Wrapping your head around why wages don’t rise with inflation or the long-term effects of a 401k can be difficult, but Nikita is making them easy to understand using relatable stories!
While Nikita’s working in the creative space now, she used to be on the opposite end of the spectrum pursuing a career in corporate. While studying business in college, Nikita went on a trip to New York to meet with some big banks. At this point she didn’t really know what she wanted to do with her life, but knew she’d be able to make good money in business. On her trip to New York, she got exposed to standup and saw such a stark contrast between comedians and the disingenuous diplomacy in business. Because of this Nikita started moving into standup, then through that she was exposed to more creatives and started working on film. Out of college she went straight to work as a professional screenwriter, and she’s since moved up to big roles like writing for season 1 of The Green Room, which premiered on Ovation TV Network back in March of this year. You can see the rest of Nikita’s works here on her website!
Nikita got into TikTok at the same time as many of us did, during the pandemic. Initially her content was centered around short skits. Everything changed back in February when the war between Russia and Ukraine started. Nikita uploaded a video explaining the situation in the context of a toxic ex who couldn’t let go of his girlfriend, which is something that made sense to her. That video exploded to 2M views overnight, and another WW3 video she made with the same format got up to 7M views, which is the point when she realized that it’s really worthwhile to explain hard topics in this way, saying “I explain things like a 2000’s magazine would.”
Numbers on TikTok get so big so quickly, like with how Nikita blew up, that it’s hard to realize how much reach you really have. Nikita said that having so much influence is exciting, but it doesn’t feel real. On one hand she talks to herself while recording on her phone, but on the other hand she has 200k people following her and millions more seeing what she has to say.
Having great reach is both a blessing and a curse, since trying to consistently deliver creative content can easily lead to burnout. When I asked Nikita how she deals with creator burnout, she said “I don’t think I even have that figured out,” but to be honest, who does? When you’re working a 9-5 job there’s a clear delineation between work and personal life, but with content creation that line can shift, blur, and even disappear. For Nikita, it’s even gotten to the point where she doesn’t even want to see her friend scrolling on TikTok, since it sends her into work mode. When it comes to dealing with burnout, Nikita likes to have periods where she doesn’t focus on creating and instead focuses on enjoying life. Those breaks enable her to come back with a fresh view and keep doing what she does best!
Monetization came into the deal after the WW3 video exploded, when she got a manager who helped her through the process of brand deals. Those brand deals are especially important for Nikita since she opened her TikTok account while in the UK, so she can’t make anything from the creator fund. While money is great, Nikita likes to focus on authenticity in brand deals, only saying things she really believes herself. This is a particularly effective approach since consumers in general have been getting better and better at ignoring things that come off as pure promotion.
In the long-term, Nikita is looking to get into acting, like as a talk show correspondent. That’s an exciting vision, and it’ll be cool to follow Nikita’s journey as she moves from TikTok and writing to acting herself! In the short-term Nikita is trying to get some collaborations going with her fellow creators, which is a great way to keep content feeling fresh. If you’d like to join Nikita on this journey, you can find her on TikTok @nikitadumptruck.
