Tamsin Wong On Accidentally Becoming TikTok’s Funniest Luxury Creator
She’s been personally invited to stay at some of London’s most beautiful (read: expensive) hotels. She’s the face of a burgeoning private members’ club. She’s had some life experiences that surely only royalty (or at least very famous celebrities) have had; and in the hour that we spend at The Montague at the Gardens, at least three people shyly come over to say hello – Rhubarb is the five-year-old Cavapoo everyone wants to be around. And Tamsin? “Oh, I’m just the intern,” she quips.
At least, that’s what content creator and entrepreneur Tamsin Wong would have you believe. “On TikTok, I am Rhubarb’s intern – and my husband is my intern. I guess I’m obsessed with interns,” she jokes. Tamsin has amassed more than 600k followers on TikTok, largely through her series of comedy sketches featuring herself and often her dog Rhubarb. When we catch up on a chilly afternoon, she’s in the process of moving back to London (“Thank God, I’m a London girl through and through”), and she’s got plenty of plans for the year – from growing her online private members’ club to planning her wedding in Tuscany later this year.
From finance to TikTok fame
Tamsin’s path to becoming a content creator began with, well, a job she hated. “I hated finance and everything about it,” she says of her five-year stint as a relationship manager at a fintech company.
I have to take ownership of my own work and success.
Enter lockdown 2020, when the world discovered Zoom calls and baked copious amounts of banana bread, Tamsin found herself looking for a creative outlet. “At the time, everyone knew TikTok as the dancing app – I am much older than the average influencer and I was like I haven’t seen anyone doing any storytelling.”
Tamsin started documenting her process of making things out of resin and that began to gain some attention online. “When I started getting my first online hate and weird comments I thought – this is silly – so I started doing satirical skits and that’s when it really blew up. People were wondering – is she being serious or is she not? And that’s how it started.”
I never switch off ever, but I love it – if you don’t love it, it’s not worth doing this.
However, the process of moving from finance to content creation meant letting go of the structure of a 9 to 5 job. “The biggest difference is that there’s no manager telling me what to do, I have to take ownership of my own work and success.” And while people never believe her, Tamsin says she works ten times harder now than she ever did in finance. “I never switch off ever, but I love it. If you don’t love it, it’s not worth doing this.”
The foundations of The Rhubarb Society
Tamsin is also the founder of The Rhubarb Society, an online members club which brings together a community of people who share the same passion for art, film and culture. The society took shape after Tamsin realised that she didn’t like the parasocial nature of social media.
The Rhubarb Society was born out of a need to remember that social media is about being social.
With over 10k subscribers, and members from around the world including Indonesia, Sydney, Hong Kong and America, the society hosts book clubs, game nights and film discussions where people meet virtually to chat. “The Rhubarb Society was born out of a need to remember that social media is about being social – it’s not about comparing yourself to people online or making yourself feel bad – it’s about being able to meet other people and connect with a community with similar interests. That’s why we use it right?”
Learning to switch off
While Tamsin has created a career for herself that is entirely online – she does feel the need to get better at separating her social life from her real life. “Every time I feel like I’m just going to pick up my phone just for the sake of it, I start doing a jigsaw instead.” But for Tamsin, her profession has put her in a hugely privileged position of being paid to do something she actually enjoys. And while her family doesn’t quite fully understand what she does, they support it. “My dad is UK-born but fully Chinese and he was raised with very traditional Chinese parents. So while he doesn’t quite understand what exactly I do, he fully supports it. They still wonder if it’s a lot of dancing on the internet though…”
A future in reality TV?
Tamsin studied comparative literature and film at university, and she considers herself to be a serious film person (she’s got The Brutalist, Mickey 17 and Love Hurts on her list of films to catch this year). Naturally, it’s surprising that she’s also obsessed with reality TV. Last year, she was even one of the hosts at the Hayu FanFest in London where she got to meet and interview the stars of the Real Housewives (“They are all lovely”).
It makes sense that Tamsin is fully immersed in The Traitors fandom too.
It makes sense that Tamsin is fully immersed in The Traitors fandom too. “I would absolutely be a traitor. I think to be a good traitor you have to play into people’s stereotypes. If they see a small Asian woman, they will kind of assume that you’re not as switched on. So I would get people to trust me pretty easily.”
The next adventure
2025 is looking like an exciting year for Tamsin. She has plans for a London meet-up for The Rhubarb Society (perhaps a film screening – dog friendly of course) and is working on growing the club both in the UK and abroad.
She’s working on growing the club both in the UK and abroad.
Plus, she has a wedding to plan. “We’re getting married in Tuscany – but the plan is to drive down,” she says. “Loads of our friends have decided they want to drive too so we’ll go as a convoy across three days.”
Will Rhubarb be the ring bearer at the wedding? We’ll be scrolling soon to find out – in between jigsaw puzzles and TikTok dances of course.
Tamsin’s London Handbook:
From dog-friendly restaurants to gorgeous Valentine’s Day recommendations, here are some of Tamsin’s favourite London spots:
For Valentine’s Day: “Maison Francois – it’s dog friendly so I go all the time. If I wanted somewhere not low-key, but good food and quite romantic, there’s The Hero, Maida Vale – they do live jazz up on the top floor. So you go for a drink in the pub, up to the restaurant for dinner, and then to the top for music, which I think is really cool.”
For a night out: “Nolita Social is one of my favourite places. It’s in the basement Bulgari Hotel and it’s great for some people watching and a little bit of dancing. They have a live musician and a DJ on Fridays and Saturdays and it goes on until like two or three in the morning and it’s a fun, vibey place if you just want to see what the hell is going on in London.”
For a casual lunch: “C&R Cafe in Chinatown (low key, which I love) or Cocoro for Japanese food (well priced with a good vibe. Rhubarb tries to go in every time we walk past it).”
Favourite dog-friendly spot: “Charlie’s Mayfair (Rhubarb spent her fifth birthday here – roast chicken, sweet potato, and protein kibble.”
