BONUS CONTENT: INTERVIEW WITH ELI RALLO: TIKTOK STAR, AUTHOR, RENAISSANCE WOMAN.

Wednesday editors Emily Blake and Stella Brown had the absolute pleasure to sit down with Eli Rallo, who you probably know on TikTok as @thejarr , to discuss her rise to popularity, finding your niche, and what it means to be “serious.”

This is part two of the interview transcript we initially published as a Q&A on wednesdayzine.com in 2021. We just love Eli so much, we had to give you even more content!

Emily: We are just hoping to do more interviews with people who we admire and like we think are have like a positive like a really like authentic social media presence, or actually like making places in the social media space that are new and important and entertaining. Stella and I both like have personally followed you for like all of quarantine, we love your stuff.

Wednesday: I want to ask about how New York influences your content.

Eli: Yeah, that's a good question. I think it's like, interesting, like I think there's a specific brand. And I think that the thing about New York is that like I've always loved New York so much, because I think it's the only city that like for creatives, it gives you like palpable inspiration when you walk outside. I one time had a professor tell me that I should never listen to music or podcasts. Whenever I need to be inspired, I just go outside and listen to people and listen to things and write down things I noticed that are particularly romantic or interesting or inspiring to me. And so I think as somebody who's creative, and that's always been such a gift that New York has given me like, my content obviously comes out of my brain, but also it's inspired by experiences and things that I see and take in. 

But also it can be a very bitter place. And there are very real issues and troubles and people that struggle. New York is built on the backs of so many different people from so many different walks of life. And we have to acknowledge that we have to be willing to, like, help our neighbors and give back and support the communities that support us. And I think that that's like an important thing to always point out and always remember about New York City is that like, of course, it can be romantic if you want it to be, but it's also a very real place, it's a very hard place. It's not a very soft cushion of a place to be, but I think I just love the inspiration it gives me. I hope that I can always be honoring all the people that are here and supporting everybody, in any ways I can. I also am kind of trying to pull back from that whole, like, “creative” scene. Obviously I go to those events, and I'm part of that world, and like, I would consider many of those creative people friends of mine, but also, you know, we need to remember that we're just normal people that are trying to like make content and we need to have our wits about us. I think trying not getting sucked into that is something that could be troubling for some people. But I've enjoyed staying above water in that regard. And taking things with a grain of salt.

Wednesday: Even though we found out about you through TikTok, you obviously have a lot of other stuff going on. I'm just curious how you navigate like, your less public endeavors with your career and like less influencer related jobs as well. 

Eli: Yeah, that's a really good question. I think, you know, it's so interesting, because people, and I've done it to myself. So this is not the fault of my followers. And I think there are similar creators that have similar experiences where people feel like they're entitled to everything, because I've given them so much. And on some level, they are because I have been so open and honest. There, of course, are boundaries. And I always say like, my biggest one is, if I have a personal relationship with somebody, that is when it becomes like, not my followers business. But I think it's hard sometimes to separate things that I'm doing with my writing career, and not fully share all the details, because it's like, okay, well, on some level, like this is like a professional endeavor separate from TikTok, but it's only happening because of TikTok. So there are some examples, like a writing opportunity, where I’m not ready to share about it. And also, because it's my IP [Intellectual Property], but I don't want someone to take the idea. 

I just signed with a literary agent to write a book, and it's incredibly entwined with TikTok because the whole reason that they believe that I could actually sell copies of any book that I write is because of my audience. I try to share as much as I can when I can. So like, for example, like I told all my followers that I signed with a literary agent that I'm gonna be writing a book, suggested, it's going to be literary nonfiction, but I’m not going to share every dirty detail of every meeting I have with my agent and every step in my writing process. I'll do little glimpses of it. I'm putting in so much work to create a product for the very people that want to know about it. I just hope everyone can be patient enough. I'm not stressed out about having to explain it. I always say like, you never have to explain yourself to anyone. I’m still trying to think hard about that [not explaining myself all day] and letting it manifest in my life.