Kendra Jessie on Becoming the Representation She Needed and TikTok’s 2026 Indigenous Voice to Watch

By Chevi Rabbit, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

(ANNews) – For Indigenous youth growing up in small communities, seeing someone from a place like theirs’ succeed on a larger stage can change what they believe is possible.

For Kendra Jessie, that connection is personal.

The Indigenous creator, speaker and fitness coach grew up in High Prairie, Alberta, in Treaty 8 territory. She is mixed Cree and Ukrainian, with status from Sucker Creek First Nation and family connections to Gift Lake Métis Settlement and Whitefish Lake First Nation.

“I grew up in High Prairie, Alberta, probably until I was going into high school,” Jessie says. “My dad was a really big advocate for putting me into sports and being active and being part of sports teams.”

Sports became a constant throughout her childhood. She played hockey, badminton, volleyball, track and field, cross country and dance, including ballet, jazz, hip hop and lyrical.

“I still play to this day, like in rec hockey and Native hockey tournaments,” she says.

Her background in dance eventually helped her find another way to connect with culture. “I feel like my background in contemporary dance and performing really helped me to kind of transition into powwow and to just learn a new dance style,” Jessie says. She began powwow dancing as a young adult in 2018 and has continued for about eight years.

The connection to sport, movement and identity also became part of the work she does with young people through Sport for Spirit. “I feel like I’m always trying to be the person that my younger self needed,” Jessie says. “Because I know for myself when I was younger, especially being mixed and growing up in a small town in Northern Alberta, there were a lot of times where I felt kind of ashamed of my Indigenous identity, or just kind of had a hard time finding places where I felt fit in.”

For Jessie, those experiences became a reason to create the kind of spaces she wished had existed when she was younger. “[I’m] really navigating those identity struggles and just wanting to create opportunities and create good, safe and positive spaces for Indigenous youth within sport and just trying to give back to the community,” she says.

Sport has also shaped how Jessie understands wellness. “Sports and fitness and movement has given me so many opportunities and so many good things throughout my life,” she says. “I just know the power and how important it is to be active.”

That understanding extends beyond organized athletics. “Our ancestors were athletes, and wellness was a way of life,” Jessie says. “Just even really igniting that cultural way for us and being active for life, I think is really important.”

Her work has since taken her well beyond Northern Alberta.

Jessie became a Nike N7 athlete and was featured in Nike’s “Play New” campaign, filmed on Tsuut’ina Nation and in Calgary. The commercial later aired during the World Junior Hockey Championship.

In a Nike profile about the campaign, Jessie described her approach to movement in three words: “Movement is medicine.”

Her social-media presence has continued to grow as well. In 2026, TikTok named Jessie one of its Indigenous Voices to Watch, adding another national platform to her growing profile as an Indigenous creator.

But having a public platform comes with its own expectations. “I think definitely, as Indigenous content creators or influencers, we have a higher standard when it comes to representing our community and our peoples,” Jessie says. “For me, it’s definitely been a big learning process. I’m not perfect. I’m still learning a lot about our culture and our teachings and our traditions.”

That accountability influences the partnerships she accepts. “I always try to move with intention and find meaningful partnerships,” she says. “For me, it’s really important that if I’m going to do a brand partnership or work with a brand and promote it on my social media, that it’s in an authentic way, and it’s not for me just about getting a paycheck.”

Jessie also keeps in mind the young people who see what she posts. “I know there’s a lot of young people, especially young Indigenous girls who follow me or who see my videos on Instagram and TikTok,” she says. “For me, it has to feel authentic, just working with brands that aren’t harmful.”

Building a platform, she says, means being thoughtful about what comes with it. “Especially once you build a platform, whether you’re Indigenous, non-Indigenous, I think you have a sense of responsibility to kind of be ethical and to advocate and share things that are ethical,” Jessie says.

For Jessie, that includes considering how businesses treat the land. “A lot of these companies don’t care about the land or don’t view the land as a relative,” she says. “I think it’s definitely important to have those high standards.”

At the same time, Jessie does not present herself as having everything figured out. “I feel like I’m always trying to learn and grow and better myself as a person,” she says.

From High Prairie to the powwow circle, the hockey rink, a national Nike campaign and now TikTok, Jessie’s public profile continues to expand.

What remains consistent is the reason she says she keeps moving forward: becoming the kind of representation she once needed herself.

Kendra Jessie — Socials

• TikTok — @kendrajessie: TikTok @kendrajessie⁠
• Instagram — @kendrajessie: Instagram @kendrajessie⁠

Sport for Spirit

• Sport for Spirit: Sport for Spirit⁠