Kenyan youths utilizing TikTok to showcase talents

Quick camera transitions with muted trendy sounds, accompanied by Juliet Kane's calming instructive voice characterize her captivating brief food videos.

The 24-year-old lawyer has found success in her venture by showcasing her culinary skills in an educative and sensational format on the popular Chinese video-sharing app, TikTok.

"I joined TikTok eight months ago, and ever since I started posting my food videos on a regular basis, I have seen my following grow considerably, impacting positively on my customer base. Most of my customers have found me online," Kane said.

TikTok which is popular with the younger generations is fast catapulting individuals into their desired careers. Budding dance artists, comedians, and makeup artists here in Kenya as is across the globe have had a breakthrough in their ventures by presenting their work on the video-sharing app.

Well-established professionals are also finding themselves increasingly using the app to give their trades mileage. The self-taught cook whose food videos have well over 200,000 likes cites TikTok as an avenue that has propelled her to financial stability while providing an outlet for her creative personality.

"Aside from cooking I have interests in drawing, painting, and music and so TikTok became ideal as it allowed me to fuse my love for food with my personality. I can match the beats of TikTok sounds to the sizzle of meat or other food sounds," said Kane.

Kane joined the TikTok bandwagon when the world was in the throes of the pandemic and house confinement was the order of the day. At the time, she joined as a consumer, only intermittently sharing her cake videos. In a shift, at the beginning of this year, she committed herself to be more deliberate with creating videos around food. Her resolve saw her shelve her legal career to focus fully on her food business which she concedes rakes in the lion's share of her earnings.

The lawyer-turned-chef enjoys making chicken recipes as well as popular Kenyan dishes such as Pilau and Biryani. She also draws inspiration from cultures outside her own to execute scrumptious meals.

Kelvin Tayo, an upcoming dance artist based in Nairobi said he cannot do without a dose of the video-sharing app. The 20-year-old was introduced to the app by her younger brother who became engrossed last year.

"My brother would always be on that app laughing and imitating dance moves which he failed miserably to copycat but surprisingly he did not get a backlash, people loved him actually," said Tayo.

Tayo said TikTok is the most authentic social media site he knows. Therein he says one is allowed to be their true authentic self. "You can record from wherever and nobody will come to scrutinize you because everyone understands that we are all just having fun," said Tayo.