Freelance journalist Nicholas Fearn never set out to become a TikTok creator. He just wanted to show people his pink kitchen.

He'd been renovating his apartment and was bursting with pride over what it was becoming: a bright, joyful, completely over-the-top space that felt entirely like him. So he started posting as The Diva Supreme. But alongside the interiors content, he had something bigger on his mind: he wanted to show the world his authentic, autistic self.

He was written off constantly as a kid: deemed unable to hold down a job, drive, or live independently. But he kept going, and now — at 29 — he lives in his dream apartment in South Wales with his husband and their kitten, and has bylines in the likes of The Financial Times, The Guardian, The Telegraph, Forbes, and plenty more.

If some teenager is scrolling through TikTok feeling like the world has already decided who they are, The Diva Supreme wants them to stumble across his content and think: maybe not.

TikTok vs. "serious journalism"

Fearn says that journalism and TikTok are more similar than you'd think. On TikTok, you have about two seconds to stop someone mid-scroll. In journalism, you have a headline and a first line to do the same job. It's all about the hook.

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