Entertainment
ByBrandon Miller/
Social media star Brooke Monk launched to fame seemingly overnight after a video of hers went viral in 2019, right after she made her TikTok debut. Her popularity exploded and now the influencer is now one of the biggest names on TikTok and beyond. As of early June 2024, Monk has just under 33 million followers on her main TikTok account, nearly 11 million on her spam TikTok, about 6.5 million on YouTube, 5.4 million on Instagram, and 3.4 million on Snapchat. Her following, as are her earnings, is why Monk first appeared on Forbes' "Top Creators" list in 2023, is huge. At only 21 years old, the creator is already a multi-millionaire, and she shows no signs of slowing down any time soon.
Though she has had to deal with some haters who question her Christian identity, because of how she styles herself — and a bathing suit collaboration she did — Monk is a well-liked creator without any major scandals. Her social media content is largely comedic, with her early stuff featuring skits and vlogs about teenage life and typical high school topics (even though she never went to a typical high school herself). In addition to comedy, Monk posted (and still does post) a lot of lip sync, dances, and makeup videos. She also makes couples content with her boyfriend, creator Sam Dezz, who is especially present on Monk's YouTube. Keep reading below for the stunning transformation of TikToker Brooke Monk.
She is one of five kids and grew up in Colorado
Brooke Monk's birthplace is often incorrectly listed as Jacksonville, Florida. No one knows where that false origin story started, but according to Monk herself, she was born in Colorado. It was there, in the Centennial State, that she spent all of her formative years before heading out to Los Angeles to level up her influencer career. Details on Monk's family are spotty, but we do know that Monk has four sisters. Her siblings have, at times, popped up in Monk's content, especially when advertising her merchandise. Despite including them in TikToks, which is focused on everything from dating to snack foods to dancing, Monk does not typically reference her sisters by name or link to their social media.
Monk does not frequently feature relatives in her YouTube content, unlike some other creators. There have, however, been a few notable instances where her parents made appearances. For example, Monk's dad was in her YouTube video "meeting my boyfriend for the first time!!," as he drove Monk to Los Angeles for her trip. In October 2020, Monk's parents appeared in a YouTube video, which showed them blindfolded and gifted with new iPhones. "They hardly ever treat themselves to something nice, and I can't think of anyone more deserving," wrote the influencer in the video's description.
She was homeschooled so TikTok became her social outlet
Brooke Monk was homeschooled her entire life, so it is especially hilarious that some of her most notable early TikToks referenced the high school experience she never had. Take, for example, her first viral video, which poked fun at how girls react to a crush and garnered four million views within a single day. "Oh my gosh, it was so cringey. My perception of high school was solely based on Disney movies that I had seen," Monk said in an interview with Elite Daily. The creator has since made many other TikToks on crushes, even after entering a long-term relationship. POVs have become one of Monk's calling cards, alongside dance videos and lip syncs.
Monk first joined TikTok in September 2019, when she was 16 and a senior in high school. She explained that it was her attempt at dealing with the isolation she felt and a means of differentiating herself from her sisters. "I was homeschooled, so I didn't have anyone to talk to," she told Elite Daily. "When you have a bunch of sisters and you're home all the time, you kind of fight for your own identity a little bit." Monk participated in groups connecting kids being schooled independently, but her social interaction was limited. In an interview with "The Good Boys Podcast," she confessed to rarely seeing people from outside her family. She explained why she readily jumped at the chance for connection wherever she could find it.
She did not see TikTok as a career plan at first
Brooke Monk did not set out to become a professional influencer. It happened accidentally, and the quick success she experienced changed her intended path for her life after graduation. "I was planning on going to college like, straight out of high school," she said in a YouTube video, posted only two months after her social media career began. "But I am not sure what I want to do. I see college as an investment in yourself, and something you should get significant return on, so since I don't know what I want to do, I'd rather not spend all that time and all that money first."
Monk clearly took the correct route, as she was able to develop her social media career and gain on-the-job experience. That "gap year" she spoke of in the video has turned into many years, but Monk now has no real need for formal education. She has strengthened many creative and business skills — content strategy, editing, and branding — that people go to college to learn. It is more than just a job for the creator, too. "I love having an audience, I love reading people's comments, I love interacting with people," she said in a 2021 interview with CNBC.
She was 16 when one of her early videos went viral
If toy-opening millionaire Ryan Kaji has taught us anything, it is that it is never too early for an influencer to start producing content. In fact, content creation is one of the few jobs where the young have an advantage, as expertise is less important than youthful exuberance and a fresh take. A comedic sensibility doesn't hurt either, so, unsurprisingly, Brooke Monk gained in popularity after posting her first video at 16.
Still, her rise was quicker than most, and it certainly had to have been jarring for a homeschooled teenager from a conservative family. As previously mentioned, that first video got 4 million views in one day — but unlike so many others, Monk was able to sustain the attention. In less than two years, Monk established a following of 16 million on TikTok alone. At that point, she had over a billion likes on her videos.
By the time she hit the legal drinking age, Monk had established herself as one of TikTok's top creators. She now has a devoted following across multiple platforms, with TikTok leading the way at nearly 33 million followers and a whopping 2.7 billion likes for her videos. "My main performs really well with me being more strategic about it," she said in an Elite Daily interview. "So, my spam is just Brooke. I don't put pressure on it."
Her parents were strict when it comes to tech
When you think about teenage influencers, the assumption is that they have spent their entire lives online hoping to become Instafamous. But this was certainly not the case for Brooke Monk, who was sheltered by her conservative, protective parents. A 2022 study published in JMIR Pediatrics and Parenting found that, on average, "12.2 years of age" is when children received their first cell phone (via the National Library of Medicine).
So, Monk getting hers when she was 16 means she was a late bloomer with lots of time to make up. Being homeschooled probably means that she had less need for a phone, but this fact is also part of what made her unique. In multiple early videos, Monk discusses homeschooling and answers questions about her experience. She took to social media about as quickly as possible, to the point where even her parents were unaware of her initial success.
Thanks to her first video going viral, Monk had 10,000 followers within a week of downloading TikTok. She told her parents after gaining another 25,000 followers. "My parents were stricter, so I was dreading telling them — my dad, specifically," she confessed to Elite Daily. Since her parents had no idea what TikTok was, they allowed her to continue to post. When she hit a million followers mere months later, Monk had to once again sit them down to explain things more clearly. To her surprise, both parents supported her online endeavors.
She started dating creator Sam Dezz in 2020
It almost feels like an unwritten rule that attractive influencers must, at some point, date others within the pool of attractive influencers (and some exclusively date within that pool). These relationships can benefit their careers as fans begin to root for them and keep tabs on their ups and downs — breakups, makeups, and everything in between. Brooke Monk is a rarity in that her relationship with fellow creator Sam Dezz (a.k.a. Sam Dezzani) has lasted for years despite their young age and inexperience. Dezz was not just Monk's first love but also her first boyfriend. "I'd never kissed anybody before. I didn't know I was a terrible kisser," she confessed to Elite Daily.
Monk and Dezz started communicating after the former slid into the latter's DMs. "We started Facetiming and whatnot and then that just kind of turned into like hanging out every night...online best friends," Dezz said on "The Good Boys Podcast." He continued, "Randomly, one night, she calls me, and she's like, 'I'm coming out to L.A. Let's hang out.' So, she basically tells me she's coming out, she flies out next week, and she shows up with her dad." That awkward first meeting was captured on video and posted to YouTube in December 2020, but a one-year anniversary post suggests the pair began dating that October. Dezz has become a huge part of Monk's brand — especially on YouTube, where nearly every video has featured the couple together over the last two years.
She has designed a few lines of merchandise
It was not even a year into her social media career when Brooke Monk first debuted some merch: sweatshirts with "authentic" written on them and the "u" replaced by a happy face. "I wanted to create a message that reminded each one of you that when you are the doing what makes you the happiest you are your most authentic self," she wrote on Instagram in February 2020. "Don't let other people's judgment of what you love stop you from working towards and achieving your goals!" She put out two more collections — "Relatable simp" and "I'm not funny" — in January of the following year. These collections went beyond sweatshirts to include face masks, beanies, t-shirts, and long-sleeve shirts, and Monk created a website to sell the merch.
While her shop site disappeared quickly, Monk's designs can still be found elsewhere. However, since no merch sites are listed in Monk's official links, it isn't easy to know which sites are profiting her directly. ViralStyle claims to sell "official apparel" but is not linked to any of the creator's accounts. The same goes for BrookeMonkMerch.com, which has only a generic biography with no personal details and links back to ViralStyle. Spring appears to be the safest choice for fans to buy Monk's merch since they have a creator-specific program that many influencers are known to use. Plus, the website — advertised as Monk's "official store" — links to all of her socials.
She was briefly a member of Hype House
Hype House is one of the best-known creator collectives, thanks partly to the short-lived reality show of the same name and, more realistically, to the oodles of big-name influencers who called the Hype House mansion home. That includes co-founders Chase Hudson (a.k.a. Huddy) and Thomas Petrou, as well as Dixie and Charlie D'Amelio, Addison Rae, Larray, Nikita Dragun, Tayler Holder, and many others. Brooke Monk is on that list, too, although her stint in Hype House was one of the shortest ever. She stayed with the collective for only a month and a half, citing creative differences as the reason for her departure. "We were moving in different directions, and the content didn't really align," she said in the Elite Daily interview.
Monk joined Hype House in April 2022, and because the announcement came on the first of the month, some assumed it was an April Fool's Gag. People quickly realized Monk, as did her boyfriend, Sam Dezz, had become a member. Vinnie Hacker and Jake Hayward also joined, and, along with the four remaining OGs, they were dubbed "Hype House 3.0." Though Monk left quickly, she did not need any added exposure the collective could bring. The official Hype House TikTok account has a dozen million fewer followers than Monk, who certainly knows what she is doing when it comes to her brand.
She reportedly earned $2 million in 2023
Getting exact numbers on influencer incomes is hard since they are not always the most forthcoming or honest sources. It is also difficult because of how many streams of income they tend to have, each of which fluctuates regularly and can never be generalized from year to year. But thanks to Forbes' list of top creators, there are solid numbers for the biggest and brightest social media stars. The yearly Forbes rankings are based on more than just earnings, but there is no doubt that Monk made the list for the first time in 2023 due in part to her high earnings. Forbes puts Monk's 2022 income at $2 million, although she ranks ahead of bigger earners due to an extremely high 12% average engagement.
Monk has had branding partnerships with many companies over the last few years, including Hyundai, Celsius, Too Faced Cosmetics, and MVMT. She was in a commercial for the Forever21xBarbie collection, did a campaign for Amazon Prime Video, and has a swimwear line with Blackbough. Monk sells sweatshirts and other merch, in addition to promoting a slew of products on her Amazon storefront and ShopMy page (she gets money from the affiliate links). She also rakes in cash from YouTube videos and has a profile on FanFix where she charges fans $12 a month for a behind-the-scenes look at her life. Finally, Monk has invested in startups like Uprise and Dreamshow AI, which will likely bring her returns in the future.
Her workdays have become a well-oiled machine
Given that we frequently see them out and about socializing (or partying, depending on the influencer), it is easy to imagine content creators sleeping all day and haphazardly posting whenever the mood strikes. However, for most successful influencers, social media is treated much like any other business. For Brooke Monk, that means having a consistent daily schedule and a solid handle on her branding. Her workstarts early in the day when she scrolls TikTok and brainstorms ideas. She then takes those ideas and works on strategy before filming three TikTok videos from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. "I will film as many takes as needed to make the video perfect. I'm neurotic about it," she said to Elite Daily. "If it's 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."
After Monk uploads her content to TikTok, she moves on to her other three socials, which have millions of followers. YouTube gets mostly couples content Monk makes with Sam Dezz, while Snapchat gets a lot of Q&As and the same videos as Monk's TikTok. Instagram also has a lot of TikTok content, plus plenty of selfies and the occasional couple photo. Somehow, Monk also finds time to do photoshoots, interviews, and appearances and interact with fans. "It's a well-oiled machine now," she told Elite Daily of her daily grind.
She has bigger goals
With her astronomical success, it would make sense for Brooke Monk to keep using the same social media strategy. But the creator is only 21, and she has big dreams that go far beyond the digital sphere and a Forever 21 commercial. "I want to continue to grow my audience, diversify into traditional media, and one day launch my own beauty brand," says Monk's LinkedIn profile's "about" section. It makes total sense that beauty is an area she wants to get into from a business perspective, like Michelle Phan and many others before her. Though she started out doing lip syncs and comedic skits, makeup, and hair care have become a big part of Monk's brand over the years. On YouTube and her spam TikTok, Monk highlights products she likes, answers fan questions about her hair and face, and conducts tutorials so people can achieve a similar look.
In 2022, Monk jumped ship from United Talent Agency (UTA) and signed with William Morris Endeavor Entertainment (WME). The press release, which was sent out to sites like Variety, noted an intent to "expand Monk's business across film, TV, podcasts and new media." Despite plenty of other influencers who have made this jump, Monk has stated that she wants to avoid following in anyone's footsteps. "I just want to be myself, and as I get older, I'm figuring out more of who that is," she affirmed in the Elite Daily interview.
