"I worked in high-tech with a great salary, but there is a mission on the web"
Tal Shemesh left a project management job after a surge of 100,000 followers in two months, and became a full-time content creator talking about dating and self-confidence. In an interview with mako, she talks about the transition from videos uploaded for fun to managing campaigns, the initial fear ("suddenly there is no salary and I am maintaining an apartment in Tel Aviv"), dealing with reactions, and the book on the way: "I know that every word I say can influence."
Tal Shemesh, 28, from Ramat Gan, has turned in recent years from a content creator who uploaded videos from home during the COVID-19 period to one of the content creators identified with the discourse on relationships, dating, and self-confidence on the web. She started her path on YouTube, continued to TikTok, and at the same time managed to study visual communication design and work as a project manager in high-tech. In 2023, her big break came, when within about two months about 100,000 followers were added to her account. Since then, she has left high-tech and turned content creation into a full-time job.
"Today I am a full-time content creator on YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram," Shemesh tells mako. "I started in 2020, during the coronavirus. I don't think many people know that I started on YouTube at all, and while doing so, I was also a project manager at a high-tech company." She arrived at high-tech almost by accident. After the army, she worked at the Scouts as a system instructor, and one of the parents asked her for guidance. "I told him, 'But what do I have to do with project management? I've never done that in my life', and he said: 'I will teach you everything you need to know'," she recalls. "And wow, I worked for them for almost two years. A year later I had already exploded on TikTok, and combining a degree, high-tech, and content creation was insane."
When she started uploading videos, she created content in English: getting ready videos, shopping hauls, lifestyle, and makeup tutorials. "I think every little girl has a dream to make videos and she is shy. I didn't know that people make money from this at all," she says. "I shared things that happened to me in relationships and in my personal life. I said, I don't want other girls to experience all the shit I experienced." Later, her little brother told her about TikTok, and there the first explosion arrived: some 20,000 followers. According to her, the real big jump came when she started talking about her personal life: "I think a lot of people found a place to identify with it."
Shemesh started to understand that content creation could be a real job in 2023. "At first, I didn't really understand budgets. I had 100,000 followers and they closed campaigns for 1,000-1,500 shekels, and I was excited," she says. "Over time, I met people in the industry and understood that these are not the budgets." After she left the agency she was in, she connected with agent Gali Brown, whom she describes as someone who knows how to promote you without changing your DNA.
The decision to leave high-tech was not as romantic as it sounds in a story. "I worked in an orderly job with a great salary and great bosses, but I really feel a mission in content creation," says Shemesh. "When someone stops me in a cafe and says that I influenced her or did her good, that for me is my good." The first months were scary: "Suddenly there is no salary and only money is going down, and I am maintaining an apartment in central Tel Aviv. I said to myself, 'Maybe I'm living in a movie? Maybe tomorrow I'll wake up and I won't be relevant anymore?'"
Today her work is organized: "As a content creator, you have to fill your day yourself. I have a Google calendar with all the campaigns and dates." Shemesh's content relies to a large extent on her personal life: dating, breakups, relationships, and self-confidence. Her followers defined it over time as a FaceTime conversation with an older sister. "I uploaded a video 'how not to be a doormat with a man', and someone commented: 'I feel like I'm on FaceTime with my older sister'. In the next video, I used it and that's how it was created," she shares.
Shemesh says she tries to keep a feeling of a direct and unpolished conversation: "I always say that highlights are not called highlights for nothing, because in Instagram they show the good things. But let's say yesterday I had a shitty day, so I uploaded: wow, I had a shitty day. I won't detail what happened, because there are personal things, but I will share that I am in a shitty mood and now I am picking myself up." From her point of view, this also includes less flattering moments: "If I am sad and crying, I share. I will take a picture from a less flattering angle, I will show stretch marks. I try very hard to be who I am and to remind girls that not everything is perfect."
The transition from uploading videos for fun to people recognizing you on the street still sits strangely with her. "The first time they asked me for a picture I was still a waitress. I was like, 'Is this actually real? Do real people see what you upload?'" With all the exposure, Shemesh says there are things she leaves for herself and her partner, who is also named Tal. "I share a lot, but even my parents tell me, 'Tal, aren't you leaving something between you for yourselves?'" So she doesn't upload love letters or certain personal gestures.
Behind the lightness, there is also a less comfortable side. "Our work is ultimately based on likes and comments," says Shemesh. "It is a very rewarding job, but mentally it has something enslaving. Your mood can depend on whether a video succeeded." After a video in which she said that a man should pay on a first date, they called her a gold digger. "When I suddenly exploded, people immediately said 'Who is this? What does she think she is?'" she says. "I think I was the first in the country who talked like that about relationships, who said: I was cheated on, they did to me, they hurt me. Many people identified, because no one dared to talk about it." Today she is less bothered: "If someone comments on my appearance, I understand that it has nothing to do with me. Ultimately traffic is traffic."
As for what's next, Shemesh isn't stopping: "I have been writing a book for several months. It will take me time, but I am working on it."
