MADISON - Mercury Stardust has started posting on TikTok to promote their weekly Madison Burlesque show.
But when he decided to reply to another TikTok that he didn't know how to use a ratchet strap, his account got another hit.
"That [post] took me from about 100 subscribers to 25,000 subscribers in less than 24 hours," said Stardust.
Stardust is a transgender woman who has not only performed and taught burlesque for several years, but is also a maintenance technician with 14 years of experience.
She now has over 1.5 million subscribers on TikTok and is known as the Trans Handy Ma'am.
"I've played all over the country. I've been to 126 different cities, I've played in 22 different states. And I'm known for telling people the difference between a piston and an ordinary piston. "The butt of the beehive is up," said Stardust with a smile.
The hundreds of in-app videos offer tips on dry repairing, cleaning a clogged drain, using the bit, and other house maintenance tips and tricks. He said he had nearly 90% women among his subscribers.
She said her advice is primarily for renters and hopes it can help people who identify as gay or women who may not feel comfortable having strangers in their home.
"People didn't learn these things, or they were told it wasn't their knowledge. To get knowledge in a certain way," he said. "They learn early on that they should do something different. As if their tools were cooking. We program young women for that."
Realizing how well he was serving so many people on the platform, he knew he had to keep making videos. His motto in several of his contributions is: "It is worth learning a new skill."
"If you've never had to use a screwdriver before, how would you tell the difference between a Phillips screwdriver and a flathead screwdriver? Now there is common sense ... we all have different backgrounds to tell us." We know different things. It doesn't mean we're inferior because we didn't know, "he said.
Stardust grew up on a farm in northern Wisconsin and began learning maintenance skills there. Growing up he said that he presented himself as a boy, and so his father hoped to give him the tools to become his ideal version of a man. But Stardust said she isn't attracted to many things that are stereotypically masculine.
"I love pink, I love fluffy things, I love clothes and all that. I had to keep a lot under lock and key. I learned early on that this is not a way to survive. In northern Wisconsin. You had to hide that part of yourself when they saw you as a kid, "he said.
Stardust is now 34 years old and started the change three years ago. While being a transgender woman is not the focus of her video content, it is still important that she be the focus.
"If you are learning from someone who is trans and teaching things all the time that you have never experienced in your life, you may now have a deeper understanding and ideology about trans people. And maybe we can come together and understand, even though you are different, that the world can be a better place when we are more loving and understanding. We don't understand if you don't put your identity first, "he said.
You can follow and learn from Stardust on TikTok, her screen name is @mercurystardust.
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