This is our 100th Gramlist which is surprising even us. Time flies when you’re having fun, and we’ve spent the past eight months investigating what “influence” means now, unearthing brilliant creatives on the rise whose growing, loyal fanbases are super-engaged and trusting. With good reason—the feeds we share in these thrice-weekly themed lists are picked for their honesty, legit POV and unique aesthetic. (What we’re saying: extra-large follower counts don’t mean as much as a smaller group of who really care what someone’s saying, ya dig?) Proof? The two fastest-growing feeds right now belong to people at the center of conversations: Bernie Sanders, for instance, or Joel Berry, the Tar Heels’ point guard. (More on that later.) For now, these are the five on the rise at record pace.
Thanks for being apart of the adventure so far. Stay tuned-way more to come.
We took notice of the Texas-born beauty blogger Deepica Mutyala last October when we were talking about what modern beauty writing really is. Our answer? Fun, easy, honest, full of personality. Even a little self deprecating, because how boring is perfection? Deepica fits the bill. Her Instagram feed has grown 16.6% since then, and she’s now an on-air beauty expert for the Today show. Don’t miss her really charming Snap stories: @deepicam.
We’ve built a pretty bananas network of creatives and experts, and as you may know, each Friday, we ask one of them to share who they love to follow. Last September, our friend, the anonymous and elusive @WhatImHolding, turned us onto Stephen McMennamy. His clever digital stitchwork helped his feed shoot up 16.5% since he hit our radar.
At any given time, our team is scattered around the country—if not the world—and we’re kind of obsessed with exploring the best and newest a destination has to offer. While traditional travel sites are beautiful sources of info, they’re not necessarily a good indicator of what’s actually buzzy and exciting right now. So, we created our social city guides: lists of locals with great taste who post from, geotag, and write about the spots we need to know. To kick off ski season last year, we co-created a guide to the entire state of Utah with our pals at Ski Utah. One of their must-check feeds is also one that’s grown leaps and bounds (or slopes, if you will): the photographer Drew Petersen who also consults for Discrete, Smith, Outdoor Research…His feed’s 16% bigger and better than it was at the start of ski season.
Last summer, we were talking non-stop about new musicians we love for their sound and their style. Felly—actual name Chris Felner—is unlike anyone else in the rap space for a few reasons: he’s a full-time student at USC, he’s 20 years old, he’s from Connecticut, and spends his summers in the Caribbean, and he’s got a wild curly mane that is as untamed and wild as his beats. We explained him by saying “if Jamaica and Patagonia had a baby.” Thanks to his homie, photographer and record label founder Jake Standley, his photos have led to his feed growing 14%.
Food’s never far from our minds or hearts—our team grew up in homes where culinary experiences meant close bonds, and one day, we should really share our favorite family recipe—so our Instagrams are chock full of edibles. Chances are, yours are too. Foodie feeds are one of the most popular categories, and fastest-growing. The Cape Town-based Anett Velsberg is example number one, growing 11.8% since last Thanksgiving when we rounded up some of our favorite food stylists. Woman knows her way around a digital camera.