What Did “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives ”Cast Do Before TikTok? All About Their Careers (Including Who Worked for Goldman Sachs!)
- - What Did “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives ”Cast Do Before TikTok? All About Their Careers (Including Who Worked for Goldman Sachs!)
Emily BlackwoodNovember 13, 2025 at 9:30 PM
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Disney/Fred Hayes
The cast of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives at the Season 2 reunion. -
The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives premiered on Hulu in September 2024
It follows the lives and drama of a group of Utah-based women known as MomTok who went viral for their 2022 "soft swinging scandal"
Prior to their social media fame, many members of MomTok were running their own businesses in the beauty and wedding industries
It's hard to imagine a world without MomTok. But before the 2022 "soft swinging" scandal launched their careers and a hit Hulu reality series, the social media stars were just regular Utah moms who earned a living without dancing.
Whitney Leavitt, one of the group's founding members, said she started making TikTok videos when she "lost the sense" of herself after having her first baby. "I think people got a kick out of me being a mom and shaking my a-- on this platform," she joked in a June 2025 interview with the Post Run High podcast.
The Dancing with the Stars contestant was eventually invited to dance in videos with other Utah-based Mormon moms. "It was so much fun," Leavitt said, noting that there were 25 women in MomTok at one point.
Everything changed in June 2022, when fellow founding MomTok member Taylor Frankie Paul announced her divorce on TikTok and revealed her engagement in "soft swinging" with other couples in their friend group. The video went viral and became the basis for the Hulu reality series The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.
So, what did the cast of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives do before TikTok? Here's everything to know about their pre-MomTok careers.
Jessi Ngatikaura opened her salon in 2016
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Jessi Ngatikaura attends Unwell Las Vegas on October 11, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Fans of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives are very familiar with Jessi Ngatikaura's hair empire, JZ Styles. According to the business' website, the reality star launched her company in the summer of 2016 — well before she found fame on TikTok. She even trademarked the phrase "Utah curls."
"I've been the Utah curl queen — just not publicly," she told PEOPLE in October 2025. "It was crazy, when the show came out and it just popped off — the Utah hair, the extensions — I wasn't expecting that because it wasn't part of the storyline, just something people picked up on."
In addition to her Utah-based salon, Ngatikaura's business also includes a line of hair care products and extensions.
Jen Affleck was a wedding videographer
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Jennifer Affleck attends the 2025 Creative Arts Emmy Awards on September 07, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.
Before rising to viral fame, Jen Affleck earned her keep working behind the camera as a destination wedding videographer. According to the Instagram page for her former business, Jennifer Affleck Films, she was active from January 2021 to May 2022.
One of the weddings Affleck shot was even featured on the official Instagram account for Martha Stewart Weddings.
Though she used her cinematography skills to create viral TikTok videos, the reality TV star also got a chance to live out her other passion: dance. In 2025, she competed on season 34 of Dancing with the Stars until being eliminated in week 7 — an experience she described as "so fun" to share with people who have followed her online for years.
"I think it's fun for all the people who have followed my journey to see that I literally started in my kitchen on my countertops and now we're on the real stage," she said in September 2025.
Whitney Leavitt worked at a plastic surgeon’s office
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Whitney Leavitt attends Maybe It's a Maybelline x Miley Launch Party on October 24, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.
Although she majored in dance at Brigham Young University and told Post Run High that her dream was to become a Rockette, Leavitt began her post-college career at a plastic surgeon's office, according to Vulture.
"I've always loved the entertainment industry and I've always wanted to get in acting," she said on the podcast. "I just didn't know the steps to get to that point because it is such a competitive industry. Like I didn't even know how to find like an agent, nobody like talks about those things. It's really hard, and mine just kind of happened naturally through social media."
Leavitt got to live out her onstage dreams when she competed on season 34 of Dancing with the Stars in 2025.
Mayci Neeley worked for Goldman Sachs
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Mayci Neeley visits the SiriusXM Studios on October 06, 2025 in New York City.
According to her LinkedIn profile, Mayci Neeley had an impressive résumé in communications and social media before going viral on TikTok. The reality TV star graduated from Brigham Young University with her bachelor's degree in mass communications and media studies in 2018 and worked as a social media specialist for large companies, like Goldman Sachs.
Neeley pivoted to full-time content creation in March 2022 and launched her natal nutrition company Babymama. She also published a memoir, Told You So, which was released in 2025.
"I started social media, the blog with the purpose of helping other women," she told PEOPLE in October 2025. "It wasn't to become an influencer. It just so happens that it did so well and it took off for me that it did become a career for me. But my whole purpose, even now with the show and everything, has always been to tell my story and to help other women."
Layla Taylor was a nanny
Pawel Kaminski/Disney via Getty
Layla Taylor attends Disney Upfront on May 13, 2025 in New York City.
Layla Taylor converted to Mormonism during her high school years and relocated from Arizona to Utah after graduation despite her family's wish for her to go to college.
“That was my dad’s original plan for me,” she told Teen Vogue in May 2025. “I was all set to go. Then my dad went on a business trip and while he was gone, I packed up my whole entire room.”
The reality star said that after moving to Utah, she enrolled in dental assisting school and was working as a nanny when she met her ex-husband. She was posting mom content on TikTok when Paul invited her to join their group.
“I wouldn’t have survived, honestly, if it wasn’t for MomTok,” Taylor said, noting that she was a single mother of two at the time. “It was just a way for moms to have fun and have an outlet outside of motherhood. Because I feel like when you do become a mom, you lose yourself a little bit.”
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
