Brooke Monk got her first-ever cellphone when she was 16. That same year, she hit a million followers on TikTok. For Monk, instant internet success meant a lot of things: new opportunities, potential sponsorships, and the realization that she\u2019d have to tell her parents about her account. \u201cMy parents were stricter, so I was dreading telling them \u2014 my dad, specifically,\u201d she says. But they handled Monk\u2019s rising internet status surprisingly well, only warning her to be careful.<\/p>\n
Nearly four years and one cross-country move to Los Angeles later, Monk\u2019s follower count is at 28.7 million (and her parents are still OK with it). Her rapid success on TikTok is an example of what the app does best: taking someone\u2019s seemingly random video and putting it on the For You pages<\/a> of millions. It helps that Monk, now 20, embodies the TikTok beauty standard: symmetrical features with fluttering eyelashes, brighter-than-bright white teeth, glowing skin, and long, shiny hair (she swears by Aveda\u2019s heat protectant<\/a>). But her look isn\u2019t the only reason for her growth.<\/p>\n Most of her day \u2014 besides her daily workout \u2014 is dedicated to content. \u201cWhile I’m getting ready, I scroll through TikTok and find six or seven ideas,\u201d she says. She strategizes for a bit, often with her boyfriend and fellow content creator Sam Dezz, 20, before filming from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. She posts three TikToks per day on average, then moves onto Snapchat, YouTube, and Instagram. \u201cIt\u2019s a well-oiled machine now,\u201d she says of her day-to-day.<\/p>\n Monk isn\u2019t exaggerating her busyness. When planning our interview, I hoped to do it in person, even though we\u2019re based on opposite coasts. When her team mentioned that she’d be in New York (my coast) a day after we were scheduled to speak, I jumped at the opportunity to meet in real life \u2014 only to find out she\u2019d be in and out of the city in under 24 hours, only flying in for a quick sponsorship trip.<\/p>\n But Monk\u2019s schedule wasn\u2019t always so booked \u2014 and she wasn\u2019t always so meticulous about her content, either. When she first started posting, she\u2019d film videos at midnight in her parents\u2019 basement in Colorado, after she finished her schoolwork. At the time, TikTok wasn\u2019t a job prospect as much as it was a creative outlet and a way to connect with people. \u201cI was homeschooled<\/a>, so I didn’t have anyone to talk to,\u201d she says. The middle child of five girls, Monk hints at wanting something just for herself. \u201cWhen you have a bunch of sisters and you’re home all the time, you kind of fight for your own identity a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n There was no rhyme or reason to her first posts, which ranged from painting videos to POVs about how girls look at someone they\u2019re crushing on. \u201cOh my gosh, it was so cringey. My perception of high school was solely based on Disney movies that I had seen,\u201d she says, defending the latter. But she doesn\u2019t need to. It was her first viral post, gaining 4 million views in the span of 24 hours.<\/p>\n It didn\u2019t take Monk long to learn the formula for virality, and now, her TikToks (most of which have at least 1.5 million views) look as if they were AI-generated for optimal performance. It\u2019s a skill that got her invited to the legendary Hype House<\/a>, though she only stayed for a month and a half. \u201cWe were moving in different directions, and the content didn’t really align,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Scrolling through her page, you\u2019ll see clip after clip of Monk acting out relatable scenarios and POVs, like one she filmed with Dezz<\/a>, pushing him away before pulling him in. (She captioned it, \u201cWhen I\u2019m overstimulated but remember he\u2019s the love of my life.\u201d) Each video is edited to the algorithm gods. \u201cI will film as many takes as needed to make the video perfect. I’m neurotic about it,\u201d she says about the content in question. \u201cIf it\u2019s not perfect, I have to do it again and again. Sometimes I feel like I’m just a little machine that’s pumping out content for people.\u201d Daily, it takes her about an hour and a half for her to film these three videos, which are usually only 15 to 30 seconds long. That\u2019s about 90 seconds of content, compared to the 5,400 seconds she spends shooting.<\/p>\n Molly Goddard top, Bode pants, On right wrist: Vivienne Westwood bracelet, talent\u2019s own bracelet, On left wrist: David Yurman cuff<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n Vivienne Westwood necklace, talent\u2019s own earrings<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n Each facial expression is done just right; every trending sound is picked strategically; her videos meld together like one amalgamation of what your parents think TikTok looks like: pretty people acting out scenarios and trying out new filters. In June, she tried out the viral \u201cMy Red Flags\u201d filter<\/a>, laughing when it accused her of \u201ccatfishing people.\u201d But that\u2019s just Monk\u2019s main handle \u2014 her spam TikTok, @notbrookemonk (a popular username format for these types of accounts), is a completely different story. Like other great TikTok spam accounts, Monk\u2019s is full of unfiltered videos, posted at random, sometimes up to seven times per day. Unlike most, hers has 10 million followers.<\/p>\n When asked about that \u2014 if having so many followers defeats the purpose of having a spam account in the first place \u2014 Monk says she doesn\u2019t see it that way (perhaps because 10 million followers is approximately a third of what her main account boasts). \u201cMy main performs really well with me being more strategic about it,\u201d she points out. \u201cSo, my spam is just Brooke. I don\u2019t put pressure on it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cJust Brooke\u201d looks like a lot of different things: Gone are the perfectly-angled videos with ring-light lighting. \u201cI don’t even re-watch the videos half the time. I just record and click post,\u201d she says. The videos range from sharing her Notes app grocery lists<\/a> to defending how often she cleans her bedroom mirrors<\/a> to nitpicky commenters. Unlike the rest of Monk\u2019s social media, this not-so-riveting content isn\u2019t designed for maximum engagement, yet it still has her followers enthralled.<\/p>\n \u201cThe people who watch my content regularly genuinely are online friends of mine,\u201d she says, without any trace of artifice. Her spam account simply allows her to engage with them more fully. It also gives her a chance to answer their most-asked questions, which often revolve around her beauty routine: Tarte Double Take eyeliner, Urban Decay lip liner in shade \u201cManic,\u201d and Lottie London freckle tint. Unlike the rest of TikTok, Monk is not the biggest fan of the Dyson Airwrap, which she bought for herself and thinks is \u201ca little bit overrated.\u201d In May, after requests upon requests for a full hair care tutorial, Monk posted a video<\/a>, explaining her delay. \u201cI would give you guys a staple hair routine. The thing is, I change it all the time. I\u2019m never consistent. I switch shampoos and conditioners based on what\u2019s available.\u201d She promised to share more when she\u2019s figured it out for herself, but she tells me that she\u2019s pretty sure it looks so good because she left it alone for so long, \u201ctoo lazy\u201d to get it cut or use hot tools.<\/p>\n Talent\u2019s own top and jewelry, SIMKHAI skirt<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n Likability is an annoying word (and one that\u2019s almost exclusively used to rate women), but it\u2019s the only way to sum up Monk\u2019s mass appeal. She comes across as someone you could befriend at a coffee shop during freshman orientation \u2014 the rare person who will actually follow through with your tentative lunch plans that otherwise wouldn\u2019t have made it out of the group chat.<\/p>\n Self-admittedly, she\u2019s a people pleaser through and through. \u201cI hate, hate people disliking me, which I know is a terrible mindset when you\u2019re on the internet,\u201d says Monk, who joined our Zoom call precisely one minute early to avoid any chance of lateness. \u201cWhen you\u2019re a content creator, it\u2019s like you are the product. And if you\u2019re unhappy with it, your brain turns, \u2018This product sucks, I hate it,\u2019 into \u2018You suck. I hate you.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Monk knows that\u2019s not the healthiest mindset \u2014 but she also knows she isn\u2019t alone in feeling this way: \u201cA lot of content creators know what I mean when I say that sometimes you feel a little disconnected from yourself. When you are the product, you feel like you have to keep up with the idea of you versus the real you, a human being that’s changing, growing, and getting older.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s an uncomfortable feeling that her spam account helps assuage. Her boyfriend does his part, too. When talking about Dezz, Monk lights up, her eyes becoming even more sparkly than usual. A content creator since high school, he encourages her to take breaks from her phone, especially when things start to get overwhelming. \u201cIt’s so nice to be around someone who understands my job because he does the same thing, but he\u2019ll also tell me when I need to take a break,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n A tale as old as Instagram, Monk and Dezz met over DM after she sent him \u201chello sir :)\u201d on a whim in 2020. \u201cI thought, \u2018Oh my gosh, he’s really nice looking,\u2019\u201d she says. Dezz is her first boyfriend, first kiss, first love \u2014 and the beginning of their relationship was punctuated by that same naivet\u00e9 that characterizes most firsts. \u201cI’d never kissed anybody before. I didn’t know I was a terrible kisser,\u201d she says. \u201cThat’s the kind of thing I can admit now, but at the time, I’d be horrified.\u201d<\/p>\n She\u2019s grown up a bit since then, both in real life and online, even if her baby face leaves people confused. \u201cPeople still think I’m 16. I’m like, \u2018I’m 20 now. It\u2019s been three and a half years,\u2019” she says. Instead of faulting the hyper-critical culture of the internet, she blames the TikTok algorithm \u2014 the way you can see content filmed years apart in the span of two minutes \u2014 for that misconception.<\/p>\n Talent\u2019s own dress and earrings, Vivienne Westwood necklace and bracelet<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n There are several Reddit forums dedicated to Monk \u2014 specifically, devoted to commenting on and sexualizing her body. Last year, she posted a YouTube video<\/a> where she read through those pages for the first time. \u201cI guess that\u2019s just what you ask for when you get on the internet, right?\u201d she questioned in the video, after reading a particularly NSFW post about herself.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/imgix.bustle.com\/uploads\/image\/2023\/5\/15\/16ebe9c1-4e6c-4cc2-9171-fee691dcca1c-jj-ed-brooke-monk-004.jpg?w=1320&h=1980&fit=crop&crop=faces&auto=format%2Ccompress)
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