TikTok’s AAPI Content Creators On Growing With The Platform

Sean Sotaridona posted his first magic video online at the age of 10, having already then decided on his dream of becoming a content creator. But while that zeal only grew from there Sotaridona, Filipino himself, noticed even at that age how few successful creators shared a background like his.

“There wasn’t a lot of people who looked like me that were— not even just doing magic— but just creating content in general,” said Sotaridona.

So, undeterred, Sotaridona chose to make one of the aims of his content creation about leaving a positive, wholesome impact on the young Asian Americans, creators or otherwise, who may be watching him.

And somewhere along setting out on that journey, Sotaridona found immense success on TikTok.

With May officially comes Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, and TikTok has chosen to celebrate this year by launching the platform’s first ever Asian and Pacific Islander TikTok Visionary Voices List highlighting 15 creators and small businesses who are using the platform to push forward creativity, representation, and culture.

The list’s honorees include Sotaridona, who has now amassed over 21 million followers on the platform via showing his audience short form, social-ready magic tricks which appear to defy physics as much as they delight any audience.

Another creator on the list is Ayman, a Pakistan-American BookTok creator who shares her unique sense of humor through a love for reading to an avid audience 900,000 strong.

Similar to Sotaridona, Ayman describes not only growing up seeing so few people that looked like her in the media she consumed, but also feeling singled out by the lack of similar peers in her everyday life. And it’s for this reason she has enjoyed so much finding a like-minded community on TikTok, describing the experience as healing for her inner child.

“What I like about TikTok so much is it caters you an audience that aligns with your viewpoints and [gives you] like-minded people,” said Ayman. “So you don’t feel so abnormal when pretty much a lot of us have the [same] shared experiences.”

Of course, plenty of social media platforms now have long, diverse lists of creators who are watched and beloved all over the world. But, for these TikTok creators, something still stands out as unique in the way that TikTok does it, as many of them credit their recent success to this platform uniquely.

“You know, I think one really key thing about TikTok, first and foremost, everyone gets a voice,” said Sotaridona. “The level of entry to create content is very simplistic, it’s very easy. All you need is your phone and an idea to be able to share whatever thoughts you might have and you’ll be able to grow an audience.”

Both Sotaridona and Ayman note the platform’s incredible ability to find the right people who would benefit most from the content they want to make, allowing for them to try out approaches and styles that maybe would not have worked as well elsewhere.

This is precisely what content veteran Jungmin Kang, the founder and CEO of Snoopslimes, noticed as well when she came over from other platforms.

Snoopslimes specializes in creating satisfying slime creations with which to relax and pass time, with Kang’s page sharing the efforts of her business on TikTok with her 4.3 million followers.

And also, having begun her company at age 13, Kang is a Gen-Z native who is adept at using social media trends and analytics to get the video performance she needs to grow her brand. But whereas in prior platforms she saw most success in ASMR-style videos, on TikTok she was able to find an audience for more nuanced conversations.

This primarily came up with Kang’s TikTok series depicting days in her life as a young entrepreneur. She hoped by providing these behind the scenes looks she would better connect with her audience or otherwise uplift anyone watching and hoping to one day do something similar.

This aim for education extended as well into teaching her audience about her own cultural background. Kang describes how, after Squid Game made the traditional Korean snack dalgona globally known, she used a specially designed dalgona slime in her content to teach viewers about the real culture behind it.

“With TikTok I am able to connect with my customers and my followers in a more engaging way,” said Kang. “[It] allowed me to really showcase my brand in a more personal level.”

Recently, TikTok brought Sotaridona along to the Gold House Gala, an event honoring the most prominent AAPI leaders making an impact on American culture. After attending, Sotaridona describes feeling inspired to see how the community is growing, and how people like him, more and more, are able to be seen.

When asked how his younger self would have reacted to something like that, and to all the success he’s seen thus far, Sotaridona smiles and says the question gives him butterflies.

“God, I think about like the 10 year old me looking at everything that I’m doing today and just being so so proud,” said Sotaridona. “To see not just me but so many other people who look like me continue to push and share the Asian American culture, it’s just amazing.”

TikTok continues to celebrate AAPI Heritage Month by honoring these creators and others, and via other activations including in-app programming, and spotlights on various creator stories.

Sean Sotaridona, Ayman, and Jungmin Kang can be found on TikTok under the handles @seandoesmagic, @aymansbooks, and @snoopslimesofficial, respectively.

For more on the creator economy, movies, and TV, follow my page on Forbes. You can also find me on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter.