My journey: Actress Turned Content Creator
You know, I've been asked a lot lately why I started making content. Grab a drink because I'm about to share my story with you. While you get to watch me make a meal for my family.
I've been in the world of acting since I was about 11 years old. It's been my passion, my dream, my everything. At that young age I took theatre lessons with the city and loved it so much, I went on to study professional theatre at Dawson College where I got to meet so many people just like me. It was a great experience, and I loved being able to act and learn about it every day.
As I got older, social media came around. I had an Instagram account for many years and mainly used it as a journal to take photos of things like recipes. For those of you who don’t know me, I also make all of my own cosmetics and makeup to reduce waste for the planet. I just have a huge love for the planet. Throughout the years, many friends and even my husband told me to start a YouTube channel and show how I make all these things.
It took me 2 years to launch my first YouTube video because I was so critical of myself. I was afraid to fail. A friend told me to watch Gary Vee, and it changed everything for me. He basically said your first YouTube video will get like 2 views, and you move on. As you make more, you get better, and your audience will grow. I had nothing to lose.
My first YouTube video was posted in 2019. I posted a few videos that year while still acting in movies like "Fatherhood" with Kevin Hart (although my scene was cut out) and "My Salinger Year" with Sigourney Weaver. When 2020 came around, I jumped onto TikTok with a viral video which happened right before the pandemic. I was so shocked to see the amount of people following me and felt pressured to post every single day. Since that viral video, I posted every day. I didn’t even have a tripod or a camera; I shot everything with my phone and learned how to make content on the fly.
All my platforms started to explode.
Now with over 175k followers on TikTok, 80K on IG, 48K on Facebook, and almost 20K here, my account is about increasing awareness of our planet and its people through creativity.
I am so very grateful to have a community like this. I never imagined doing this. I’m old, so I had no idea what an influencer was or that being a content creator could be a job. I’m very lucky to have fallen into this path through passion.
I was brought to Hollywood to speak on a panel at Hollywood’s Climate Summit, invited to speak at Concordia University’s Marketing class, and can be found in interviews for many podcasts. I worked for TED, The US State Department, just to name a few.
And with all this knowledge working both as a professional actress and now a content creator, I can truthfully say being a content creator is the best job (for me). It allows me to show up every day and be creative while sticking to my values and growing, not only in followers and subscribers but also intellectually. I’m constantly evolving and learning more about editing, building a personal brand, and sustainable initiatives.
Acting definitely has its perks. I love being on set and getting to play a different character. But with acting, I had to wait to be hired and often take roles that didn’t spark much joy in me because the work was very few and far between. It’s very common for actors to go on 100 auditions and book 1 part.
In Montreal, I find that the same lead actors would get all the big parts. I was an actor that always had between 1-10 lines, and those were the parts I always got. There was not much movement in terms of growth.
With making videos, I control my own schedule. Today I still act but on a lesser scale. I work mainly in voice work and can be heard in some video games and dubbing Korean or Japanese films into English.
Although I do love playing different characters, I love being myself more. Being a content creator has allowed me to love myself, love the planet, and live a full life.
I get to be with my family while working, and it really doesn’t feel like work.
