“Everyone in the city is desperate for connection.”
In a city buzzing with history, beauty, and educational opportunity, Boston ranked among ‘loneliest’ cities in America. Content creator, Ayanna Moise, is creating real-world connections, one Tiktok at a time.
With around 55,000 followers on TikTok and 28,000 Instagram followers, Ayanna Moise, 25, is making Boston more accessible, community-oriented, and exciting. Her content mostly centers around finding activities in and around Boston, as well as finding underrated restaurants and cafes.
Some recent Instagram Reels from Moise included video of her attending a supper club in Concord, MA, and attending a cake decorating class in Cambridge, MA and a guide to exploring Indigenous art exhibits around Boston. Moise will explain where she is, and shows the vibe of the place she is exploring through her videos.
Originally from West Palm Beach, Florida, Moise always loved social media and the various avenues of content available to consume and create. Moise loved the original 2010s LA vloggers, and she even ran an alternative music fanpage and wrote fanfiction.
“I’ve always had an interest in it [social media] and I respected people who did it,” Moise said. “I was always the type of person that wouldn’t make fun of people’s jobs. If you could get paid to sit in front of a camera and just talk, I’m sure you would do that in a heartbeat, so I remember being defensive about that.”
She eventually moved to Boston for college, where she studied psychology at Boston University. During school, she would post videos of her going on solo picnics, exploring fashion, and content in the Cottagecore niche, which was a subgenre of Tiktok that was nature-inspired and fairy-like.
She began posting on social media in 2021, and after a few videos went viral, she decided to make social media a priority. She was having fun and finding success.
“I basically just posted a weekend blog in Boston of the things I was doing. It was just a short, fast-paced video with no voice over anything and it just blew up and I got like 15,000 followers,” Moise said. “ I just saw like other people in Boston were struggling to find fun activities so I was like OK, this is something I could do.”
When her social media began to get attention, she switched gears from research and became a full-time content-creator.
“I wanted to be a therapist, but I ended up doing an entirely different path after college,” Moise said. “I was working as a research assistant, but then I started making more money on social media.”
For Moise, working full time on social media means doing a lot of different things. She does traditional brand deals, where a brand will pay for her audience. Additionally, she creates User Generated Content (UGC), which means she will make a video for a brand that they will post on their social media page. However, her favorite route is consulting.
“This is when brands from the local area usually reach out and they ask you, what can we do to make our social media better” Moise said. “I’m pretty well versed in people in their 20s and 30s, so they’ll ask me how we can get better.”
Moise gravitates towards consulting because she doesn’t want to turn into a “walking billboard.” She explained that she doesn’t want her audience to become inundated with constant brand deals, or advertisements. She wants to keep her audience served, and not exploited. She also knows social media and her audience extremely well. She said marketers can sometimes miss the mark when it comes to understanding their audience, which is why social media creators are so helpful to brands.
In a place like Boston, that’s less saturated with influencer content than somewhere like Los Angeles or New York City, she wants to maintain that normal attitude when it comes to privacy and transparency.
“I think for Boston, people are more conscious for different reasons. I also do think that there is just an understanding that Boston is not like an influencer city,” Moise said. “People are not gonna love people filming on the street and being obnoxious, so I think there’s kind of a humility aspect.”
While attending BU and beginning her content-creation journey, Moise discovered that Boston had some unique and delicious restaurants, in addition to its rich history and sights to see.
“I think I’ve always been interested in food, but going to BU, it’s a super diverse campus and there’s a lot of international students from different regions in the world,” Moise said. “Friends from those countries would always say ‘this is authentic Chinese food, Greek food, or Middle Eastern food, ’ and I gained a motivation to not only be a foodie, but also to be ethical.”
She loves that as an influencer, she has the ability to share and highlight restaurants that deserve hype. Ethical restaurants, to Moise, are places that have quality food and treat their customers and employees with integrity. She prioritizes restaurants that have high standards, in terms of quality, which may not always be the most Insta-worthy.
“I almost always go to small local restaurants,” Moise said. “I’m actually starting a new series highlighting underrated cuisines like Polish food or Nepali food. They may not look as cute or Instagram-y, but the food is always good. I love being able to promote small businesses and helping ethical local businesses get their flowers. I guess that’s my favorite part of the job.”
While many Boston foodies focus on a similar group of trendy, pricey, and swanky restaurants, Moise finds that authentic, delicious food is much more enjoyable.She rarely relies on Instagram for recommendations and finds other unique ways to discover new restaurants.
“I always rely on Reddit. I actually recently learned how to use it this year,” Moise said. “If you type in the specific cuisine you want, there will always be a community of people from this country, so it is like the best tool for food discovery. I honestly wouldn’t trust a lot of foodie bloggers depending on how honest they are.”
Once Moise discovers a place she wants to review, she begins the process of making a video. She first explained that it is important to her to make the restaurants she reviews accessible, so this means that every place should be near a T-stop or Commuter Rail. Then she goes to the restaurant, introduces herself, and asks to film. She never films faces, only hands. After Moise orders, she films the interior of the restaurant and aims to capture the feel of the restaurant. She edits all of her clips in chronological order. She explains that she gets many different angles and shots, some of the food, some of the interior, or some of the outside. Then, she edits.
“I’ll leave a review on Google, and then if the place is good, I will post it,” Moise said. “If the place is not good, I won’t post it. I’ll never post a negative review unless they’re rude, but that
never happens. I don’t like the culture of people attacking a business.”
Some restaurants Moise loves are Il Panino in the North End and Seoul Topokki in Allston, as well as Mida, which has several locations throughout Boston.
Additionally, she explained that influencers often get meals for free, which can create an odd dynamic for content creators when they may want to critique a restaurant. She avoids getting meals covered by restaurants and opts for a more honest and transparent approach to the foodie-influencer space.
Hidden gems may not be the most Instagrammable, but for Moise, the food is absolutely unmatched in restaurants or cafes that are quaint and not on your For You Page.
She explained that Boston’s mediocre food reputation is partially because the influencer scene overhypes expensive, and showy places, which often prioritize aesthetics over quality. A tip Moise shared was that she will only go to the super fancy restaurants for a drink or an appetizer, but not a full meal. That way, you can enjoy the vibes and snap some pictures, but you won’t break the bank.
For Moise, Boston began to feel like a small town. She found that those who went to college in the city had friend groups and a support system of friends, while young professionals or transplants struggled to find community and excitement. Like many, she considered making the move to New York City to find more variety, but ended up falling back in love with Boston.
“I kind of randomly just grew a second appreciation for the city, and I wanted to show people that this is a really great city and we shouldn’t take it for granted,” Moise said. “I do love going out partying, but I also love the quiet quaintness of Boston and I don’t necessarily need a big city to fulfill that need.”
Her main focus on social media is creating and finding opportunities for young professionals and students to discover Boston’s hidden gems. Whether it’s finding a pottery class, stumbling into the most beautiful speakeasy, or finding the best hole-in-the-wall restaurant, she can help you find it all.
Aside from finding great food, Moise has a knack for discovering unique, quirky activities around Boston. Moise specifically noted that classes or workshops, for any topic you can imagine, have been some of her new favorite finds. She also indulges in classic activities, like fitness classes, gallery hopping, or boating in the Harbor.
“I’ve been into classes mostly, especially Mixology classes lately,” Moise said. “I love playing bartender, and so many people host classes. I could be taking a bonsai-making class or a cake decorating class.”
On her social media, she also highlights low-cost activities, something she thinks Boston has a lot of. Whether it’s free museums or free movies in the park, there are things to do if you have the time to find them.
Beyond her influencer career, Moise is a dedicated writer, who has begun drafting her newest novel. She couldn’t give much away, but she did say that her novel will be a young-adult fantasy, with mermaids, vampires, and witches.
“I love the theme of being a normal person and then getting thrown into a supernatural world,” she said.
She participates in and highlights writers’ retreats. Moise’s passion for writing is only fueled by the rich literary history in the Boston area and the ability to create and find a group of similarly minded creatives.
She finds value in escaping the city with other writers to find a more conducive writing environment. The towns right near Boston offer beautiful scenery, and are the homes of literary giants. For example, she recently went to Concord on a retreat, which was the home of Louisa May Alcott, one of her heroes. Her writing group meets monthly.
“It’s a really productive way for other people who are working on their manuscripts or poetry,” Moise said. “Any writer can join, but mostly novelists join. We’ve actually been hosting retreats out of Boston. It’s just kind of a change of scenery,and just the aesthetic makes you feel more motivated.”
She hopes to eventually become a full time writer, and take a step away from social media, but she is in the first stages of drafting her book, so there will still be many recommendations to come.
When she goes back into the city, Moise says that each neighborhood in Boston also has their own unique events on the neighborhood websites. For example, the Seaport, South End, Downtown, Chinatown, and Brookline. Moise recommends finding unique events near you on those websites. These events, she says, help build community in the Boston area and beyond.
Her content often centers around group activities, and she aims to bring people together through these events. She also encourages those who are looking to find friends to do activities together.
“I think the best way to build community in Boston is honestly using social media,” Moise said. It makes it so easy for you to make a post and say ‘I love doing pottery. Does anyone else like doing pottery in Boston?’ Let’s do it together and then people will swipe up even if it’s not intended to make a group of people. Everyone in the city is desperate for connection. I would recommend that if there is not already something out there literally just make a social media post and I promise you people will show up and word-of-mouth will spread as well.”
Often, we can get stuck in city life. Going to the same restaurants, cafes, and parks, but Ayanna Moise pushes her followers to explore outside of their comfort zones while maintaining their financial sanity. She is a modern renaissance woman: writing, creating content, consulting, and sharing it all to find and create a more connected community in the Boston area.
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