At the beginning of 2024 — the year she introduced herself to the world as Ivana, Etieno was just a normal girl chasing her dreams, with a passion for music and a desire to entertain. In less than 2 months, she went viral in a blink of an eye, a phenomenon that would change the trajectory of her life forever. The viral freestyle video was just one of millions of videos vying for attention on the platform, but it was hers that captured the hearts and ears of millions.
Born in 2004, the TikToker grew up in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, a city known for its vibrant culture and rich musical heritage. She was born in University of Uyo Teaching Hospital, a place that would later become a part of her remarkable story.
Growing up, she experienced a lot of setbacks every now and then, but she never let them define her or deter her from pursuing her passion.
Blowing up on TikTok is not very much easy, but for the 22-year-old Etieno, who was just mustering the courage to share freestyles and hyping, it just made it easy and she blew up in for it.
“It was so funny — I didn’t even expect that, but when I heard my freestyles sound all over TikTok, I knew something was about to happen, but it took me a lot to get there. When I saw it going so viral, I was like, ‘Damn, imagine that was my freestyle I just did for fun.’ The next thing, I saw my followers increase and increase, that was really crazy.