At the time, 19-year-old Nikki Thot was already making waves as a popular South Sudanese-Australian model based in New York, signed with one of the biggest agencies in the world, IMG. Jamie, 25 at the time, was a cinematographer stepping into the world of music video production.
The following year, in March, they got married. In January 2016, they welcomed their first child, Ava, and their second, Zoe, arrived in March 2018.
The couple also had a dog named Louis.
Together, Nikki and Jamie quickly built up their social media presence, even starting a YouTube channel where fans could follow their journey. The channel exploded, racking up millions of followers.
”We literally fell into it. It was never a planned thing,” Jamie told Daily Mail Australia back in 2018.
Their big breakthrough came when Jamie proposed to Nikki — in a way that would go viral.
Proposing video going viral
“I wanted to propose to Nikki… and she used to watch all of those amazing proposal videos online—the ones that go viral,” Jamie shared.
“So I knew I needed to do something epic. I created a video that played in Federation Square, and Nikki sat in front of it to watch. My friend filmed it, and we uploaded it to YouTube to share with the family.”
What was supposed to be a private moment for family and friends quickly blew up, amassing 4.6 million likes.
“It went crazy. And then people in the comments wanted to know who we are—so vlogging came out of that,” Jamie said.
Their wedding video did even better, with eight million likes. But for Nikki and Jamie, it was never about the views.
”People assume vloggers are sharing everything, but we keep a lot of our life to ourselves. We’re just having fun, and it’ll be great to look back in 10-20 years and see what we were doing,” he said.
For the Australian family, life became a series of likes, followers, fans, and, ultimately, a full-time job. Ava’s and Zoe’s life were carefully chronicled, every milestone captured in a never-ending stream of digital snapshots.
She never got bullied for her skin
The contrast to her mother Nikki’s childhood couldn’t be more striking. While Ava’s life is laid bare on social media, Nikki had no baby pictures to speak of.
Her past, especially her early years, was a quiet, hidden world.
Nikki was born in Khartoum, Sudan, and moved with her family to Victoria, Australia, in 1994 when she was just four years old.
Growing up in the suburbs of Melbourne, in the modest neighborhood of Moorabbin, Nikki’s South Sudanese roots shaped her upbringing in ways that would become part of her identity forever.
“Growing up, I never really realized I was different from everyone else,” Nikki told Buzzfeed. “I never really got bullied for my skin. It’s funny because the only time I was made to feel different was from my own people, because I’m darker than my mum.”
Her family valued privacy above all else, and life was centered on hard work—a lesson instilled by her father, who, after failing his veterinary science exam by just a fraction each time, took the test ten times in an attempt to pass.
Her parents had clear expectations for her: do well in school, pursue something stable, perhaps medicine or law, and build a secure, traditional career. But Nikki had different plans. Instead of following the conventional path her parents envisioned, Nikki chose to become a model and a YouTuber.
The decision didn’t come without its complications. Her family’s reaction was predictable — resistance, discomfort, and a reluctance to be involved in her new career. When Nikki first began vlogging, they avoided the camera at all costs.
One day, Nikki’s father, who had always preferred a life away from the public eye, had an experience that would highlight the difference between the private life he knew and the public world Nikki was entering. While riding the train, he was approached by a group of her subscribers.
“Oh my gosh, you’re Nikki’s dad!” they exclaimed, their recognition taking him by surprise.
“Dad was horrified,” Nikki recalled, laughing at the memory. “It’s hilarious now, but at the time, he just couldn’t believe people knew who he was from our videos.”
As mentioned, when Nikki was growing up, no one paid much attention to her skin color. But that changed once she became well-known.
Her skin color and their interracial relationship became frequent topics of discussion, and she began facing criticism in the comment sections. And Jamie’s role as Ava’s father has often been met with judgment and misunderstanding.
On one occasion, a doctor asked Jamie how he knew Ava, assuming they weren’t related. Jamie described the encounter as more “confronting” than “racist,” but it was a moment that highlighted the misconceptions they faced.
Nikki’s skin color has also become a frequent topic in the comments on her beauty channel side-project.
While she appears on both her family and beauty channels, the reaction from the audiences couldn’t be more different. On the family channel, where their life is showcased, diversity is celebrated. One comment reads, “You guys bought [sic] a smile to my day!” But Nikki points out that “all the trolls hide in the beauty section,” where the comments are often filled with negativity and harsh criticism.
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