Living With Your Parents, The Future of Instagram Reels, and Every Place You’ll Ever Need to Go in Buffalo
Dandy Day is our new series featuring Dandy women scribing the highs, lows, and in-betweens of their day. This feature was born out of our love for journaling, observing people, and getting solid recommendations from women with great taste.
Next up is Anya Schulman! She caught my eye while scrolling none other than Instagram, which is fitting as Anya is on the marketing team for Instagram Reels. This means she is one of the behind-the-scenes IG wizards who figures out ways to communicate and disseminate the innovations I stave off learning until I come to terms with the fact that I really have to. In addition to spearheading the marketing for the “Remix” feature in Reels, she’s also an avid horseback rider, a loyal supporter of local biz, and a creative writer—the latter of which made her a great subject for Dandy Day.
Okay! Now it’s time to walk through a Day in the life of Anya.
Friday, April 16th
7:20 am:
My first alarm goes off. I snooze. I’m not a morning person. I don’t drink coffee.
8:00 am:
I get out of bed. I’ve been living at my childhood home in Buffalo, New York since March 2020. I work for Instagram and my work is remote indefinitely. My screen time is probably unhealthy. We renovated our attic, which was originally a ballroom (relatable, I know) to be my office/studio/bedroom. I had a hard time focusing in my teenage bedroom. This means I have more space than I ever have as an adult and my own bathroom for the first time, ever, which feels luxurious.
8:26 am:
I love horseback riding and I rode competitively from ages 12-20. A silver lining of living at home has been being able to start riding seriously again. Since most of my colleagues are on the west coast, I usually wake up painfully early (for me) to ride in the morning before work. I say goodbye to my mom and hop in the car. It’s cold. My neighborhood in Buffalo is ten minutes from the Canadian border and the Niagara River. My car thermometer says 39 degrees. It’s a forty minute drive to the barn, and I listen to Spotify’s personalized Daily Drive.
9:06 am:
I get to the barn and say hi to my horse, Draco. I’m leasing him from a wonderful family, which is like renting a horse. I rode him late last night after work and its nice to see him again so soon. I’m an extrovert, so riding has helped my mental health so much throughout the pandemic. You can’t think about anything other than riding while you’re doing it, which is a relief for chronic over-thinkers. Everyone who rides at my barn here is so kind. Seeing and getting to know them is truly the highlight of my week. I groom and tack up Draco for my 9:30 lesson.
10:45 am:
I leave the barn and finish The Daily on my way home. I switch to “White Houses” by Vanessa Carlton on repeat after the episode ends. I recently saw a theory that “A Thousand Miles” was about Sara Ramirez, because Vanessa said it was written about a Julliard student, so revisiting her work with the queer subtext I wished for somewhat confirmed hits different.
11:30 am:
I’m starving and stop at one of my favorite spots in Buffalo, Remedy House, for the best breakfast sandwich in town. Remedy House is in the five points, an intersection where five different streets converge. Its home to Urban Roots, a garden center, Paradise Wine, an incredible wine store, Five Points Framing, a woman-owned framing shop, Butterblock, a heavenly French Bakery, Petrichor Flora, a queer-owned flower shop, Blue Table Chocolates, an artisanal chocolatier, Black Monarchy, a beautiful boutique, and Las Puertas, the best Mexican restaurant I’ve ever been to (founded by 2018 James Beard-nominated chef Victor Parra Gonzalez). I order the egg on a roll with prosciutto and garlic aioli, no cheese, with an oat iced chai.
11:42 am:
My cat is waiting for me in the window when I get home. He’s almost 16 and has been sick lately, so it’s good to see him looking perky. I log onto my work computer. I’m on Instagram’s Consumer Marketing team for Reels. I’m presenting a project in a meeting later on, so I throw on a fun blouse and some jewelry. A New! Story for a Reels feature, Remix, we’ve been working on for months went live yesterday, so I open the app to watch it. I catch up on emails and messages from coworkers.
3:30 pm- 7:30pm:
I wrap up my work day and listen to a couple playlists I made. I treat Spotify like my diary. Recently it’s been Claud, Mallrat, (my “apocalypse crush” playlist lol), beabadoobee, and Kaci Hill on repeat with Y2K selects. If I’m happier I listen to Poolside FM, Alex Chapman’s soundcloud mixes, or NTS radio.
7:30 pm:
I eat dinner with my parents.
8 pm:
I’m volunteering on the marketing committee of a local photography organization my father is an active member of, CEPA gallery. CEPA’s biannual art auction is coming up and includes art from Carrie Mae Weems, Robert Mapplethorpe, and other artists of equal esteem, so I’m working on shaping social/digital marketing strategy to help grow their audience beyond Buffalo! I work on some docs and decks for CEPA for about an hour.
9:30 pm:
My friend Amalie and I have a virtual glass of wine/negroni. I change into a Brandy Melville sweatsuit that does not match for the occasion. We’re both queer women in our twenties in the tech/fashion/social space so it’s really nice to talk to someone who *gets it.* We talk lesbian proximity and Brandy Melville.
11:55 pm:
I lie on my floor and think about Kristen Stewart in Zathura.
12:09 am:
I go downstairs to eat a Soy Delicious Salted Caramel ice cream bar and join my mom on the couch, who is inexplicably watching a Transformers movie. It’s pretty bad but there is a token hot British professor who recalls Diane Kruger in National Treasure.
2:30 am: