April 23, 2021

Privacy in Action: Cathy Pedrayes, TV host, Safety and Security Expert

Cathy Pedrayes is a national TV host, CEO of the Blue Dress and Pearls, and TikTok’s safety and security expert.

Cathy Pedrayes is best known as TikTok’s ‘Mom Friend.’ She developed the reputation after sharing a video about the random items she keeps in her first aid kit which prepares her for everything from eye punctures to diabetic emergencies. With her signature blue dress and pearls, Cathy’s content includes safety life hacks, such as how sleeping with a door closed can save a life and go-to lies for awkward situations. One of our favorite videos is probably the one where she talks about the danger of default settings.

You can follow her on TikTok and all her social media channels.

Interview with Cathy Pedrayes

Startpage: One a scale of 1 to 10, how private are you?

Cathy Pedrayes: I have 1.5 million followers on social media so I think the highest I can rate myself is a 3.

Startpage: Why is privacy important to you? In your personal life and professional?

Cathy Pedrayes: It’s about controlling what information is public. I can choose what I share in person or what I post on social media, but I don’t get to choose what third parties are mining about me and sharing with anyone who cares enough to do a web search. It’s about safety and it’s a fundamental human right.   

Startpage: What measures do you take to protect your personal information online and offline?

Cathy Pedrayes: Unfortunately, more than I should have to. I do the basics of shredding the mail and securing personal documents but online is the greatest risk. I have services that are supposed to scrape the internet for information but they’re not great, I regularly conduct searches for my details online, I have a credit monitoring service, a password manager, a VPN and I follow all the best practices for not clicking on links, downloading random apps, etc.

Startpage: What prompted you to start posting safety tips on social media?

Cathy Pedrayes: It wasn’t intentional. I’ve always been the mom friend of the group, but I didn’t know it. TikTok figured that out for me an gave me the label. It started with the Random Things trend. I posted about the random things I think about when I park my car and it got 10 million views in about a day or two. It took me a while to figure out that video did well because of the focus on safety, but once I figured it out, I stuck to my niche. I thought I’d run out of ideas, but 6 months later I’m still posting about safety 6 days a week and daily on my IG stories.

I think I’m uniquely positioned to talk post about it because I grew up in Miami and NYC where it was ingrained for me to be careful when I’m out in public but also I worked on national TV. I was a host on a network and my colleagues had stalkers show up at their homes, threaten them, one case ended up on national news and the FBI got involved. It made me hyper aware of not only what information is online about us but also how something as simple as having a personalized door mat may give away more details about your home than you’d like.

Someone may read this and think it makes sense that someone so public may have greater risks, but what about the journalist? Anyone on social media? Anyone who plays competitive sports? No matter who you are, many aspects of our lives or careers make us public and developing good safety habits should be second nature.

Startpage: What’s the number one thing you want folks to take away from your videos?

Cathy Pedrayes: The only purpose behind my videos is awareness. The idea is to teach people simple ways to calculate risk so they can have better control over what they share and with whom. Whether it’s scams or how to be prepared with lies for awkward conversations – it’s all about awareness. Ultimately, you decide what’s important and what’s not, I’m only a source.

Startpage: Do you use any privacy tools? If so, what are your favorite privacy tools?

Cathy Pedrayes:

  • Search Engine – I’ve recently started using StartPage but I’ll also use Google Maps.
  • Browser – Firefox is the best, but I also use Chrome and Safari depending on what I’m doing. 
  • Email – Gmail & Outlook.
  • Messaging – I still use WhatsApp or Facebook messenger.
  • VPN- Nord
  • Password Manager- Keeper Security in addition to the built-in password managers. 

Startpage: What type of information do you never share online? IRL?

Cathy Pedrayes: The most valuable data, which is banking info, social security, IDs, etc. That’s in the “never share” pile.

Startpage: What Big Tech company knows you best?

Cathy Pedrayes: They probably all do, but I’d say TikTok knows me the least because they’re algorithm is way too targeted.

Startpage: Would you rather, share your search history or wear the blue dress every single day for 1 month?

Cathy Pedrayes: Either one. My search history is mainly blue dress content research and email. The blue dress, I wear it almost every day. I actually have 4 of them, 3 are identical!


Privacy in Action is a series of interviews with privacy-minded Startpage users from diverse backgrounds. If you are interested in participating in the Privacy in Action or would like to nominate someone to be interviewed by us, reach out to us at [email protected].

The views expressed in this Q&A are those of the interviewee and do not necessarily reflect those of Startpage.

 

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