What is the recipe for success? Apparently, just leather boots and a jacket, or an orange jumpsuit with a yellow mustache.
Ashby Florence, better known as Ashby on TikTok, has become one of the fastest-growing creators, and the most deserving of the fame I’ve ever seen.
Even if you don’t know her by name, I bet you’ve seen a few videos of hers. Let me jog your memory.
The first video of hers that blew up was part of a trend featuring a song from the musical “Hamilton.” Ashby immediately stood out from other creators doing the same trend. Why? Because while others were in a full Alexander Hamilton get-up, Ashby was the true character.
Instead of the full costume, she just put on cowboy boots and a letter jacket and called it a day — her attitude and facial expressions sold it. That was the beginning of the world getting to know her personality, and boy, are we glad we did.
Ashby has to be one of the funniest people I’ve seen on social media in a while. Her improvisational skills are mind-blowing. It’s the unexpectedness of what she’s going to say next that has me in tears when I watch her. In the world of scripted humor, there’s a uniqueness and freshness that she has that doesn’t come all that often.
Her fame came suddenly, almost overnight. She posted the video to “It’s Quiet Uptown” from the “Hamilton” soundtrack, and gained a bit of traction. However, it wasn’t until she started doing her livestreams that people started to notice the star that was in front of them.
And by livestreams, I mean Ashby running around in a full orange jumpsuit, stuffed with who knows what to create that “Lorax” build, calling for the execution of pigeons and redheads.
Besides using her free will to cosplay a character from a movie she’s never seen, she also has a full-time job. That’s right. She is a graphic designer and has been for years. She comes home from her job, where she works nine to seven, and basically shape-shifts into whatever character she decides she wants to act as that night.
Somehow, Ashby has gone from just an everyday graphic designer to interviewing celebrities on the red carpet. Earlier this month, she hosted a Hamilton premiere screening event by Disney.
Yes. Disney.
Barely anyone knew her name until recently, yet within weeks, she was chatting it up with Lin-Manuel Miranda in her Hamilton outfit. If you’re wondering, it was, in fact, just regular clothes thrown together and black marker on her face for a beard. Nevertheless, a work of art.
What’s even better is that Miranda knew of Ashby’s content. He referenced some of her other bits, including Megamind.
Besides The Lorax, Hamilton and Megamind, Ashby has just recently started doing bits with her boyfriend. One where she is King Julien and he is Mort from the “Madagascar” movies, and another where they are Gru and Bob from “Despicable Me.”
Her longtime boyfriend, Ben, is clearly a supporter of her hobbies. In fact, you can tell he encourages it. When he makes an appearance and contributes to her videos, the dynamic reminds me of Jenna Solomita, better known as Jenna Marbles, and her husband Julien.
Since Solomita and Julien left social media, there has been a genre of quirkiness and randomness that has just been missing — now, we’ve struck gold.
Not only is she hilarious, but she just genuinely feels like a good person. When interviewing the stars of Hamilton, she was doing a bit, but she balanced it perfectly with insightful and thought-provoking questions. Clearly, she was taking the job seriously.
She made a statement quickly after she began to rack up views when someone claimed that they were waiting for the day it was revealed that she was a bigot. She is adamant that day will never come. She was deeply offended, but she communicated that she knew she had to earn the trust of her followers. She doesn’t care if people find her funny, but she cares about how we view her as a person.
I was originally worried Ashby was going to be just another creator who gains fame quickly and then loses it. I don’t see that happening here. I think she’s here for the long haul, and I’m grateful for that. She’s a fresh face with a quick wit that comes every once in a while.
So as for her stardom: let it grow, let it grow.
