Mercury Stardust | |
|---|---|
| Born | December 8, 1987 |
| Other names | "Trans Handy Ma'am" |
| Occupation(s) | Home repair educator, TikToker, activist, burlesque performer |
| Years active | 2021–present |
TikTok information | |
| Page | |
| Followers | 2.6 million |
| Likes | 79.4 million |
Last updated: April 3, 2025 | |
| Website | mercurystardust |
Mercury Stardust (born December 8, 1987) [1] is an American author, TikToker, transgender activist, burlesque performer, and home repair educator. [2] Known on TikTok as the "Trans Handy Ma'am", she provides advice on DIY home repair. [2]
Stardust grew up on a farm in northern Wisconsin, where she learned maintenance skills from her father, a truck driver and farmworker. [3] [4] In college, she studied theater and became a cabaret performer. [3] Stardust took an internship as a maintenance technician at the age of 19, while traveling and performing in gay bars on weekends. [5] In 2015, Stardust founded the Wisconsin Burlesque Association. [6]
Stardust chose her name in 2014. [3] She came out as a trans woman in 2019. [4] Her spouse, Ari, is non-binary. [3]
Stardust began posting on TikTok in March 2021. [2] Initially using the platform to promote her weekly burlesque show in Madison, she shifted her focus after going viral in April 2021 for a video explaining how to use a ratchet strap. [4] Her content largely focuses on home repair and DIY solutions to common household problems, earning her the nickname "Trans Handy Ma'am". [2] She reached one million followers by July 2021 [5] and 1.5 million by February 2022, at which point online content creation became her full time job. [5] As of September 2023, Stardust had over two million followers. [7] She received the 2021 Trans* Activist of the Year award from the OutReach LGBTQ Community Center. [8]
In March 2022, Stardust hosted the first TikTok-a-Thon for Trans Healthcare, coinciding with International Transgender Day of Visibility, during which she raised more than $120,000 for Plume, an organization which funds gender-affirming care. [9] [10] During the event's second iteration in March 2023, she co-hosted a 30-hour livestream on both TikTok and Twitch to raise money for Point of Pride, another organization which funds gender-affirming care for transgender individuals. [11] [12] Guests for the event included V Spehar. [9] The livestream raised over $100,000 in its first hour and $1 million in its first six hours. [9] In total the event raised over $2 million. [12] [13] 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. [14] [15] 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, resulting in multiple interruptions. [15]
Since November 2022, Stardust has hosted the podcast Handy Ma'am Hotline, where she discusses home maintenance. [16] 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. [2] Within a few days of its presale, the book became a #1 bestseller in Amazon's Home Repair category. [2] In August 2023, the book became a New York Times Best Seller. Stardust went on a 52-city book tour in the United States in fall 2023. [17]