3 ABQ social media influencers share their stories

TikTok, the short-form video app that launched in 2016, has an estimated reach of 2 billion users, with nearly 1 billion unique visits every month.

Although not every would-be TikTok influencer is able to capitalize on that massive user base, approximately 13% of influencers on the platform make over $100k a year, with an additional 20% making a livable wage, according to trend analysis site Exploding Topics.

The Journal met up with three of Albuquerque’s up and coming social media stars who have found success on TikTok and other social media platforms in recent years. Surprisingly, none of them started with a business plan or even took the platform very seriously in the beginning. They all started as a casual hobby, creating fun personas that were an extension of their offline selves. It was only gradually, as their content started to go viral, that they recognized social media could be a full-time career.

Amanda Sanchez aka Burqueña Barbie

Amanda Sanchez has only been Burqueña Barbie for four years. Before that, she was a foodie with a catering company who had very little interest in social media.

“I didn’t like TikTok for a while. Then, in 2021, I was like, ‘You know what? I’m gonna start it just for fun.’ And I absolutely loved it,” she said.

“I based my content off of New Mexico traveling and food. And then my daughter — she likes to do haunted hotels in New Mexico, so we started doing that.”

Now, Sanchez and her daughter travel all over the Southwest, sampling local fare while dodging disembodied spirits.

“We stayed at the St. James (in Cimarron), which is the most haunted hotel in New Mexico. Jesse James stayed there, and we stayed in his room,” she said.

They also stayed at a very creepy clown-themed hotel in Tonopah, Nevada.

“We got the most haunted room, and it’s scary. There’s clowns painted all over your room and bedsheets that look like they have blood all over them,” Sanchez said.

Her daughter wasn’t scared at all, though. “She loved it,” Sanchez said.

“We want to do the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park next,” she said, referring to the notorious Colorado hotel where “The Shining” was filmed.

Despite the growing popularity of her ghost hotel content, Sanchez remains a foodie at heart.

“We always come back to food, because, you know, green chile is our condiment,” she said.

Sanchez said she sometimes uses her platform to address social and political causes, including homelessness, disaster relief and the importance of voting. One controversial subject she won’t weigh in on, though, is the question of who makes the best breakfast burrito in New Mexico.

“There’s too many!” she said.

Find Sanchez on TikTok, @amandasanchez2916.

Leila Esquibel aka Sativa Diva

Leila Esquibel’s career as an influencer started six years ago, around the time she moved to Albuquerque from the small northern New Mexican town of Tierra Amarilla.

“It began with modeling. I just did it for fun, and then I became recognized in the pin-up and the low-rider communities, and also in the cannabis community, because I am an advocate for cannabis,” she said.

In the guise of Sativa Diva, Esquibel promotes responsible cannabis use as an alternative to alcohol consumption.

“Cannabis has helped me maintain sobriety from alcohol, so it definitely has been medicinal and has helped me,” Esquibel said. “I know some people have mixed feelings about it, but I feel like I’d rather do (cannabis) than be blacked out. So, for me, it’s beneficial.”

Esquibel represents a growing trend among individuals who use marijuana recreationally but refrain from alcohol, calling themselves “California sober” or “Cali sober.”

“The term emphasizes moderation and mindful use,” according to Yale psychiatrist Mark S. Gold, who noted in a recent Psychology Today article that alcohol use is rapidly declining among health-conscious Gen Zers and younger millennials.

When it comes to cannabis, Esquibel said she prefers the energizing effects of the sativa strain over indica, which tends to be more calming.

“I’m Sativa Diva, so I definitely prefer anything sativa dominant,” she said.

As her TikTok fame has grown, Esquibel has been invited to participate in low-rider shows from Los Angeles to Chicago. Although she loves traveling, she said New Mexico will always be her home.

Find Esquibel on TikTok, @viva_sativa_diva.

Angelo Padilla aka TMT Angelo

Before becoming the social media sensation known as TMT Angelo, Angelo Padilla was an event photographer.

“I started out doing photography here in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Then, I ended up photographing some rappers who came into town,” he said.

By a stroke of luck, Padilla became rapper Wiz Khalifa’s official photographer, and later toured with and photographed Snoop Dogg.

“From that, I ended up growing on YouTube. Then, I ended up moving into a content house in Las Vegas, Nevada, where I learned everything about social media, because I was with some pretty OG YouTubers,” Padilla said. “I started making my own content with them.”

According to a 2021 story in Harper’s Magazine, “content houses,” also known as “TikTok mansions” are “grotesquely lavish abodes where teens and early twentysomethings live and work together, trying to achieve viral fame on a variety of media platforms.”

Padilla said his particular content house had a positive social mission.

“We were helping a lot of homeless people change their lives,” he said. “We raised money and helped them get clean and start their lives again.”

Since returning to Albuquerque, Padilla has been focusing on finding humor in everyday life.

“Now I’m mostly doing couple content with my girlfriend — just funny little comedy skits, relatable to people in a relationship or a marriage,” he said.

One of Padilla’s videos shows him overreacting when his girlfriend fails to text back immediately. “She’s dead!” he sobs, tossing his flip-phone across the room and dramatically banging a pillow against his sofa.

Although the ideas behind these mini-skits may seem simple, Padilla said the challenge is to post new TikTok videos at least five times a day.

“I feel like it’s harder to do this than a nine-to-five job, just because you don’t stop,” he said. “You’re always thinking.”

Find Padilla on Instagram and YouTube, @tmtangelo.

3 ABQ TikTok influencers share their stories