Influencer Alessia Allfree broke down on social media on Wednesday, just hours before her big win at the 2024 TikTok Awards in Sydney.
Alessia, along with partner Taz Zammit, is half of the TikTok account Taz and Alessia, which took top honors in the Live Creator of the Year category.
But before the auspicious moment, an emotional Alessia shared a video with her and Taz’s 938,000 TikTok followers and a further 31,000 Instagram fans, admitting she was ‘overwhelmed’ by the outpouring of love in the run-up to the awards.
The video showed a makeup-free Aleesia preparing to get ready for her big night and before she even started speaking, it was clear the social media star was in an emotional state.
“I just wanted to sit down and make this video because Taz and I were nominated for an award that is so cool in itself,” she began, already in tears.
‘But I cry for a few reasons. And one of them is because I’m super grateful. Like this whole experience is so surreal.”
Influencer Alessia Allfree broke down on social media on Wednesday, just hours before her big win at the 2024 TikTok Awards in Sydney
Alessia added that she was also emotional before her first TikTok Awards in 2021, admitting that she felt a sense of imposter syndrome.
‘I remember my first TikTok Awards. I cried for a completely different reason, because I thought: why was I invited to this? Is everyone going to look at me strangely?’ she said.
“It’s a very overwhelming time for your first awards, like you’re new to the maker world or whatever.”
Three years later, Alessia said her and Taz’s nomination made her think about how far the couple has come as creators.
“It’s so cool because I feel really confident and proud of myself – how far Taz and I have come,” she said.
Alessia added that she was overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and support from friends and family in the run-up to the wonderful event.
“But I think what’s most emotional is that Taz and I have made so many good friends by doing this and they’ve all texted us today, or in the coming weeks, saying, ‘I voted.’ for you, I’m really rooting for you,” she said.
‘I don’t know if I really feel loved and supported by the people around us and I am very grateful for that.’
An emotional Alessia shared a video with her and co-creator Taz’s 938,000 TikTok followers and another 31,000 Instagram fans, admitting she was ‘overwhelmed’ by the outpouring of love in the run-up to the awards
‘But I cry for a few reasons. And one of them is because I’m super grateful. Like this whole experience is so surreal.” she said
With tears still flowing, Alessia reiterated how grateful she was for those in her inner circle.
“Of course I’m so emotional about it, but I’m really grateful for all our friends and our family,” she said, wiping tears from her eyes.
‘I feel surrounded by a lot of love and support, and of course not everyone understands that.’
Taz and Alessia were joined by Indy Clinton and Anna Paul for the event that celebrates TikTok’s most iconic and viral moments of the year.
Those present were also treated to a performance by American pop star Jojo Siwa.
TikTok presented 13 awards in 2024, including Creator of the Year, which went to Bride Drake, Music Artist of the Year, which was won by Roel Otis, and Video of the Year, which was won by Leah Halton.
Taz and Alessia beat the makers of Rad Rolled Ice Cream (Cameron Thomas, Cristel Thomas, Angus Thomas, Gracie Thomas), Christine Williams, Matthew Walker and Seb Gower to take out the Live Creator Of The Year.
Alessia looked beautiful in a black evening dress with a bouquet of white flowers on the bust.
Taz and Alessia beat the makers of Rad Rolled Ice Cream (Cameron Thomas, Cristel Thomas, Angus Thomas, Gracie Thomas), Christine Williams, Matthew Walker and Seb Gower to take out Live Creator Of The Year
The flowing dress ended at the floor and she tied her locks back for the occasion.
Her classic look was completed with some gold earrings and some subtle gold on her wrists.
Taz, meanwhile, cut a much more casual figure in a white short-sleeved shirt which she left open to reveal what appeared to be a gray sports bra.
She completed her award ensemble with loose-fitting gray pinstripe pants and a plain white baseball-style cap.
Speak with Missing perspectives in June, Alessia and Taz reflected on their social media journey and revealed that Covid was the catalyst for their content creation
“Together we have been active in social media for almost four years now,” they said.
“Our journey started in 2020 during the COVID lockdowns, when we started our joint TikTok account before we had even made our relationship official.
‘Given that Taz’s personal social media accounts focused on her DJ talents and Alessia’s focused on her makeup journey, we felt that the ‘couples’ content was not appropriate for either of our pages and therefore we have created a separate account together.’
The pair added: ‘There wasn’t much to do as we were stuck at home, so we passed the time making TikToks together using popular sounds and audio and before we knew it, in the first six months we had Reached 50,000 followers.’