FORBES COLUMN: Stay Ready: 'Bodak Yellow' Teacher Erica Buddington On Making The Most Of A Viral Moment

Going viral is the new 15 minutes of fame. Years ago, in a time before social media, “15 minutes of fame” meant you would probably be on a TV show like Candid Camera or TRL and you’d get a ton of texts and calls from family and friends saying they saw you on TV. Now, in the age of social media and going viral, you can be seen by millions and start to become universally recognizable overnight.

Virality is difficult to plan or predict, so the moment can happen to anyone at anytime. For author, and educator Erica Buddington that moment happened after she uploaded a clip to Twitter of her and her students rapping a Geography remix to Cardi B’s hit ‘Bodak Yellow.’ Buddington is a teacher at Capital Prep (P. Diddy’s school in Harlem) and to make the lessons relatable to her students she regularly integrates pop culture and references her sixth grade students are familiar with to grasp their attention. This time however, she’s grasped the attention of the world. Even Cardi B herself posted the clip, and Buddington has been featured on every major website and flew to L.A. (along with some lucky students) to appear on a national talk show.

Over 1.6M views and 10M impressions later, Buddington is becoming known online as the ‘Bodak Yellow’ teacher. But now what? Leveraging your viral moment takes a level of preparation and readiness that Erica Buddington is familiar with. Read on to learn more about how to stay ready, not just for virality but any unexpected opportunity that comes your way.