COMFORT ZONE BUSTER: Former Perkins sharpshooter Hallee Smith becomes TikTok star

PERKINS TWP. — For Hallee Smith, the hardest part is the ask. Smith, a former Perkins track and basketball standout (she graduated in 2016), is a TikTok-er — a highly successful one, actually. She's amassed 1 million followers after downloading the social media app, which focuses on short-form video, last December. She's accrued most of her following since June. In doing so, she shunned her inner introvert to create viral videos of herself embracing Disney World, lip-synching as Siri, the voice of the iPhone, and, most recently, searching for a Starbucks — any Starbucks — that can correctly spell her name for a coffee order (she's had rotten luck). At the end of each Starbucks shoot, Smith likes to trade Instagram handles with the barista who took her order. It's good for promotion. But sometimes, when the time comes to ask that question, Smith hesitates. How can that be? Smith spent the last year-plus bursting from comfort zones in front of a camera. She's joked around on TikTok, sang for her YouTube viewers and even started a business — Hallee Media LLC — where she consults with business owners over how to grow their social media footprint. Still, Smith considers herself "naturally shy." She's constantly conscious of the line between bragging and self-promotion. To the point where sometimes, like at the end of her Starbucks shoots, she skips a chance to form a connection. "Sometimes, for whatever reason, I won't step up," Smith said of the barista interactions. "It's uncomfortable for me to say that. If I don't consciously tell myself to do that, I miss that opportunity." The tortured artist As early as kindergarten, Smith considered herself an artist. What kind, she didn't know. But she knew she liked art class. That was enough. Smith specialized in drawing people. Her first-grade teacher called one portrait, which featured down-to-the-pupil eyes, "the most detailed first-grade drawing I'd ever seen." At 7, Smith added photography to her portfolio. She received a camera for Christmas, and she filled its film rolls with photos of the flowers that surrounded her family's home. She was always carrying a GoPro on family vacations. "I just wanted to be an artist," Smith said. "I didn't know much else." Beyond the easel, Smith strived to be a top student. Each school year, she read faster and earned higher grades than most of her classmates. "And if she didn't," Smith's mother, Erica, said, "she got very upset." That was the Smith family's introduction to Hallee's competitive psyche. As a youth soccer player, Hallee played in the boys rec league and attended additional training sessions with a coach in Avon. That lasted until seventh grade, when Hallee said she "burned out" of soccer. Instead, she focused on track and basketball. She was a skilled shooter on the court and a talented sprinter in track. But sometimes, she got in her own way. The pre-game jitters hit her hardest in high school. They often stayed with her once the action started, and if she made a mistake they could derail an entire performance. "She was so hard on herself for everything, and I think that would eat at her," Erica said. "She was so worried about pleasing her coach, pleasing us." Perkins girls basketball coach Brian Heck recalls a practice from Smith's sophomore season. She was missing shots, committing turnovers — "making young mistakes," Heck said. She knew she was better than what she was showing. But the more she thought about that, the more frustrated she became. Finally, Heck pulled her aside for a chat. "As frustrated as you are right now, always remember this day," Heck said. "When you bounce back, (and) you're having all this success, you're gonna come back and look at this day and say, 'You know what, I was down here, and now look where I'm at now.'" 'Comfortable being uncomfortable' On Nov. 8, 2019, Smith stood at the center of a Hilton conference center in Scranton, Pa., preparing to do something she never thought she would: deliver a speech, voluntarily. Trying new things had become a habit for Smith since her senior season at Perkins. Smith kicked her basketball nerves while becoming Perkins' leading scorer that winter. But she never heard her triumph verbalized until Perkins track coach Amy Didion reminded Smith to stay "comfortable being uncomfortable." Didion was talking about Hallee's track regimen when she said the phrase, but Smith applied it to life at-large. She turned down the Division III schools currying her basketball talent in favor of big-school Kent State. Once there, she revived the Golden Flashes' club basketball team, even after the person she emailed about it told her the last attempt had failed miserably. She joined a business fraternity to help her network. And through that fraternity, she entered an impromptu speaking competition. She learned her topic — her personal mission statement — 30 minutes before she was scheduled to deliver a 5-8-minute speech. Nowhere did Smith's nerves show more conspicuously as a child than when delivering a public speech. The Scranton conference room she commanded was as far from comfortable as she could be. "I had it in my head that it was impossible," Smith said. "I couldn't do it." She was wrong. Over the course of her four-minute speech, Smith projected confidence while discussing how to pursue a dream. She asked those in the crowd to consider their passions, or "whatever lights your heart on fire." And once you find it, she told them, don't let anyone discourage you from pursuing it. "My mission," Smith told the room of 50-80 people, "is to live my life with intention, and on my own terms, and to inspire others to do the same." She must've inspired somebody, because the judges decided her speech was the best of the 16 they heard that day. Smith graduated before she could compete in the national competition, but the accomplishment unlocked a new level of self-esteem. "I think that turned a switch of confidence in her," Erica said. "… She knew that she could do whatever she wanted to, that nothing was going to hold her back." Face of her own franchise Smith's mental fortitude was tested again last March. Fresh out of Kent State with a degree in marketing and a minor in graphic design, she'd built a decent clientele for freelance design work. Then the virus hit. Smith lost her two biggest clients. Ohio's state-wide lockdown inspired in her a distinct feeling: stuck. "I was just kind of sulking for a couple weeks," Smith said. By then, Smith was already deep into the TikTok world. She'd gained traction after a couple videos from her family's vacation to Disney World in January blew up. And during the summer, she stumbled onto another TikTok gold mine: Siri. Smith created videos where she acted as both Siri and herself. Only this Siri was sassy and manipulative. She would use her all-controlling technological powers to get what she wanted from Smith. The series struck a chord with younger users, who frequently commented on Smith's other videos asking if she was Siri. Smith saw her TikTok views spike as high as 100,000 per week. Her following increased exponentially, to the point where Smith thought 1 million was in reach. "I loved being in (the videos)," Smith said. "I loved the creative outlet they gave me." Smith decided to marry that love with her business acumen. A mastermind group of female entrepreneurs inspired Smith to start her LLC, where she focuses on teaching personality-based business owners how to market themselves on social media. Her main focus is, of course, TikTok. "People's attention spans are this big," Smith said, pressing her thumb toward index finger. "Shortform video is the next big thing." And Smith is one of its one of its most popular faces. It took her awhile to become comfortable as the star of her own show — she asked her parents not to watch her videos at first — but she's acclimating (and earning money through brand partnerships and donations). Her dad, Bill, has his own account now, and he recites Hallee's engagement statistics to her (Hallee lives at her parents' home). Erica worries about "creepers," but she trusts her daughter to make strong decisions and thinks Hallee is a great role model for her younger, Siri-loving followers. After all, Hallee used to battle her confidence; she hated public speaking. Now look at her. "I started to recognize that, uncomfortable situations, if you're not aware of it, you just shy away from them and you don't think twice," Smith said. "But if I do that is that going to help me out, is that going to make me more successful? Is that going to push me to be better? A lot of times, yes."