Of the 25 internet creators listed by Rolling Stone, Smith is the highest-ranking woman and only North Texan, coming in behind gaming streamer Kai Cenat, longtime talk show hosts Rhett and Link and omnipresent internet deity Mr. Beast — we’re not sure what he first became famous for, but we do know that he gives away cars and houses and has his own burger chain. Ask your nephew, we guess.
We’re not surprised that Smith placed as high as she did, and it’s not just because she’s influenced much of our reporting this year. The 22-year-old model and content creator has captured the internet’s attention thanks to a potent combination of weird baby names (her kids are Rumble Honey, Slim Easy and Whimsy Lou), plagiarism scandals and elaborate baking in full glam.
Smith is an unwitting figurehead in the “trad-wife” (traditional wife) movement, which refers to (usually) conservative and Christian influencers who use their platform to glamorize traditional gender roles and paint a romantic picture of the life of a stay-at-home mom.
Smith is TikTok’s queen of making marriage and motherhood look glamorous. Her baking videos are widely enjoyed (and roasted) for featuring Smith in impeccably styled hair and designer clothes. Her kitchen looks straight out of a magazine, and even in the middle of baking, there’s no mess in sight. All of this is accompanied by soft and soothing narration.
“Trad-wife” content creators have been widely criticized, with many claiming that it’s dangerous for wealthy influencers to promote a lifestyle that robs women of agency and independence.@naraazizasmith 🫶🏽 #easyrecipes #homecooking #baking #chocolatemuffin #olympicmuffin #fypツ #toddlersoftiktok ♬ La vie en rose (Cover Edith Piaf) - 田东昱
“The tradlife is troubling not only because it ensnares women into a hierarchical relationship in which they’re inherently inferior to their husbands (opening the door to regressive, potentially even abusive, dynamics), but also because most women can’t even afford to be ‘real’ tradwives,” Shahrzad Shams wrote in Ms. Magazine. “For most American families, living off a single income is simply impossible.”
Of course, “trad-wife” isn’t really an accurate label for Smith, just like it doesn’t apply to other influencers like Estee Williams and Ballerina Farm. Creating content professionally is a job, making these influencers career women by default.
Smith is aware of this and rejects the trad-wife label, “Whatever that is.”
“You don’t see me getting on a plane, hopping to New York, modeling, coming back — all while I have a newborn — paying bills, filming content, getting my kids dressed," she told Harper’s Bazaar in August. "Being put into a certain box, just because people think that I’m slaving away, is so weird to me. I’m a working mom who gets to go about her day in a very different way than [someone with] a normal nine-to-five job would.”
Love her or hate her, she’s made her mark. We already knew that, but it’s cool that Rolling Stone sees it too.
