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In March of 2022, Ashley Kim, a virtual reality product designer, was living in Providence, Rhode Island, while finishing up her joint Master of Design Engineering at Rhode Island School of Design and Brown University. “I’m a huge planner, so I was starting to put things into motion for my post-grad life, and moving to New York City had always been my goal,” she recalls. Knowing how competitive real estate can be in the city, she started reaching out to friends who could offer tips and strategies for apartment hunting in one of the most hectic and fast-moving markets in the country. 

Around that same time, Casey Han was experiencing a housing change of her own: Her best friend and roommate was planning to move out of their apartment in Brooklyn to San Francisco, and Casey needed someone to fill the room ASAP. While she knew a few mutual friends who might be interested in the space, she decided to list the apartment online—only instead of posting on StreetEasy, Apartments.com, or Facebook Marketplace, she made a TikTok video.

Call it luck, fate, or just a really advanced algorithm, but the video soon made its way to Ashley’s feed, and the two creators connected. After a brief chat on Instagram DM, they set up a FaceTime call and soon decided to live together. “I think what had cloaked me in some form of confidence was that we were the same age, shared South Korean roots, clearly enjoyed the art of cooking and holistic living, and liked to be creative through content creation,” Ashley says. Casey shared similar sentiments, and both agree that living together has been nearly perfect.