Cathy is a lifestyle expert and a former scientist who is also known as TikTok's 'Mom Friend' because she takes the role of the mom in a friend group. Her whole TikTok account is dedicated to various safety tips and Bored Panda has actually talked about them in previous articles. In one of them you can read about situations in which you should lie and in the other you’ll find some useful things to know when you’re traveling alone. 

Not only she spreads knowledge on TikTok, but she also has a book called The Mom Friend Guide to Everyday Safety and Security in which she put all the important things a person should know.

As previous times, this time we also talked with Cathy again and found out that to create the series on fire safety she contacted the Fire Safety Research Institute which provided her with some resources. She also looks up statistics in various articles and does her research before putting it up in public. 

The thoroughness of her methods in part lie in her educational background. As mentioned, she is a former scientist and Cathy says that it helps her with making her videos.

She told us, “I'm very data driven so when I think of a concept for a video, I like to look up statistics on the problem. Not every video is based on a ton of stats, but I look for information to support every video and I believe that comes from my science background. Also, one of my specialties was indoor environmental health and I was O.S.H.A. trained,  amongst other certificates, so that helps me see things from another perspective.”

It seems that Cathy covered every safety measure imaginable. She gave advice on how to identify a scam, how to be safe at home, at college, at a hotel, what to do if you’re being robbed and many others but she still keeps the videos coming. 

Cathy said that it was actually hard to come up with new ideas at the beginning, but it got easier with time and now she has a variety of sources of inspiration, “The more I post, the more ideas I come up with. I find my biggest source of inspiration is reading, real-world experiences and talking to people. I have friends that own cybersecurity firms, have worked for federal agencies and I chat with them regularly. My biggest series ever, Situations When It's Best to Lie, was inspired by a combination of my former job working on a national television network and a conversation I had at a grocery store. You never know when ideas will strike! Plus people's questions in my DMs and the comment section, helps too.”

A fun fact is that Cathy took martial arts for about a decade so she knows quite a few things about personal safety and she used to be a QVC host so she had safety training there as well.

One thing that is not related to the tips but related to Cathy that a lot of people point out is that she always wears a blue dress and a pearl necklace and that became her signature look. We were curious to know if there is some hidden meaning behind the outfit and Cathy explained to us what's up with that and it’s actually a touching story.

“The blue dress was a convenience. I had it in my closet and I thought it looks good with the pearls, but the pearl necklace and earrings are family pearls. I got them from my grandmother's house the last time I saw her alive (before COVID) and I had started posting on TikTok more consistently around the time that she passed away, so it was sort of a tribute. We were very close.”

If you would like to see more tips from Cathy, don’t forget to check out the other Bored Panda articles or go to Cathy directly either on her TikTok or her Instagram. Also, let us know which ones of these things you knew to be flammable in the comments!