Nobody would have guessed that Morgann Book would be uploading more than just videos of herself decorating cakes to an audience of almost three million followers on TikTok. What’s next for the Ancaster teen?

By: Darya Soufian

In January 2020, Morgann Book uploaded two videos of herself decorating some Dairy Queen cakes to TikTok. She woke up the next day to millions of views and thousands of new followers.

A lot changed for the young teenager as she gained more traction and quickly became the “Dairy Queen girl from TikTok.” By the first quarter of 2021, Book had amassed two million followers and a growing fan base that was craving more.

It’s been over two years since she started this journey and the almost 19-year-old is showing no signs of slowing down. But some things have definitely changed.

Book graduated from high school last year and started her first year of social science at McMaster University. She plans on specializing in political science next year.

About three years ago, when the Book family opened the Dairy Queen store in Ancaster, Ont., Monica Dycha started working there and quickly hit it off with Book.

Friends and co-workers, Morgann Book (left) and Monica Dycha (right), pose together with some Blizzards at the Ancaster Dairy Queen store. (Darya Soufian/CanCulture)

The two went to elementary school together, but with Dycha being a year older, they didn’t become friends until they started working together. Eventually, she started helping Book with her videos.

“We’re both very similar. We both love reading books and hanging out together,” Dycha said. “We were working a shift together and she asked me if I wanted to be a part of a loop she was making for a video, and I said yes.”

Soon after, they started to hang out outside of the workplace and Dycha would get involved with the vlogs that Book was making.

“I didn’t know people would want to get a cake just for Morgann to decorate and film it, which she did a lot of the time. That was pretty shocking,” Dycha said. “It’s sometimes weird to me that people say to her ‘I love you so much’ like a celebrity, but I’ve never seen Morgann as a celebrity.”

“I see her as my best friend, so it’s really cool but also surprising… It’s definitely been a life-changing experience for her and everyone who works at the Dairy Queen, but it hasn’t changed anyone’s attitude. And she’s really humble about it too.”

In her first semester of university, Book didn’t work much at Dairy Queen, but she has found more of a balance between work and school in this second semester. As much as she enjoys interacting with her co-workers and customers, she plans to cut down her hours until the summer.

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While Book still wants to be a lawyer, this new “influencer” lifestyle is becoming a consistent side hustle for her right now. It’s been a lot to juggle — and sometimes a struggle to get brand deals — but she recently hired a manager to help lift some of the weight off her shoulders. It has allowed Book to focus a bit more on school and creating content.

“They handle all of my emails, brand deals and negotiations; the business side to content creation,” Book said.

Some of her favourite collaborations so far include IKEA and Indigo. She hopes to work with Audible, Lululemon and Spotify soon.

In the past year, Book has started to get more comfortable with YouTube, where she has more creative freedom to make longer videos on just about anything. She started her channel in March 2021 and now has over 700,000 subscribers.

Book also added that there’s a new audience to engage with on YouTube, which she wasn’t expecting. She initially thought that most of her TikTok followers would migrate over, but has since noticed that the majority of her subscribers are new to her content.

“The response I get from TikTok sometimes isn’t the greatest and it can be really negative. I think it takes a hit on people’s self-esteem and overall confidence, but on YouTube, I found it to be surprisingly positive,” Book said. “There’s still some hate comments but it’s a really supportive community. I think that’s what has made me want to continue to grow — it changed my mindset a little bit.”

Book’s shifts often include decorating birthday cakes and filming them for TikTok videos using a phone holder around her neck. (Mara Tataryn/Dairy Queen)

Brand deals and content creation aside, Book has been going on family trips to Florida for a break, mostly from the cold. She also takes this as an opportunity to visit other Dairy Queen locations and scope out something new to try.

“Everytime I go in, my parents are like, ‘Tell them you make videos!’, and I never bring it up. I’ve never been asked about my videos, even though I’m always filming when I go in,” she said. “I just don’t want to be that person, I just want to be another customer. I want to see how they work. I don’t know why but it’s so intriguing to me.”

This new journey with social media might be a long-term gig for Book, but she admits that it does scare her sometimes to think about having so many eyes on her.

“When I was younger, I liked to fly under the radar. I was very introverted and not into social media. It’s been exciting having people watch me grow and make mistakes — it sounds cheesy but it’s true,” she said. “Sometimes it stresses me out a bit because of this filtered version I’m often presenting to the world, and a small part of me wishes I was just not part of this… although I’m so thankful for it.”

Book thinks that it will be fun to tell her kids about how she made cake videos when she was younger, but also said that there’s a small chance she will still be doing it when she’s 40.

“I don’t know if I’m still going to be doing this even in a couple of years — but I hope I am.”