Growing up in the Dehcho region of the Northwest Territories, Inuk’s parents found it difficult to find clothing for her. Inuk, who goes by her traditional name, describes her body type as plus size or “tall and fluffy”.
Now, she has leveraged her social media channels where she already has a massive following (26,500 on TikTok and 15,300 on Instagram) to fulfill one of her bucket list goals: becoming a model.
About three or four months ago, Inuk, the artist behind jewelry brand Inuk360, started making TikTok videos specifically geared toward this goal, inspired by stars like Tess Holiday, Lizzo, and the late Candy Palmater, who also show off their carvings. large.
In his videos, Inuk wrote down a couple of goals, one of them being a model for Penningtons clothes, now renamed PENN.
She said her followers started tagging the clothing company in her videos and “next thing I knew I got a message from one of their PRs.” [representatives].”
PENN contacted her and asked for her model portfolio. She didn’t have one, but used her social media content as an example of her work.
“That’s where we started talking back and forth. And that went from being a model to doing a collaboration,” Inuk said.
She was asked to make a 30-second video wearing outfits from the company’s new fall collection.
Inuk poses while showing off his outfit. She had a bucket list goal of modeling, and recently she got the chance to do so while collaborating with clothing brand PENN. (Submitted by Inuk)
Inuk said that he hopes he can continue doing collaborations like this.
“I hope it’s not a one-time deal,” he said.
Even if this is all for his team with PENN, Inuk said to keep an eye on his art, Inuk360, as “there are a lot of good things to come.” She has also made her mark as the first Inuvialuit model for PENN.
“One of the things I’m learning is that even when you’re overlooked, you’re different, and you get a lot of pushback for things you want to do, you just keep going,” Inuk said.
She said it meant a lot to have a great company like PENN collaborating with her and that it shows that if you dream big and keep pushing yourself, you can achieve big goals, even if they seem unlikely.
He said now is the time to “reclaim these spaces that have never been allowed to us.” [in] prior to.”
Inuk plans to continue harnessing the power of its social media platforms to tell positive stories about the North and promote mental wellness and self-love.
Source: www.cbc.ca