Welcome to Creators on the Rise, where we find and profile breakout creators who are in the midst of extraordinary growth. You can check out previous installments here.
Cassidy Montalvo grew up watching Jenna Marbles and wanting to go to cosmetology school or get into fashion–maybe with a bit of YouTube on the side.
Instead, with her parents in her ear, she went to college to become a paralegal, and then fell into a grueling (but beloved) job managing the front desk of a hotel. Her job played into her “workaholic tendencies,” she says, and kept her on the clock sometimes 12 or 15 hours at a time. She’d also gotten married and had a young daughter, so she was plenty busy outside of work too. Her early dreams of making content grew distant.
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Then the pandemic hit.
Montalvo’s hotel was closed, and she was furloughed. Stuck at home, she decided to give content a shot–but not on Instagram, where people who knew her IRL might recognize her. She decided to try TikTok instead, because she figured, with most of her friends being 30+ like she was, none of them would be on that kids’ dancing app.
Turns out there are a lot of people Montalvo’s age on TikTok–and they, along with people in every other age group, were quick to embrace her videos. She went viral with one hairstyling tutorial, and then another, and another, and before long, she was seeing hundreds of thousands to millions of views on every single video she posted.
When her hotel job called her back, she found herself with a tough decision to make. Her TikTok presence had grown big enough to bring in brand deals, and she was running herself ragged trying to make videos in the middle of the night after her hotel shifts were over and her daughter was asleep.
She took a leap, quit her job to go full-time on content, and now has 2.5 million followers on TikTok (plus another 800K on Instagram, where she’s resigned to the fact that her friends and family get to see her in influencer action).
Check out our chat with her below.
@justclassicallycassidyEasy way to keep your headband from moving around♬ original sound – Cassidy Michelle
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Tubefilter: For people who aren’t familiar with you, give me a little bit of background about where you’re from and how you ended up here.
Cassidy Montalvo: Absolutely. Yes, kind of an interesting grow-up, actually. I was born and raised in Northern Virginia. I have five sisters, big family, very small house because Northern Virginia. We were all homeschooled, my mom homeschooled all of us. That was always an interesting experience. Ended up dual enrolling for college. I did community college at the same time I did high school so that I could get my gen eds out of the way and then go to college. Then I actually got my degree in paralegal studies to be a paralegal and did not use it at all. I joke, it’s like the most expensive piece of paper I own. [laughs]
I ended up working in hotels. I don’t know how deep you want me to get. I was married, going through a divorce, and then I met my now husband and sold everything I owned, packed up everything, moved to San Diego, and started my career in hotels. That’s kind of where I was for a while.
Tubefilter: What drew you to hotels?
Cassidy Montalvo: It was literally, at the time, just a job. I wanted to move to San Diego and be with my boyfriend. He was renting a room out with one of the directors for a big resort in San Diego called the Hotel Del. He was like, “Oh, my girlfriend’s trying to move out here but she needs a job. She put my name with HR.” I was like, “I’ll take anything.” I ended up loving it. Then growing my career. I was eventually front desk manager for the Hotel Del, which is a big resort. Loved it so much.
Then pandemic hit. The hotel had to shut down, got furloughed. In hotel life, the minimum shift you work is 10 hours. It’s expected you’re there for 10 hours. Then normally, if you’re a manager, you’re actually there 12, 15 hours. You’re always working holidays, weekends. I was used to a very rigorous work schedule. Going from working consistently, feeding into my workaholic tendencies, to absolutely nothing, being locked inside, was really hard. I started creating content just to stay busy, have something to do, and to challenge myself. I did it on TikTok because I didn’t want people who knew me to see it. I was like, “Oh, none of my friends are on TikTok. They’re not on TikTok. It’s too young for them. I can just play on there and no one will ever know.” Then it grew.
Tubefilter: Wild. Had you ever wanted to create content like before that and just hadn’t had time? Because obviously, you had a hell of a job.
Cassidy Montalvo: Yes, I played with the idea in high school. When influencers first started popping off and blogs started happening–I always wanted to be in cosmetology school or do fashion school, but my parents always said no, they wouldn’t support that. They wanted me to do business or paralegal or doctor, the typical what parents want. I was like, I could use it as an outlet. I viewed it like, “Oh, I could put outfits on YouTube,” because this is when the boom of YouTubers happened. I just, at the time, couldn’t afford the camera, the editing equipment, all of it was so new. No one had laptops at that time, except for YouTubers.
Tubefilter: How old are you?
Cassidy Montalvo: 31.
Tubefilter: Okay. I’m 30. I was going to say, we’ve got to be the same age.
Cassidy Montalvo: Yes. Yes. You remember when like Jenna Marbles, like I was part of that. That was when I was like, “The YouTubers are booming.” I was like, “I could do this, I could do this.” Then I was like, “I can’t afford a laptop.”
Tubefilter: I have my reservations about TikTok here and there, but I do feel like the rise of short-form content has made content creation so much more accessible for so many people.
Cassidy Montalvo: Absolutely, which I think is so cool. I still love YouTube. I’m still a classic, I love watching YouTubers. I think the millennial, you always will love YouTube. Short-form content was definitely really easy for me to break into, which was really nice. It kind of re-brought that out of me because I left that in the past and had gone into my college degree, gone into life, had a baby, got into hotels. I thought hotels were my career forever. I wanted to be a resort general manager. Then I broke into TikTok and I was like, “Oh, I guess we’re back here.”
Tubefilter: So you were making content while you were furloughed, and I’m assuming originally you expected to eventually go back to your job in hotels. Was there a point where you were like, “Okay, content is going to be my full-time thing now”?
Cassidy Montalvo: Yes, I ended up getting called back to work. My channel was just starting to take off. My videos were starting to continually go viral, and then people were starting to follow my personal Instagram. I was like, “Oh, shoot, I got to run that up a little bit.” Then I got called back to work, but they only called back like 25% of employees because we could only open the hotel like 25%. There was a lot expected from us, and the hours were really rigorous. I wasn’t ready to give up my hotel job. I definitely wasn’t making enough money to give up my hotel job.
We lived in San Diego; my husband’s enlisted military. It’s a very expensive area. I was like, Okay, I’m going to go back to hotels, and what I’m going to do is try and do both. For a very long time, I guess it’s not a very long time, but for the first year, I would basically go to work, and I would create content after work, like after 10 p.m. And if you look at my very original videos, the quality’s really bad because the lighting was bad because I was like doing them in the middle of the night. Then I would edit them on my lunch break or any breaks I had. I would respond to DMs and comments between guests.
Then I would just keep that cycle going as long as I could, until it did get to the point where I was getting brand deals. Those brand deals were starting to– I couldn’t do both anymore. It was one or the other. With my husband being military, we were looking at being moved for being PCSed. It was a really hard decision, though. It wasn’t a leap. I wasn’t like, “Oh, shoot, I just want to quit my job so bad.” It was a really hard decision. I was really scared to make it, because I’m very aware that the internet is very fleeting. I was like, “What if everyone hates me tomorrow?” Ultimately, it was the right decision.
Tubefilter: Totally. It’s intimidating. You said you were having videos regularly go viral. Was there any kind of theme as to what regularly went viral?
Cassidy Montalvo: Originally, it was hair tutorials. I basically just did hair tutorials, and that was how I stayed busy. I used to be the friend that would do all my friends’ hair for prom or do their makeup. I was just doing hair tutorials and those were doing really well and I loved to do makeup stuff. The one that really went viral was a fake French braid. I can’t French braid to save my life. It’s the one thing with hair I can’t do. I figured out a way to fake it. That went really viral.
After that, then people started asking me about makeup. They’re like, “Oh, can you do an eyeshadow tutorial? How do you do your eyeshadow?” I started doing that, and then people started asking for links to my outfits, because I do have a little bit more of a unique boho style, I would say. People started asking for links to my outfits or, and then they’d be like, “Oh, I’m going to this concert on Friday. Can you put an outfit together for me?” I went into that.
Then my daughter showed up in a video behind me and they were like, “Oh, you have a family, you’re a mom! Tell us about that.” I started going to lifestyle, and then I randomly would share a recipe I did. Then people wanted to see that. It morphed from hair tutorials to lifestyle, but I just followed the requests as they came until I turned it into what it is now.
Tubefilter: How are things for you now in terms of content production?
Cassidy Montalvo: Now, it really is lifestyle. I feel like I have all these friends that hang out with me, which is amazing. Instagram is very much just like everyday life. Follow me through the day. Let’s get up and have coffee. Let’s drop my daughter off at school. Let’s get dressed for the day. I’m going to do a DIY, let’s work on it. It’s really just going through my day with my group. Then TikTok, it has really morphed into fashion. I get a lot right now that seems to be. With TikTok, I just follow what the algorithm wants. Right now, people just seem to want outfits. I’ve just been doing a lot of outfits recently. That seems to be the trend at the moment. Again, tomorrow, they could be like, “Oh, we want to see recipes,” and I’ll start cooking on TikTok.
A lot of it, I would say lifestyle. It really is a little bit of everything. I know they always say you should niche down, but for me, that just doesn’t feel natural. For me, social media has always been fun. I never want it to feel like it’s a job. I want it to be fun. I’m just going to follow my passions and hang on tight and hope for the best. Whenever I start doing things just because I’m trying to please other people, I’m not in the right field anymore.
Tubefilter: Gotcha. “Niche down” doesn’t always work for everybody. I did want to mention, your Instagram’s doing really well now.
Cassidy Montalvo: Yes. It is.
Tubefilter: Now your real-life people know who you are.
Cassidy Montalvo: Yes. [laughs] They figured it out pretty quickly, so I couldn’t hide for too long.
Tubefilter: You’re maintaining Instagram, TikTok–what about YouTube?
Cassidy Montalvo: YouTube is next. I’m about to start finally doing YouTube. That’s the last step.
Tubefilter: What’s your plan for YouTube?
Cassidy Montalvo: I was going to start doing more vlog-style on YouTube just because I feel people have been asking for actual day-in-the-life content, but on TikTok, it’s so fast-paced that I feel I would want to do more YouTube-style, where it’s– I know they have the 10-minute feature on TikTok, but I don’t know about you, I don’t watch 10-minute TikToks. It just…I don’t think it’s going to take off. I think people are going to go to YouTube for it.
Tubefilter: Yes. You’re looking at doing longer-form stuff on YouTube?
Cassidy Montalvo: Yes.
Tubefilter: Interesting. Is it intimidating at all, the prospect of switching from short-form to long-form?
Cassidy Montalvo: A little bit. Again, I’m going to play with it, and as long as it feels natural, you’ll find me on YouTube, and the second it starts to feel like it’s just not me, I’ll just stick to my short form Tiktoks.
Tubefilter: Got you. Yes. I feel like creators have a little bit of an easier time going from long- to short-form than short-form to long-form, but I–
Cassidy Montalvo: Yes, it’s definitely going to be different skills. I mean, thankfully, I can talk all day long, so. I mean, it’ll probably give me more room. I feel like I always jibber-jabber around the TikToks, so I was like, “Well, I’ll just start doing that on YouTube, and then the people who want it can go there.”
Tubefilter: What does the average day look like for you in terms of managing multi-platform content creation?
Cassidy Montalvo: Every day’s a little different. Right now, my husband’s deployed, so I am the only parent. We have three dogs and a four-year-old. Life’s a little crazy. I tend to get up at 5 a.m., and that’s when I do a lot of my editing and a lot of DMs and comments. I try to knock that out. My daughter gets up at 6:30 and we do breakfast, get ready for school. I take her to school, I come home. Then I usually do my get ready with me video for the day because I do one. Intend to do one a day.
I’ll try to do, my rule is I always want to give something useful. I only give at least one piece of useful information a day to my audience, whether that’s a DIY or a makeup hack or a hair hack or a decorating idea or whatever it is. I will usually film that after my get ready with me. Whatever that piece of information for that day will be that I’m sharing that’s going to help someone. Then I will usually do emails or meetings and then I will go on and engage with my audience. Then I have to get my daughter from school. Then I usually film what I’m making for dinner on Instagram and start the day over.
Tubefilter: Yes I mean, you’re essentially operating as a single parent right now, so I imagine it’s it’s very difficult.
Cassidy Montalvo: Yes. It gives me a lot of respect for single parents. I always say I’m a solo parent because I never want to claim single mom just because they have no end in sight, and thankfully, I do. Yes, it’s a little challenging.
Tubefilter: Do you live on base?
Cassidy Montalvo: No. We live off base.
Tubefilter: How much longer is your husband deployed?
Cassidy Montalvo: He has been gone for seven months now, and he should be home hopefully next month. He was supposed to come home last month, but because of the war happening, he got extended, because he’s over there.
Tubefilter: That must be an immense amount of stress.
Cassidy Montalvo: It’s not been the most fun time I’ve had for sure. He’s doing his job. He’s okay.
Tubefilter: And you have your job.
Cassidy Montalvo: Yes, I’ve definitely been able to stay busy, which I’m really thankful for.
Tubefilter: Are you pretty settled in this being your career for the foreseeable future?
Cassidy Montalvo: As long as my audience will have me, I’ll be there. I love it. It was really good for me during the pandemic because I don’t handle being isolated well, so for me, it gave me a connection to the human race and having girlfriends, even though I know they’re strangers on the internet. It just felt like I was having conversations in my DMs and I was having conversations. I’ve actually made some amazing friends through social media, which is crazy. One of my best friends here in the area was a follower who came up to me at a fair, and yes, I was like, “You know what? We click, here’s my phone number,” which I do that. I should probably stop doing that. I do that a lot. I’ve made some really good friends from girls who follow me because, and if they follow me on some level, we connect in life.
I’ve just been able to find my people, which has been such a blessing. I think having these people to grow with and life change with and finding people in each stage of life who are on the same stage as me has been really nice, especially as a military spouse. Moving from San Diego to Virginia Beach where I knew no one, really leaned on my audience, and again, I found some really great friends through followers who were just in the same stage as me. They took a chance and reached out and were like, “Hey, I’ve been following you. I know you just moved to Virginia Beach. If you want to get coffee, I have a four-year-old too.” It’s just been really nice to have that.
Tubefilter: That kind of community, I think, is really invaluable.
Cassidy Montalvo: Yes, absolutely. I think I’m really blessed in the audience I have. I have grown my platform without doing any giveaways, without doing any gimmicks or anything like that. Whoever follows me, I want them to have organically found me and I want them to be there because they value my content and they like who I am as a person. I don’t want them following me because I offered them free Louis Vuitton bag or whatever it is they do now to get followers. I think by doing it that way, I’ve really gotten such a supportive, amazing audience who do care for me on some level and then I care for them on some level. That’s just made such a strong bond, which has also helped really garner good relationships through it.
Tubefilter: Absolutely. Any cool projects or cool opportunities you’ve gotten?
Cassidy Montalvo: Yes. Oh my gosh. So many dreams have just come true through this. I got to design a Beachwaver. With Beachwaver, which is my favorite curling iron. I actually got to do two jewelry collections with Victoria Emerson. I wear a ton of jewelry. I’m very known for accessories. In doing that, I’m actually working on launching my own jewelry brand. That’s a project happening in the background, which I’m really excited about. I got to be on the red carpet for the Country Music Awards last year, which was just wild to me and just meet some people I’ve really respected and loved through different events, and I’ve gotten to go to fashion week, which was always a dream of mine. Definitely some really, really amazing opportunities that I never thought I would get to do.
Tubefilter: Aside from your husband coming home, any plans or goals that you’re looking forward to?
Cassidy Montalvo: Yes. Oh, my gosh, always. I always have a list of things I want to accomplish. Now, how many they get done, I don’t know. [laughs] Aside for my husband to come home, right now, I’m about to start doing a series, and this will probably more so be on YouTube. I know we all, especially as millennials, miss that old-school feeling of like the 90s holidays. The old-school Christmas with making cookies and the feeling of all that. I really want to bring that for my daughter. I’m going to try and do a series on how I’m trying to bring back that 90s, early 2000s feel of the holidays for my daughter over the next couple months.
Tubefilter: Very cool. To close out, I would love to hear if you have any advice for people who are looking at what you’ve been able to do and wondering how they can do that.
Cassidy Montalvo: Well, my sister’s currently trying to break in the scene. I was just having this conversation with her. It can be so discouraging. The algorithm is hard. There are, obviously, mean people on the internet, which can really discourage you, and just self-doubt can definitely creep in when you are putting so much work into your content but the views aren’t there. It’s hard to not get in your head and be like, “Oh, they just hate my content, or I’m not talented like I thought,” etcetera.
I know it sounds so cliché, but definitely, continue to create content. Be consistent, especially if it’s something you love. If you have a story to tell, you have a talent to share. If you can give something useful to another person, that person’s going to find you. You just have to keep showing up and showing your face and being vulnerable, and being a little cringy. I always tell people, I’m like, “You just got to get past the fact that you’re going to be a little cringey.”
When I first started posting on Instagram, I had a lot of people who were really weird around me and they were like, “Oh, you’re trying to be an influencer.” I get it. I get it! I was a little cringey at first. You’re talking to your phone, you have all these people listening to you and you have 100 followers, you feel a little weird, but you just got to keep doing that. I really think if you have something to share that’s going to relate to others, which I think most of us do, there’s so much room on the internet, and I know everyone’s always like, “It’s oversaturated.”
I personally believe opposite, I think, because just because I have 2 million followers doesn’t mean those 2 million followers aren’t also going to listen to you. There’s so much out there and the space is so big. I would just say be as consistent as raw and as helpful as you can be. Share one piece of information a day that’s going to help someone. Try not to do giveaways. Try not to do gimmicks. Try to go into it because you’re passionate about it. Don’t go into it because you want it to be a career. I feel like, let the career find you, and your audience is going to feel that from you.
