Brooke Averick had an email account and a dream.
In 2006, she claimed the AOL handle “ladyefron,” inspired by her love for “High School Musical” star, Zac Efron. 14 years later in COVID-era 2020, Averick posted her first TikTok video under the same screen name, @ladyefron. Averick’s unabashed anecdotes on girlhood and growing up with mental illness (read from her childhood diaries) made her an overnight TikTok sensation and have since garnered her over 65.7 million likes and one million followers on the platform.
During Averick’s initial TikTok success, she appeared on influencer Connor Wood’s (@fibula) For You page, and the two became fast online friends. In 2022, Averick and Wood made the jump from TikTok mutuals to cohosts with their podcast, “Brooke and Connor Make a Podcast” (“BNCMAP”), produced by TMG Studios. My sister convinced me to branch out from my limited podcast rotation (“Emergency Intercom” and “Trillionaire Mindset”) around the time of their debut, and I gave “BNCMAP” a try.
It was love at first listen. I’d pop on the latest episode of “BNCMAP” while eating alone in my dorm room and lose myself laughing over Averick and Wood’s unfiltered opinions on everything from swifties to Helen Keller. While I immediately identified with Wood’s ADHD-fueled, golden retriever personality, Averick’s transparency about her lifelong struggles with anxiety, depression, and OCD (at age five, she thought she caused 9/11) solidified her as my favorite of the two podcasters–a kindred spirit to my own mental illness.
So when Averick launched her new podcast, “Obsessed with Brooke Averick,” earlier this year, I sprinted to YouTube for the first episode, which featured comedy queen, Brittany Broski (@brittany_broski). I knew from the moment Averick and Broski began reading Darren Criss one shots that I was a goner. My obsession with “Obsessed” has only grown since, and I can safely say that I’ve never felt as seen as when Averick confessed her long-standing crush on “Glee” bad boy, Jesse St. James.
Averick shares her deepest fixations on “Obsessed,” from One Direction to The New York Times crossword, even going as far as to invite guests related to her obsessions on the show (see “Obsessed With Maneater [ft. Andrew Barth Feldman]”). Whether on “Obsessed” or “BNCMAP,” Averick lets her listeners know that it’s okay to indulge in nostalgia, no matter your age. “I want to be able to walk into the mall carrying three stuffed animals,” said Averick in episode 98 of “BNCMAP.” “I want 15,000 Squishmallows in my apartment.” Averick is just like us for real, enamored by Jellycats; her guinea pig, Frankie; and foods that trigger her IBS (which I definitely don’t relate to on a personal level).
Did I mention, hot guys scare her. So much so, that Averick developed a tier list to categorize which of her celebrity crushes she could tolerate face-to-face. Celebrities at the highest level, which she refers to as “basilisk” (think Harry Potter), would result in her death upon meeting. However, celebrities at the lowest level, tier three, exist as fleeting obsessions, and encounters with them are encouraged.
Averick’s devotion to her tier list ranks almost as high as her obsession with books. I’m proud to say that I’m one of Averick’s 19,163 followers on Goodreads, where she stands as the most followed profile this month above authors like Colleen Hoover, Stephen King, and Rick Riordan. Averick doesn’t care that she was late to the “ACOTAR” trend or that she may spend an unhealthy amount of time reading in bed. She’s on her own schedule, living her best bookworm life–viva la DSDF.
I think that’s what I admire most about Averick. She admits that celebrities scare her and that her hobbies could be considered embarrassing, yet she goes on loving them regardless. Averick empowers listeners, like me, by being undeniably herself–a 27-year-old woman obsessed with books, boy bands, Broadway, and Troy Bolton. And if you haven’t figured it out already, I’m addicted to this young woman.
Words by Alex Armbruster
Graphics by Juan Cruz