Crystal Harrison Collin, Photo Provided
What started out as one fun video, has amounted to thousands of followers and exciting opportunities for a local TikToker.
Sioux Lookout’s Crystal Harrison Collin got her start on the app in March 2020 with her first video hitting over three thousand likes.
“My daughter showed me a really cool trend that was going on at the time and it was Indigenous people, they would morph into their regalia from their plain clothes and she was like “Mom you need to try this trend that’s going on” and I thought okay sure it looks like fun,” explains Harrison Collin. “She convinced me to get my own account, I did that and that was the first time I ever did a TikTok.”
Since that video, the Mom of five and Grandma to one has gained nearly 12 thousand followers and over 280 thousand likes.
Raised in Dinorwic and a band member of Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation, Harrison Collin never thought making videos in her spare time could amount to such a following or even new career possibilities.
“I (post) a mixture of everything. I like sharing stories, humour, knowledge from my own lived experiences and I think as an Indigenous person, being an Anishinaabekwe it feels natural to create content from this perspective.”
Recently, Harrison Collin was one of 30 creators selected to take part in TikTok Canada and the National Screen Institute’s first online training program for Indigenous content creators.
Crystal Harrison Collin, Photo Provided
“It feels very exciting, it’s totally new, it’s the first of it’s kind, an accelerator for Indigenous creators designed to empower Indigenous content creators to grow our TikTok presence and to learn the necessary skills for off platform success. The National Screen Institute is committed to the principal of reconciliation and implementing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission calls to action by supporting Indigenous story tellers and telling our stories, as well as assisting bringing Indigenous production into the main stream market.”
Currently Harrison Collin works at the Aishnawbe-Gamik Friendship Centre as the Aboriginal healing and wellness coordinator and is a third-year student at Laurentian University, studying BA (Hons) major in Indigenous studies and minor in history.
Going forward with TikTok, Harrison Collin hopes to continue sharing her stories and growing her online community.
You can follow Crystal’s page @crystalharrisoncollin on TikTok.
Listen to the full interview with Crystal Harrison Collin below.
