Dadarian Mihalalalalakis ’27
It’s taken barely any time for the TikTok career of Michael DiMonte’s ’25 to take off to the point where random strangers are recognizing him at Wawa. His TikTok channel has already garnered an impressive follower count, and he’s had to consider wearing disguises to avoid the relentless paparazzi. To be honest, it’s not really a surprise, his humor and ingenuity have easily carried over to his TikTok career, propelling him to global stardom.
The story of how DiMonte realized that he was becoming a global superstar started in an ordinary Wawa. “I was in a Wawa, and someone came up and asked me if I did ‘would a movie be better if it was set in Pennsylvania’ videos,” he explains. “I got really scared, but now it’s just life. Now I have to go outside wearing a hat and sunglasses, I always have to keep a Sharpie on me.” The constant requests for autographs and pictures may force DiMonte to obtain an even more elaborate disguise. Elvin Lin ’26 suggests that he wears “a mask or gets plastic surgery,” to avoid the privacy intrusions, a measure that could become necessary once the tabloids inevitably start digging up dirt on the innocent TikToker. Lius Vasiliadis ’27 suggests that DiMonte hires bodyguards. “Two bodyguards would be perfect,” he says. “If you want a selfie you’d have to get past both of them. I’d even volunteer to help guard him.
What is perhaps most impressive about Dimonte’s rise is how fast it has happened. “I locked in and started seriously making content on December 14th, 2024,” says DiMonte. “I’d posted before then, but I took all my videos down because it was just random stuff I would do.” His follower count has seen a steady rise since then, with 3,000 already following and he’s even amassed over 100,000 views on multiple videos.
Originally, DiMonte started posting in order to earn some money. “My first thought was money. I wanted to get to 10k to start making money but then when I started doing it, it really switched. Because I was doing film content, other filmmakers were reaching out to me and so I was able to network with a lot of really cool people. They’d reach out and be from Bucks or Delaware County and making movies and that was really cool.”
DiMonte focuses on Pennsylvania film content. Oftentimes he’ll just talk about a movie. His most famous series, though, is his “Would a movie be better” series which has contributed to a majority of his followers. The series mostly revolves around analyzing movies and whether they’d be better if they were set in Pennsylvania. “I started that because I thought it was funny, and I pitched it to my mom, but she said it was a terrible idea, so I wasn’t going to do it. But then I did it anyway and it paid off.” It is that series that has caused frenzied mobs to try to find DiMonte at their local Wawas.
Unfortunately, the potential TikTok ban looms large over DiMonte’s content. Perhaps a result of lobbying from jealous rival creators, the ban threatens to derail his career. DiMonte has a plan, however. “We had a brief moment where we moved entirely to Instagram, but then we decided that it wasn’t good to leave behind our 3,000 disciples. That one [his Instagram account] only has 200 followers, and I don’t really post as much on it. If TikTok does get banned and I have to move to Instagram, it’s not the end of the world.” You can follow Michael on TikTok at @itsmikedimo.
The popularity of his TikTok videos has also helped DiMonte’s work on a movie. “I made a documentary a couple of years ago, but I want to make another movie, and so I’ve been using TikTok to meet people who can help or want to be a part of it. A big part of that is crowdfunding. I’m trying to raise five to ten thousand to make the movie and so being able to have this viewership really helps.” The movie will take place during COVID and revolve around a filmmaker who’s making a movie by himself. “I felt that during COVID, a lot of people started getting into creative pursuits and hobbies that they wouldn’t have time for otherwise. The movie explores how people may not have stuck with these hobbies once they had to go back to work as there’s a lot of time consumed by these responsibilities.”
Despite his newfound stardom, DiMonte continues to try to live a normal life. Although he’s been besieged by abnormal numbers of requests for cell phone numbers, he’s continued to stay in school, go to Wawa, and even resisted the urge to start selling “DiMonte Chocolate,” or some other influencer product.
Photo courtesy of @itsmikedimo