Your Rich BFF, Vivian Tu, On Creating Her Own Personal Finance Community

Here at Mozilla, we are the first to admit the internet isn’t perfect, but we know the internet is pretty darn magical. The internet opens up doors and opportunities, allows for human connection, and lets everyone find where they belong — their corners of the internet. We all have an internet story worth sharing. In My Corner Of The Internet, we talk with people about the online spaces they can’t get enough of, the sites and forums that shaped them, and what reclaiming the internet really looks like.

This month we chat with Vivian Tu, also known as Your Rich BFF, a former Wall Street trader-turned-expert, personal finance educator, and entrepreneur about her her new book (available everywhere now), the internet’s worst DJ, the personal finance corner of the internet, and her own community, the BFFs.

What is your favorite corner of the internet? (wherever you love on the internet and feel accepted/comfortable/inspired)?
Robert Irwin interacting with wild animals at the Australia Zoo! I grew up watching his dad on the Animal Planet channel and now it’s so fun to watch him continue his family’s legacy of love for animals. The content is soothing and many of the animals are so cute!

What is an internet deep dive that you can’t wait to jump back into?
Whatever we’re calling the Taylor Swift & Travis Kelce romance, it’s a topic that I can’t seem to escape.

What is the one tab you always regret closing?
This never happens because I don’t close tabs. I wish I was kidding. I’m always running ~40 tabs open at once— to the point where you can barely see each tab and my laptop sounds like a rocket ship about to take off. The BFFs always give me a hard time about this any time I show my computer screen on camera.

What can you not stop talking about on the internet right now?
DJ Mandy, the internet’s worst DJ! While most DJs that go viral on the internet are known for their incredible mashups or amazing sets, DJ Mandy is specifically known for intentionally DJing awfully. She’ll blend Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen and Act Up by City Girls and any time I watch her content I am laughing out loud within 45 seconds. I’ve sent her mixes to all of my friends. She makes me laugh and I have no idea how she does it with a straight face.

What was the first online community you engaged with?
The Personal Finance community! I create content around budgeting, saving, investing, etc. myself —  one of the first communities I engaged with online were other folks on their personal finance journeys. It’s been so fun getting to know other finance creators, as well as the BFFs on their personal finance journeys.

What articles and videos are in your Pocket waiting to be read/watched right now?
There are so many!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2023/10/14/grief-healing-families-joy/
https://fortune.com/2023/10/11/return-to-office-costs-commuting-lunch/
https://www.bonappetit.com/gallery/cheap-recipes

If you could create your corner of the internet, what would it look like?
I’m lucky because I feel like I have! Most of my audience, who I call the BFFs, come to my corner to learn more about financial tips and tricks! We cover everything from lowering your rent to buying luxury goods to saving on your tax bill, and so much more. That said, if I wasn’t a personal finance creator —  I would 100% be a Slime creator. I am weirdly drawn to watching people make different types of slime and the ASMR of listening to them squish it around!

Why do you think younger generations are more comfortable talking about money among their peers and online?
Since we’re able to often hide behind usernames & profile pictures of memes, there’s a level of anonymity! You can have a more candid conversation with an internet stranger than you might with someone in your day-to-day IRL life. Also, I will say social media has created an unprecedented level of transparency with influencers telling us everything from how much they paid for their nose job, to how to travel hack a $ 2k-a-night hotel room, to how much student debt regular people have. This has made conversations around money more common, more comfortable, and more democratized. I, for one, LOVE this new level of financial honesty.

Former Wall Street trader-turned-expert, personal finance educator, public speaker, entrepreneur, and newly minted author, Vivian Tu AKA Your Rich BFF is on a global mission to make the financial industry less “male, pale, and stale.”  She is the founder and CEO of the financial equity phenomenon, “Your Rich BFF,” which she developed as a passion project to destigmatize and make the rules of personal finance accessible and digestible to non-experts and marginalized communities.  Her dedication to promoting financial literacy has earned her cross-platform fame and notoriety, having garnered 6 million followers and counting, as well as honors on both the Forbes’ ‘30 Under 30 – Social Media’ (2023) and inaugural ‘Top Creators’ (2022 + 2023) lists.  In addition to her breakout digital content, Vivian continues to spread her wealth of knowledge on her top-charting podcast, “Networth and Chill” (Audioboom Studios), a first-of-its-kind podcast offering accessible advice and lessons in finance, featuring Vivian alongside notable experts, professionals, and famous faces to break down the economics of our lives. She is also the author to the book Rich AF: The Winning Money Mindset That Will Change Your Life available everywhere now.