📱 Want to be an influencer? Read this.

It's Thursday, Boston.

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👀 What’s on tap today:

• Good-ish housing news

• Plastic bags are out

• The Celtics’ mantra

Up first...

WORK

Day-in-the-life as an influencer

Influencing has become a bona fide career path. A 2022 survey from Higher Visibility found that 1 in 4 Gen-Zers plan to become social media influencers. So we talked to Boston-based content creators who are still new to the influencing game to learn what it’s actually like.

Here’s what they said:

@WANNABESTAYATHOMEDAD

📱 “Obviously the dream is for this to grow and become something that is … what I do.” That’s the hope for 26-year old Keonte Henson, a.k.a. @wannabestayathomedad, on TikTok. When he’s not working as a consultant, he’s posting TikTok videos of himself eating and reviewing food from local restaurants. After moving to Boston in May 2022, he was “looking for ways to ingratiate [himself] into a new area.” And as a food lover, this format was a no brainer.

😡 While he loves making videos, he admits that it’s opened himself up to criticism. “Everything I post is opinion based, so I know that people are going to disagree with me,” Henson said. He recalled a video where he tested Barstool president Dave Portnoy’s favorite pizza and just thought it was OK. Commenters responded, “Well, you're not Dave Portnoy.” But he tries to keep a good attitude. “I’ve never looked at it as a way of people attacking me,” he said.

@ABBYRN_

💻 “I always wanted to be a YouTuber as a kid.” She may not be a YouTuber, but 23-year-old Abby Flaherty has grown into a lifestyler TikToker in Boston with over 11,000 followers. She had a tough first year on the job as an ER nurse, so she started filming “get ready with me” videos for work as a way to feel more excited about her day. Her account has picked up steam in the last few months, landing her lucrative brand deals. “I make one video, and I make pretty much the same as I would in a day or two of work,” she said.

👀 She loves being a creator, but managing screen time has been a challenge. “That's really difficult, especially because I live with my boyfriend, and he’s like ‘you’re always on your phone,’” she said. “It’s definitely hard to separate, like the content creation as a job and my personal life.” As a lifestyle creator, simple activities like getting coffee can turn into missed content opportunities.

@NARCOLEPSYBETSY

😅 “I feel like I have two full-time jobs.” That’s life for 25-year-old Krissy, who goes by @narcolepsybetsy on TikTok (she chose not to share her last name for privacy reasons). Her videos cover all things Boston, from comedy to the dating scene. And with over 26,000 followers, she’s a busy bee. After working her full-time job, she spends her evenings shooting, editing, or going to events.

💸 Influencing can be financially lucrative, but she doesn’t think she’ll quit her day job. “I just don't think it's realistic, just because of the nature of these brand deals,” she said. The timeframes for getting paid by brands can be unpredictable. “I'm a person who, like financially, just needs a consistent income.” Plus, it doesn’t hurt that she loves her full-time job.

QUICK POLL!

📱 Have you ever thought about being an influencer?

CITY

Quick & dirty headlines

🏡 There’s some good-ish news on the housing front. Greater Boston housing prices have fallen for the fourth time over the last five months. The number of houses for sale has dropped, too, thanks to climbing interest rates. But that’s not to say Boston housing is suddenly affordable. The median price for a home was still $820,000 last month (lol), down about 3% from the same time last year. On the rental side, construction of 17,000 new apartments in Greater Boston could slow down rent hikes in 2023. Fingers crossed.

🛍️ Say goodbye to plastic bags at Stop & Shop. The grocery chain will officially stop using plastic bags at all stores in the Northeast this summer. Stop & Shop is encouraging people to bring reusable bags, but you can still get a paper bag for 10 cents (let’s be real, those bags suck). You won’t see much of a difference in Boston, where our temporary plastic bag ban was made permanent in 2020. In total, 157 communities across Mass. regulate the use of plastic bags.

🌶️ TD Garden wants you to eat the heat. The stadium is upping their food and drink game as the Miami Heat roll into town, including spicier options for fans looking to take a bite out of the competition. For general fans, you can try the Miami Vice slice, pizza topped with jalapeños and habanero-bacon BBQ pulled pork (a literal mouthful) or a Smash (Miami) burger. Fans in club seating get more specials, like Korean BBQ chicken bites and special local eats like dumplings from Mei Mei and truffles from Montilio’s Bakery.

🍹 Make way for the Daiquiri Deck. A new Daiquiri Deck will live on the Time Out Market Boston patio for the summer. Frozen daiquiris, mudslides, frozé, and other specialty seasonal cocktails will be served daily out of a converted 1960s international metro van, starting May 26. They’ll also have “Time & A Half IPA,” a new brew collab between Time Out and Aeronaut Brewing Co. that will be available into November.

ONE LAST THING

The Celtics’ mantra

Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla is taking inspiration from a classic Boston movie during the playoffs.

Apparently, Mazzulla loves The Town,” starring Ben Affleck and Jeremy Renner as Charlestown bank robbers. Brian Scalabrine once said Mazzulla watches it four times a week.

One of the famous lines from the movie comes when Affleck’s character asks Renner for help with no questions asked and Renner responds with “Whose car we gonna take?” Mazzulla wore a Nike sweatshirt printed with Renner's famous line to the post-game press conference after the C’s Game 7 win in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.

Mazzulla didn’t explain the shirt. Guard Malcolm Brogdon said the quote speaks to the team’s ride-or-die mentality for the playoffs. What’s more Boston than taking playoffs motivation from a Ben Affleck movie?

🏀 Thanks for reading! That shirt belongs in the official Celtics store yesterday.

💸 The results are in! 63% of respondents from yesterday’s poll think the Red Line slow zone between Harvard and Central is the worst of them all. 63% of your are correct.

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