Ballantyne has spoken publicly about the importance of onscreen representation for marginalized groups, listing Mad Max: Fury Road as a prominent example of how cinema is slowly changing its depiction of women. Growing up feeling alienated from her family and small rural community thanks to nerdy interests like reading comic books, Ballantyne pursued post-secondary education in film, and participated in the National Screen Institute's New Voices program, which was founded by veteran Indigenous producer Lisa Meeches to shape and promote emerging talent. Ballantyne brought her awareness of onscreen representation by casting people of colour in her debut short film "Crash Site".