Year in Review | Arts & Culture

beth Gomez (@juannarumbel), a comedian and storyteller who initially discovered TikTok through her cosplaying teen. “What really kept me going was the diversity; there were people from all sorts of ages, people from all sorts of backgrounds, religious, ethnic, and I don’t have that kind of access with Instagram or Facebook.”

Gomez, also one of the founding members of the Windy City Rollers, put on her skates for the first time in years, and combined roller skating (an activity that was trending on TikTok early in the pandemic), comedy, and her extensive wig collection to bring joy to herself and her friends. Something struck a chord beyond that, and soon her videos were hitting thousands of views, her mostwatched clip with more than 500,000. And along the way she’s discovered a new way to hone and present her craft.

“At this point, I feel like this is my performance,” Gomez says. “I have a lot of fun doing it, I can do it on my own time, I’m not at a bar getting drunk till two o’clock in the morning and eating way too many chicken wings. I’m 46 at this point so it fits my lifestyle, it fits my abilities.”