phylicia hoo per GIVING ADVICE AND SHARING GOD THROUGH HUMOR ON SOCIAL MEDIA Story by Denise DuBois Phylicia Hooper is a 34-year-old social media personality who brings life lessons for women, including a powerful gospel message, in a fun, oftentimes hilarious, way. She was born and raised in Texas and loves to sing country music. She is also determined to overcome stereotypes about her childhood. Phylicia’s mother was a drug user and involved in prostitution. Her father has been in prison her entire life. She was raised by her grandmother, who Phylicia said did the best she could. She knew from an early age that she would break generational curses. “I did not want to follow in the footsteps of my mother and father,” she said. “I made a conscious decision at a young age that I would just be different and do the best I can in life and use the gifts God has given me to break the cycle.” As a Christian woman, she has a positive outlook on her life and wants to use the doors God has opened for her to spread His word and make people laugh at the same time. She has more than 8,000 followers on Instagram and more than 286,000 followers on Tiktok. Find her across social media platforms @phyliciadshea. Her Top Five Thanksgiving Rules in the Southern Household video went viral. Now, she talks to Magnolia and Moonshine about her social media life and the content she releases. Q: What made you begin to release content on social media platforms? A: When Covid started, it forced a lot of us to sit with ourselves. I know I had all these different talents, and I wanted to utilize all of them. TikTok became such a great outlet for that. I think it’s a wonderful platform for creators. It allowed me to showcase everything I had – to be brave and put myself out there. I literally use it as a virtual resume for myself and pray that one day God is going to open the door from those videos, from me singing, or whatever it is. A lot of people tell me or have told me “You should just pick something.” I can sing. I can act. I can speak. I do makeup. People try to tell me to pick something and focus on that. I told my pastor if God gave me all of these gifts, He wants me to use every last one of them. So, whatever I can do with each and every gift I have, I want to do that. You don’t have to pick. God created each of us unique. Some people may have one or two talents. Some people may have fifteen. Use them all. God says in His word your gifts will make room for you, so I started to believe that. I put myself out there. I’ve gone viral several times now and have been posted on different celebrity pages. It’s such a blessing to me because all of my life I’ve never really felt seen or heard. Sometimes I still feel that way because I’m still waiting for God to open the door that will lead to success in what I truly desire to do. Those desires have changed. I used to just want to be famous and be a household
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Phylicia Hooper has more than 8,000 followers on Instagram and more than 286,000 followers on Tiktok. She shares advice through humor. name. I would still love that because I have a lot of things I want to do for people, but now I want to do it for the Lord. I no longer desire to be the next Beyoncé. I just desire to be a great Christian influencer who does all these things in the name of Jesus. My joy is literally to make people laugh. If I can make people laugh, that is the joy of my heart. People will message me and say they were having a horrible day. “I saw this video, and I’ve been laughing for 10 minutes.” That is a privilege and an honor for me to put that out and pour into people in that way. I’m so grateful and cannot let anyone stop me from continuing to do that. I think it’s great to laugh. I think there are too many uptight Christians, and laughter is good. I feel like Jesus laughs at a lot of things I do. Q: You address Christian girls in a humorous way. How do you come up with that content and is it from daily life or conversations with friends? A: Sometimes I literally sit down, cut the camera on, and see what I come up with. I rarely have something planned and thought out. I get an
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