It’s Dani’s Our world, We’re living in it!

Photography by Quinn Burke 

“Am I your mother? I mean, yes, I am.”

Like the rest of us, I’ve been following Dani on socials for quite some time. “Ur mother,” as her TikTok handle refers to her, is someone we all think of as a friend, despite only knowing her as the witty fashionphile who graces our phone screens. A love for writing is something I knew Dani and I had in common; her long-time blog, Something Sweet, was a big inspiration to me when I thought of starting a platform for my own pieces and thoughts. Then came Thee Golden Egg. Dani may just be our mother goose. 

I called Dani on a gloomy Friday evening from London. Like any phone call with a friend, there was no direction. I asked one question to kick us off, and akin to her charismatic online persona, Dani commanded things from there. 

If there is a takeaway you are looking to get from this interview, allow me to preface it with this: There is a sincerity to Dani that can not be conveyed through our phone screens. So often we hear the nagging words, “influencers are people too.” But rather than argue these words, Dani simply agrees, but of course not without doing so in the “ur mother” fashion

How did we get here?

Where is here? TikTok? Junior year of high school. But I think the real answer you're looking for would be [seeking] relatability. Making a video every day for however many years of your life, you realize, okay, there’s no unique experience. And that’s not in a negative way at all; if anything, it was a part of my growth. There is always going to be someone going through what you are going through, and/or have been through, and I now see it as a good thing. We can all work through this together. 

So many of us are used to your New York content. But you’re graduated now, we don’t see you in the city too often, where are you?

Yeah, no, I’m back home…

I quickly cut her off,

Do you watch Real Housewives?

Yes, I’m getting there. I’m back home, and yeah, I kind of feel like a housewife in my parents’ house in the suburbs, but I’ve found a re-appreciation for it, the suburbs. As long as I could remember, I wanted to be this age, the age I am now. There’s no rush, though. I’m content. As for the city, I go back and forth now, and I like that, for now. You know, we’ll see what the future holds.

Is it a Hannah Montana goes to Nashville moment?

No! Not at all, oh my god, actually, it’s kind of refreshing, a back-and-forth relationship. I grew up in the suburbs, and I learned who I was in the suburbs…

Learned who you were, I like that. Because you have it, did you always?

That’s funny, my friends or my parents would tell me, like, “Dani, you have it!” And I would think no, everyone is capable of posting a video and getting some followers, but now I see, alright, not everyone’s got it. We see a lot on TikTok, especially that everyone’s claiming hyper individuality, but why? It’s like I said earlier, relatability brings us closer together; it’s all about community.

I hold myself back from asking if she’s been media-trained with the sincerity of her responses, so instead I ask,

Is this a know thy enemy situation, or are you this good a person?

I’m just not all caught up in it. My TikTok is petite! It reflects who I am, and when I can’t put it all into a TikTok video, that’s when I take it, Something Sweet, as a long form of what TikTok can’t relay. We just have to remember, we don’t owe everyone kindness! Actually, no, that’s not the message I want to send.