TikTok just revealed its annual Discover List, letting us all know the innovative, interesting creators making waves on and off the platform who we should be following. From trendsetters to TikTokers advocating for change on the app, the global list is packed with talent — including two Canadians who made the cut. Kairyn Potts and Mei Pang are the two Canadian TikTokers who landed on the list for 2022.
TikTok named creators to five different categories: Changemakers, Icons, Innovators, Foodies and Originators, with Pang (@meicrosoft) being named an Originator and Potts (@ohkairyn) being named a Changemaker.
With Originators, TikTok describes these creators as the ones creating the trends we obsess over and who are “the creators who’ve started viral dances, sounds, aesthetics and more” because these creators “are the culture.”
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Pang, who is known for her detailed tattoos and bold makeup looks on the platform, said being named as an Originator is very validating. “I’m a first-generation Canadian. My family is from Malaysia, and we grew up in suburban Ontario, Canada,” Pang said in a virtual media briefing.
“So, I always joke [with] my friends, I say ‘I’m too white for the Asian kids or too Asian for the white kids.’ And when I originally grew up, I saw it as a disadvantage, but I took it eventually as an opportunity to carve my own path in the world and try things for myself and myself only,” she said. “So being named an Originator is an honour. And yeah, it feels right. It feels good.”
As for Changemakers, TikTok describes those as the people who “speak up and speak out” and who “advocate for others.”
Related: These Canadian small businesses blew up — thanks, in part, to TikTok.
Kairyn Potts (who you might recognize from this TikTok on Slice about the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation) is a Changemaker who is a Two Spirit, Nakota Sioux creator making TikToks that educate others and advocate for his community, while also sharing his passions for beauty, fashion, gaming and more.
“From educating their followers, to advocating for change, to sharing their culture — these creators push themselves and others every day to learn and to do better for the world,” TikTok writes of Changemakers like Potts.
For the full list of creators who were recognized on the Discover List, you can check out TikTok’s release here.
