For Amy Wilichowski, frying her eggs in pesto was a no-brainer — and there’s no way she’s the first person to have done so, she thought. But pesto eggs and TikTok were two things she enjoyed in her life, so eventually she decided to combine the two and share her cooking hack.
More than 11 million views, 34,000 followers, and a trending hashtag later, it turns out pesto eggs weren’t as common as Wilichowski initially thought.
“It’s just funny how TikTok works,” said Wilichowski, a registered dietitian. “You’re known for whatever your viral video is. It’s a little bit narrowing — I feel like I got to keep up with the pesto eggs trend.”
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It’s been strange having a social media brand based on an egg recipe —but Wilichowski is taking the opportunity to expand her already vibrant foodie account. During her time as an undergrad at the University of Connecticut, Wilichowski ran a successful healthy eating Instagram account that reached 60,000 followers before it was hacked in 2019. Since then, it’s been a journey to rebuild her brand. She created her TikTok account earlier this year.
“When my account got hacked and I started from ground zero, I decided to kind of tap into everything else I liked,” said Wilichowski, who also runs “Roothie,” a small accessory business. “I just started posting about things that weren’t just food. I’m really into thrifted clothes, and I like doing food blogging, so I go into different restaurants in Boston and post about that.”
While Wilichowski doesn’t have a strict niche on TikTok, Boston’s food is her primary love. She has goals beyond being “the pesto egg girl,” as she joking refers to herself in her TikTok bio — her dream is to open an all-day brunch restaurant in Boston. She hopes she can use the money from her small businesses and social influencing career to make this idea a reality.
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“The food community and the online kind of social media community can be really inspiring,” said Wilichowski. “All the exposure I’m getting is definitely really cool, and I’m very excited for the future.”
Natachi Onwuamaegbu can be reached at natachi.onwuamaegbu@globe.com.