IDAHOBIT Ambassador Meissa Mason Is A Voice For Young Indigenous And Queer Advocacy
Image: Meissa Mason. Image: Instagram
Twenty two year-old content creator Meissa Mason has amassed a following on social media for being an advocate for herself and others through her authentic and educational voice.
Star Observer spoke with Mason about LGBTQI advocacy, utilising social media and her inspiring resilience.
鈥淚鈥檝e always been really creative and loved to check out new creative platforms when they pop up,鈥� says Mason in explaining her choice to start uploading to TikTok back in 2020. With her first post being a Beetlejuice cosplay, It was during lockdown when Mason posted about her racist experience with a driving service which 鈥渂lew up鈥� on the platform.
鈥淚 saw a few mob creators on TikTok and they gave me the courage to post about it. From then on I made videos more about myself, educational content and everything snowballed from there!鈥�
Coming Out
Since then, Mason has been open about her identity and perspective as a Indigenous Wiradjuri, Gomeroi and Awabakal person, and the intersections of being a bisexual/ queer person. 鈥淪ocial media can give you the ability to spread your message to thousands of people that you may not reach by word of mouth. It can also be a platform to give a voice to marginalised people and communities who usually go unheard,鈥� says Mason explaining her direction of content.
She has made sure to continue growing and evolving her content by keeping her content open and not limiting herself. Talking about comic book series, make up, indigenous education or queer education, Mason has focused on building her video producing and storytelling skills.
Gaining a following of over 140,000 followers and nearly eight million likes on TikTok, Mason has attracted both positive reactions from her educational and inspiring content, and unfortunately hate from racists and homophobes.
Explaining that with the rise of TikTok the same year she joined, herself and many indigenous creators were 鈥榦verwhelmed鈥� by many racist experiences from commenters and other creators. 鈥淎t first I was actually really upset about it and didn鈥檛 know how to deal with the mass amounts (of oppressive comments), but I spoke with my grandparents and my aunties and they really helped to ground me,鈥� Mason reflected now adopting to delete and block any backlash from her page.
鈥淚鈥檝e probably blocked thousands and thousands of people on TikTik by now!… I鈥檝e kind of had to desensitise myself from the comments because of how frequent and how much it is.鈥�
On Being A Queer Blak Woman Online
Additionally, there has still been an emotional toll from her experience on social media platforms saying, 鈥淚t鈥檚 definitely a whole different experience for blackfullas on the internet.鈥�
鈥淎 lot of the things I educate about also affect me directly as a queer Blak woman鈥� There have been times where it鈥檚 taken me hours to film an educational video because I鈥檝e had to stop in between and take breaks because I鈥檝e been so upset during filming,鈥� explaining that sometimes such topics can be extremely deep and traumatising.
Mason encourages other users to prioritise themselves by using security features across social media. From filtering comments, blocking accounts, and (one of her personal 鈥渇avourites鈥�) restricting accounts on Instagram, she encourages all users to maximise security measures and take time offline for themselves when necessary.
With her success in becoming a consistent voice for advocacy across her platforms, Mason was fortunate with various opportunities to continue her advocacy across Australia. Being able to continue to work to express herself and others is something she is 鈥渋ncredibly grateful to be able to live this life.鈥�
IDAHOBIT Ambassador
She has been flown across Australia to join various Indigenous education panels and workshops, as well as be a representative in events including the on annual Mardi Gras Floats by both Meta and TikTok respectively.
More recently, Mason has been selected as an Ambassador for this year鈥檚 International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Interphobia and Transphobia.
Being a content creator for nearly three years now, Mason intends to continue building her platform from her social media and possibly expand her creative outlets. 鈥淚鈥檓 not 100% sure yet but I wouldn鈥檛 mind dabbling in some acting roles, maybe TV? It would be really cool to work on something like that!鈥� she said.
As Mason continues her career, she encourages other young people to continue to utilise social media platforms and for Indigenous and queer folk to find their voice. 鈥淚t can be difficult to be heard. So take up space so more people can hear you! Speak your truth and don鈥檛 forget to amplify the voices of those most vulnerable in our communities too.鈥�
