Every influencer has a thing that launches them into the influencer stratosphere. The thing that gets the likes, comments, and views counter to keep counting until, eventually, they catch the attention of brands. For Léa Martinez, it was a lightsaber transition video.
“My first viral lightsaber transition video had around 40 million views, and it just took off,” she says. “So I started doing more lightsaber videos, not knowing I could reach this huge Star Wars community on a platform like TikTok.”
A fan of Star Wars, Léa was elated that she was able to join the community, eventually solidifying her place in the niche by starting to cosplay as Star Wars characters. While her popularity on the platform allowed her to earn an income in the process, it did come with a downside.
“I started social media on a high hill, with a viral video, and it got me caring more about what everyone else wanted and believing that I need to give them what they want,” she explains. It didn’t help that the content performing the best on the platform, the cosplays, wasn’t all she wanted to explore.
“On TikTok, whenever I try to branch out into posting gaming stuff, it never goes well,” she says. “When I post cosplay, it’ll instantly go viral. So on TikTok, I have the persona where I just stick with cosplays.”
