Get To Know A Queens TikTok Influencer Bejay Rose

During the day, central Queens resident Bejay Rose works as a medical biller in Manhattan. At night, Rose conducts regular “lives” on the social media platform known as TikTok. Since 2016, TikTok has made a global impact, and in 2020, the platform had over two billion mobile downloads worldwide. Rose is just one of many influencers making their mark in the fast-paced world of social media. Doing his nightly lives on TikTok is something Rose enjoys, as he calls it “addictive.” His efforts have paid off. He currently has about 10.6K followers on the platform.

Prior to his turn as a TikTok influencer, Rose has gone through many incarnations. As a teenager during the 1980s, he first made an impact in the New York Punk and Hardcore scene, playing guitar in a local band called Walking Abortions. The 1990s came along, in which Rose soon turned his attention to the then-burgeoning Rave scene. This soon developed into being involved in the vibrant and unconventional club-kid subculture. He made an impact promoting for clubs such as Limelight, Twilio and other NYC nightclubs.

Soon came the 2000s, and he set his sights back into the Punk scene. This time he was a manager of a Punk/Alternative boutique right in the middle of St. Mark’s called Freaks. When Freaks closed its doors, Rose was still not done. He became a successful DJ, catering to LBTGQ Punk and Skinhead nightclub events such as M8. On the heels of DJing, he became a long time employee of The Hard Rock Cafe, located in Times Square. Despite having a turn as a manager at The Hard Rock, Rose still had his sights on bigger things. In 2018 he went back to school, enrolling in the renowned Swedish Institute. Oh, and in between everything, he found time to pursue acting, leading up to his membership in the Screen Actors Guild (SAG). You can find his name on IMDb.

Rose was gracious enough to be interviewed during one of his popular TikTok lives recently, on February 3rd, 2024. When asked about how he discovered TikTok, he spoke about the time he went back to school, undertaking medical courses, saying, “So I was in medical school from 2019 to 2022. You’re studying so much science, bones, muscles, medicine, Chinese medicine, acupuncture and all this stuff. I needed an escape. And at that time, you go on TikTok. And it was like two or three seconds of people dancing, and everybody was smiling. It was a relief for me. So I got addicted to TikTok. Then I started noticing it’s the same people doing the same thing. They were having fun. I started posting my own videos because I was going on a fitness journey. And the fitness journey started adding up to people watching and following.”

Indeed, Rose was serious about fitness, as a majority of his followers were dedicated gym enthusiasts. Which leads to a tip on becoming a successful influencer – focus on what you’re passionate about. Rose continues, saying, “And then the people who like to go to the gym were just like, you post a lot on TikTok. I said, Well, yeah, I was previously an Instagram person. But now I’m on TikTok. And then one day I went on somebody’s live, and it was this guy. Wes, he’s from the Dream Team (an agency for TikTok influencers). He asks ‘how come you don’t go live on Tiktok?’”

After that initial exchange, Rose became an influencer, which led to opening up his own shop on his TikTok account. For each sale he makes through his TikTok posts and lives, Rose earns a commission. He said, “I started this TikTok shop. I started seeing things that I liked and needed. Then I found out that you can get a commission. If you do a review on it, and somebody buys it. So I started buying items. And then my followers started buying the same stuff that I was buying and asking me questions. Stores started sending me more items. I would make videos and if somebody buys that I would make a commission and it just started building up…”

Now, companies send Rose samples of their products to hawk on TikTok. He says, “I’ll make videos and if somebody buys it I make a commission. So that’s my niche. My niche is just selling stuff.” One of his biggest sellers is a mini whey container on a keychain. To boost his profile on TikTok, he occasionally does “live battles.” Last month Rose “battled” another influencer named Dylan. During the battle, Dylan was working his job at Pizza Hut making pies. Rose wants another rematch with Dylan.

Rose was asked what he has learned from being on TikTok. He asks, “What have I learned? I learned that people can be cruel, you know, with the comments, they can say the most hurtful things. I don’t know if they mean it or what, but they can say some pretty harsh things. All that kind of stuff doesn’t bother me, but I learned that you can meet people from all around the world. I had a live last week and this young man was from Russia. He was a singer and rapper. You meet interesting people. So I posted his video on my Instagram. And then I also talk to my friends and keep in touch, and then I have my friend Madeleine. All the way in Sweden. She came to my battle but she had to set her alarm because in Sweden at nine o’clock it’s 3 a.m. there. It’s another community. the social media community”

Rose also takes the time to check out other TikTokers’ accounts. The accounts he follows vary from Jeffree Star and Terry Jones, to an account that features a pet monkey. Rose was asked about his acting career, and to share a story. He responded, “Acting is one of those things where I like to do it for fun. With acting, it was a passion.” Rose has done background for many productions, such as Law and Order Criminal Intent.

He recalled the time he worked on The Ricki Lake Show during the ‘90s, saying, “I would say my most fun thing was doing talk shows, and I worked for Ricki Lake for two days. I did Gothic makeovers for that show, and did one for this kid. He was a Marilyn Manson fan. His girlfriend hated Marilyn Manson, and she hated me. He worked for a plumbing company. So he looked like a normal Italian kid, whatever. I did the makeup, had him wear cool clothes, They filmed the whole thing. That was fun.”

Eventually Rose would like to get back into acting. You can find Rose on his TikTok @shopoiskinblu, or his Instagram @Oiskinblu. He recently opened his own Amazon shop as well.