To celebrate National Pasta Day, senior Lexi Serra dished up an Instagram Reel in exchange for a free meal. Serra collaborated with restaurant group Lettuce Entertain You to promote her experience at Chicago restaurant Il Porcellino. 

“Everything’s free, which is so cool to me, because I never thought I’d get to the point where people were bringing me free food, and I’m such a foodie now,” Serra said. 

Serra posts experiences like her Il Porcellino meal on her Instagram account, which has more than 3,000 followers. Her account features her collaborations with clothing brands, such as Edikted and Quince, and Canopy by Hilton Hotels.

Serra was initially inspired to share her lifestyle online after witnessing other influencers doing the same. 

“I get so invested in certain YouTubers’ lives, certain Instagram [creators’] lives, and I feel like I am almost their friend,” Serra said.

In the age of social media, this is not an uncommon sentiment.

“[In] parasocial relationships, where you follow someone online, you think you know them and you think you actually have a friendship or relationship with them,” said Ally Hughes, assistant professor in the Department of Primary Care at Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine. 

Parasocial relationships create a sense of trust between influencers and their followers, which makes followers more susceptible to being influenced by the content of creators they follow and can also give viewers the desire to become influencers themselves, Hughes said.

If influencers look or talk like their audience, their followers may develop an, ‘If they can do it, why can’t I?’ mindset, Hughes said.  

“Even someone with a small following can have a really big voice and be really impactful,” Hughes said. 

According to Serra, as her follower count has grown, invitations to collaborate with brands have become more frequent.

“I got a brand to reach out to me who wanted to send me PR, and normally, I will ask the brand for that, like, ‘Hey, can I be added to your PR list?’ but the brand actually reached out to me first, and that was a big win,” said Serra. “I just think it’s so cool that I get to do this stuff.”

Working with brands reminds Serra why she loves being an influencer and that she must continue to hustle, she said. 

Serra hopes to continue creating content far into the future. In the coming months, she plans to travel to Thailand and Stagecoach, a music festival in California, where she wants to take lots of photos to post. Serra is also planning a trip to Bali with a group of otherinfluencersfor a social media marketing workshop during the summer.

Even as her account gains popularity, Serra’s self-confidence remains an ongoing work in progress, she said.

“Putting out content for the whole school and community to see can be very scary because being a teen content creator can be seen as abnormal,” said Serra. “I want to be able to show people that they can do what they love despite their struggles.”