- It's the last day of Design Week.
But that's okay, we'll never stop
designing around here.
But we have a teacher
who turned into a total TikTok viral sensation.
With over five million followers.
Okay, I have like, two.
(audience laughs)
And it took me months to get that.
So here's some perspective.
She most recently went viral
for secretly renovating her entire house
where her husband was deployed.
And then she let the world follow along
as she did it.
You gotta see this,
because she did not hire someone.
She did it herself.
Please welcome Cori Bosco! (audience applauds)
- Hi, Cori!
- Hi, Drew. Hi, Ross.
- Hi!
- Thank you for having me!
- Thank you so much for coming on to our show.
And what was the TikTok that changed everything for you
and made you take the leap and go,
"I'm gonna quit my job and become a content creator?"
- So from the very first post,
it was during the pandemic,
the kids were like,
"Mom, look at TikTok."
So that got me hooked on TikTok,
and then I realized that it wasn't just dancing,
it was people showing their house designs
and that sort of thing.
So I showed the very first TikTok,
which was of like,
kind of a view of the kitchen,
going out to our living room,
and then showing our beautiful outdoor view,
which is of the intercostal here in Florida.
And so the kids were all excited like,
"Mom, look how many views it's getting."
And I think it got to like, 2.2 million views.
And I think from then on, I was completely hooked.
And you know, as a teacher, I was, you know,
teaching to inspire people.
And now, with this platform,
I'm able to inspire people
on a completely different level.
Now with five million people,
and teaching them DIY,
and just showing other women too
that they can do it. (audience applauds)
And I took the leap and figured,
might as well, you know,
keep on riding this journey while I can.
- I love that, you just went for it.
And I know you decided not to renovate just one room,
not two rooms, you did the entire house
while your husband was deployed.
- I did.
- Vinnie. - Vinnie.
- [Ross] Oh, look at Vinnie. (audience applauds)
- I did.
So at the beginning,
I was planning on just doing the bathroom.
I had been accepted into
the Jeffrey Court Renovation Challenge,
and at that time, Vinnie and I
were going to do that ourselves.
And then he got his orders
to be activated for the year.
And so instead of saying,
"No, I'm not going to do it anymore,"
I decided to go ahead and go through with it.
And I figured, why stop now?
So I went from the bathroom,
and then to a coffee bar, to the kitchen,
to the laundry room,
making the kids' bedroom,
doing the other kids' bedroom.
So it definitely was something that just
kind of got me hooked.
And the support and you know,
motivation through social media
has been crazy.
- It's just amazing to watch you in action.
And we got to get a glimpse of Vinnie's reaction
when he got home.
But you saved one big one.
The reaction- - I did.
- Exclusively for you.
- Oh my God, (audience applauds)
please tell us about it!
Thank you for doing that!
- So this is his favorite project
of the entire house.
- Thank you so much for sharing this with us.
- [Cori] Of course.
- I don't even know what to say.
I don't even know what to say right now.
This used to be our bathroom.
- [Cori] Right.
(Vinnie laughs)
- That looks so good in here.
- [Cori] I love how it's seamless, you know.
- It is like...
This is frigging... (Vinnie laughs)
I am absolutely speechless.
God...
I love you.
I love you. I really do.
I am so proud of you.
(audience applauds)
(Ross laughs) - Oh, Vinnie!
(audience applauds)
- "I love you, I'm so proud of you."
- So before you go,
can you give us one tip
to any future renovators out there,
thinking about dipping our toe
into the DIY pool,
what would you recommend?
How should we start?
- I would suggest just starting small.
Finding one thing that you're wanting to do.
Whether it's an accent wall,
building an end table, something,
and the amount of videos that are out there
for you to learn how to do these things
with YouTube, is insane.
So I mean, go and watch a bunch of videos
on you know, how to make this certain end table.
Find the tools that you're going to need.
Purchase the tools just for that project,
and you know, go in there, dive in,
and learn as you go.
You're going to make mistakes.
I still am making mistakes every day.
But that's how you learn.
And you know, you'll learn for your next project too,
and you'll just get better with time.
- Speaking of a next project, Cori,
would you ever be willing to come here to New York
and do a design segment with us?
- Yes, absolutely. (audience applauds)
(Drew screams) - Oh, great!
- Thank you!
I wanna work with you!
I wanna learn from you!
You are totally my hero.
Everybody go to Cori's TikTok,
and be as inspired as we all are here at the show.
And thank you, Cori, thank you so much
for sharing that with us.
(upbeat music)