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- Where are Gen Z's Dear Abby and Carrie Bradshaw? Like Eli Rallo, they're on TikTok.</p>
<p>Clare Mulroy, USA TODAY October 16, 2025 at 4:36 AM</p>
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<p>The "magazine girlies" of the late 1990s and early 2000s rom-coms carried an admirable aesthetic – frazzled-yet-chic journalists running around their skyscraper offices, chasing big city ambitions to the sound of "Suddenly I See" by KT Tunstall. Think "Sex and the City," "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days," "Thirteen Going on Thirty," and "The Devil Wears Prada."</p>
<p>It's a mostly bygone era, take it from a frazzled New York City reporter herself. The way to reach young people in the 2020s is not through print columns but in TikToks, carefully feeding the algorithm while maintaining authenticity.</p>
<p>Eli Rallo has unlocked that. Dubbed "the internet's big sister" and "Gen Z Carrie Bradshaw" by some – she can't claim such lofty titles, she tells USA TODAY – the influencer has captured over one million followers by offering the same thing that led women to "Dear Abby" for decades: Advice.</p>
<p>Advice for the social media generation</p>
<p>Rallo went viral in 2020 for entirely unrelated videos of her filling massive jars with candy and snacks. But five years later, her claim to fame is lists (Like "espresso martinis mean danger" and "unspoken rules of your 20s"). These eventually became her debut book, "I Didn't Know I Needed This: The New Rules for Flirting, Feeling, and Finding Yourself."</p>
<p>Two years later, Rallo's next assignment is to tackle the quarter-life crisis, giving advice for the uncertainty of the mid-20s in "Does Anyone Else Feel This Way?" (out now from HarperCollins).</p>
<p>Eli Rallo</p>
<p>It's an honor and "a huge responsibility," says Rallo, 27. She offers input to followers on anything from fashion to dating, comparison and self-esteem to books and glowing analysis of the latest Taylor Swift album. She continues this format in "Does Anyone Else Feel This Way?"</p>
<p>She's gotten the questions before about being too young to give advice – Rallo was 23 when she wrote her first book about dating. But she says Gen Z and millennial women are seeking role models their age in a rapidly changing world.</p>
<p>"So many of us, in speaking of our generation, are the first women in our families to live by ourselves or with friends, to get a higher education, to have a career," Rallo says. "We don't really have role models to look at necessarily, to be like 'What the heck?' This is so different than what we always knew. My mom had me when she was 25. I'm 27, now and I'm not going to have kids in my 20s, probably."</p>
<p>With new era of advice comes new, more personal format</p>
<p>With an algorithm that rewards the personal, it's hard to be an anonymous columnist these days. Rallo finds that to be the biggest difference from generations past.</p>
<p>In one essay, Rallo dissects hate comments from anonymous users who comment on her weight or call her "cringe." "It is a woman's biggest crime to be happy and loud online," she writes.</p>
<p>"Once you involve yourself and your brand is your personality, there's such a pressure with that. I never want to complain because I have the best job and I'm so grateful for it, but when people are criticizing you as a person and not your work, it's different," Rallo says.</p>
<p>One benefit of so many voices in this content creation space is the diverse array of life experiences. She knows she isn't qualified to offer everyone advice, and she's an advocate of the "unfollow" button.</p>
<p>"There's someone for everyone," Rallo says. "Even if my advice isn't your cup of tea, that's totally all good for me. I've always been of the position that if I don't serve you online, or even if you find yourself feeling like you can't stop comparing yourself to me, get rid of me. Like, seriously, let me go. I'll be good. I'd rather you be happy and healthy and level-headed in your own life than you finding me toxic for you."</p>
<p>Eli Rallo has insight for the quarter-life crisis</p>
<p>Eli Rallo</p>
<p>In "Does Anyone Else Feel This Way," Rallo waxes about imposter syndrome and avoiding the OB-GYN, doomscrolling and feeling like a "faux adult." She was inspired to write it after recording a podcast episode about the "jump scare of reality" that is the 20s. The episode resonated far beyond her usual listener base and she hopes the book gets passed around friend groups in a similar way – "Gift it to those people in your life when they need it the most," she says.</p>
<p>Writing the book has also helped Rallo process a lot of her own feelings about her mid-20s.</p>
<p>"For a really long time, one of my core identifiers was being someone who wanted to be liked. I think that's a really tough thing to come to terms with, but also really common, especially for women," Rallo says. "Not only was I someone who just wanted to be liked, I would chameleon myself to be liked."</p>
<p>Friendship breakups are another aspect of this age that Rallo isn't done talking about yet – in fact, her upcoming fiction debut "I Hope Eden Reads This" will focus on that very subject.</p>
<p>We deliver tubs of ice cream and clear our schedules when friends are going through romantic breakups, but we hardly talk about how devastating a platonic one can be. Rallo's been there, and she's keen to offer her advice. She may not have decades of adulthood to share with followers, but she's finding herself right there alongside them. That authenticity is an asset, she says.</p>
<p>"I'm deep in the thick of the emotional turmoil of being a young woman," Rallo says.</p>
<p>Clare Mulroy is USA TODAY's Books Reporter, where she covers buzzy releases, chats with authors and dives into the culture of reading. Find her on Instagram, subscribe to our weekly Books newsletter or tell her what you're reading at [email protected].</p>
<p>Contributing: Anna Kaufman</p>
<p>This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Influencer Eli Rallo has advice for a chronically online generation</p>
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