Cassidy Montalvo is a Virginia-based content creator who has built an online business from her living room, one hair tutorial, one honest moment, and one community connection at a time. However, when Cassidy first downloaded TikTok, algorithms and sponsorships were not her priorities. She was simply looking for connection. 

At the time, Cassidy was a manager at the historic Hotel del Coronado in San Diego, overseeing operations for one of Hilton’s landmark resorts. Then COVID-19 shut everything down, including the hotel, for the first time in a century. Stuck indoors and craving human interaction, she opened the app that would change her career.

“I loved how raw and fun TikTok was,” she says. “No one knew me on there, so I thought, if I embarrass myself, fine. I’ll just post for fun.”

Within months, she became one of those early “COVID TikTokers” whose casual videos unexpectedly reached millions. What began as a creative outlet soon became a full-fledged business.

Finding Her Voice in Front of the Camera

Cassidy’s first viral moment wasn’t a planned production. It was a “fake French braid” hack she invented out of frustration. “I’ve never been able to French braid,” she laughs. “So I figured out a hack to fake it, and it looks exactly like one. Anyone can do it. That’s what blew up first.”

Her early videos focused on hair tutorials – simple, achievable, and filmed in her home – before expanding to include accessories, outfits, and glimpses of her family life. “It just grew really organically,” she says. “People would ask about my dogs in the background or my daughter, and before I knew it, I was sharing my life.”

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That organic development shaped her approach to content. “I didn’t change my content to what people were asking for; it just grew with me,” she explains. “I used to say I was like a bobblehead that did hair. I didn’t even talk. It was like old-school YouTube tutorials.”

Taking the Leap from Hospitality to Full-Time Creator

About six months into creating, Cassidy started receiving offers from brands. Around the same time, her hotel called her back to work. “I wasn’t dreading going back,” she says, “but I was sad. I thought, maybe this is something I could actually make [into] a job.”

For months, she juggled both. “I was going to work at 7 a.m., coming home to film after my daughter went to bed, editing at night, then answering comments on my lunch break. I had a whole app that would schedule posts for me while I was at work.”

Eventually, burnout forced a decision. “I had to pick one and take the leap,” she says.

That leap wasn’t entirely risk-free. “We definitely lived off credit cards for a while,” she admits. “But my husband’s military job gave us stability, benefits, and housing allowance. It gave me the ground to take the risk. If it didn’t work, I’d just go back to work and pay it off.”

It worked.

Building a Brand on Realness

Part of Cassidy’s appeal lies in her transparency. “I talk too much,” she says, laughing. “I overshare. I say the wrong thing all the time because I’m human. But I’ll never apologize for being me or pretend I’m perfect.”

That self-acceptance is strategic. “I think burnout really comes from people who create personas online,” she explains. “It would be so exhausting to pretend to be someone all the time. Either this is me or it’s not.”

Her audience, now spanning TikTok and Instagram, grew around that candid voice. “When I was pregnant and my husband was deployed, I was in my worst state. To try to maintain a fake online persona would’ve been impossible,” she says. “Instead, people came on the ugly with me, and it resonated.”

Many of her followers are military spouses and mothers who find comfort in her openness. “I get so many messages saying, ‘Thank you, I don’t feel alone,’ and I’m like, it makes me feel not alone, too,” she says. “It’s a community thing.”

The Creative Routine Behind Relatable Fashion

Cassidy’s day begins with coffee and comments. “I have a note on my phone where I write everything down: teachers asking for comfortable outfits, brides doing their own hair, moms looking for easy looks,” she reveals.

The creator doesn’t stick to one niche. “That’s what keeps me from burning out,” she says. “Every day’s different.”

Her content spans casual styling, hair tutorials, and lifestyle snapshots. While she cross-posts most videos between TikTok and Instagram, she treats them differently. “TikTok is more talk-through tutorials,” she explains. “Instagram is more about Stories. It’s my FaceTime all day.”

What drives her most, though, is usefulness. “I never want to go to bed unless I did something that helped someone that day,” she says. “That could be a sale I found, a recipe, or a piece of encouragement. That’s how I clock out for the day.”

Selective Partnerships and Organic Growth

As Cassidy’s following grew, so did her collaboration offers, but she chose quality over quantity. “I was really big on growing my audience organically and their trust organically,” she says. “So I was very limited on what brand deals I took.”

Even today, Cassidy prefers to test products before promoting them. “I always want to buy something with my own money first,” she explains. “I want to know shipping times and customer service, because I know influencers often get things faster. I don’t want someone to DM me saying, ‘I’ve been waiting three months for this.’”

If she loves the product, she’ll reach out to the brand herself. “I’ll share it organically, and if it does well, I’ll ask for a discount code,” she says. “If not, I’ll just say, ‘It wasn’t for me, here’s why.’”

Cassidy’s approach has earned trust and strong engagement. “Before I go into a brand deal, I’ll show my receipt,” she says. “I’ll say, ‘I bought this six months ago, and now I get to work with them.’”

Monetization and the Business of Being a Creator

Cassidy’s income now blends multiple sources. “Creator funds are a big one, not a lot, but something,” she says. “Then commissions from LTK and Amazon links, which definitely add up. Brand deals are the biggest.”

She’s cautious with platform-based selling tools like TikTok Shop. “I need to use it more, but I’ve found people turn off when you use it,” she says. “I’d rather people get the information, then go to my links if they want.”

The financial side may be steady now, but she’s candid about the learning curve. “It’s a lot more work behind the scenes than people realize,” she notes. “People think content creation isn’t a real job, but it really does support my family.”

Her philosophy blends honesty and discipline: “I don’t believe if you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life,” she says. “There’s always work involved, and if it’s worth having, you’re going to put work into it.”

Confidence, Criticism, and Mental Health

Not every moment has been easy for Cassidy. “A year in, I really started to crumble mentally,” she admits. “You have so many opinions coming at you. I had to rebuild my confidence from scratch, and do it in front of everyone.”

She calls it her biggest personal growth moment. “My confidence now is much stronger than when I started,” she says. “But it was a hard journey. You could drink water out of a straw wrong, and someone would have an opinion.”

Despite the scrutiny, she refuses to withdraw from her audience. “I’ll forever stay in my comments and DMs,” she says. “That’s what makes it a community. But it also means filtering a lot of noise.”

Sewing, Style, and What Comes Next

After years of styling others, Cassidy recently rediscovered her roots in sewing, inspired by her late grandmother, a professional seamstress. “She left me her sewing machines,” Cassidy says. “I hadn’t touched one in 15 years, but now I’m dabbling again, recreating things I love.”

Her latest experiment: a vintage-inspired suede coat inspired by a Gucci archive piece. “I look at it and think, if you break it down, it’s not that hard,” she says. “That’s been a fun new direction.”

She’s also exploring new business ventures, including a jewelry line that’s on pause while she perfects the manufacturing process. “It’s really hard to make quality jewelry at a reasonable price,” she says. “But I’ve learned a lot about materials and testing for real life, like showering, washing dishes, doing mom things.”

Looking ahead, she’s keeping her ambitions grounded. “I love the freedom to see a problem, recreate it, or make something better,” she says. “And I love that there’s room for everyone in this space.”

Lastly, Cassidy reflects on the lessons her journey taught her, from experimenting with a hairstyle to managing an audience of hundreds of thousands. “You never know what piece of content will catch on,” she says. “My first viral video was weeks old when it took off.”

Her advice for aspiring creators is simple but resonant: patience and purpose. “The best part about this world is there is room for everyone, because really everyone is an influencer. You’re influencing someone in your life,” she says. “You just have to keep showing up.”

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