TikTokAs South Asian Heritage month continues, in this week's Creator Spotlight we're speaking with @Natashaahmedx, a lifestyle and fashion content creator who is all about showing our community how they can live their best lives imaginable.
If you're looking to impress your friends with some stylish outfits or achieve flawless makeup Natasha is definitely your girl! Whether it is sharing how she styles her favourite jewellery pieces or easy ways to dress up her favourite trainers, there's never a dull fashion moment with Natasha and it's clear to see why 162.3k of her followers keep coming back to her profile for more. She's got you sorted when it comes to the heatwave too, with the perfect makeup routine for a hot day, ensuring that any beauty disasters are avoided! Just what we all need!
When she's not inspiring our community with trusted recommendations, she's busy providing top fashion tips like how to organise your wardrobe, and weekend living inspiration, such as how you can have the best self care Saturday.
If that wasn't enough, Natasha is also an illustrator, and for the past two South Asian Heritage Months, she has produced a series of digital illustrations to mark this important calendar moment. Multitalented? We certainly think so!
We sat down with her to chat about joining TikTok and importantly, what South Asian Heritage Month means to her.
What does South Asian Heritage Month mean to you?
Having been someone born and brought up in the UK with immigrant parents, it would seem I would be more in touch with my culture but it's only in my adulthood I've made an active effort to know more about being a Bangladeshi South Asian. I feel South Asian Heritage Month has given me a lot of opportunities to understand the history of South Asia in Britain and learn about what my generations before me had been through. This is my third year partaking in SAHM, having produced 2 digital illustration series in 2020 and 2021. In 2020, I created the A-Z alphabet series with the Manchester Museum and a set of drawings for the Royal British Legion to accommodate the stories of service and sacrifice. These projects allowed me to research and discover more for myself the culture that I grew up in and the traditions we have.
What first inspired you to create TikTok?
Lockdown! It started as a hobby for me and many other people I assume during the 2020 Covid lockdown and I wanted to showcase the outfits that I wore even though we weren't leaving the house. I've experimented with fashion for the last 10 years and I wanted a way to document the development of my style. I loved the fast pace of TikTok and short video format allowed me to show my personality through my outfits. It felt enticing to join a community where I can see others' unique styles, which inspired me to create my own videos.
Why do you think TikTok works for your content?
Short video format was perfect for me to show my style in a way that is easy and low maintenance. I enjoyed the production that goes into making my videos, from the set design to the colour story and of course the variating outfits I wanted to share. It made it accessible to learn and discover new fashion trends and develop my own, as well as reach an audience of people who appreciated what I wore and styled and see what I get up to. It doesn't feel like a lot of pressure and is somewhere where it feels fun to make a mark.
What is your goal on TikTok?
TikTok is somewhere I genuinely just enjoy myself and that was my initial and only goal from it. I've loved the opportunities I've gotten through the platform and it's allowed me to reach an audience that appreciates fun jewellery, eclectic colourful style and pattern mixing and that's all I wanted to get out of it.
What other South Asian creators are on your For You feed?
@Maytahmi is my favourite content creator for makeup looks, especially her fun eyeliner trends
@Moxeb for style inspo and her videos are always fun
@Poseandrepeat is always great for her colour coordination.
What do you love most about the TikTok community?
I love that TikTok has a space for you, and for all the parts of you that make you, you. I feel there is a community for all my interests, from funny commentary of my favourite tv show, cat videos, style creators and makeup gurus. These communities are defined further with their South Asian creators so I feel that aligns to me even more and there's comfort knowing there's a place for brown creators to belong.
What is your favourite TikTok you have made to date and why?
My graphic knit jumper video or my eid outfit video.
New to TikTok and want to follow more of our South Asian community? Getting involved couldn't be easier, simply download the app for free via the Apple App Store, Google Play or Amazon.
