A couple of things might surprise you about Simona Ruzer, the content creator whose videos spoofing the quintessential “North Berkeley mom” have been all over local TikTok and Instagram feeds.
For one, she’s from Richmond, where there’s nary a Berkeley Bowl in sight. And then there’s the fact that Ruzer’s mom is nothing like her character who laments, “I just don’t know if I can make it tonight — the Subaru’s in the shop, Nina has the Prius and you know we don’t drive the Tesla anymore.”
But that could be why the 29-year-old social media strategist has been able to so effectively capture, and affectionately poke fun at, the archetype she described in an interview as the “gentle parent/hippie-dippie Berkeley mom.” Her five in-character videos so far, the first of which was posted June 1, have racked up more than 250,000 views on TikTok alone. For many Richmond residents who grew up on the edges of Berkeley’s culture — close enough to feel its pull, far enough to see its quirks — Ruzer’s videos hit like an inside joke they didn’t know they’d been holding for years.
Ruzer’s actual mother is a guidance counselor whose profile meshes well with Richmond’s community of immigrants. She emigrated from Russia in 1991 with her husband and Ruzer’s three older siblings; her grandfather had come two years prior to work at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
After Ruzer was born her family lived in East Richmond, though she and her older siblings — who she said enrolled in Camp Kee Tov “on their first day in America” — grew up steeped in Berkeley culture. She went to Berkeley High, spent her baby-sitting money eating at downtown restaurants for lunch, made friends from Berkeley and after graduation attended the most on-brand college for any Berkeley local: UC Santa Cruz.
Ruzer’s videos, which depict a fictional mom’s conversations on the phone or with her children, are full of in-the-know references and local nostalgia, plus a perspective that sees the comedy in quirks many locals take for granted. They follow in the footsteps of parodies such as “Your Mom Is So Berkeley,” a still-active Facebook page that drew similar attention more than a decade ago.
“Arlo, Juniper and Seamus, what did Mommy say about devil sticks in the house? I send them to Camp Winnarainbow one time…” Ruzer says in one video.
“You want the Prius keys to go to Pano? OK, if you’re gonna smoke pot I’d rather you just walk to Grotto,” she says in another. (Translation: “Pano” refers to Panoramic Hill, known to many high schoolers as a hangout spot for those seeking a nice view without adult supervision; “Grotto” is North Berkeley’s Grotto Rock, which serves the same purpose.)
Ruzer, who now lives in Brooklyn, talked with Berkeleyside about the chance encounter at the Cheese Board Collective that provided the spark for her videos, the reactions they’ve gotten and what her mom thinks of them.
This conversation has been edited for clarity and length.
What inspired you to make these videos?
I was home for Memorial Day weekend at my parents’ house (they’re now in El Cerrito). It was my dad’s birthday and so I was in Berkeley and it was kind of top of mind. I actually ran into my friend’s mom at the Cheese Board, and we were asking her, “What are you doing later today?” And she was like, “Oh, I’m volunteering at the Marina teaching underprivileged kids how to sail.” And I was like, “Wow, she is living the life, she is the quintessential Berkeley mom — she’s retired, she’s living it up volunteering, that is such a classic Berkeley mom expression.” That’s kind of why I decided to write the skit.
I haven’t lived in the bay since I graduated college, or really since I graduated high school, and I would say my taste when I’m home is very much like a high school version of me. I go to Top Dog, I go to Bongo Burger, I go to Cheese Board — I don’t know any of the new restaurants. I’m very much stuck in this old version of Berkeley. And so I think maybe that’s what resonated with people, is referencing all these places that are very much like, “If you know you know.”
How did you write and create the sketches — did all these references just come pouring out?
It wasn’t instant. I didn’t run into my friend’s mom and think, “I need to make a video of that” at all. It wasn’t until I was back in New York the next week. I usually sit down in the mornings and write whatever comes to mind, then I film with my friend a few times a week; she’s also a content creator.
It was kind of on the back burner. I filmed it and I remember being like, “It’s so niche, I don’t think this will take off.” I actually didn’t post it for like a week or two, and I remember being like, “I guess I’ll just post it, because I already made it.” And then it really blew up.
I explain this in a video, but [the character] is not based on my mom at all — my mom is an immigrant from the USSR. I felt, always, like an outsider to these types of families. I got this one comment that really resonated with me: Someone said, “Maybe because you were always on the outside, that’s why you were so observant of it.” Because I was always comparing my family to my friends who grew up in Berkeley, and their parents grew up in Berkeley and were very classic Berkeley. I wanted that as a kid, and it felt like I was very different from that.
How is your mom different from this — I don’t know if stereotype is the right word. Is your character a stereotype? Is it a tribute?
I don’t know if [the character] exists, she’s kind of a fun combination of a bunch of different things for me. My mom — one of the main things I would say is, growing up we didn’t eat out very often. She’s very much like, “We have soup and pierogies at home, why would I eat out?” So a big thing that I was jealous of, is my friends who lived off Solano and their mom would be like, “Take the credit card and go get Gordo’s!” That was not my experience. Food, I think, is a very big part of living in Berkeley.
Berkeley bougie is a very specific type of bougie. It’s kind of like hidden wealth — everyone’s secretly wealthy, and my family was not wealthy at all. So I think I noticed a lot of things my friends had that seemed normal to them, even normal things like eating out for dinner, we just didn’t do that. I think [my mom] finds it funny but she’s like, “Yeah that’s definitely not me.”
What kinds of reactions have you seen to your videos?
The comments have really been going wild — even if a video doesn’t have that many likes, so many people are talking in the comments. I’ve gotten texts like, “My mom sent me this, it’s spot on.” It’s funny that I’m like tapping into my hometown, and maybe since I’m doing it from a mom’s point of view, I’m doing it for my friends’ parents’ age group.
I was surprised when I saw that you live in New York. Is there an element of homesickness to your videos about Berkeley?
Yeah, I mean I love the bay, I’m so proud to be from there and I always rep it. I definitely love New York and my life here. But my parents are getting older, my sisters both have kids, family’s very important to me — I come back a lot to see them, and sometimes it feels very far away. I don’t have plans to move back any time soon, but I really wish I could take a one-hour train and be there. The six-hour flight really gets me down. I wish I could access it easier and still have my life in New York.
What’s next for you? Are there more Berkeley moms in production?
There are — it’s so funny because with social media I’m always like, “Nobody wants to see this any more.” And then the comments are like, “Please make more!” And I feel like I’ve overdone it even though I’ve only made four or five. But I could keep going, so I’m like, “As long as the people are having fun I’ll keep making them.”
