Izzy Darnell, a freshman at the University of Alabama, has had a whirlwind first month of college. To be fair, she’s not your typical student. With over a million followers on TikTok, Izzy’s built a thriving career creating lifestyle and beauty content for a loyal online audience. Partly because she happens to be the younger sister of Kylan Darnell, an internet personality who shot to fame during the 2022 Bama #RushTok mania. Kylan’s daily “get ready with me” videos and outfit breakdowns during her own sorority recruitment experience earned her the unofficial title of “Queen of Bama Rush.”
So naturally, all eyes were on Izzy’s rush journey this year. And at first, she fed the curiosity, posting outfit-of-the-day clips and hair tutorials in the lead-up to Bid Day. That’s why it came as a surprise when, just last week, Izzy announced she was stepping back from recruitment entirely and choosing to do college life without Greek affiliation.
Izzy entered the recruitment process under far different circumstances than her sister—for one, she had an established audience already. Rush videos weren’t about to make or break her influencing career. But in the wake of viral rush content in recent years, the University of Alabama’s Greek organizations became much more restrictive about social media coverage. In a TikTok explaining her decision to drop, Izzy revealed that a microinfluencer who filmed inside the sorority houses during recruitment last year “ruined it for the rest of us that do social media.” The tighter rules on campus make it seem that way—many houses reportedly instructed incoming members not to post about recruitment or speak with the media, under threat of being dropped, according to the Associated Press.
For someone like Izzy, who makes a living from online content, those restrictions weren’t just inconvenient; they were incompatible with her career. Unlike her sister, for whom Bama Rush provided a launchpad to internet fame, Izzy found that her online presence was treated like a liability rather than an asset. In a process that once rewarded clout and charisma, Izzy’s social media success was seen as a risk, and even an invitation for extra surveillance from her fellow rush participants. So in a sit-down with Cosmo, Izzy discussed exactly how four years post-Rush Tok, sorority life isn’t looking too influencer-friendly anymore
How’ve you been handling the college transition with such a huge audience?
I grew up in a tiny farm town in Ohio, where no one really cared who I was. Now there are a lot of people around taking pictures on campus all the time, anywhere, and everywhere. I bought a moped, so people can’t take pictures of me while I’m riding that. I’m sure it’ll subside once kids have been around me a lot, but while I was rushing, it was scary. Girls would try to move into my group. If I were sitting somewhere, they would come sit by me to take pictures. It was so weird. Like, I’m just a girl in this world!
How does having all of those eyes on you shape your rush experience?
When people are taking a picture, I don’t know if they’re being nice about it or if they’re sending it in a group chat to be mean; that’s where my worry came in. Girls would be nice to me during rush, but they’re weird now, once they’ve already got their picture.
Your sister has such a huge presence in this space, but what originally inspired you to pursue rush?
I never wanted to do it. My sister said: Try it. And if you don’t like it, drop it. I ended up hating it and dropping it. The whole idea was that I would have friends here whenever she graduates, but I already have a few friends, so I’ll be fine. But I think that was her intention.
She blew up online through documenting her rush process, but you already had a huge audience when you entered recruitment.
My mom said it was going to be harder for me. She was like, she’s walking into this with a following, you gained it from this. So just watch her.
Were your family members understanding about you dropping?
Everybody kind of knew I wasn’t into it. I wasn’t lying to the girls either. I would look at the Rho Chi [recruitment counselor] and be like This is not for me, is it? And she’d be like, no.
The culture at Bama seems to rely so heavily on Greek life, but you’re comfortable not being involved. Why do you think that is?
There are actually a ton of girls who do not do Greek life. It’s very uncommon, but there are a few of us. It’s the girls who really don’t need to depend on anybody to survive. The girls who can walk in front of a crowd with no one beside them. The confident ones. I don’t have to have another girl to get up and go to the bathroom with me. I can do that myself. So we’re all together.
Would your social media presence have been a major conflict of interest with a sorority, had you joined?
I would have had to stop posting probably everything. They’ve been telling Kylan for a long time that they don’t like her posting, and they were like, If your sister were to come in and be in our sorority, she can’t post. For me, that’s my job. That’s my livelihood. And I’ve created a bond with my audience, so, like, I need to post. When they couldn’t understand that, that’s when I knew I didn’t want to be in Greek life.
You’d think a large audience would be seen as a huge asset that these sororities would like. Why do you think it’s changed?
It used to be like that. But now, when the President of the sorority goes off to the big meetings with all the sorority presidents, it’s always, Oh my God, you’re in Kylan Darnell’s sorority. It takes away [attention] from them, and girls will be girls. They get jealous. But neither Kylan nor I would make our livelihood from the sorority.
I would have had to miss so many things. Also, another girl would kill for my spot in a sorority that I don’t even want to work for. It would’ve been awful if I did get into Zeta, took that spot from another girl, and then dropped. That’s mean and criminal, and I don’t want to just dabble in it.
Whenever #RushTok became popular, it was really sweet and wholesome. But now girls are only coming to the school to be famous, so that’s why sororities are hating it. I understand that. As a sorority, I wouldn’t want girls to only come in to make a TikTok either. But I wasn’t going in to be famous because I’m already there. I was like, Y’all need to know that. I’m not trying to bank off of you guys! I’m helping you.
What are you most excited to pursue outside of Greek life?
I am so excited to go out with my friends and play pickleball—or just do little, fun activities. I’m not really a crazy partier who’ll be like, Oh my god, I’m going to this frat’s thing. Like, I would rather hang out with my girls than go meet up with a bunch of guys. I was perfectly fine with being left out.
I don’t get the obsession. I also know nothing about sorority and fraternity life. I’m just a girl from Ohio, so coming in here looking at it, I was like, Why is that house better than that house? Like, I just want to do me. With the sorority thing, everybody was overstepping into my life, not only online, but in real life, too.
Fans had this parasocial relationship with you and your sister, where they predicted, She’s going to join this sorority and follow in her sister’s footsteps. How do you feel about people who feel personally offended by you dropping out?
I think it is so weird. I am such an independent person. So, whenever they want me to follow my sister’s footsteps, it’s like, you just don’t want me myself? It’s so weird for people to be mad that I just want to be me.
How’d you gain such an independent spirit?
I just went through so much in high school—mean kids at school, some deaths—that I was like, I don’t need anybody else. I’m good on my own. All I need is my family. There are bigger problems in the world than a girl leaving me out.
How do you think your sister was able to lean into sorority culture while maintaining her independence?
I have no idea how she did it, especially with moving 10 hours away from home. Kudos to her. Now my family comes up a lot to see us both.
Are they concerned about where you’ll stand after she leaves?
Nah, they’re like you do you, we know you’ll find your way.
What are your plans post-college?
In a perfect world, I’d be an actor and have a makeup brand. But in the real world, I’m going to go into advertising and public relations. Because social media is not forever. I feel like when you already have a platform in advertising, it’s respected. Like, she can advertise herself that much; what can she do for us?
This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
