Sunday Funday Moment: Local nurse practitioner to take part in TikTok’s inaugural ‘Latinx Creators Program’

El Paso, Texas-- Hispanic Heritage month wraps up Friday October 15th but the popular social media platform TikTok is hoping their platform will continue to further encourage the growth of Latinx creators in entertainment with a new Latinx creatives creator program.

The new program will feature El Paso Nurse practitioner, Jennifer Armendariz who decided she would use her knowledge as a nurse practitioner for good on social media to educate followers on health issues.

“I decided one day you know I'm going to post a video and I'm going to talk about fatty liver and diabetes and heart disease and I did that," said Armendariz, "And then I went to bed and when I woke up the next morning I was like what is happening? All these people were commenting and views and it was kind of overwhelming at first.”

One day while scrolling through TikTok videos Armendariz came across an ad that encouraged Latinas to apply for a new program that would be geared at helping those in the Latinx entertainment community.

"It said you just needed to have a following on your TikTok page, be Latino or Latina," said Armendariz, "I sent in my application and I sent in a video that was on my page and I waited and there was the email that I got that I was selected.”

Tik Tok partnered up with Emmy-nominated director, producer, actress, activist and entrepreneur Eva Longoria and her production company, UnbeliEVAble entertainment, to create their Latinx creatives program.

"It's the first ever program that they've done like this and it’s a program that is geared at helping latinos increase their knowledge of social media, how to learn about social media and how to improve their platform from a variety of backgrounds,” said Armendariz.

Over 12,000 TikTok users applied but only 150 Latinx creators were selected. Armendariz being one of them.

“I felt very proud as a Latina to be selected for it," said Armendariz, "I felt really excited for my community and thinking of how I can continue to bring my message of health and wellness to El Paso and beyond.”

The 10-week program kicks off October 12th and Armendariz is hoping she can use the knowledge and skills she learns to represent the El Paso Community.

"We want to be represented and we want our kids to see that as well and I want people that are scrolling on their phones to say, hey she looks like me or hey she speaks like me!"

You can follow Armendariz on her TikTok journey by clicking here.