University of Wisconsin’s Women in Entrepreneurship hosted TikTok creator Bria Lemirande Thursday to discuss her journey as a content creator and entrepreneur. The event emphasized the importance of connections through an online platform.

Women in Entrepreneurship is a student-led program focused on student entrepreneurship and empowering women entrepreneurs. Lemirande has built an online presence and platform with nearly two million followers, known for her recipes, large food hauls and farmer’s market finds, according to WIE.

Taking inspiration from other food-related creators like Halle Burns, Lemirande said she saw potential in making videos and decided to take a leap of faith.

“I thought I would love to make videos of my food and share it with people,” Lemirande said. “I think I made a video the next day and posted it on Tiktok and it was just me making dinner.”

Lemirande explained that content creation should be rooted in authenticity, reality and normalcy, which helped maintain her continuous virality.

Lemirande also discussed maintaining authenticity through aligning morals and values with branded content and company partnerships.

“I never like to partner with brands — especially in the food space — that’s overly diet-related or talking about things like low-calorie foods, because I never want to send any messages to my audience that would make you feel weird about food,” Lemirande said.

Lemirande spoke about her brand partnerships with Oddli, a female-owned retail company, and how the shared values of women in entrepreneurship and support for women-owned businesses excited her to work with this brand.

“I wanted to support a business that was women-owned, and it was cool to be working with women and lifting them up,” Lemirande said.

Although Lemirande emphasized positivity, there have been instances where she faced obstacles or challenges in her journey in content creation.

She discussed negativity in the content creation process and journey, which she said can have a large role in deterring individuals from pursuing a path in content creation.

“It’s important to remember that … not every video has to do well,” Lemirande said. “I think you need to let go of the thought that ‘this was a failure.’”

Negativity and backlash from the internet have caused feelings of doubt and overthinking that Lemirande has faced in her social media journey.

Lemirande also opened up about her future goals of doing long-form content creation on other platforms such as Youtube, and she looks to additional goals of working with different brands. As digital content and digital media continue to grow, Lemirande emphasized the power of belief and self-confidence.

“Believe in yourself, and if you have any desire to do this, just do it,” Lemirande said.