Does anyone else feel lost?

Eli Rallo did & she’s writing about it

Stylist Lilac David. Photographer Ryan Cartee. Hair Sienna Watson. Makeup Jayme Kavanaugh. Lighting / Studio MSA STUDIOS

Eli Rallo has built a career on saying what everyone else is thinking, but some may not want to admit. The author, book lover, content creator, and lifestyle icon has caught the attention of a generation that’s equal parts online and existential, navigating heartbreak, ambition, and self-worth in real time. Preparing for the release of her sophomore book, Does Anyone Else Feel This Way?, out October 14, Rallo beautifully captures with unflinching honesty not only through her soon-to-be-released book, but through her digital content, the paradox between who we are and who we’re trying to become.

Rallo, who first gained attention for her witty “rules” videos and unapologetic essays about love, identity, and ambition, enters a new era with the release of her final non-fiction book for the seeable future. At 27-years-old, the New Jersey native made her early-twenties about finding her voice, while this next chapter is about refining it. 

“I used to be terrified of being misunderstood,” Rallo says. “Now I think that’s where the most interesting conversations happen—when you stop trying to make everyone get it and just tell the truth.”

Beneath the approachable tone of TikTok’s resident big sister, is an intentional storyteller who has learned how to balance connection with self-protection over her half a decade online. Her articulation and willingness to document the subtle, sometimes painful evolution of one’s early 20s, is part of what has kept the author’s audience so loyal. Her digital presence feels less like a feed and more like a dialogue with your best friend. Intimate, funny, and often disarmingly vulnerable. 

“When you provide people with a diverse array of content to resonate with, there will be different things that stick out for different people,” Rallo says. “Some come for book recommendations, some for advice, others just for a laugh. People come for one thing and stay for another.”

This variety of content Rallo pushes out multiple times a day perfectly encapsulates Gen-Z audiences. They know what they want to consume, but people do not know what they do not know, causing them to turn to figures, such as Rallo, to expose them to narratives, perspectives, and ideas unbeknownst to them.

Does Anyone Else Feel This Way? explores these ideas: the way confidence and confusion can coexist, how ambition can morph into anxiety, and how joy often hides in the in-between. 

“You have to ask yourself what you truly want,” Rallo says. “There’s no timeline of boxes to check off. I used to think that once I got the partner or published the book, I’d finally feel put together; however, external things don’t make you feel content. The bar just raises. You have to find [content] from within.”

Rallo’s ambition runs deep. After the release of Does Anyone Else Feel This Way?, she will debut her first fiction novel, I Hope Eden Reads This, while exploring other creative avenues, such as returning to write for the stage and TV and film. That same creative drive fueled her founding of Prose Hoes, the literary club she launched to encourage her audience to engage deeper with their love of literature and sharpen their media literacy.

Behind the approachable energy and quick humor is someone relentlessly serious about her craft. Her work, she says, is driven by curiosity and living deeply in her creative process. That same gritty creative drive fueled her founding of Prose Hoes, the literary club she launched to encourage her audience to engage deeper with their love of literature and sharpen media literacy amongst Gen-Z.

Stepping into this next chapter Rallo reflects on the younger version of herself who was always in a hurry. With Does Anyone Else Feel This Way?, Rallo imparts how wishing away certain moments of one’s life won’t change the present. What creates change is discovering through trials and tribulation what one decides the driving force in their life to be. 

“My past self was so eager to get to the next step,” Rallo says. “I wished a lot of those years away. If I could tell her anything, it would be to live in the present moment. You just get better at managing what it means to be an adult.”

Look 1: Dress jacket, Showpo. Shoes, Melissa. Look 2: Suit set, Maje. Shoes, Melissa. Look 3: Dress, Maje. All jewelry, Ettika.