KAWARTHA LAKES – After Paige Hennekam started to use TikTok as a social media outlet to discuss her experience with Autism, it didn’t take her long to accumulate one million followers.
“A million followers is pretty wild,” she said. “It took about 9 months to reach one million, I couldn’t tell you why I got that many. I thought having autism was the worst thing about me, not the reason why people liked me. It’s a shock to me, a good shock, but still a shock, really cool.”
Hennekam, 20, grew up in Lindsay and spent much of her childhood dancing competitively. She thrived in school and achieving above average grades was an accomplishment that came to her with ease.
“School was my safe- space as I could divulge in what I was learning,” she said. “My grades were always tremendous without barely having to try.”
Armed with an impressive application, Hennekam headed off to University on a quest to become a paediatric cardiothoracic surgeon but in October of last year, she quickly discovered that she was meant to follow a different venture.
“Life had other plans for me, so when I dropped out of school I knew I wanted to do something meticulous and that required a lot of patience and a steady hand,” she said.
Shortly after, Hennekam started her own business, specializing in lash extensions and permanent brow makeup.
“I decided to take a course on how to do lashes and fell in love,” she said. “About a year later I took a brow course, as the patience and skill goes hand in hand, I think. I know for myself I need to be my own boss and make my own rules, as I am not very good with authority, so taking up a sort of “trade” was very important for me, and I’m happy to say I’m really enjoying it.”
Shortly after dropping out of University, Hennekam also felt the urge to post videos publicly and that was when she discovered TikTok, which enabled her to post quick, 60 second videos.
According to Hennekam, followers didn’t start to accumulate until March, when she began to post videos with content focused on Autism.
The TikTok star now posts autism- related content; misconceptions about autism, the diagnosis process, ableism, how being autistic affects her, signs to diagnose autism earlier and more.
“I believe I have a million TikTok followers because I believe I was one of the first people to actually talk about such taboo topic that wasn’t discussed very much,” she said. “I think spreading awareness and acceptance is very important and building that audience is so valuable to me. One day I am hoping to do something even bigger than just spreading awareness and talking, but I haven’t decided on what that will be yet or how I can get there but I think this is a great place to start.”
Hennekam is hopeful that her followers are learning more about autism while she breaks down the stigma that often comes with the disorder.
“I hope that I can show people that autism is different for everybody and we should be accepted and included, definitely not ignored and pushed away,” she said.
Hennekam noted that her followers vary, some of them are autistic themselves, learning more about themselves and other’s opinions in the community, some are caregivers or parents of autistic kids who want to provide them with as many opportunities as they get older and learn how to understand them best, she said.
“Some are just hoping to learn something and make the world a little bit better for autistics and other disabled people everywhere, I hope,” she added.
As for future plans, Hennekam hopes to continue operating a thriving business while spreading autism awareness on TikTok and through other outlets. She has a German Shepherd that is the love of her life and she also has a passion for anatomy, Paris France and collecting gemstones.
“A year from now I’d like to have more than double the followers, I’d like to see this channel grow tremendously but I also want to utilize that in other forms as well,” she said. “This whole mini TikTok fame has kind of opened a door of opportunity to me and I’m unsure of how I should utilize it, so, stay tuned!”
Hennekam can be found on TikTok or Intagram at @paigelayle.
