May Kalinu lost her public relations job in New York City during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
As the novel virus ravaged the city and paralyzed employment opportunities, the now 29-year-old decided to use her time during lockdown to explore a side hustle as an influencer on TikTok.
She posted videos about job hunting and résumé advice, documenting her own experience as she navigated unemployment. But her followers were interested in only one thing: How was she paying the bills?
Once she revealed her boyfriend (now fiancé) was paying for her New York City apartment, her followers wanted to know more about the dynamics of her relationship. Her job-hunting TikTok account turned into a dating advice page for people seeking a hypergamous relationship.
Sometimes referred to as “marrying up,” hypergamy is the practice of creating a long-term or romantic relationship with somebody who has a higher status in a certain way or value, said Joy Berkheimer, a dating and relationship coach and sexologist based out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
