Today we’d like to introduce you to Mel Brazell and Becs Willes.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
We have been friends for over 15 years and have been laughing and playing games together for as long as we can remember! One day, Becs showed Mel a game (which we now called “mind meld”), and we ended up laughing so hard and having so much fun that we decided to record ourselves playing again for fun. Becs decided to post that video to TikTok and it went viral.
That specific video currently has over 4 million views. We thought it was so fun, that we posted a second video of us playing Mindmeld and now that video currently has over 18 million views. After that, together, we decided that we wanted to continue to create content together and we have had so much fun doing it!
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Although creating and posting content on social media together has been so incredibly fun, we have run into a couple of things we struggled with. First, we were very dedicated to creating and posting content consistently. For the first few months, we were posting 3 videos a day – which requires a lot of time filming and editing. With Becs starting hair school and Mel being a stay-at-home mom with two toddlers, we were having a hard time balancing it all and became burnt out. Second, we learned the hard way that when you gain a community of several thousand people, some of them are bound to not have the best intentions.
Unfortunately, we dealt with some manipulation and harassment. These things took a toll on both of our mental health and, together, we decided to take a step back from social media. However, after that break, we slowly came back and remembered how much we love playing games and creating content together! We still create content together, but we have learned to better have and keep our boundaries as well as prioritize each other and our separate lives.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
We create content for TikTok and Instagram. The type of content we post includes playing games, friendship content, and the occasional dancing videos. We are probably most known for having fun, laughing a lot, and our strong friendship.
The thing that we are probably most proud of is how we have stayed authentic to who we are in every one of our videos! The moment we start feeling like we need to “act” for the camera, that’s when we know it’s time to stop. We think what sets us apart from other TikTok creators is that there are two of us, we only post wholesome and fun content, and the fact that we’ve been able to stay authentic to who we are.
What do you like and dislike about the city?
We both love being so close to such beautiful mountains plus the feeling of “home” that Utah County has for us. We both very much dislike how crowded it’s become over the past 15 years – brings way too much traffic for our comfort haha.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: instagram.com/@becs.mel
- Other: tiktok.com/@becs.mel
