An interview with Caden Teneycke
Caden Teneycke, photo provided by Caden.
Caden Teneycke is a first-year business student here at UVic. He has been creating vlogs and internet content since he was 11, but his popularity has recently skyrocketed on TikTok.
I had the pleasure of sitting down with Caden to talk about what it’s like being an influencer while attending university and to learn more about him.
Do you want to introduce yourself and say a bit about your background?
My name is Caden Teneycke. I’m 18 years old and stand at about three and a half feet tall. I have a rare form of dwarfism called spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia congenita. I was born and raised in Ladysmith, B.C. on the island here. I’ve had countless surgeries at BC Children’s Hospital in Vancouver; that’s where I primarily got most of my medical care from. UVic has been a school that I always wanted to go to.
How did you first get into content creation?
I used to be a huge consumer of content. Roman Atwood, Sean Duras. When those guys were at their prime doing their daily vlogging, I just loved it and was watching it all the time.
It’s actually my parents. They’re always super supportive of me, but my dad wasn’t a huge fan of the fact that I was always watching YouTube. I was actually just lying on the couch one day, and I was watching one of Roman Atwood’s vlogs, and my dad came out and said, ‘You know, Caden, instead of just consuming that crap all the time, why don’t you try making it?’ I had never thought of that before.
So then I kind of started watching YouTube videos on how to make YouTube videos and kind of just spiraled from there. I did YouTube for a while, just learning my skills. Then I started TikTok, really trying to do it and really pushing daily uploads. I started in April of 2022. We’re coming up on a year and we’ve had some amazing numbers.
It seems that in the last couple of weeks, it’s all really blown up.
Yeah, it was insane. Two weeks ago, Sunday, I was at 157 000 followers. Then eight days later, I was at 500k. The last couple of weeks have been insane. I’ve had some videos just really take off.
How do you balance school and content creation?
It’s really hard. I like to think of it as a sinking ship. You constantly run to one end, unload the water, and then you run back to the other and unload that side. So it’s been a lot. My grades, I try to keep them decent, but the reality is I do prioritize content a bit more. But it’s been hard, especially the last two weeks since everything’s kind of just skyrocketed, you know? Constantly on emails, calls, signing with companies or whatnot. It’s definitely a full-time job.
People online can be mean. Have you had to deal with a lot of rude comments?
On TikTok [compared to other social media platforms] I’ve found my comments have been amazing. Of course, there’s always like, the South Park comments or something like that. I’ve heard every joke in the book and I expect it, so it takes a lot to offend me. My audience is extremely loyal, and they’re very supportive of me. So if they see a comment, then they’re jumping on that person, like, ‘Hey, that’s not right, you shouldn’t do that.’ So TikTok has been fantastic.
Other platforms like Instagram, I’ve noticed more hate comments and that kind of stuff. Again, I try not to let it get to me, and it doesn’t. The only thing that does get to me is the fact that it doesn’t bother me, but my family is seeing that as well. I have had some unfortunate messages, where, again, it doesn’t affect me, but then I see that affecting my family, right? So it’s definitely a lot.
Do you have a lot of people coming up to you in person?
Since TikTok has exploded, there’s been a lot more. It seems like tons of people know me. I was just in Vancouver the other weekend. And it was like, taking pictures, people seeing me, waving, whatever. And I love it. If you ever see me in public, please feel free to come say hi because I love meeting everybody.
It’s always something that I have had, being somebody three and a half feet tall and on a Segway, so people are already interested. And now they recognize me from TikTok or from Instagram. So it’s just kind of adding to that, and I really enjoy it.
How has the accessibility and accommodation at UVic been?
It’s been really good. I’m extremely fortunate to have an accessible dorm, and they’ve given me complete power to pretty much do any modifications that I need that aren’t permanent. They’ve been really great that way.
The campus overall is pretty accessible. There are a lot of things that still need to be done. There’s a lot of automatic doors that just don’t work, but that is also something that kind of just happens everywhere. I’m very fortunate because if there is a door where the push button doesn’t work, I can still open that door. I still have the physical means to be able to do so. But there are a lot of people that are students here that don’t, so I feel for them.
What kind of terminology and language do you prefer people use regarding your condition?
The kind of broad accepted term is ‘little person.’ The more medical side is ‘dwarf’ because my condition is a strain of dwarfism.
But then again, just my name, right? Like I’m Caden. Sure, I’m Caden that has dwarfism, but I’m Caden first.
This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
