The 2022 ESSENCE Festival of Culture had quite a few celebrities, beauty industry professionals and content creators help us create magical moments on stage. Considered one of those very special moments were led by TikTok’s very own, Chazz Inniss, who sat down with content creators Pierrah Hillaire and Nydia Twitty to debate their journeys of being Black content creators on the platform, constructing community and the importance of supporting each other.

Hillaire, whose TikTok username is @pierrahh, has garnered a following of over 50K on the platform for her content centered around Black-owned fashion brands. “Two years ago, I didn’t see plenty of people talking about Black-owned brands, but now I’ve seen a shift and rather a lot more are people sharing Black-owned businesses and are enthusiastic about learning more about Black designers and types,” says Hillaire. 

Twitty, also often known as @slimreaperofficial on TikTok, is definitely a Black designer herself along with being a content creator that has built a following of over 500K followers on the platform. She’s known for her content that shows how she converts items into fashion designs. For the panel, Twitty wore a color ensemble designed by herself made out of backpacks. Twiity says, “Before TikTok gave me this platform, I believed it was just me that loved my clothes and that were into this sort of fashion, but TikTok really helped me find my community and it encouraged me to be myself much more.”

As we all know, our culture’s influence is undeniable, but sometimes it goes without being credited. In the course of the panel, our panelists touched on the importance of supporting other Black creators and doing what they will to be certain creators are recognized for his or her original content. “It’s vital for us to call out once we recognize someone’s content being copied,” says Hillaire. “It looks like a community once I support other Black creators. We don’t get it often outside of spaces like this, so it’s really vital that we uplift and support one another.” Twitty adds, “I’m a movement by myself, but I’m a force once we move together.”

See the complete conversation from our #BlackFashionTikTok panel within the video above. For more of every thing you missed on the 2022 ESSENCE Festival, click HERE.