TikToker Mikayla Nogueira under fire for claiming it’s hard to be an influencer

TikTok beauty star Mikayla Nogueira, who has over 13 million followers on the platform, is facing criticism for comments she made in a 2021 video, where she explained the difficulties of her influencer career.

Although the original video is over a year old and now deleted, it went viral in September 2022 after spreading on Twitter and Reddit, before making the rounds on TikTok again.

In the video, Nogueira responds to a comment suggesting she tries a “9-5” job to see how hard it is.

“Every single day I get up at 6am,” Nogueira said. “I spend about 5-6 hours filming video content that ranges from three to four videos, and then I spend a few hours editing that video content. Then I have to work on my other social media profiles.”

Mikayla Nogueira: “Try being an influencer”

She finished the video by saying “try being an influencer for a day,” implying that it is difficult and that the hardship is not recognized by non-influencers.

The sound “I just finished working, it’s 5:19. Try being an influencer for a day, just try it,” has been used by countless TikTokers to compare it to their own work day.

TikToker ‘styledbyam’ posted her response, which has accrued over 2 million views, explaining that after a full day of university, they now have to “serve food and drinks for 8 hours.”

Mikayla has so far avoided responding to the backlash, but her comment section on her latest videos are now full of people discussing the issue, either positive or negative.

Her last video, published on September 23, has over 11 million views, which is about three times more than her regular uploads.

In the comments, there is fierce debate about her now infamous TikTok video. “People are really cruel. That’s all I’m going to say. Love you, Mikayla,” one fan wrote.

Others joked, “Bestie take a day off you’ve been working so hard.” Another commented, “God this looks so much harder than being threatened almost every day in retail and customer service.”

Many are also anticipating a response video from Mikayla, but as of the time of writing, there is no public response.