JadeW

Every month GLAMOUR's Social Media Director Chloe Laws will be interviewing and spotlighting some of the most empowering and unique creators on TikTok. We all mindlessly scroll, hum challenge songs all day, and have realised there's no such thing as an original thought since being on the app. But, as with all social media, it's important to curate your online space – engaging and connecting to creators who educate, empower and inspire us.

This month, we get to know Iconicakes, a Gen-Z sister-act with 2.3 million followers and 84 million likes on TikTok, a joint account they run together. They're all-rounders, posting hair tutorials, fashion styling videos, and day-in-the-life vlogs. Their GRWMs and vlogs are addictive because of how accessible they are, watching them go on dates, getting ready for university, going to festivals - it's refreshing, fun, and creative content. The London-based sisters have a two-year age gap, Sara, 19, is studying law and anthropology at University, and Avni, 17, is doing her A-levels in art, history and politics, whilst balancing their careers as online creators.

We started the account so people wouldn't feel lonely… Sara: My sister and I moved from India to the UK at the age of 10 and 8, it was super difficult to fit in especially because our English wasn’t the best. So, as soon as our mum allowed us to have social media, we started a joint account on Instagram - we wanted to create a friendship group for people like us. Our account is there to try to make sure that people won't feel lonely, because everyone has a friend on their phone! We started ‘doing ’social media around five years ago, so lots of our followers have grown up with us - it's a community, a journey we've all taken together. 

Avni: 

S: 

 A: I’d describe Sara as chaotic, intelligent, and loving. 

S: I’d describe Avni as focused, comforting and talented. 

We began this journey on Instagram and we gradually moved to TikTok too. Around the end of last year, my sister and I wanted to explore our creativity through different platforms and formats. So, we began our ‘fashion week’ series (where we dressed in different aesthetics) and from then onwards we explored our creative sides through challenges and productivity videos. We learned how to interact with a new audience through our comment sections - by asking questions we began to create content together as a community rather than my sister and I presenting the content to everyone. Our first videos are mortifying, but we do still keep them up as they’re a part of the journey and evolution. 

Sometimes what goes viral is random - like the time 15-year-old Avni got 10 million views for just peeling off a face mask. Apart from those mysterious anomalies, our first fashion week series on TikTok got around 10-15 million views per video, for 5 days, and the following week got numbers as big as 15 million and 21 million. This was a very exciting but overwhelming time, we went from having around 100,000 followers on TikTok to over a million in just a week. This completely changed our lives and since then we've tried to improve our content, not just to have huge amounts of views but to be creative and make friends with all the new people that have joined this journey. \

We have always been best friends, even when we lived in India we were absolutely inseparable. Despite our two-year age gap, we have walked hand in hand through every experience. It’s almost like we were reading the same book but were on different pages, and after doing some growing up, we decided to be the authors of our own books. We decided to create social media content through a joint account because we wanted to have fun together, share the same journey and cultivate an audience that can see our differences, similarities and relationship with one another. This way, we aren’t bound to each to create content but we want to be around each other to keep it light-hearted and fun.

The last year has been incredibly difficult, not just for us but for everyone. It was truly a time that reset everyone’s appreciation for social interaction, health, and loved ones. A huge portion of our family is from India and Covid’s impact on our loved ones like our grandparents was extremely difficult to experience. The last year showed my sister and I the importance of consistent communication and absolutely committing to doing things you love. It really gave us a reality check because it reminded us of how lucky we are to have such a wonderful friendship group on social media. We supported each other, raised awareness and money for charity. 

Create a plan! The fear comes from the unknown. Understanding your own journey is the most important aspect of creating content. If you can see it you can do it. We suggest grabbing a big piece of paper writing your name in the middle and creating a mind map of all the concepts you love exploring. After this, make a timeline for yourself for when to create this content and get it out on social media. Oddly enough, it’s a really welcoming place. So go, get started and do it. It’s just one life. 

Quite often it isn’t other TikTok accounts that inspire us but the people that follow us. My dad always says ‘the people you surround yourself with make you who you are’. They shape us into who we are and we will be forever grateful. \

For us, we want to dip our toes into the hair care and skin care industry. A lot of brands are still on a journey to learn how to cater to diverse hair and skin types - there's a lot of work to be done in this space, and we're really keen to explore this and share all the tips and tricks our grandmas and aunties taught us over the years to help create products and content for people like us.

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7qLjApqauqp2WtKLGyKecZ5ufY8Kse8Crq6KbnJp8qq%2FOp6CcmZuawG6%2FwKuYZpmmo7Zutc2tnKuumZrEbn6Pa2g%3D