18-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Magazine
Tefi Pessoa: TIME100 Creators 2025
Tefi Pessoa is on Drew Barrymore's couch. She's making TikToks with Barack Obama. She's on the red carpet, interviewing Sarah Jessica Parker. She's doling out wisdom in her new advice column for the Cut , and soon she'll be yapping on her first podcast, Tefi Talks . Known online as @hellotefi, Estefanía Vanegas Pessoa is the internet's big sister—a title that's been a long time coming. In 2020, after her YouTube talk show, Tefi , was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Brazilian and Colombian American creator began posting unused clips—ranging from analyses of Robert Pattinson's 'golden ratio' to odes to pubic hair—on TikTok. 'Being online has helped heal something in me where I thought I had to ask permission or have certain accolades,' says Pessoa, 34, who also uses her platform to react to news events. Now, with 1.9 million followers on TikTok and 400,000 on Instagram, she says she still thinks of a post that gets more than 11 likes as a success—a nod to Instagram's simpler early days. For Pessoa, it's not about the numbers; it's about taking up space and giving others the freedom to do the same.
