Singing Telegrams: One woman’s side hustle

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (KFVS) - A southeast Missouri woman has taken the internet by storm through the art of song.

Joy Brooker has a full-time job, but on the side, she sings to strangers for pay.

“I think I’m really happy I found something I enjoy doing that doesn’t feel like work and is a supplemental source of income, but also genuinely amusing to me and everybody else as well,” said Brooker.

Countless videos on her TikTok @thejoybrookershow capture moments of surprise across the faces of unsuspecting recipients of her songs.

A recent video during Valentine’s season has more than 35 million views on TikTok.

Currently, Brooker has more than 420,000 TikTok followers; and since she’s gained so much online attention, she’s busier than ever.

“I was at work when it started happening,” said Brooker. “I posted it because I do these on my lunch break, cause I’m crazy, and I just got the notification that my video had reached a million views in an hour and I was like, ‘oh boy,’ haha, you know.”

Brooker said she just woke up one day and wanted to perform for people.

“Yeah, I don’t even know how to make heads or tails of it,” said Brooker. “I mean, it was just one of those like moments where I had a light bulb come on and was like this makes so much sense for my personality.”

Brooker performs year-round, so there is plenty of time to set-up a fun telegram for your loved ones.

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