Barbara Kingsley spent 12 years as a high school English teacher, then six more doing PR for her school district. She retired in 2018.

Then, in January 2024, she picked up her phone and started posting on TikTok.

I couldn’t contain my emotions, and out it came. I immediately found a community.

A year later, she had over 100,000 followers. Not bad for someone who describes her setup as “me and my phone.”

Barbara posts as Buzziebeeteacher — a nickname that’s followed her since her days as a bass player, a daycare teacher, and eventually a high school English teacher in Pennsylvania. 

Her content started as political commentary and evolved into satire. She’s funny, sharp, and completely herself on camera.

What she learned about growing on social media

A year in, 100,000 followers, and Barbara has figured out what works. A few things she’d tell anyone starting out:

• Watch before you commit. See what’s working for creators you admire, then start experimenting.

• Don’t obsess over quality early on. Be consistent first. The quality will follow.

•  Always tag your content with your name from day one. Barbara learned the hard way that untagged videos can be used by others — and monetized — without your knowledge.

• Pick a posting cadence you can actually maintain: starting at three videos a week makes it hard to drop to two without the algorithm penalizing you.

You’ve got to have tenacity like a bulldog hanging on to the mailman’s pant leg.

Why WordPress.com

Barbara had a WordPress.com account from years ago, set up after she retired from teaching. Life got in the way, and she forgot about it.

When TikTok took off, she came back.

She needed a place to send her followers. Somewhere she owned, where she could sell her books and build something more permanent than a social media profile.

TikTok could disappear tomorrow. Her website won’t. And having her own branded .com domain — buzziebeeteacher.com — was a big part of that.

TikTok has my whole portfolio at any moment. But my name — that’s my brand. What more can I say?

Barbara started building the site herself using the AI website builder, then discovered she could schedule a call with the WordPress.com team to get help.

I knew what I wanted, and you guys polished it off. It’s been great. If you’re thinking about buying WordPress, buy Premium — because you can schedule help at your convenience. It’s the greatest thing since soap.

What the website does today

buzziebeeteacher.com is Barbara’s hub — a place for her books, her music, her bio, and her social links. It’s where TikTok followers who want to go deeper can land.

The domain was a big deal for her. It gave her brand a proper home.

That’s like MickeyMouse.com. It’s right there. It’s not going anywhere.

She’s got more plans, too. A finished cookbook written in calligraphy she wants to digitize and publish, a kids’ book, music, and videos on the site.

Your story deserves a home, too

Barbara built an audience of 100,000+ people on a platform she doesn’t control. Her website is the one place that’s truly hers.

WordPress.com gave her the domain, the platform, and the team to help her pull it together. She brought the personality and the plan.

The rest? Still being written.