We were lucky to catch up with Fay Kanevsky recently and have shared our conversation below.
Fay, appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?
This holiday season I was privileged enough to be hired by TikTok as a Jewish creator to share my creativity and educate others on Hanukkah. Marginalized creators are often sidelined on the app but we make more and more progress each day. I have been banned from the app 3 times. Once on pride month, once on Jewish heritage month, and once on disability pride month, all for discussing these topics. From that, I and other creators have fought to be seen and heard on the app and I feel as though that was a big sign of that.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My name is Fay and I have been a creator on TikTok since 2019. I am most well known for my “kinky Jew” video, in which an owner of a Kinkajou wildlife sanctuary holds up a Kinkajou by the tail and says “this is how you catch a kinkajou”, I stitched that video and added, “As a Kinky Jew, I can confirm, that is in fact how you catch me”. I am also most well known for my Ms. Frizzle videos where I impersonate her style and voice. I also use my platform to advocate for myself and others as a disabled, queer, and Jewish person. I have a blue heeler service dog named Juniper who i show and talk about in my videos to bring education and awareness to service dogs and handlers. I also love to share my creativity and daily life with all that I do. I am currently in my senior year of college, so I show how I navigate life as a disabled college student. I also love to crochet and do makeup/fashion content.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
Doing what I love! I love being able to do what makes me happy, while making others happy!
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
I didn’t build my audience on social media intentionally, but I am incredibly grateful for it. I just came online and was myself, and people liked me for me, and I can’t advise anyone to do anything but that. I think actively trying to gain a platform is very difficult and may only lead to disappointment. Many times through my career I’ve gotten stuck on the likes, the views, the numbers, and it made me miserable. When I let it go and just care about the people I’m sharing my story with, it made me so much happier. It will never be enough if you keep fixating on the numbers or staring at the comments. Sometimes people don’t like that I have a wide range of things I do, that I’m a multifaceted person, and they try to curate my content or tell me what to do, and that just won’t do. I am doing this to make people happy but I won’t do that by changing myself. If they don’t like me for me, the growing person I am, they can unfollow, it’s that easy.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/Rachelfay
- Instagram: @faythefae
- Twitter: @fay_the_gay
- Youtube: Faythegay
- Other: TikTok: faythegay