Just three months ago the ladies who make up the Cheerful Company - Avril Carrington, Keisha Punter (KP), Shanelle Felix (Shinzy Poo) and Jewel Sifontes- recorded and uploaded their first video together on TikTok.
“So about 12 years back where I would have met Keisha, I was assigned to supervise Keisha...I met Jewel in church as my neighbour and then I met Shanelle through Keisha on TikTok,” Carrington explained.
While the members already had a following on social media and were no strangers to the limelight, Punter said their decision to try the trending alphabet challenge they saw on the App took their popularity to another level.
“It was Eid-ul-Fitr, the holiday and Shinzy Poo, Avril and myself we were getting ready to do an alphabet challenge at the time, not the flour challenge, and Jewel came across, because she does come for food, so she just randomly came across and I was like, ‘Jewel go for a jersey and let we do a video’ and the first video we post it, it blew up and we realise people like it,” Punter explained.
Indeed they did, and with the incorporation of dipping their heads in flour if they answered incorrectly, almost all the videos the group uploaded went viral in no time.
Each member has over 50 thousand followers on TikTok, and Punter whose account the challenges were posted on has over 200, 000 followers. The first three videos on her page were posted in April and by May had over nine million views and counting.
“A lot of people are reaching out to us for collaborations and we are trying to understand the business aspect of Cheerful Company, so we are being guided accordingly,” Felix said during an interview with Guardian Media on Wednesday where some reporters and other staff members had a laugh as they took part in the alphabet challenge with the ladies.
In June, the three members of the group visited a preschool in New York and interacted with the children there. Less than three weeks later, a billboard about the Cheerful Company appeared in Times Square, New York City.
Carrington, Felix and Punter shared the experience with Sifontes on the phone. They explained a fan placed the ad in Times Square saying that the ladies made them happy so they wanted to return the favour.
All four members - KP, Avril, Jewel and Shinzy Poo - explained their aim is to spread some cheer around the country and now the world.
“I am accustomed to making people laugh. But knowing that the world outside getting the same, that people closer to me getting it does feel good. Actually to know that it’s not only my friends who know about my joy,” Sifontes expressed.
“I think it is the comments that propel us to continue because I think after the fifth video we were like we were done but in reading the comments people waiting for part two, part three, it keeps us going, so as much as they appreciate us, we appreciate them as well,” Felix added.
The women said they were pleased to know entertainers like Lyrikal and Vybz Kartel have also recognised their content.
As they continue to bring “good vibes and good energy,” the women said they have other ideas to spread joy, such as visiting an elderly home and incorporating God in their challenges. They said God is the glue that keeps them together.