{"id":359000,"date":"2026-06-13T06:35:50","date_gmt":"2026-06-13T06:35:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/359000\/"},"modified":"2026-06-13T06:35:50","modified_gmt":"2026-06-13T06:35:50","slug":"north-berkeley-mom-tiktoks-were-inspired-by-cheese-board","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/359000\/","title":{"rendered":"‘North Berkeley mom’ TikToks were inspired by Cheese Board"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AComedian Simona Ruzer\u2019s videos of \u201cyour North Berkeley mom\u201d have racked up more than 250,000 views on TikTok. Credit: Simona Ruzer\/TikTok and Charlie Rubin<\/p>\n

A couple of things might surprise you about Simona Ruzer, the content creator whose videos spoofing the quintessential \u201cNorth Berkeley mom\u201d have been all over local TikTok<\/a> and Instagram<\/a> feeds.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For one, she grew up outside the city\u2019s borders, in Richmond. And then there\u2019s the fact that Ruzer\u2019s mom is nothing like her character who laments, \u201cI just don\u2019t know if I can make it tonight \u2014 the Subaru\u2019s in the shop, Nina has the Prius and you know we don\u2019t drive the Tesla<\/a> anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

Watch Ruzer\u2019s videos on TikTok<\/a> and Instagram<\/a><\/p>\n

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 with Berkeleyside as the \u201cgentle parent\/hippie-dippie Berkeley mom.\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

Ruzer\u2019s actual mother is a guidance counselor who emigrated from Russia in 1991 with her husband and Ruzer\u2019s three older siblings; her grandfather had come two years prior to work at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.\u00a0<\/p>\n

After Ruzer was born her family lived in East Richmond, though she and her older siblings \u2014 who she said enrolled in Camp Kee Tov \u201con their first day in America\u201d \u2014 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 went on to attend the most on-brand college for any Berkeley local: UC Santa Cruz.<\/p>\n

Ruzer\u2019s videos, which depict the fictional mom\u2019s 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 \u201cYour Mom Is So Berkeley,\u201d<\/a> a still-active Facebook page that drew similar attention more than a decade ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cArlo, Juniper and Seamus, what did Mommy say about devil sticks in the house? I send them to Camp Winnarainbow<\/a> one time\u2026\u201d Ruzer says in one<\/a> video.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou want the Prius keys to go to Pano? OK, if you\u2019re gonna smoke pot I\u2019d rather you just walk to Grotto,\u201d she says in another<\/a>. (Translation: \u201cPano\u201d refers to Panoramic Hill, known to many high schoolers as a hangout spot for those seeking a nice view and lack of adult supervision; \u201cGrotto\u201d is North Berkeley\u2019s Grotto Rock, which serves the same purpose.)<\/p>\n

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\u2019ve gotten and what her mom thinks of them.<\/p>\n

This conversation has been edited for clarity and length.<\/p>\n

What inspired you to make these videos?<\/p>\n

I was home for Memorial Day weekend at my parents\u2019 house \u2014 it was my dad\u2019s birthday \u2014 and so I was in Berkeley and it was kind of top of mind. I actually ran into my friend\u2019s mom at the Cheese Board, and we were asking her, \u201cWhat are you doing later today?\u201d And she was like, \u201cOh, I\u2019m volunteering at the Marina teaching underprivileged kids how to sail.\u201d And I was like, \u201cWow, she is living the life, she is the quintessential Berkeley mom \u2014 she\u2019s retired, she\u2019s living it up volunteering, that is such a classic Berkeley mom expression.\u201d That\u2019s kind of why I decided to write the skit.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I haven\u2019t lived in the Bay since I graduated college, or really since I graduated high school, and I would say my taste when I\u2019m 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 \u2013 I don\u2019t know any of the new restaurants. I\u2019m very much stuck in this old version of Berkeley. And so I think maybe that\u2019s what resonated with people, is referencing all these places that are very much like, \u201cIf you know you know.\u201d<\/p>\n

How did you write and create the sketches \u2014 did all these references just come pouring out?<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t instant. I didn\u2019t run into my friend\u2019s mom and think, \u201cI need to make a video of that\u201d at all. It wasn\u2019t 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\u2019s also a content creator.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It was kind of on the back burner. I filmed it and I remember being like, \u201cIt\u2019s so niche, I don\u2019t think this will take off.\u201d I actually didn\u2019t post it for like a week or two, and I remember being like, \u201cI guess I\u2019ll just post it, because I already made it.\u201d And then it really blew up.<\/p>\n

I explain this in a video<\/a>, but [the character] is not based on my mom at all \u2014 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, \u201cMaybe because you were always on the outside, that\u2019s why you were so observant of it.\u201d 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

How is your mom different from this \u2014 I don\u2019t know if stereotype is the right word. Is your character a stereotype? Is it a tribute? <\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know if [the character] exists, she\u2019s kind of a fun combination of a bunch of different things for me. My mom \u2014 one of the main things I would say is, growing up we didn\u2019t eat out very often. She\u2019s very much like, \u201cWe have soup and pierogies at home, why would I eat out?\u201d So a big thing that I was jealous of, is my friends who lived off Solano and their mom would be like, \u201cTake the credit card and go get Gordo\u2019s!\u201d That was not my experience. Food, I think, is a very big part of living in Berkeley.<\/p>\n

Berkeley bougie is a very specific type of bougie. It\u2019s kind of like hidden wealth \u2014 everyone\u2019s 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\u2019t do that. I think [my mom] finds it funny but she\u2019s like, \u201cYeah that\u2019s definitely not me.\u201d<\/p>\n

What kinds of reactions have you seen to your videos?<\/p>\n

The comments have really been going wild \u2014 even if a video doesn\u2019t have that many likes, so many people are talking in the comments. I\u2019ve gotten texts like, \u201cMy mom sent me this, it\u2019s spot on.\u201d It\u2019s funny that I\u2019m like tapping into my hometown, and maybe since I\u2019m doing it from a mom\u2019s point of view, I\u2019m doing it for my friends\u2019 parents\u2019 age group.<\/p>\n

I was surprised when I saw that you live in New York. Is there an element of homesickness to your videos about Berkeley?<\/p>\n

Yeah, I mean I love the Bay, I\u2019m 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\u2019s very important to me \u2014 I come back a lot to see them, and sometimes it feels very far away. I don\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s next for you? Are there more Berkeley moms in production? <\/p>\n

There are \u2014 it\u2019s so funny because with social media I\u2019m always like, \u201cNobody wants to see this any more.\u201d And then the comments are like, \u201cPlease make more!\u201d And I feel like I\u2019ve overdone it even though I\u2019ve only made four or five. But I could keep going, so I\u2019m like, \u201cAs long as the people are having fun I\u2019ll keep making them.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Correction: An earlier version of this article misspelled Simona Ruzer\u2019s name.<\/p>\n

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