Mercury Stardust (born December 8, 1987) is an American author,

TikTok TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...

er,

transgender A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...

activist,

burlesque A burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects.

performer, and

home repair Home repair involves the diagnosis and resolution of problems in a home, and is related to home maintenance to avoid such problems. Many types of repairs are "do it yourself" (DIY) projects, while others may be so complicated, time-consuming ...

educator. Known on TikTok as the "Trans Handy Ma'am", she provides advice on DIY home repair.

Life

Stardust grew up on a

farm A farm (also called an agricultural holding) is an area of land that is devoted primarily to agricultural processes with the primary objective of producing food and other crops; it is the basic facility in food production. The name is used fo ...

in northern

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

, where she learned maintenance skills from her father, a

truck driver A truck driver (commonly referred to as a trucker, teamster or driver in the United States and Canada; a truckie in Australia and New Zealand; an HGV driver in the United Kingdom, Ireland and the European Union, a lorry driver, or driver in ...

and

farmworker A farmworker, farmhand or agricultural worker is someone employed for labor in agriculture. In labor law, the term "farmworker" is sometimes used more narrowly, applying only to a hired worker involved in agricultural production, including har ...

. In college, she studied

theater Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The performers may communi ...

and became a

cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, casino, hotel, restaurant, or nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or drinking, ...

performer. Stardust took an

internship An internship is a period of work experience offered by an organization for a limited period of time. Once confined to medical graduates, internship is used to practice for a wide range of placements in businesses, non-profit organizations and g ...

as a maintenance technician at the age of 19, while traveling and performing in

gay bar A gay bar is a Bar (establishment), drinking establishment that caters to an exclusively or predominantly lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer (LGBTQ+) clientele; the term ''gay'' is used as a broadly inclusive concept for LGBTQ+ communi ...

s on weekends. In 2015, Stardust founded the Wisconsin Burlesque Association. Stardust chose her name in 2014. She came out as a

trans woman A trans woman or transgender woman is a woman who was assigned male at birth. Trans women have a female gender identity and may experience gender dysphoria (distress brought upon by the discrepancy between a person's gender identity and their ...

in 2019. Her spouse, Ari, is

non-binary Non-binary or genderqueer Gender identity, gender identities are those that are outside the male/female gender binary. Non-binary identities often fall under the transgender umbrella since non-binary people typically identify with a gende ...

Career

Stardust began posting on

in March 2021. Initially using the platform to promote her weekly

burlesque A burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects.

show in

Madison Madison may refer to: People * Madison (name), a given name and a surname * James Madison (1751–1836), fourth president of the United States * Madison (footballer), Brazilian footballer Places in the United States Populated places * Madi ...

, she shifted her focus after going

viral The word ''Viral'' means "relating to viruses" (small infectious agents). It may also refer to: Viral behavior, or virality Memetic behavior likened that of a virus, for example: * Viral marketing, the use of existing social networks to spre ...

in April 2021 for a video explaining how to use a ratchet strap. Her content largely focuses on

and DIY solutions to common household problems, earning her the nickname "Trans Handy Ma'am". She reached one million followers by July 2021 and 1.5 million by February 2022, at which point online content creation became her full time job. As of September 2023, Stardust had over two million followers. She received the 2021 Trans* Activist of the Year award from the OutReach LGBTQ Community Center. In March 2022, Stardust hosted the first TikTok-a-Thon for Trans Healthcare, coinciding with

International Transgender Day of Visibility International Transgender Day of Visibility, often simply Trans Day of Visibility (often shortened online as TDOV), is an annual event dedicated to celebrating transgender people raising awareness of discrimination faced by transgender people, ...

, during which she raised more than $120,000 for Plume, an organization which funds

gender-affirming care Transgender health care includes the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of physical and mental health conditions which affect transgender individuals.Gorton N, Grubb HM (2014). General, Sexual, and Reproductive health. In L. Erickson-Schroth. ...

. During the event's second iteration in March 2023, she co-hosted a 30-hour

livestream Livestreaming, live-streaming, or live streaming is the streaming media, streaming of video or Digital audio, audio in real-time communication, real time or near real time. While often referred to simply as ''streaming'', the real-time nature ...

on both TikTok and

Twitch Twitch may refer to: Biology * Muscle contraction ** Convulsion, rapid and repeated muscle contraction and relaxation ** Fasciculation, a small, local, involuntary muscle contraction ** Myoclonic twitch, a jerk usually caused by sudden muscle c ...

to raise money for Point of Pride, another organization which funds gender-affirming care for transgender individuals. Guests for the event included

V Spehar Vitus Spehar, better known as V Spehar, is an American journalist and podcast host best known for their TikTok account, UnderTheDeskNews. Career Before entering journalism, Spehar worked in the culinary and hospitality industries in New York ...

. The livestream raised over $100,000 in its first hour and $1 million in its first six hours. In total the event raised over $2 million. In March 2024, the event's third iteration aimed to raised $4 million for Point of Pride, with appearances from guests including Ve'ondre Mitchell and Dylan Mulvaney. However, within the first ten hours of the event, Stardust's and co-host Jory (Alluring Skull)'s TikTok accounts were banned nine times due to mass reporting from

trolls A troll is a being in Nordic folklore, including Norse mythology. In Old Norse sources, beings described as trolls dwell in isolated areas of rocks, mountains, or caves, live together in small family units, and are rarely helpful to human be ...

, resulting in multiple interruptions. Since November 2022, Stardust has hosted the

podcast A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...

''Handy Ma'am Hotline'', where she discusses home maintenance. In April 2023, Stardust announced that she had authored a book, ''Safe and Sound: A Renter-Friendly Guide to Home Repair'', set to be published on August 29, 2023 by

Penguin Random House Penguin Random House Limited is a British-American multinational corporation, multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate publishing company formed on July 1, 2013, with the merger of Penguin Books and Random House. Penguin Books was or ...

. Within a few days of its presale, the book became a #1

bestseller A bestseller is a book or other media noted for its top selling status, with bestseller lists published by newspapers, magazines, and book store chains. Some lists are broken down into classifications and specialties (novel, nonfiction book, cookb ...

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...

's Home Repair category. In August 2023, the book became a ''New York Times'' Best Seller. Stardust went on a 52-city

book tour A book is a structured presentation of recorded information, primarily verbal and graphical, through a medium. Originally physical, electronic books and audiobooks are now existent. Physical books are objects that contain printed material, mo ...

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

in fall 2023.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Stardust, Mercury 1987 births Living people 21st-century American LGBTQ people 21st-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American women writers Activists from Wisconsin American transgender writers American transgender entertainers American transgender women American TikTokers American women non-fiction writers Burlesque performers Entertainers from Wisconsin LGBTQ people from Wisconsin LGBTQ TikTokers People from Madison, Wisconsin Transgender rights activists Transgender women entertainers Transgender women writers Writers from Wisconsin