A late-night TikTok scroll could lead to UF students encountering familiar faces and places.
Not all social media content creators and “it” girls live in Los Angeles or New York City; some of them do workouts at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium and make coffee runs at Daydreamer Cafe. UF’s very own student influencers share the ups and downs of classes, game days and roommate troubles with audiences of thousands.
Day-in-my-life, or DIML, videos follow a creator as they document their entire day from start to finish. When posted by student influencers, these videos offer a peek into the varied lifestyles on UF’s campus.
Here’s a day in the life of three UF content creators who have found followers by posting about their experiences in the Swamp.
Rylee Siegel (Siricallsmereally)
Rylee Siegel, a 22-year-old UF acting senior, is spending her last year as an undergraduate going through a bucket list of everything she wants to do before she moves the tassel in the O’Dome. She documents her adventures in a series on her TikTok.
In the first video of the series, she asked for people to drop recommendations in the comments on where she should go before she graduates. One comment said she should go to the Hippodrome Theatre. So for part six, she brought the audience along to see The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Every video follows her day as she goes to markets, coffee shops and bars. She edits in voice-overs explaining where she is going, what she's doing there and how she feels about it.
However, this is not Siegel’s first taste of internet fame.
She first went viral on TikTok at 16 years old because of a prank video on her family for April Fools’ Day. It received millions of views and encouraged her to continue generating content.
When she got to college, she shifted her focus. She still makes prank videos on special occasions, like pranking her roommates by filling their living room with close to 300 balloons, but she also creates videos based on her daily life as a college student.
Siegel said she loves being in front of the camera, which goes along with her love for acting. She makes content, in part, as a stepping stone for the entertainment industry.
“A lot of people that have a social media platform can walk into anything that they want in regards to acting,” she said.
Siegel tries to post content three to 10 times a day. She films throughout the day, either adding to her DIML video or making smaller videos on the spot, such as relatable content that feels like a personal FaceTime video.
Sometimes for DIML content, she’ll film 60 to 80 clips. On those occasions, she has to use the third-party video editor CapCut, because TikTok has a 35-video limit.
“It’s not easy,” Siegel said. “I think if it’s easy, everyone would do it.”
She said she makes sure to have boundaries between her social media life and her personal one. Siegel takes time every morning to journal and sets aside phone-free time. But she still enjoys the process of filming, editing and posting.
“If I didn’t find enjoyment from it, there would be no way I would be able to do it, as much of it as I’m doing,” she said.
Melissa Castellano (@melcastellanoo)
Melissa Castellano, a 22-year-old UF health education senior, primarily posts content pertaining to her major and experience navigating college life.
She makes videos about pre-med tips and how to study for the MCAT. She also has a “things I didn’t know before coming to UF” series, in which she highlights what she wasn’t aware of before attending the school. She made the series so incoming freshmen will be clued in to what UF has to offer.
After she gained popularity, people began commenting questions about UF or health education, which she takes into consideration when deciding her upcoming posts.
“My goal is that I’m inspiring other people to pursue medicine,” Castellano said. “Really, who I hope to reach are pre-med students, first-gen students, low-income students who are coming to a school.”
Her first in-person interaction with someone who watches her videos was at a Chick-fil-A drive-thru right before it was set to close. She rolled down her window to order her food, and the employee’s jaw dropped.
Castellano, exhausted from studying for biochemistry, was confused. The employee then asked what her name was. After she said “Melissa,” the employee got excited and told her she was inspired by her videos.
Now, Castellano said similar conversations come up in classes, basketball games, during shopping and around campus.
Along with her education platform, she does DIML posts where she takes her audience throughout her day, slide by slide. They swipe through her picking out an outfit, studying in Marston and going on dinner dates with friends. She edits in time stamps and captions, which guide her viewers as they swipe.
Ari Meyerowitz (arimeyerrr)
For 20-year-old UF business administration junior Ari Meyerowitz, DIML videos serve as a launching ground for the rest of his career. His account functions as a public resume, he said.
When Meyerowitz isn’t shooting and editing videos directly on his phone, he works with °1824, Universal Music Group’s culture marketing and content strategy team, collaborating with artists like Chappell Roan and Doechii.
Meyerowitz said the two pursuits have influenced each other. Working for °1824 helps him understand content creation on a deeper level, and constantly creating videos helps him understand what videos hit the social media algorithms the hardest. For °1824, that meant making creator-centered content for the team.
A major goal of Meyerowitz’s content is to inspire others as well as inspire himself, he said. While a 5 a.m. wake-up followed by a run might seem arbitrary, as the same task could be accomplished at 7 p.m., Meyerowitz calls it a tool that helps sharpen his mindset.
“You get the hard s--- out of the way,” Meyerowitz said. “I don't love running. I love the feeling after it. I love knowing that I showed up for myself doing something that I don't really love doing [and that] I'm not very good at.”
A common theme in DIML videos is an emphasis on wellness. Videos orbit around ideas like early wake-ups, healthy foods and an active lifestyle. While these can be found in Meyerowitz’s current videos, he got his start in content creation as a music commentator. This DNA can still be found in his videos today, influencing what songs he selects as the soundtrack to his content.
While not every day is as jam-packed as his videos may make his life seem, Meyerowitz said posting about his daily life encourages him to make it more interesting. He has to try new things; otherwise, his content would become monotonous.
“The fact of the matter is, the camera, when I record myself, it's influencing me to do more stuff,” he said. “I'm taking more trips. I'm pushing myself to do more stuff. And yeah, it's unfortunate, if maybe it takes the camera to do that a little bit more, but I’m still getting it done. And if I do that over and over again, that is just my life.”
Meyerowitz encourages those who are interested in starting a similar lifestyle account to push past anxieties of being judged and “just do it.” This goes doubly for male content creators, which he called an unsaturated market compared to the more abundant female content creator scene.
“You never know who's interested in your life until you just post it out there,” he said, “and anybody who's willing to judge you for that is probably insecure in their own skin.”
Contact Teia Williams at twilliams@alligator.org and Christopher Rodriguez at crodriguez@alligator.org. Follow Teia on X @teia_williams and Chris @chrisrodri29386.
Teia Williams is a journalism student and in her second semester at The Alligator. She is a lifestyle and general assignment for The Avenue. In her free time she is constantly reading, going to concerts, or talking about her favorite celebrities.
