Arts & Entertainment
A Chicago Woman Went Unexpectedly Viral on TikTok as the #greendressgirl. Now, She’s Taking Control of the Moment
Rachel Parrish is no stranger to the power of social media.
The Chicago native and expert in brand strategy made a conscious decision to utilize social media to elevate her own brand, but it was a casual post completely unrelated to her work that would earn her national attention.
In a now viral TikTok video that has racked up more than 20 million views, Parrish, while wearing a green dress, inquires about the current state of club culture and whether women still wear heels.
At the end of her video, she shows the heels she’d worn that night only to surprise viewers by displaying a very untraditional club heel.
@raechristine___ Don’t get me wrong I believe in being comfortable but I don’t think the club is the place for that #lasvegas #fyp #nightlife #clubbing ♬ original sound - Rae Christine
“When I tell you I was in Vegas and had been out all night. I posted it and went to sleep and woke up with a million views,” said Parrish in an interview with WTTW News.
After letting the buzz build, Parrish posted a strategic response video in the style of a brand expert reviewing a brand, like she is known for.
“As an entrepreneur, you got to understand that social media has outpaced Google for search engines,” said Parrish, who is now also known as #greendressgirl.
@raechristine___ I’m still trying to wrap my mind around it all, but I do want to thank people who have sent supportive messages! #girlinthegreendress #greendress #greendressgirl #girlinthegreendress ♬ original sound - Rae Christine
“If you want direct contact with your audience, then you have to build a profile online,” Parrish said. “But where a lot of entrepreneurs go wrong is they think their personal profile should be their business profile, and so they’ll be going off and sharing their personal thoughts and whatnot, and then wondering why people don’t want to support their business.”
Her approach had always been to show some personality but focus her public persona on her business expertise.
Parrish currently works as a senior director in brand strategy with a focus on sports and entertainment at Chicago-based Levy Restaurants. With an understanding of marketing strategy, her page before the viral moment focused on the success or failure of brand campaigns in fashion, music and other mainstream topics.
Despite her critiques and reviews of other social media campaigns, Parrish said she broke her own rule ahead of her viral moment.
“I will be the first to say, like, I went viral, and it’s because I broke my No. 1 rule, which was treating social media like it’s my personal profile,” she said. “But I think that’s actually a good thing. I’m happy to see that, you know, you can sprinkle a little bit of yourself in to help push things forward.”
Before her viral moment, Parrish has 3,100 followers on TikTok. But as of Monday, she has more than 44,000. Instead of just enjoying the moment and a glimpse at fame, she’s strategizing her personal brand for the long haul.
“I’m gearing up to leave my full-time job because I want to do my own business,” Parrish said. “I’ve been making moves to do that for the last year, but I know so many people are going to be like, ‘Oh, she went viral, and now she’s quitting her job.’ … I haven’t gotten a single paid sponsorship at all from any of this, I’ve just gotten a lot of visibility and now credibility to the thing I already knew I was able to do. But I’ve been preparing for this.”
As an entrepreneur, Parrish intends to build her current company, the Rae Christine Agency, by helping different companies improve their brand full-time. She wants to work with sports teams and small businesses looking to build a social media presence.
As for advice on how to pop on social media, Parrish says authenticity is key.
“One of the many reasons that this moment was able to kind of work is because I was prepared, but I was very authentic,” she said. “The original video was me authentically, just showing, you know, a funny personality, at least what I thought was funny.”
