Calgary Tiktoker Stefan Lauritsen has only been sharing his fashion for a few months, but he already has his sights set far beyond posing in front of a camera. “It kind of started happenstance,” he said. “I would just send videos to my sister or my friends, and they just started [saying], ‘why don’t you post them?’”
Though he had been posting on TikTok sporadically since 2022—largely gym and workout related content—he began to regularly post fashion content in September 2025. Now, his account has nearly two thousand followers and over 22 thousand likes. “I like doing the best that I can to make sure that I’m presentable and I try to find little bits and pieces of expression in there and make myself have fun with it,” he said.
Lauritsen’s bits come from all over the world, and he cites international friends as influences for his style.
“One of my friends, her mom makes clothes in Brazil; my other friend was born in Hong Kong, and he has different influences and ideas from growing up there,” he said.
Now that he is proficient with TikTok and posts regularly, Lauritsen is looking to combine these skills and his international influence with another piece of the puzzle inside him. “I’ve been in hospitality for a decade,” he said, “in restaurants here and there.”
Lauritsen’s career in hospitality started out at sixteen when he got a job at Starbucks. From there, he worked as a server for two-and-a-half years then in a kitchen for another two-and-a-half—he would then serve at Major Tom in downtown Calgary, moving into a management position. Now, he manages the Cactus Club on Stephen Ave.
Now that he is in a new and stable position, Lauritsen intends to expand his online presence to feature the industry he knows so well.
“Not being a critic, but writing about different experiences—it doesn’t even have to be food—but the experience as a whole.”
Lauritsen finds the influences for this new venture through the words of industry titans: authors Anthony Bourdain, Daniel Meyer and Will Guidara. “Kitchen Confidential, Setting the Table, Unreasonable Hospitality…; the idea of sharing different experiences,” he said.
Whereas, in the past, he might send recommendations to friends or family, Lauritsen now looks beyond his own bubble, hoping to share his expertise with the people of Calgary and beyond; because of the stability of his job, “and maybe the push” from his people, Lauritsen decided that now is the time.
“’Just do it, man, just do it, just do it, just do it;’” the encouragement still rings in his ears.
@sr_lauritsen An after work version?? #fitcheck #yyc #mensfashion #winterfit ♬ original sound – Stef
Performing in front of a camera never bothered Lauritsen; he’s had lots of experience in front of crowds. “It happened by fluke, honestly,” he said. “When I was in junior high, I just kind of got slotted into a drama class.” The drive to pursue performing arts didn’t come from within; nor was it inspired by the familial push.
“The teacher, he had a bust of a general in his classroom—he called it The Colonel. And he wouldn’t give out 100 per cent, but if you got 100 per cent in his class you could put your name on The Colonel. And I was working on a project for him, and he gave me 100 per cent so I got to put up my name on The Colonel—I was the second person that had ever got to put their name on it.”
As a proud Italian, the family that pushes Lauritsen to excel will always be close to his heart.
“As long as I can remember, I’ve been surrounded by people—with big personalities,” he said. “Going to my aunt’s house, my Nonna’s house, my mom’s house; It’s always like, ‘oh, come to the table.’ We’ll have coffee, something that she baked, some cookies…”
The family that continues to push him in his 20’s inspired him in his teenage years.
“For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved seeing and talking with people; being around people.”
Featured Image: Mas Studios
