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Newcastle Herald
Newcastle Herald
National
Laura Rumbel

Meet Rory from Maitland the TikTok sensation with 6.5m followers

Pictured, Rory Eliza with her dachshund Ollie at their family home at Maitland. Picture by Simone De Peak

Maitland's Rory Eliza has a TikTok following of 6.5million and is taking the social media world by storm.

The 20-year-old is living a unique life, from attending high school in Maitland and working a casual job at Macca's to becoming a full-time influencer.

Rory started off on Instagram with a singing account when she was 14, but now she is one of Australia's top 20 TikTok stars.

"I joked around to my dad, 'you watch dad I'm going to get famous,' but then for it to actually happen is crazy," she said.

What started as a hobby has now turned into a passion, and has allowed Rory to travel internationally for events, as well as represent brands such as Disney and McDonalds.

Rory, who is a natural in front of the camera, films singing content and comedic skits from her family home at Maitland.

"A lot of my ideas come from things in my life that actually happen, so it is quite relatable content," she said.

It wasn't until Rory was approached by Sydney-based talent agency, Born Bred Talent, that she actually considered a career as an influencer and said it was something that kind of just fell in her lap.

"When I was 15, I wanted to be a dental nurse," she said.

Earlier this year, Rory auditioned for The Voice Australia and got through to the blind auditions, but unfortunately no chairs were turned for her.

However, her performance on The Voice led to her now music manager David Caplice, discovering her talent.

Rory has since released a debut single, titled 'Young,' and she said recording the song and music video was quite an emotional day.

Rory Eliza's debut single Young

"I'm just picturing back to my 14-year-old self making the black screen singing videos to now having a music video and a song is so surreal," she said.

Rory said she just wants to keep producing more music.

"I've got a song that's going to be released very soon and I feel it's a very relatable song," she said.

Before lockdown, Rory said no one knew who she was and the millions of followers just felt like numbers to her.

"All of a sudden, I'm at the local shops and I have little kids screaming after me in the shops shouting my name, filming me from afar," she said.

Even Rory's dachshund Ollie has a TikTok following of 121.4 thousand, and she said people will approach her in public and ask to take photos with Ollie because they recognised him from TikTok.

"One time, this girl came up to Ollie and myself and asked to take a photo of Ollie. She had no idea who I was, but she knew who Ollie was," she said.

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