For this week’s Deep Dive Series, we are interviewing a talented and entertaining Clapper creator: @Handy.Mandy.

@Handy.Mandy is a comedian and performer on Clapper. In this Deep Dive interview, she told us about what comedy meant to her and her journey as a verified creator on the platform. On Clapper, her content revolves mostly around comedy skits and spreading positivity and optimism to her community. Her new radio show “Underdog Spotlight” happens every Wednesday at 10am Ct and it helps shine a light to the smaller creators of the platform.

Keep reading this Deep Dive Series to find out more about this creator’s amazing story. Make sure to tune in every Thursday at 5pm CT on our @Clappertalks account, to listen to the bonus questions that will only be available on our live radio show: Clapper Interviews.

Enjoy this deep dive on @Handy.Mandy

Tell us a little bit about yourself. What does a day look like in your life?

I wake up at 6 am in the morning then I start creating career guides and tutorials for an e-commerce company called InstaCart which I dedicate my profession to. I take moments of my day to catch up with Clapper and maybe make a quick video. I’m off typically at 5:30. I go home, I cook dinner for 8 people and I make my kids wash the dishes while I go on Clapper.

We got to see your lovely daughters lipsync with you during your Holiday Bazaar performance. You’re such a cool mom! How do you balance content creation with family life?

It’s quite a balance, but balance is kind of my nature so I think that kind of plays for me. Plus, my kids are kind of older. My oldest is going to be 20 in March and she is getting ready to get a Clapper account. My youngest will be 14 in a couple of days. When they are off being teenagers and doing their devices, they leave me alone, so I find that time for myself, because when I am done with my full-time job, I am really done.

Your performance on the Holiday Bazaar was hilarious. We had so much fun, you clearly have a natural talent for making people smile. How did you get into comedy? 

I guess comedy you could say has always been part of my life, growing up with the family that I did, my uncles were very witty and sarcastic and my mother was very corny with her expressions. My dirty jokes, those are inspired by my friends truly. I listen to a lot of my friends’ stories and it was like that was a joke waiting to happen. I pull a lot of inspiration just from those corners. Comedy has always been part of my life and I have used it as a resource to help distress or declutter the mind.

Do you perform open mics? Have you ever considered performing your skits to a live audience?

I actually have never considered it, but I am always looking for new opportunities. I was never fully comfortable about exposing my personality because either people like it or they don’t. That’s cool people have different opinions, just as I do. But that’s a cool opportunity I’d be willing to try out an open mic.

In our last conversation with @BourneCraftingSmithing we talked a little bit about the Underdog Spotlight radio show. Can you tell us more about your experience with this collaboration? And what have you enjoyed most about this new show? 

For Underdog Spotlight I was kind of coming up with ideas for something new and find a way to give back to the Clapper community. I had a very small idea and I went to Bourne and together we helped grow the idea. We actually had another co-host that has been appearing since the first week, and that would be @SFXrobert and we are having a special co-host guest once a month that will be joining our panel and interview clapper creators that are under 3000 followers.

We noticed that you are officially verified. Congrats! How do you feel? How has been the journey to obtaining that blue check? 

My advice to anybody is simply always have fun. When you stop having fun you lose you shine. I will also tell them always be yourself because everyone else is taken. What I like about Clapper is that there is minimal filters and it causes a creator to be 100% themselves. Try to find something that you niche with and what it’s inspiring to you.

So, When did you join Clapper? How did your journey as a creator begin? 

So, I was pretty loyal at the TikTok community trying very hard and getting nowhere. I didn’t have a niche, I just had random content everywhere. That was my first mistake. One day, I received an Instagram message on February 2021 and it was a person I never heard of had invited me to Clapper. So, I went over to Clapper and downloaded it. I thought it seemed to be more authentic, like real people and noticed that there was a lot of positivity in comedy. Then I lurked in there before I started engaging with people.

In your Clapper shop, we noticed that you have created some amazing resin items like trays and stones. We particularly love the positivity key. Can you tell us more about it and when did you start making these pieces? 

So, the positivity key is not something I created, that is something that I bought quite a few of with the Clapper community in mind. It’s also a bottle opener and it has a tag that says key to my heart. In the back of the tag I always try to keep the same message going along with it that positivity and optimism is always the key to success and then I sign Handy Mandy along with a personalized note.

What do you enjoy most about Clapper? In what ways do you feel like Clapper needs improvement? 

I am going to try really hard not to get emotional. The people. The people are real and some of the best friends I’ve ever met in my life. I went through a really hard Christmas break and I had never seen a bunch of people show so much love than I have on Clapper.

We are always working on bugs but anyone who works with apps knows that’s just part of it. I don’t really have complains about bugs because that happens. I would have to say that maybe some tools suggestions would be specific creator analytics, I would love to be able to go to my dashboard and see what were my top 5 viewed videos and the the dynamic of the audience as well as the demographic.

What advice would you give new creators that want to be successful on Clapper? 

My advice would be never to quit on yourself. Never quit, when things seem bad that is the moment when something will happen for you. Remain positive in the hallway until one door opens for you. The moment you get negative you will never get to see those positive outcomes.

For our latest deep dive on @BourneCraftingSmithing, read here.