By Grace Knoop
Becoming a viral sensation and body inclusivity advocate in the skating community was never the goal when one Quinnipiac University junior began her Instagram account in 2018.
In fact, she was simply trying to free up storage on her smartphone, deleting photos after she posted them.
Then came the rise of Tiktok. Though her popularity on the new platform came as a surprise, Laine Dubin is taking full advantage of her unexpected influx of followers, using her platform to inspire each of her 40,500 followers to make the first step in learning how to figure skate.
It all started with a post set to the song “Ceilings” by Lizzy McAlpine, with Dubin skating and lip-synching at her campus rink. The trend has been a popular one on TikTok with users posting themselves running while belting out the emotional lyrics. Dubin’s version stood out with her fast skating and eye-catching choreography, and led to her gaining 3.4 million views.
But Dubin’s performance struck a chord with viewers, and she started to gain followers too.
“The followers started to trickle in. Sometimes on TikTok, people can just go viral, and then the followers won’t really stick around,” Dubin explained. “But people are sticking around.”
@lainedubin Replying to @cathfox hope this helps🥰 #figureskating #figureskatingtiktok ♬ ceilings - Sped Up Version - Lizzy McAlpine
Dubin began to question her spontaneous viral fame, and looked at the comment section of her videos, noticing that her new followers viewed her as an advocate for body inclusivity. What her followers didn’t know was that this was no new space for Dubin as she has had an online thrifting business centered around body inclusivity and body acceptance since 2020. As views started to pile up by the million, Dubin realized that she could continue her advocacy through TikTok.
“TikTok was kind of an extension of that, but people didn’t really know that,” Dubin said of her thrifting business. “There was no intention of my TikTok being a space for people like that, but it ended up being a space for people like that and I’m really excited that it got to that point.”
As Dubin continued to post her skating videos, her comment section became a place of inspiration as users shared their stories and thanked Dubin for her advocacy, leading some of them to pull on a pair of skates for the first time. This was something that some users never felt was possible before Dubin, and she takes the role of skating ambassador very seriously.
“It’s just people seeing representation in the media of themselves being represented first,” Dubin said. “That’s what will make people feel validated and that’s what will lead to change with body inclusivity in the skating space.”
As Dubin is becoming more of a role model to her followers and the TikTok community, she credits her background in Theatre on Ice for helping her get out of her shell as a young skater and learn how to choreograph her programs.
“I owe a lot to Theatre on Ice for being able to get me out of my shell back in middle school,” said Dubin. “I went to Nationals every year, and that really contributed to the theatrical side of me performing and wanting to get into choreography.”
As Dubin continues to post and create more body inclusivity content, she is also using her platform as an opportunity to continue learning about social media, as she hopes to work in that field when she graduates with a communications major. Along with her personal account, Dubin runs the Quinnipiac Figure Skating social media accounts, a position that she created on the club’s executive board. Passionate about collegiate skating, Dubin uses both her personal and club account to promote skating in college.
“We [collegiate skaters] deserve to be seen more because a lot of people are very intimidated by collegiate skating,” Dubin said.
By posting “day in the life” videos from her campus rink, Dubin hopes to show high school students that collegiate skating is for everyone and can also come with career-enhancing opportunities like her role as the club’s social chair.
As Dubin looks to her future, she hopes to continue her growth on social media, and carry on her advocacy for body inclusivity in the skating space — noting Jordan Cowan of On Ice Perspectives as an inspiration.
“It would be really cool to combine an On Ice Perspective take but then connect it back to myself with the body inclusivity and showcase those underrepresented voices in figure skating through artistry of cinematography and figure skating as a sport,” Dubin said.
But for right now, Dubin is thankful for the opportunity to spread her inclusivity, positivity and catchy choreography through her online platform. Her posts share the message that the joy of skating is for everyone, and the best time to start is right now.
