Beauty influencer Mikayla Nogueira faces backlash for complaining about work hours

TikTok beauty influencer Mikayla Nogueira has received criticism after she appeared to complain about the difficulty of being an influencer, comparing it to a 9-5 job.

Who is Mikayla Nogueira?

Mikayla Nogueira (@mikaylanogueira) is a beauty influencer on TikTok who began her account back in 2020 during the Covid pandemic when she lost her job at Ulta and has since gone to grow into one of the platform's biggest beauty creators with 13.5m followers.

Some of her famous followers include celebrities such as Lady Gaga, Addison Rae and Selena Gomez.

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The 24-year-old who is from Massachusetts graduated with a communications degree from Bryant University in Rhode Island and has since moved back to her home state where she lives with her fiance Cody who proposed last year.

Why has Nogueira caused controversy?

Nogueira found herself in hot water after a deleted video from last year began making rounds again on the app.

In the video, Nogueira responded to a comment from a previous TikTok telling her to "report to a job 9-5," and complained about her job as an influencer.

"I’m feeling like a f***ng asshole today, so I’m going to fire back at people because I’m tired," Nogueira said in the full clip that has since been deleted, it was originally reposted by user @ilovewater2001 but it appears to also been deleted from this account.

“Every single day, I get up at 6AM. I spend about five to six hours filming video content that ranges from three to four videos, and then I spend a few hours editing that video content. Then I have to work on my other social media profiles, whatever it may be," she explained.

But the one part of the video that has gone viral is where Nogueira said: "Just finished working, it’s 5:19. Try being an influencer for a day. Try it. Because the people who say it's easy are so far out of their minds. Try it for a day."

In the TikTok by @iloverwater2001, there are then transitions to several other clips of Nogueira showing off designer handbags on-camera from the likes of Chanel and Louis Vuitton.

What have people said?

As a result of the video resurfacing, Nogueira has faced backlash from her comments, with people leaving sarcastic comments on her last beauty TikTok posted 3 days ago.

One person said: "God gives his hardest battles to his strongest soldiers."

"Was this really hard work for you," another person wrote.

Someone else added: "Damn I got off at 5:05 today my life is so much better!!!"

"Bestie take a day off you’ve been working so hard," a fourth person replied.

This has also led fellow TikTok influencers to chime in on the debate around Nogueira's comments and discuss the differences between influencing and a 9-5 job.

Anayka She (@anayhashe) who has grown a large following on TikTok since 2020, posted a video where she explained that the job of an influencer is "not hard but it is very tedious."

"Influencers complaining about their job is like white people complaining about being called ‘cracker,'" she said before sharing how she has worked jobs from the age of 12.

She also noted influencing could be "very stressful" for someone with anxiety due to the role causing a "very social/facial image kinda pressure."

"Being called a cracker might hurt your feelings, but you cannot look me in my face and tell me it’s hard."

She also recalled what her manager told her: "The problems that I have now—being an influencer—are problems that I wish I had two or three years ago when I was working a regular job."

The TikToker also detailed how her experience as a Black creator differs from Nogueira's: "My number one problem is trying to be paid the appropriate amount that I should be paid, that my white counterparts are being paid."

Meanwhile, Taylor Limas (@ladyaguilera2.0) posted a video with her thoughts, where she pointed out the financial difference between a big influencer and an average job.

"An influencer's hours from 9-5 do not equal the same amount of payout and energy spent as somebody working a regular 9-5," she said.

While noting influencing is a job that can have some difficulties in the video, she explained in the caption "how it takes months for people to make the same amount of money she [Nogueira] makes in a day," and said because it's "hard to empathise" due to their high earnings.

Those with a normal job are spending "their time, their money and their resources to get to that job," and the TikToker added how she works a 9-5 and also had a bartending job during the Covid pandemic.

"While her comment was insensitive, I don't think it is okay to attack somebody about other things just because you're mad that she's insensitive," as Limas noted the hate and negative comments Nogueira is receiving at the moment.

Has Nogueira responded to the controversy?

As of September 26, Nogueira has not responded to the controversy surrounding her comment, she last posted to TikTok three days ago.

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