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Tracy
Tracy
Jul 15 2026
31Not every business begins with a market gap or a carefully crafted strategy. Some begin much earlier, maybe with a feeling. A pull towards something that keeps showing up throughout your life, long before you realise it might eventually become your career.
For some people, it's design, technology, music, or sport. For Tesaarah, it was always stories.
Long before the brand campaigns, the content creation, the entrepreneurship, and the launch of her own creative agency, she was simply fascinated by people and the stories they carried. As a teenager, she dreamed of creating a platform that would spotlight other young people doing interesting things. While many of us spent our school years trying to survive exams and homework, Tesaarah was already thinking about how stories could be told, shared, and amplified.
At the time, she probably didn't realise that instinct would eventually shape her entire career. What began as a curiosity for storytelling would later evolve into content creation, brand partnerships, entrepreneurship, and the launch of her own creative agency. Along the way, she would be told she was "just a content creator", navigating an industry many people still struggled to understand, and building a business around the very thing that had interested her from the beginning.
Stories.
Today, she stands at the intersection of content, branding, marketing, and entrepreneurship, leading her own creative house, ‘House of Creates’, while continuing to build a growing community on TikTok.
Before the Agency, There Was a Storyteller
Her idea was to interview teenagers who were making an impact in different ways and share their stories with a wider audience. The project, called Teens Report, became her very first venture. Teens Report featured several young people before she eventually closed it, but it sparked something that would shape her career for years to come.
After leaving school and entering university, Tesaarah began documenting her life more openly. She shared the raw moments - the highs, the mistakes, the setbacks, and everything in between -with an honesty that audiences connected with. "I was just posting my life, the raw moments and all the mistakes, negatives, and positives," she said. "I guess I learnt a lot online from people, even the haters."
During the pandemic, she found herself creating even more consistently, unknowingly laying the foundation for what would eventually become a career.
At the time, however, she wasn't thinking about entrepreneurship, agency ownership, or building a business. She was simply taking things one day at a time. "I never really thought it would be something big," she admitted. "I was just riding the wave."
From "Just a Content Creator" to Building a Business
If storytelling was the foundation of Tesaarah's journey, entrepreneurship was something she learned along the way. Unlike many founder stories that begin with a lifelong dream of starting a company, she is refreshingly honest about what drove her. "For me, I feel it wasn't passion. It was pressure." Determined to become financially independent, she did whatever she could—and whatever she was good at—to create opportunities for herself. While TikTok and content creation were opening doors, they weren't yet offering the stability she was looking for. "I started the company because I wanted stability. Social media content creation alone wasn't giving me that."
At a time when content creation was still widely misunderstood, Tesaarah often found herself challenging conventional thinking. "I wish I could have spoken to more people that were open-minded about social media for guidance, but it was mostly frowned upon and I kind of just rebelled against that opinion." Ironically, one of the biggest turning points came from criticism itself. "I think I started my first job because everyone called me 'just a Content Creator'."
After spending over a year working for one of Sri Lanka's largest employers while continuing to build her community on TikTok, she found herself facing a decision many young entrepreneurs eventually encounter: continue building someone else's business, or take a chance on building her own. The same storytelling skills, audience insights, and community-building experience she had developed through TikTok soon became the foundation of a new venture. Seeking greater stability, she began managing digital content for businesses while sharpening her skills in branding, communications, and strategy.
"I knew this was monthly income that wasn't variable, and I needed that stability."
What began as a practical decision gradually evolved into something much bigger. "I made so many mistakes and I didn't do anything perfectly." Yet those lessons, together with the arrival of a business partner and a growing team, transformed a one-person operation into the full-service creative house she leads today.
How TikTok Turned a Passion for Storytelling Into a Business
For Tesaarah, TikTok wasn't simply another platform to post content. It became the place where years of curiosity, storytelling, creativity, and community-building finally found room to grow.
As she continued creating content, she found herself gravitating towards TikTok's ability to connect people through interests rather than existing social circles. Whether she was sharing reflections from her day, lessons she was learning, entrepreneurial experiences, or simply honest conversations over a cup of coffee, the platform consistently introduced her content to people who genuinely wanted to engage with it.
"I personally love TikTok because you are exposed to more of what you are passionate about," she explained. "The people that see my content aren't just people in my circle, but people who have similar thinking patterns as me."
That distinction proved powerful. Rather than building a community limited to people she already knew, TikTok's discovery features allowed her to connect with entirely new audiences who related to her experiences, values, ambitions, and outlook on life. Through communities formed around entrepreneurship, personal growth, creativity, business ownership, productivity, and storytelling, she found herself becoming part of conversations that extended far beyond her immediate network. Across hashtags such as #WomenInBusiness, #Entrepreneurship, #SmallBusiness, and #TikTokSriLanka, creators like Tesaarah were not only sharing content, but finding communities of people navigating many of the same journeys.
Over time, those conversations began creating opportunities. What started as content creation evolved into brand collaborations, business relationships, client conversations, and professional opportunities that may never have existed otherwise. Every campaign taught her something new about communication. Every interaction helped her better understand audiences. Every piece of content strengthened the skills that would eventually become the foundation of a business.
Today, Creates applies the same storytelling philosophy to the brands it works with. Through creator-led campaigns, short-form content and community building, TikTok has become a key tool in helping businesses connect with audiences authentically.
For Tesaarah, it's simple: TikTok, the very platform that helped her tell her own story, is now helping brands tell theirs.
Today, Creates offers a range of marketing and creative services, but Tesaarah remains remarkably grounded about how it all came together. "My only success has been being willing to do my best, being willing to admit my mistakes, and reset as fast as possible." As the agency marks its second year, she remains grateful not only for the successes, but also for the challenges that shaped the journey. "Having completed our first two years, I am so thankful for everyone that has been a part of this journey. And I'm grateful for every challenge."
Today, Creates offers a range of marketing and creative services, but Tesaarah remains remarkably grounded about how it all came together. "My only success has been being willing to do my best, being willing to admit my mistakes, and reset as fast as possible." As the agency marks its second year, she remains grateful not only for the successes, but also for the challenges that shaped the journey. "Having completed our first two years, I am so thankful for everyone that has been a part of this journey. And I'm grateful for every challenge."
Figure 2 Team: Then
Looking ahead, her ambitions are surprisingly simple. "My only aspiration is to continue to grow as an individual for everyone around me, and for myself and for my family one day. It's to be more humble, more grateful, more mindful and to give glory to God with everything I do."
For young women hoping to build something of their own, her advice is refreshingly simple. "Be as much of yourself online as you are at home as you are with your friends."
Because in a world where so many people are trying to fit into a mould, sometimes the most powerful thing you can do is build a life, and a career, that looks unapologetically like your own.
