Pastelitos, Safety and Fame: Meet Cathy Pedrayes – Miami’s favorite TikTok mom friend

Can babies drink water and what shouldn’t you post on social media? Miami native Cathy Pedrayes has the answers as “TikTok’s mom friend.”

Pedrayes is a social media star whose life tips, blue dress and pearls and perky voice-overs have endeared her to 2.4 million followers on TikTok and nearly 200,000 followers on Instagram, who go to the 34-year-old for her savvy advice.

The Miami Herald sat down with Pedrayes to talk all things TikTok, safety, family and Miami. Here’s what she had to say:

You’ve had quite the career before getting into this niche of informational safety and security posts. How did you find it and evolve it into being Miami’s TikTok’s mom friend?

When I was an environmental scientist, my job was to investigate properties for safety hazards, right?

When I became a QVC host that’s kind of when I got exposed to the cybersecurity element. My dad actually works for the village of Key Biscayne doing IT there, so I was always exposed to technology and computers and stuff like that.

But with experiences you start connecting dots and so being on national TV in 100 million homes, obviously 100 million people are not all fantastic, great people. You’re gonna have a couple of creepy people in there and that’s when I got exposed to “Oh my god, my data is being harvested here, published there.” That’s when I really started kind of connecting the dots between the safety that I did before and cybersecurity.

One of the things that makes you most iconic as TikTok’s mom friend is your blue dress and pearls. Where did the inspiration for it come from?

The last time before COVID that I had seen my grandma alive I went to her house and I got these pearls and these earrings.

I couldn’t visit her [during the early pandemic] and she was getting sicker. But luckily, she passed in the most amazing way: at home, not from COVID, not in pain.

I was thinking I want to incorporate her into what I’m posting, so that’s kind of how the blue dress came about; I thought it looks great with the pearls.

You focus primarily on internet safety and cybersecurity. How do you keep up with the rapidly changing landscape of those fields where everyday could mean a new safety tip?

I was traditionally trained in journalism… so I do a lot of Twitter combing and the kind of the techniques that journalists use, like Google Alerts and all of that. I spend a lot of time consuming media, and unlike people who are maybe reporting on a whole bunch of different topics, I just talk about one thing.

So, real talk here: Why is safety so important to you in the first place?

Safety is a big bag of topics, because everything is interconnected. We could even talk about education and how that relates to safety or mental health and politics, and all of these things relate back to safety.

I think in some ways having a baby has been kind of grounding in that regard because it’s taught me that I literally didn’t even know how to eat solid food until I was taught, right? So I kind of take that perspective to my content of, “Don’t assume anything: if you find it interesting, just post it.”

Speaking of interesting, has growing up in Miami affected how you think of safety?

I think one of my biggest fears when I first started driving or being in a car at all in Florida was driving into a canal and I think that is uniquely Miami.

These kinds of things I was just exposed to very, very early on. I took a first aid course at Miami Dade Community College. They had a really nice one, and that exposed me to a lot of first aid tips. That was kind of the first thing I had started posting that had gone viral.

Growing up in Miami in the 80s and 90s when things were hectic definitely taught my family a lot.

I also remember there was a nightclub – I don’t think it exists anymore, but it was called Azucar – and I saw a huge fight outside where it was bloody, and I’m like, “Guys, I have a first aid kit in my car!”

Were you the mom friend when you were younger?

Oh, yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

When I would go out to the clubs and stuff like that in downtown, I was always prepared because I was always the more responsible one. I was usually the designated driver to make sure that my friends would all get home safe and stuff, but also when they got back to my car I made sure that I had plastic baggies in case because people were often sick. We had water bottles and you know some beef jerky or something for a little protein.

And what about your best Miami tip?

If you go to Miami and don’t have a croqueta, pastelito or cafecito, I don’t know where you were but it wasn’t Miami.

So before we go, is there any piece of advice you’d give to anyone who wants to do what you do?

Post what you enjoy; doesn’t matter what. You never know how that information might be helpful to somebody.

I hope that my data has empowered people to feel like they have the knowledge to make the best decisions for their lives and for their families, their data and all of that.