikToker of Charlotte

Instead, she creates videos on a variety of topics from selling foot pictures to fostering kittens to renovating her home. “I have ADHD pretty bad and so I couldn’t focus on one topic,” the 27-year-old who goes by DJ tells me.

Why it matters: In addition to being a lesson in multi-tasking, DJ is one of many TikTok users shedding light on an industry that’s often viewed as taboo.

DJ isn’t a typical influencer.

For one, she says she hates being on her phone. She tells me it takes away from experiencing new things, but she recognizes its importance in growing her businesses and brands.

• On TikTok, she estimates she makes a few hundred a month through the creator fund, plus revenue from her e-book on how to sell feet pics.

Yes, feet pics: DJ started selling pictures of her feet for a profit about six years ago, but her business really took off when she began posting tips on TikTok last May to help others launch their own careers or side hustles.

“It was a shunned industry for a long time that was very judged kind of like sex work and porn,” she tells me. “I went into it trying to normalize it … you’re looking at feet, you’re not doing something awful.”

• Pro tips: Don’t expect to get rich overnight, DJ says. Take time to create an account, research and be consistent in posting.

Kittens: In keeping with the spirit of DJ’s page, we’re making a hard transition to kitten content. DJ is an animal lover and fosters kittens with her boyfriend.

Another segment of her viewers come to her page to follow the tiny kittens as they grow and are adopted.

• Pro tip: All you really need is a little extra space for them. “It’s super fun,” she says. “I think everyone should do it.”

Oh, and home reno content, too: DJ’s house is seemingly always undergoing a new project. She recently renovated her kitchen and painted it black (a color choice that was controversial among her TikTok followers).

• Pro tip: Have a savings account to fall back on if you mess something up. Other than that “just do it,” she says.

DJ’s also an artist and posts her work on a separate TikTok account. She says this content is her favorite to create.

Posting such different content on the same platform means that DJ’s followers may fluctuate based on what she’s posting, and she’s OK with that.

“It hinders and it helps,” DJ says of her varied content.

She also keeps content on her page whether it performs well or not. DJ tells me she wants to be realistic with her followers, because not everything is going to go viral.

More Charlotte TikTokers:

• CMS teacher Nancy Bullard — a.k.a. Ms. B — dominates science TikTok.
• 3-year-old Camille Louis has 2.5 million TikTok followers and is known for her adorable friendship with her grandfather.
• North Carolina’s youngest elected official Ken McCool is big on TikTok, too.