Julia Thomas is a well-known face on campus thanks to her almost 65,000 TikTok followers.
Before becoming a popular creator and coming to Miami, the UM freshman attended high school in Dallas, Texas and cheered competitively for eight years.
She started making content her senior year and blew up at the beginning of the summer when she posted a video with her boyfriend Hunter, who plays baseball at Texas A&M. The video received a lot of attention and many people shared their opinions about their soon-to-be long-distance relationship.
“People really liked that video because it was about my boyfriend. They had a lot to say and some people didn’t think we’d make it,” Thomas said.
The backlash didn’t bother her. She knows her boyfriend, who has been with her for more than four years, and her relationship better than strangers on the internet.
Thomas uses her platform to build an authentic community, posting a mix of content like “Day In The Life” videos, sit-down chats, fashion content and wellness. Her favorite videos are ones where she sits and talks directly to her followers about her life or advice she has for them.
“I feel like people like to put a huge facade up on the internet. It’s nice for people to hear that others struggle too,” Thomas said.
When choosing where to go to college, Thomas chose UM because of the big city but smaller campus community.
Her favorite spot on campus is the Lakeside Patio by the stage where she likes to eat dinner, study and watch the sunset with her roommate. Outside of campus, she loves to explore spots in Coconut Grove, Brickell and South Beach.
While Thomas shares a lot of her fun experiences on her platform, she makes the college experience as a whole a large part of her content. She gets vulnerable with her audience, even discussing the difficult parts of college like navigating homesickness and having a long-distance relationship.
So far, she has found the academic transition to be pretty smooth due to her strong time management skills from high school cheerleading. She notes the importance of staying organized since professors aren’t as hands-on as high school teachers.
Despite the negative public opinion about the longevity of her relationship, Thomas shares how positive long-distance has been going for her so far.
“Long distance has actually strengthened our relationship because we have so much to talk about now,” Thomas said.
Her advice for other couples going through a long distance relationship is to communicate daily in fun ways like planning FaceTime dates, making time for visits and not viewing talking as a chore.
Social media is not an end-all-be-all for her, and ultimately she is at UM to get a degree and have a fun college experience. Thomas is currently studying business undecided, but has a strong passion for wellness and hopes to explore something in that field.
While balancing being a creator and college student may seem like a lot, she has a good handle on it.
“My plan is just take it day by day and post whatever I’m interested in. I don’t think that stressing about it or getting burned out is what I want to do.”
Thomas uses social media as an outlet for creativity and building a safe and supportive community.
“I just want to have friends and a community that makes me feel safe,” said Thomas. “If you don’t like me, that’s okay — I’ll find my people.”