TikTok Star and Content Creator Sherry McKay’s ultimate goal is to inspire the youth
December 2020TORONTO - TikTok star Sherry Mckay (@sherry.mckay), 39, is an Anishinaabe-Ojibwe mother of four from Winnipeg, MB. She is verified on the platform and garnered over 374, 000 followers and 10-million likes on the app. She uses her platform to spread awareness about the Indigenous community, her culture and to provide a safe space for other Indigenous youth to connect and share their stories about what it's like growing up as an Indigenous person in Canada.
Before finding her passion for telling stories and creating entertaining, comedic and awareness-raising TikTok videos, Mckay was not always certain about what path she wanted to take growing up.
Born and raised by her grandmother in Winnipeg, MB. Mckay experienced a lot of difficulties growing up as an Indigenous woman. She moved from place to place very often until her and her grandmother settled in a neighbourhood in Winnipeg for six years where she lived in a predominantly white neighbourhood. In the fourth grade, she recalled there only being three people in her school who identified as Indigenous. “That was kind of difficult growing up; not seeing a lot of your representation within the community that you live in,” said Mckay.
In her childhood and early teens, her grandmother, who she describes struggled with an alcohol addiction, raised Mckay and she grew up with her half-siblings and cousins. This information was widely known throughout her neighbourhood. But her being Indigenous, living in poverty, being raised by her grandmother and becoming a teen mom contributed to a lot of bullying that she experienced growing up. She became pregnant in 1997 when she was around 15 years old. “ I was a teen mom. I had my oldest son when I was 15 or 16. We weren’t within the child welfare system. I went into a program called Independent Living where I was allowed to live alone when I was 16. And that was very eye opening. I have my oldest son. He’s 23 now.”
Before finding her passion for telling stories and creating entertaining, comedic and awareness-raising TikTok videos, Mckay was not always certain about what path she wanted to take growing up. Mckay described her educational path as an unconventional one.
“I probably went to, including post secondary schools, about 15 different educational institutions. And I was a teen mom,” said Mckay. She did not receive her high school diploma until later years. “I never finished school when I was supposed to be alongside my peers.”
In the early 2000s, she moved to Edmonton, AB. to go back to school and received her mature diploma in 2007. “I didn't have my grade 12 diploma for so many years. You don't really believe the doors that it can open for you until you see the difference in employment opportunities. When I got my grade 12, I ended up working in the Seven Oaks school division.”
Before embarking on her journey to becoming a social media star, one of her biggest goals was to become a police officer. She alludes to the long history of systemic racism against Indigenous people in police systems. “I wanted to bridge the gap between Indigenous people and law enforcement, being the first point of contact, and just thinking that I can make a change, and I can make a difference in this industry.” She attended the University of Winnipeg and took policing. She quickly realized that this was not what she wanted to do after seeing first-hand what interactions between BIPOC law enforcers look like.
“I was the person that was always, you know, when someone would talk about how bad police officers will be and the things that they do, I was always one of the first people that you would say, ‘Well imagine how hard it must be.’” She reflected on her own interactions with the police growing up as an Indigenous person living in poverty.
“From my own personal experiences with law enforcement and being on the other side, I was like, ‘Yeah, I can't be a part of that industry,’” said Mckay. She felt that there had to be another way to inspire people from her community. She instead started working for a non-profit organization where she met an Indigenous journalist. From then, she discovered a desire to tell stories and produce content for a greater audience.
She took a media communications program at Red River College where McKay says she “fell in love” with media production.
“I really liked the creative aspect to it,” Mckay said. She enjoyed using the equipment to create videos and stories. She feared that her journey in media production came to an end after failing her first semester. Though she was unable to complete the program, it gave her the necessary tools she needed to practice creating content and videos for her online platforms. Two years ago, she took an acting course with the Adam Beach Institute and it helped her build her confidence. It was just last year that her 15 year-old daughter finally convinced her to create a TikTok account. After a lot of uncertainty about joining the platform, Mckay created her first TikTok video that received 27, 000 views overnight.
“Almost everything that I create, in terms of content on TikTok, has been inspired by a conversation I've had or a conversation I've witnessed or something that I've experienced within my own life as an Indigenous woman in Winnipeg,” said Mckay. She was astonished by the positive feedback coming from her audience which includes both Indigenous and non-Indigenous people.
Photo: @sherry.mckay on TikTok | Mckay uses her TikTok platform to educate her followers about Indigenous history and support other Indigenous creators.
McKay often deals with negative comments and hateful feedback under her videos. She spoke about some comments she receives about being a lighter-skinned Indigenous woman and how some viewers did not believe that she was an Indigenous person. Sometimes, viewers would argue and make racist remarks under her videos. She uses the block button as much as she can to keep her page clear of negativity, maintaining a positive space for Indigenous youth who look at her videos as an inspiration to openly express their culture and identity.
Growing up, Mckay felt as though she rarely ever felt that Indigenous people were represented in the media. Oftentimes, portrayals of Indigenous were inaccurate. But when she did see people like her on TV, it was a very exciting and motivating experience. With this newfound TikTok fame, she feels that she has a responsibility to the Indigenous youth as an authentic role model in her community. “I feel that if I could do anything for anyone, whether it's, you know, make them smile, or laugh when they're having a crappy day, or educate them,” said Mckay. “Ultimately, inspiring youth is exactly what I want to do.”
In the future, she hopes that her skills as a creator will allow her to write her own feature film about the Indigenous community. With her great following and experience creating content for CBC and other media platforms, she certainly does not seem far away from achieving that goal.
