What’s the buzz with Stinger on the Street?: Samford’s street interviewer: Chloe Hardy

Chances are, if you’re on TikTok, you’ve seen street interview accounts on your For You page: students walk around their college campuses with a mini microphone, asking questions like “What music are you listening to right now?” or “Who’s your celebrity crush?”  

Chloe Hardy, a journalism and mass communications major, wanted to start a page like that for Samford students.  

Hardy’s uncle is the CEO of Funny or Die, a Los Angeles-based comedy studio. In conjunction with street interview TikTok pages, Hardy was also inspired by one of Funny or Die’s programs, Billy on the Street. 

During Connections Weekend of her freshman year, Hardy was stung by a bee, and another student nicknamed her “Stinger” because of it. When she mentioned that she wanted to start a TikTok for street interviews, they devised the name “Stinger on the Street,” and Hardy put the page together later that night.  

“A week later, I bought some mini mics, and a week after that, I mustered up the courage to go on Ben Brown and just start asking people questions,” Hardy said. “And it’s really just taken off from there. It’s been really well accepted and received by everyone.” 

Dr. Johnathan Anderson, one of Hardy’s professors in Samford’s journalism department, shared his encouragement for Stinger on the Street and other similar pages.  

“To succeed in media, you’ve got to really love it. It’s not just a job that you can just clock in and clock out,” Anderson said. “You’ve got to really love it and live it. I think it’s so important to celebrate when students take this initiative, go out and do these types of things on their own.” 

Hardy sees the page as a way to tie together her major, journalism, with her desire to put herself out there, meet new people and make them laugh. 

“If I can make people’s day, I’ve done my job,” Hardy said. 

Samford has other street interview accounts such as Ben Brown Beats that asks people what music they are listening to as they walk across Ben Brown.

Avery Abruzzo

Staff Reporter