Rising Stars: Meet Kerry of Triangle Area

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kerry

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Back in 2016, right after proposing to my wife, I began working for the North Carolina Museum of History in downtown Raleigh as a Digital Marketing Manager. Early on, I would spend time walking through all of our exhibits on my lunch breaks and eventually was asked to help in the creative process of crafting an exhibit from start to finish. Getting to play a part in creating an exhibit was one of the coolest aspects of the job!

When COVID hit, it really challenged us to think outside of the box to keep people interested while the museum was closed. I (somehow) got permission from our director to allow my dog, George, to roam around the empty museum exhibits while my wife and I filmed him. It was met with a lot of enthusiasm because it was just goofy and cute—a nice little distraction from the pandemic.

That inspired me to lean more into creating fun videos for the museum. We were already known for our NC history memes, but we hadn’t jumped on the TikTok train at that point.

I never intended to be the main face on social media that people associated with the museum during that time, but I just went for it and started off making videos about pronouncing tricky North Carolina towns and cities (#PronouncingNC). I have always thought it was hilarious how SO many of them are spelled one way and pronounced completely differently. Mebane, NC = “MEB-in,” for example.

They got pretty popular, so I kept making more videos about NC history, culture, and comedy and our TikTok account jumped to 30K followers in a year.

After my son was born in 2022, I got a new job and closed that important chapter of my life. But I really missed making videos, so I began my own account in 2023. It grew to over 60K followers in less than a year, so here we are today!

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The biggest obstacle is balancing everything. I have an amazing wife and toddler, a full time job, and @northcarolinakerry as essentially a second job. My loyalty is always to my family first, so I have to be very organized to make time to get content created and edited. That was a struggle in the beginning because I am the opposite of organized by nature. But at the end of the day, I really just love making videos so it doesn’t feel like work!

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am a digital content creator with a focus on North Carolina comedy and history. I always strive to make my content accessible for all ages and all walks of life, so I make sure to caption every video and avoid using any bad language. That being said, I’d say the majority of my following are people who are from or live in North Carolina and people who are just interested in learning more about the state. I’ve had a lot of folks message me that they are moving to North Carolina and that watching my videos has helped them. Just last week, someone told me they moved to the west coast from NC and my videos remind them of home. That’s super dope to me! It really feels like a community and I love that.

I think the videos I’m most known for at this point involve the topics of: joking about “North Carolina-isms,” the fear of riding in an elevator without Cherie Berry, driving through South Carolina with their insanely bumpy roads, and leaving a white shirt on your car in North Carolina.

I’m proud of the growth of this channel and the fact that it’s resonated so well with others. It started off as just a fun hobby, but it’s become so much more for me as a truly creative outlet.

There are so many incredible North Carolina-based content creators. I’m all about celebrating others’ successes, so when they hit milestones, I get so hyped for them! I think the way I go about creating content in this space is unique in that I do a lot of skits that end up having some kind of historical or cultural message tied in. I often play two characters, with one character essentially not knowing anything about the state or the subject and the other character explaining it to them, but in a playful and goofy way. So, it doesn’t feel like a lesson, but you may learn something cool as a result!

Do you have any advice for those just starting out?
My advice would be find your niche. You definitely want to do something different to stand out because there are a ridiculous amount of Instagram/TikTok channels all essentially competing for attention. Be authentically yourself. While I play a character or characters, I still feel like a lot of my actual personality is represented in my channel, particularly in the way I reply to comments and messages. I try to be as engaging with others as possible because that’s the way I enjoy being with my friends and family in real life. It’s all about communicating and trust-building.

One thing I wish I knew when starting out was how to balance everything. There is such a temptation to check your phone to see how a reel or post is performing. Setting boundaries is key. Like I mentioned earlier, my family comes first, so I devote time to creating and editing videos, but I never let it interfere with family time. At the end of the day, all of this could be deleted and I’m back to square one, but I’d still have the people I love. “Balance in all things.”

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/northcarolinakerry/
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@northcarolinakerry