Being A College Beauty Ambassador Helped This Student Go Viral On TikTok

Anyone with a smartphone, TikTok, and an idea can be a content creator, but it takes certain marketing skills to be an influencer. That’s something Jordyn Tons, a recent University of Oregon grad, discovered during her college ambassador program with Beachwaver in the last year.

The 22-year-old has been a fan of the brand’s viral rotating curling iron since she was in high school and had to do her hair for competitions, so joining its Campus Wave program in 2023 was a no-brainer.

Getting products is just one perk of the program. As an ambassador, you also learn influencer skills from founder and celebrity hairstylist Sarah Potempa while building your resume. Using that newfound knowledge, students then create videos for social media using Beachwaver irons.

One of the TikToks Tons created for the brand — in which the boys in her family curled her hair — went mega-viral in November with more than 3.8 million views and counting. At the time, she couldn’t believe how much it was blowing up. But now, the California native has several videos on her TikTok with thousands of views each, and she credits it all to the Campus Wave program.

Below, the dance major shares how getting involved with Beachwaver helped to shift her college career, what it was like balancing her coursework, and the biggest beauty influencer lessons she learned along the way.

Elite Daily: How did you choose the University of Oregon?

Jordyn Tons: I always knew I wanted to go to college, but I didn’t always know what for. I’ve been dancing my whole life, so when I was starting to think about colleges, I was like, “I might as well continue with my passion.” Not every university offers dance as a major, so I had to look for schools that had a program.

I ended up at the University of Oregon because they also have a good football team — which is something else I was looking for. When my UO acceptance came in, I knew that’s where I should go.

ED: What was your first impression of campus?

JT: I moved in the fall of 2020, so everything was kind of shut down. Luckily, my program allowed people to come on campus since most of our classes are very focused on moving and being in person. It was very quiet and didn’t really feel like a real college for the first term.

ED: What were some things you learned working with Beachwaver?

JT: We would have monthly webinars where people from the team would come in and teach us things. I learned how to create content, set up lighting and background, and how to create viral videos.

They would also give us challenges or prompts for videos. I actually launched my personal TikTok to post on my own because of those challenges.

ED: Did being in the program change your career goals at all?

JT: Yes, definitely. As I got into it more, I started to realize that I do love social media. Unfortunately, by the time I realized how passionate I was about it, it was at the end of my junior year. If I wanted to change my major to marketing, I would have had to take more classes and graduate later, which I didn’t want to do.

I discovered my passion for it a little too late to get a degree in it, but it’s definitely made me realize that it’s something that I do want to do postgrad. I’ve been looking for jobs in the social media world.

ED: You went viral in the Campus Wave program. What was the first video that really popped off for you?

JT: My “Boys Who Beachwave” videos are the ones that always do the best. My first year I did it, I think I got somewhere around 12,000 views. I thought that one was wild, but my video from this past year got over 3.8 million views so far. It just grows every single day.

ED: What was one of your favorite experiences when you were in the Campus Wave program?

JT: As a campus rep, I had the incredible opportunity to go backstage at L.A. Fashion Week and watch the Beachwaver team work. I also got to go to the Stagecoach Glam House, which was amazing.

ED: Do you have any tips for anyone going to a music festival trying to do their hair for the day?

JT: Put your hair up. Especially in the desert, my hair was just going all over the place. The first day, I did some baby braids to keep my hair out of my face. By the end of the night, I had my hair up in a clip or a ponytail.

ED: Are you involved in any other clubs or on-campus activities?

JT: I’m a part of Dance Oregon, a student-run program at my school. They put on master classes and plan events for National Dance Week.

I’ve also been able to go to ACDA, which is the American College Dance Association, Conference for the past three years. That’s an all-inclusive trip that the fundraising we do with Dance Oregon allows us to go on. I was also in a sorority for a minute, but my schedule was too busy to stay in it.

ED: Do you have any tips for managing a busy schedule between college classes and the program?

JT: I would just dedicate time to each thing. When I was doing my internship, my time was solely focused on doing that. When I was filming content for the month to post on my socials for the Campus Wave program, I would sit down on a Friday, spend the entire day filming, and then take out a couple of chunks throughout the following weeks. If I was watching TV, I would edit a video quickly.

ED: What’s been your go-to self-care when you’re dealing with any stress from work or classes?

JT: I love getting to chill and sit on the couch to scroll through TikToks and relax. I also like to do a full everything shower — so putting in hair masks, leave-in conditioner, and exfoliating. That revives me.

ED: Walk me through what a typical day of school looked like where you had class and program duties.

JT: I would film on Fridays because that was my easiest class day. I’d wake up, go to Pilates in the morning, and then go to class. I would be in class until 1 p.m., then I would come home, take a break for a little bit, and get ready and set up to film for five hours.

If I had a good list of ideas that I wanted to film, I would map it out in my head so that I didn’t have to do any more filming for the rest of the month.

ED: Would you want to be a professional beauty influencer now that you’re graduated?

JT: I don’t know that I would ever make that my full-time job. Obviously, I would love that. After graduating, I’m hoping to put more time and energy into it, because I do really enjoy being a beauty influencer.

ED: Do you have any advice for other college students who are interested in doing an ambassador program or becoming an influencer?

JT: Take the risk, because if you had told me four years ago all the incredible opportunities that would’ve come from this program, I would not have believed you. I had maybe 300 Instagram followers before the program, and now, I have a video with over 3 million views.

ED: What’s currently next for you?

JT: After graduation, I’m going to take a little bit of time for myself to just breathe and enjoy not having to do schoolwork. And then, I’m hoping to get into either something involving social media and marketing or event planning.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.