Thirty-four-year-old Erin Dugan Jurchak, of Exeter, prepares to set up her cellphone to record her latest TikTok video. Jurchak currently has nearly 280,000 followers on the app.
                                 Tony Callaio | For Times Leader

Thirty-four-year-old Erin Dugan Jurchak, of Exeter, prepares to set up her cellphone to record her latest TikTok video. Jurchak currently has nearly 280,000 followers on the app.

Tony Callaio | For Times Leader

Tired of ads? Subscribers enjoy a distraction-free reading experience.
Click here to subscribe today or Login.
<p>Erin Dugan Jurchak sits at her make up table in a makeshift studio in her dining room as she prepares for her next TikTok post.</p>
                                 <p>Tony Callaio | For Times Leader</p>

Erin Dugan Jurchak sits at her make up table in a makeshift studio in her dining room as she prepares for her next TikTok post.

Tony Callaio | For Times Leader

<p>Erin Dugan Jerchak utilizes her years in broadcasting and her pure joy of make up to make video content for TikTok. Since April, she has accumulated over 4.5 million likes on the app.</p>
                                 <p>Tony Callaio | For Times Leader</p>

Erin Dugan Jerchak utilizes her years in broadcasting and her pure joy of make up to make video content for TikTok. Since April, she has accumulated over 4.5 million likes on the app.

Tony Callaio | For Times Leader

<p>Erin Dugan Jurchak displays a pair of her favorite go-to lashes from Taylored Lashes.</p>
                                 <p>Tony Callaio | For Times Leader</p>

Erin Dugan Jurchak displays a pair of her favorite go-to lashes from Taylored Lashes.

Tony Callaio | For Times Leader

<p>Erin Dugan Jurchak displays her analytic page indicating how many video views she had and her current followers on the app Tik Tok.</p>
                                 <p>Tony Callaio | For Times Leader</p>

Erin Dugan Jurchak displays her analytic page indicating how many video views she had and her current followers on the app Tik Tok.

Tony Callaio | For Times Leader

EXETER – Erin Dugan Jurchak is no stranger in local media. She’s been a successful sports reporter, anchor and producer for two local TV affiliates, and last year she became an in-game host and emcee for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.

These days during the pandemic, she has been busy conquering social media.

The Nanticoke native – now residing in Exeter with her husband Josh and toddler son Alex – has turned her attention to the social media app TikTok, and she’s taking it by storm.

Jurchak, 34, has been giving tips on make up daily on what many would say is the most popular phone application in the world today, TikTok.

Her popularity has grown in leaps on bounds since joining the TikTok revolution in April 2020. Currently, she has over 275,600 followers worldwide while receiving 4.5 million likes. As of Oct. 15, over the previous seven days, she had 4.3 million video views and 14 million views over the month.

Prior to her start as a social media sensation, Jurchak, left her broadcasting career to work at Special Guest, a talent-booking agency based in Wilkes-Barre, where she worked as an assistant director of talent buying.

“I worked there through my pregnancy, and they were good to me,” Jurchak said, speaking of Special Guest. “I had clients all over the country, and they would come to me and tell me what their entertainment needs, and I would work out the details and make their entertainment dreams come true. It was really cool.”

With an infant at home, Jurchak found it harder to work the full-time hours needed to do a good job while at Special Guest, so she ended up leaving.

“I got to a certain point where I said I needed to be with my son,” she admitted.

Eventually, she found her way back into the workforce in a part-time capacity as an in-game host and emcee with the Penguins.

“Alex was going to bed at seven o’clock, I still had the chance to work in sports, which is what I love, be in entertainment and be an emcee,” Jurchak said, of her desire to work. “I still got to spend every day with him.”

When the Penguins’ season was shutdown due to the pandemic this past March, Jurchak was in the need to keep her broadcast abilities fresh, so she turned to TikTok.

“I was bored and it was just me and Alex all day and I needed something for me to keep up my skills,” Jurchak explained. “I joined TikTok and got to know it a little bit, and I had the editing and shooting skills from TV, and I always did my hair and make up, so I started sharing little tips on hair or eyelashes.”

Jurchak experimented in previous years by putting out a beauty tip blog that came in hand for her TikTok posts.

Although she’s not a trained make up artist, Jurchak is the daughter of a certified cosmetologist.

“I’m not a professional cosmetologist, but my mom is,” she quipped. “I grew up in her shop, that’s were I got my love for this.”

TikTok is a platform to share brief videos where Jurchak said it’s a great platform because the average attention span is short.

“If your video is engaging and it’s good, it will keep being sent out to more and more and more people, and that’s how I have at least 10 of my videos got to a few million views,” Jurchak said “When things go viral and your viewer count gets higher and higher, that starts to attract sponsors.”

Cosmetic companies such as Revlon, Urban Decay and Taylored Lashes are noticing Jurchak as well and many send her free products to use in her videos.

“I’m constantly getting offers from companies to promote stuff, but I’m very selective.” Jurchak said. “I want to stay authentic and I don’t want to push something I don’t love or wouldn’t use myself.”

She added, “Urban Decay is one of my favorite brands and it’s really cool,” Jurchak said. “I’m so glad that I’ve been able to make something out of this crazy pandemic.”

Jurchak is a part of the TikTok Creator Fund and gets paid from the Internet app company as an incentive to create more content for TikTok.

Even though Jurchak has been making money from her TikTok views, she would love to parlay this hobby into a full-time job.

“For sure, down the line, for sure,” Jurchak, said on making TikTok a full-time career. “That’s what I’m really hoping for. Right now, it’s not full-time stability where it’s a full-income salary, but things are starting to really take off, and I’m feeling this is right before things start going really well.”

Jurchak is not afraid of coming up empty on videos to post, she has several dozen ideas she’s logged on her phone for future broadcasts.

“I lay in bed at night and open my notes app and I write down 10 ideas,” Jurchak admitted. “My brain is constantly overflowing with ideas. When you’re passionate about something it just comes to me.”

Jurchak tries to upload one video a day or more and recently she posted a series called “10-Days of Easy Halloween Make Up” tutorials that has gotten the attention of millions.

She received a call from the producers of The Drew Barrymore Show on her Halloween series to make an appearance on the show. Jurchak is waiting to hear back from the show to see if both she and the producers can make it happen. The show is aired locally at 2 p.m. weekdays on WBRE-TV.

“It’s neat and I love connecting with people, especially moms,” Jurchak said. “There are a lot of moms on TikTok who joined during the pandemic and needed something to do. I get messages from moms telling me they haven’t done their make up in 10 years and because of me they went out and got lipstick or they curled their hair for the first time and they felt good. I feel like I’m giving people more confidence. I love it.”

Jurchak’s TikTok posts can be found at https://tinyurl.com/yxlnr5ry.

For now, Jurchak said she will take care of her family, get through the pandemic, and keep working on her TikTok posts, “The sky is the limit.”