Everyday People: With dark humor — and vibes — an Astorian builds an audience online

Jaysea Williams, drawing from her experiences in retail and living on a sailboat on the Columbia River, has built an impressive audience online.

The Astoria resident has amassed over 1.7 million followers on her TikTok @sea.ya.later and is in the process of turning her collection of comedy skits called “Hells Belles” into a book.

Jaysea Williams

Jaysea Williams looks at a light on top of her sailboat, Venturess.

“It was supposed to just be five episodes and then be done. Four years and 500 episodes and now a book later, it’s definitely taken on a life of its own,” Williams said.

Originally, Williams drew from her personal experiences in the service industry and with religion to create the short skits. Later, she began to pull inspiration from news articles and — with consent — stories from friends.

“I was working in retail and if anyone’s ever worked in retail — during any amount of customer service position, during the holidays, during a pandemic. It was a very interesting mindset that people were coming in with,” she said.

Williams created the character, Lily, who works as a customer service representative for the afterlife in Hells Belles. Other characters you can spot in her videos are Tech Support John and Sharkie, who was named after the shark onesie Williams wore during a skit.

Outside of Hells Belles, Williams has shared videos about her lifestyle and journey to fix her 1984 sailboat, Venturess. She would often film and edit her skits while living aboard the sailboat, which she decided to sell in December. The decision came down to wanting to be closer to loved ones and needing stable Wi-Fi and more space to create content.

“My plan was always to single-hand the boat, just sail it solo, and after years and years, I realized that none of my friends were sailors, (and) me living on a boat and being a sailor was a very isolating experience,” she said.

Williams’ love of sailing is shared by her family, including her father, Tom Williams, who is an instructor at Clatsop Community College’s Marine and Environmental Research and Training Station campus.

“Their first ocean crossing with me was when I was 13 months old, from Hawaii to Astoria. So, they got me started young,” she said.

For Williams, being able to live on and be captain of her sailboat provided her with confidence and the freedom to explore while also social distancing.

“I don’t know how to say it other than it made me realize exactly how capable I was,” she said.

Williams did move back in with her parents during the first round of COVID-19 restrictions. In 2021, in an effort to travel without exposing herself to COVID, she sailed with family to Beacon Rock, Washington, and back. “It was really nice to kind of get out of the house,” she said.