The Popova twins found their
current roommate, Victoria Sidoti,
on TikTok. The group signed
the lease for their Upper East Side
apartment before even seeing
the space in person.5When Ivana and Kalina Popova,
who are 22-year-old twins,
graduated from college and decided
that they wanted to move from
Kansas City, Mo., to New York
together, they immediately took to
social media to fi nd a roommate.
There they found a TikTok by
Victoria, 23, who was video-blogging
her experience moving from
Glens Falls, N.Y., to Manhattan. The
three women decided to join forces.
Several places fell through as
they searched, prompting Victoria
to use a more aggressive tactic on
StreetEasy. ‘‘I contacted the guy,
and I was like, ‘Listen, we need the
place,’ ’’ she says. ‘‘The pictures
were really dingy.’’
Each roommate pays nearly
$1,300 in rent each month — ‘‘more
than my dad’s mortgage,’’ Victoria
says. They mourn the absence
of some amenities — namely in-unit
laundry and an elevator. ‘‘Every week
I have to stuff my suitcase with
a ton of clothes and my sheets and
drag it down four fl ights of stairs and
then, like, fi t it into one washer,’’ she
says. ‘‘Because it’s like, $4 a load.’’
Victoria, who now works at
the front desk of a nail salon, has
to adhere to a strict budget. ‘‘I just
wanted to get here so bad that
I just settled for the fi rst job that
off ered me the chance,’’ she
says. She’s trying to live on $10 to
$15 a day in spending. ‘‘You should
see our refrigerator,’’ she says.
‘‘It’s absolutely the most devastating
thing you’ll ever see in your life.’’The New York Times Magazine P. 3 5