Meet Heng Taing | Influencer & College Student

We had the good fortune of connecting with Heng Taing and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Heng, how has your perspective on work-life balance evolved over time?
I’ve always struggled with time management. In High School, I was very involved. I played football, soccer, and ran track & field along with choir, theatre, and show choir. As busy as I was, school was never an issue and it was a point in time where I didn’t have to worry about the stresses of adulthood. My first taste of reality came when I enrolled at Texas A&M University to pursue engineering in the Fall of 2020 which was the height of the COVID pandemic. I also decided to play Division 1 football for the school as a cornerback. Being a student-athlete was one of the biggest challenges I have ever faced. After two rough years, I decided to invest all of my time into my college education and give up playing football. Without the stress and responsibilities of playing football (which was considered a full-time job), I was finally able to have fun experiences and socialize. Then I decided to mess around with TikTok since it was so popular. At first, I created videos because they were fun and I loved making videos. Before I knew it one of my videos went viral with 14 million views and my account gained a lot of traction. I currently have over 250,000+ followers. Now when it comes to balancing TikTok and school it has become a lot more difficult. Trying to produce content consistently requires a lot of time not to mention the fact that I need to be watching trends by actually using the app while also working with brand collaborations. Sometimes I find myself spending 5 hours on the app a day and that is something that is just unhealthy. Finding time for school has always been my biggest priority and I lost sight of that for a few months. Now I have limited my time spent on TikTok while I’m on break for the summer and working an internship. I wanted to spend more time experiencing the real world and appreciating the little things in life. TikTok was becoming more of a job than a creative outlet that I enjoyed in the beginning. I was becoming a victim of burnout and I feel like stopping to smell a few roses has helped me redevelop my passion for content creation. I also started to transition to Instagram with 50,000+ followers in order to further promote my brand and expand my reach. Balancing work, life, and school can be difficult at times for me, and taking a few steps back to find passion in what you do again will not only allow you to recollect yourself and return with new ideas and a different perspective. Never forget to have fun, because fun is how you’ve made it this far.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Growing up I’ve always been an all-arounder. I can play almost any sport, I can also sing, dance, play guitar, and draw. My perfectionist personality made me into a jack-of-all-trades and that is how my content would be described. My content ranges from dancing, comedy, music, singing, rants, workouts, fashion, and plenty of other things. I think the thing that sets me apart from others is the way I dress, my dancing, and most of all the culture I grew up around. I was born in Cambodia and when I was 3 years old, my family immigrated to Dallas Texas. I went to a Spanish-speaking elementary school where I gained literacy in Spanish. The East Dallas area we were living in was riddled with petty theft and crimes. Combined with the poor living conditions of the cramped 1 bedroom four-plex apartment, our family of 7 moved just outside of Dallas into the city of Mesquite. Here is where I continued my education from elementary through high school. It is also where I developed those skills I mentioned earlier. The Dallas and Mesquite environment that I grew up in was culturally diverse with the demographics predominantly being Latino and African American. My brothers and I were oftentimes the only Asians in the entire school. I became a product of my environment, sharing dialect and culture with my Latino and black family and friends. The music I liked, the songs I sang, the food I ate, the humor I shared, it was all influenced by other people’s culture. I was the prime example of cultural assimilation and I think that’s what sets me apart from everyone else. I think when people see my brand and personality on social media they see me as a person who bridges the gap between minority groups through my content. I want to be a constant reminder that people come from all parts of the world in all shapes, sizes, and skin colors but culture is one of those things that is not defined exclusively by those physical traits. This of course comes with a ton of backlash. It’s one of the biggest obstacles I face on social media. Some people who come across my content can’t fathom the thought of someone else looking completely different from them but yet so similar. I’ve been labeled things such as “culture vulture” and accused of faking a “blaccent”. I try not to let these things get to me because it’s just something that comes with being an influencer, some people will like you, and some people just won’t. However, I’ve mostly been receiving love from all over the world and I’m thankful for all of their support. It feels nice being recognized when I’m out in public it not only makes my day but I get to meet and interact with wonderful people! I’m still pretty new to the TikTok scene and I hope to continue growing. Who knows? Maybe I could do social media for a living.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
With the DFW being such a large metroplex, there is always something to do. For cool sights to see I would show them the iconic Dallas skyline, the Perot Museum, a graffiti park, the Museum of Illusions, White Rock Lake, and the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Gardens. For places to eat, I would show them all the hole-in-the-wall spots in Dallas for Mexican food but for Asian food there are several great restaurants in the Plano and Carrollton area. For entertainment, I’d hit up a bowling alley, a skating rink, or an arcade. I’m only 21 so I don’t have much experience with places to grab a drink. For nightlife, I would go to Deep Ellum or 7th St in Fort Worth.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
A huge shoutout to my dad Sroy, my mom Vibol, my aunt Ngim, and my grandma Ama for raising me and always supporting me, My biggest inspiration is my best friend and younger brother Leng, everything I do is to be a good role model for him. I want to thank my family/friends/mentors, Hong, Hank, Giovanni (and his family), Enrique, Gavin, Jovani, Kayla, Maria, Christian, Jalen (and his family), and Coach Byrd. My list goes on and on but these people are the most influential people in my life and they helped me become the person I am today.

Website: linktr.ee/hengtaing

Instagram: @heng_taing

Twitter: @Hengpt

Youtube: @taingheng

Other: TikTok: @heng