If you live in the East Bay and spend any time on TikTok or Instagram, chances are you’ve stumbled across a @big.nu.energy video spotlighting a hidden gem in Richmond, Oakland, or somewhere in between.
From Richmond’s tucked-away “ninja gym” to serene zen gardens nestled in unexpected corners of the city, the account has become a digital map to places many longtime residents might have passed by for years without ever knowing their backstories.
Behind these increasingly popular clips is Alica Freeman — better known online as “Nunu” — who doesn’t see herself as a social media influencer. Instead, she credits her growing platform to a deep love for her city, Richmond, and an instinctive curiosity that keeps her searching for what’s just out of sight.
“It’s literally me being nosy. I drive and I’m like, ‘Well, what is that?’ And then my kids are always with me, and I’m like, ‘You guys want to go on an adventure today?’ ” Freeman told Richmondside. “Sometimes I don’t have enough gas money to get me far enough, so I’m like, ‘We’re gonna stay in our city. We’re gonna find something new here.’ And that’s just all that I do. Go inside and see what it is.”
Meet Your Neighbor: TikToker Alicia Freeman
Who: Alicia “Nunu” Freeman
Neighborhood: Hilltop
Resident for: About 30 years. Freeman was born in Oakland but raised in Richmond, attended De Anza High School and graduated from Kennedy High School.
She said: “We’re so on our phones, we’re so into, like, just going and going, that nobody really ever takes the time to pause and wonder. You’re gonna miss something good if you don’t look up (from your phone).”
Details: Follow Freeman on TikTok and Instagram
Richmond is home to 40+ distinct neighborhoods, a fact that some residents have told us makes them feel disconnected to the city as a whole. This story is part of the Meet Your Neighbor series designed to help Richmonders get to know their neighborhoods. Know someone we should feature? Email hello@richmondside.org.
That sense of discovery comes across in her videos. On an unassuming street, Freeman has a knack for finding a business that one would never guess could be there.
When Richmondside sat down with Freeman, she suggested meeting at Vilansse — a holistic spa and wellness center on Macdonald Avenue that offers services from eyebrow threading and massages to financial literacy support and classes on how to become a homeowner.
The space is a quiet and peaceful oasis tucked away behind an otherwise busy and loud intersection of car shops and dealerships.
“You would never expect it right?” Freeman said, noting it was one of the businesses that surprised her. “There is a lot of that in Richmond but people don’t know.”
Her first viral video, however, was not a review. One of her favorite neighbors was trying to reconnect with his daughter after losing contact with her decades ago. Both the father and daughter have moved and changed their phone numbers over the years, so Freeman put out a call on TikTok to help find her.
“I asked the Internet to help me and eventually we found her,” Freeman said. “So I wrote to her on Facebook, and I was like, ‘Is this your dad?’ And she said, ‘Yes, I’ve been looking for him everywhere.”
“So I gave her his number, and they called each other, and ever since then, she’s been sending him gifts every other day,” Freeman continued. “She came out here and surprised him to come see him earlier last year too.”
Seeing the power of social media, Freeman turned her attention there while balancing raising two young kids and working as an account manager. In August of 2025, she started posting food reviews and then began posting reviews for any business — as long as there was something unique.
“And there’s always going to be something unique,” Freeman said. “You just have to listen to their story.”
Freeman said she talks to owners extensively to truly understand what makes their business special and tries to articulate that to viewers.
“I want to capture their attention, but I want them to understand this is not just a business,” Freeman said. “This business has a story. It comes with hard work, it comes with blood, sweat and tears.”
Those stories appear to resonate. Over the past six months, she has quickly gained 9,300 followers on TikTok with more than 227,000 likes and 16,700 followers on Instagram.
Freeman is humble about and surprised by the traction she has received but if she had to explain why her videos are doing well, she said it’s probably because there aren’t many people posting these types of reviews about Richmond.
“There are so many people going out of their way for Richmond … and I think hearing things that make it special, that they’ve never heard ever, is what makes it special,” Freeman said. “I think that’s what (residents) want to hear.”
She said throughout her social media journey even her perspective of Richmond has changed.
“I know that there’s a lot of good people in Richmond. I know that there is a lot of negativity in Richmond as well. But growing up, my main focus has been on the negative parts, because that’s what I was told,” Freeman said. “But we have so many people, and so many like hidden businesses, and people who have went out their way to go to school, and people like Cherry (the owner of Vilansse), for instance, who learned a completely different language just to help the community, and have kept her business in Richmond no matter where she moves to.”
Freeman also noted that despite living in Richmond for almost all of her 31 years of life, there are many long-term businesses that she has never heard of and maybe wouldn’t have found if she didn’t look up from her phone or step out of her car.
“We’re so on our phones, we’re so into, like, just going and going, that nobody really ever takes the time to pause and wonder,” Freeman said. “You’re gonna miss something good if you don’t look up (from your phone).”
Vilansse owner Cherry Tyler, who overheard Freeman’s interview with Richmondside, echoed the sentiment, noting that Richmond deserves its flowers and Freeman does a beautiful job of doing that.
“I feel like people don’t know the beauty that exists here but it’s so rich and so large, and there’s so much here that you maybe don’t find in San Francisco or San Jose because (those cities) are much bigger,” Tyler said, thanking Freeman for her work. “There’s always been a sense of community and family here. And the businesses that choose to expand and do business here in Richmond, they matter, and the people matter to them.”
Tyler said although she grew up in Oakland, the local sense of community in Richmond is why she has worked here for the past 20 years and expanded her business.
“This is where people need us the most,” Tyler said. “Hearing what other people say about Richmond makes me emotional because It’s like, ‘No, we’re still here, and there’s a love here that you don’t find in a lot of places.’ ”
Freeman walked around recording video of Vilansse, giving Richmondside an inside look at her methods. It’s clear there is a lot of prep work that does go into it. As she’s recording the space she talks to all the staff members and asks a ton of questions. Her distinct, smooth voice draws listeners in — on and off camera.
Her process reveals that Vilansse is more than a wellness center but also an incubator for people to kickstart or house their own separate businesses.
Richmonder highlights informal incubator for local entrepreneurs
Da’Shanti, who didn’t want her last name published, is a body sculpt practitioner at Vilansse. She’s also a nutritionist and herbalist who sells her own hair care products, soaps and beauty products under the brand “Dream Rose Beauty,” exclusively at Vilansse.
Raynelle “Nellie” Abdul-Haqq, who also wears many hats — from make-up artist to event curator — often uses Vilansse for events such as quinceañeras, poetry slams or even a “Galentines” paint and sip event (which will be held on Feb. 13). Abdul-Haqq, who offers services including eyebrow threading, has also started her own eyebrow beauty brand called “Ethereal Essentials.”
And Andriana Johnson, a real estate agent, brought her expertise to Vilansse recently as a financial consultant. She helps customers balance their budgets, kick start businesses or even get out of debt to secure a pathway to homeownership and wealth generation. She is starting a series soon to teach residents how to buy homes.
“See I gotta sign myself up for that,” Freeman said.
In the meantime, Freeman hopes her videos help people discover and support local businesses — and take better care of themselves along the way. She began seeking out zen gardens, she said, as a way to manage her own depression, leading her to places such as the UC Berkeley Blake Garden in Kensington and the Wave Garden in Point Richmond.
Freeman does not currently earn a profit from her social media reviews, as some social influencers do, but she believes they have helped many small businesses across Richmond. Her long-term goal is to work as a social media consultant with local businesses, eventually turning the project into a full-time career.
“If you stay in the house and just keep soaking in depression, you’ll stay depressed,” Freeman said. “A big part of doing this (social media reviews) is out of depression and getting out and doing this has helped me tremendously.”
Ultimately, as people scroll through Freeman’s videos, she hopes they do more than bookmark a new place to visit. She wants viewers to pause, look up, and see Richmond for what it is — a city rich with stories, resilience and care.
“I want people to know that our cities, Richmond and Oakland, we’re all diverse, and we all have a story, and we all have been through trauma, and we all have been through some type of discrimination in life,” Freeman said. “So I want them all to understand that, recognize that and support ourselves because history is going to continue to repeat itself if we don’t know where we came from, we won’t know where we are going.”
