Tarah Fromm was on a normal shopping run.
Scouring the Kroger aisles for spinach wraps and vegetable sushi, Fromm noticed another shopper staring at her from a distance. “Oh no,” she thought to herself, before the fellow customer revealed the reason for her gaze.
“You’re the girl from TikTok!”
Fromm moved to Columbus from Olympia, Washington, on July 4, and has taken to TikTok to document her journey. She’s gained more than 2,000 followers since the move, filming video reviews of local shops and stores, and even her first ever trip to Cracker Barrel.
Her experience getting recognized at Kroger was a personal first.
“She was super nice, and she was like, ‘Oh my gosh, you post those videos about finding new places to try, and it’s making me want to go out and try these places,’” Fromm said. “I was like, ‘That’s great.’”
Fromm, her husband, and their two dogs packed an SUV, and made the more than 2,000-mile drive to Columbus. They made the 45-hour trip in four days for her husband’s internship at Airbus.
She calls herself a “stay-at-home-wife” right now and had already been recording videos of her day-to-day life. She said she usually chickened out before posting, but she finally mustered up the courage to post recently.
“I was like, ‘You know what, maybe I should just share this because people might like it,’” Fromm said. “If they don’t, they don’t. That’s fine. I mean, it’s really for me. If somebody likes it, that’s great.”
People, especially those in the community, are showing their love to Fromm virtually.
She’s posted seven videos “exploring Mississippi,” visiting places often pitched by her viewers. The videos have each garnered more than 10,000 views, with one video, Fromm’s visit to Columbus Lake, reaching 48,900 views.
“If you look at any of my comment sections, every single comment is a new place to try. Like 90% of them,” Fromm said.
The stops have taken her to Munson and Brothers, Mudd Dobbers and Columbus Lake, and has even carried her across state lines to a trip to Ethelsville, Alabama. The videos have gotten her to nearly 4,000 followers on TikTok.
She said the reception she’s received has motivated her to continue trying new places.
“I’ve gained 2,000 new followers from just a few videos,” Fromm said. “I am like, ‘Wow, OK, these people actually watch my videos and like my content.’ That makes me want to continue creating content, because people are eating it up.”
Fromm, or maybe more known as @lifeoftarah on her TikTok, said her trip to Columbus Lake has been her favorite so far, and is in the hunt for a “good little coffee shop.”
Fromm has experienced one main culture shock in her little time in Mississippi: Southern hospitality.
Her first time in the state came two years ago when she visited her husband’s family for Thanksgiving. Fromm remembered being stunned on how a small ask for something to eat turned into overwhelming offers to make her food from his family.
That hospitality has not changed with the people she’s met since the move.
“Everybody speaks to everybody here. Everybody is very respectful. They will go out of their way to make sure that piece of dog hair on your back is taken off,” Fromm said. “In Washington, people aren’t like that. You go out, nobody really talks to each other. You go out of your house, you get your stuff done, and you go home. Like that’s how I was always raised. … Everyone is so willing to be your friend, or show you all of these new spots.”
The hospitality has been a nice change for Fromm. The humidity, however, not so much.
“I can deal with it. It’s fine,” Fromm said. “But I will say, some days get you when every part of your body is wet.”
Jake is the Mississippi State athletics reporter for The Dispatch.