Influencer
Pierrah: Using TikTok To Showcase Black, Women, and POC-Owned Brands
Pierrah is a New York-based TikTok creator producing creative tech, fashion, beauty, and film content. She uses her platform to showcase Black, women, and POC-owned brands, particularly in the fashion and beauty industry. She has helped many brands’ products go viral with her trending videos. Today, she shares her journey to becoming a full-time content creator, her goals, and marketing strategies.
About Pierrah
Pierrah is a “creative renaissance woman” creating fashion, creative tech, and film content. She is originally from Miami, Florida, but moved to New York around 2018 to pursue a media and fashion career.
Pierrah’s parents are Haitian immigrants and have stressed the importance of education for medical school her whole life. Initially, Pierrah pursued medical school and completed the education and prep work until the MCAT.
Pierrah explains, “For some reason, I kept pushing it off, like deferring my medical school career, and I realized I’ve loved fashion since I was a kid. I’ve loved filmmaking since I was a kid and realized, let me just take this chance.”
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She took this chance and moved to New York to pursue a creative life. Pierrah began working at Pepsi in a corporate marketing job and loved the team she was working with.
Unfortunately, the pandemic hit, snuffing out all the trips and collaborative benefits of her marketing job.
Like many people, she looked at her life during the pandemic and made some changes. She realized that she loved fashion and film but had no interest in being a fashion designer and couldn’t be on set during the pandemic, leading her to look at alternative options.
@pierrahh no negativity november🖤 #fashioninspo #freepeople #stevemadden #telfarglobal #fallgrwm ♬ Shirt – SZA
Pierrah shares, “That’s when I found TikTok, and at first, I was binging and watching it for hours, and then eventually the resurgence of Black Lives Matter in June of 2020 [happened]. [It] kind of slapped me in the face and made me realize all this is happening. I was outraged because even though I loved working, loved the people I worked with – I was still in a corporate system that could only do so much for my community.”
Today, Pierrah works full-time as a content creator and takes pride in being an activist and giving back to her community. One of the ways she advocates for her community is through her TikTok series Black Owned Brands, which highlights Black-owned brands that people should invest in to support Black creativity and businesses.
Pierrah’s Content
Pierrah shares, “I’m mostly creating fashion and beauty content, so still rooted within supporting emerging brands like Black-owned brands, women-owned brands, POC-owned brands through that lens, but a lot of my content is unboxing videos.”
Pierrah’s TikTok shares styling videos, hauls, and unboxing videos. She also enjoys sharing beauty content, such as skin care routines and makeup, which she feels is her more experimental vertical.
Her TikTok also features a Black influence series, where she shares about key icons in fashion.
“I have so many different verticals, but I feel like I do want to dive back into fashion analysis. I love to review fashion shows. I just came back from fashion month, where I was in Paris, Milan, and London, and I was able to review a few shows for London Fashion Week.”
@pierrahh I feel like a doll everytime I wear these boots @stevemadden🤎shop with my code 20Pierrah #SMPartner #SteveMadden #fallfashion ♬ B.O.T.A. (Baddest Of Them All) – Eliza Rose & Interplanetary Criminal
Another significant part of her content, which has garnered a lot of media attention, is her bag collection. Pierrah describes herself as a “bag lady.” She loves showcasing her bags, especially bags from up-and-coming or Black-owned brands.
“[Sometimes] a brand reaches out to me directly and says I’ve been sent this video [her video showcasing their bags] that you’ve featured our product so many times. We’ve had so many follows because of you. Thank you so much. We’re getting business. I feel like that’s rewarding for me, and I’m happy that those are the most viral videos that I have.”
Marketing Herself Online
Pierrah’s experience as a corporate brand strategist gave her a lot of marketing experience to apply to her brand today.
“I always try to tell creators that you should try to showcase how a brand can work with you, like what’s the hook or the opportunity for you guys to collaborate? The first thing I love to show is talking about brands, and reviewing brands, so whether you’re a lifestyle creator or a food blogger, etc., how can a brand work with you?
She recommends that creators look for ways to make it easy to commercialize some of their content because content creation is a job and a lot of money for the job often comes through sponsorships.
“Another strategy is not having to stay in one niche. I think people think I have to only do lifestyle or I have to do this, [but] I think we are so complex as creatives that we can do. It’s okay to show different interests that you have. You don’t have to stay in one box.”
She initially thought she had to stay in one box and only talk about fashion, but now she feels it’s okay to show people your other interests because they likely have overlapping interests too.
Brand Campaigns
Pierrah is most proud of her Nike Jordan campaign, where she talked about Black women and how they impact culture while leaning into the brand.
@pierrahh Reply to @jumpman23 let's honor some streetwear pioneers from the past, present, and future✨ #TeamJordan ♬ The finest Lofi Hip Hop(843801) – Dusty Sky
“It was a research-based video. I love talking in general, so it was cool I could just do what I wanted and represent the brand but also represent us. So, that was the most rewarding part.”
Content Creator Challenges & Highlights
Pierrah shares that staying energized and consistent is the most challenging part of being a content creator.
“I feel like being consistent is hard because the social media landscape can be pretty chaotic, but I would say that’s the biggest thing. Having balance and finding ways to still take care of yourself.”
In terms of highlights, Pierrah shares that it’s funny that she is getting paid to talk because, as a child, she didn’t like talking.
“I think it’s funny that something that was a challenge, public speaking, is something now that I can celebrate. So, I would say, I spoke on a panel at Essence Fest and, to me, that was the biggest [highlight.].”
She adds, “I feel like that was the biggest highlight. It was a challenge, but it was also a big win because I put myself out there, talked to people, and met so many people at the event. I just love Essence and what they represent for Black women.”
The Future
In the future, Pierrah would love to see more perspectives and marginalized communities represented in social media.
“I don’t want to say blanket diversity, but I just want to see different faces, different perspectives. I think it’s easy for us to fall into the same group think, like same kind of conversations and ideas, but I want to see more different perspectives being represented.”
In terms of her brand, Pierrah is expanding outside social media and styling more, working closely with designers, and getting back into film. She hopes to work on TV shows, short films, and eventually a full feature.