Nara Smith gained international reputation a pair years in the past by doing stuff that didn’t precisely…properly…join with Black people. Posting ASMR-friendly movies and cooking meals from scratch for her white husband and their kids (with names together with Rumble Honey and Slim Straightforward) earned her tens of millions of followers and a repute as a premiere “tradwife,” however we didn’t actually know what to do together with her.
Quick-forward to 2025, and now she’s rocking cornrows and chatting it up with A$AP Rocky at Paris Trend Week. So what’s up now…is Nara Smith “legit” or what?
Let’s return for a second: It began between late 2023 and early 2024, when Smith started utilizing social media to publish her “tradwife” content material, a portmanteau for “conventional spouse” meant to convey a girl who is totally dedicated to her house and partner and vehemently adheres to conventional gender roles and values.
Examples included movies of herself cooking elaborate selfmade meals whereas sporting designer clothes. She additionally started to go viral posting the… artistic names of her younger kids: Rumble Honey, Slim Straightforward, and Whimsy Lou. To not point out her sultry, monotone voiceovers and dainty, impartial, and clear aesthetic her 11.5 million TikTok followers can’t appear to get sufficient of.
However there was one thing lacking.
Though she’s garnered a loyal following, Smith has dealt together with her share of detractors as properly. On a Reddit thread, one author described Smith as “making an attempt to promote Mormon (aka a faith that believes that Black individuals are inferior) propaganda to younger Black individuals,” whereas one other said how they “don’t belief any Mommy/ {Couples}/ Household Blogger content material” as a result of it’s all “faux.” Others slammed her tender voice that “irritated” viewers, her seemingly “performative” portrayal of being a homemaker, and critique about her race and her “light-skinned privilege.”
Kathleen Newman-Bremang, deputy director of Unbothered, stated Smith, who was born in Bloemfontein, South Africa, to a Mosotho mom and a German father, “isn’t my ministry — I’m the lady who burns toast, spends most days working from mattress in my bonnet.” She added, “Nara’s particular model of stay-at-home-mom who makes bread (and the basket to serve it in) from scratch is just not for me.” Even Smith’s spiritual affiliation with Mormonism was questioned, even after she said she’s not a “hardcore Mormon.”
However the tide simply could be delivering her favor.
Most lately, the 23-year-old swapped her signature black bob and swoop bang for cornrows whereas exchanging pleasantries with A$AP Rocky at Paris Trend Week — with out her husband, style mannequin Fortunate Blue Smith. The German style mannequin was seen chatting with the “Reward the Lord” rapper on the Miu Miu AW25 present — a far cry from her luxurious kitchen and the myriad components for her selfmade creations.
“Not them having a braid offff,” one commenter wrote, whereas one other penned: “The duo we by no means anticipated.” A 3rd TikToker speculated that “final time they have been speaking about altering diapers I’m wondering what this time they have been speaking about,” whereas a fourth expressed pleasure for this seemingly surprising “crossover.” Others complimented her hair and magnificence.
Now, skeptics might need to lastly admit that Nara Aziza Smith is aware of what she’s doing. Some have known as Smith’s content material “out of contact,” and stated that it offers “impressionable younger moms an unrealistic view of motherhood.” In the meantime, Smith is chatting with Vogue about her 34-step magnificence routine. The elite style publication spoke to Smith about her 34-step magnificence routine, together with her recipe for an all-natural lip product that featured solely 4 components: coconut oil, honey, peppermint important oil and brown sugar.
Rewind to September, and Smith, alongside her husband, attended Ralph Lauren’s spring 2025 runway present within the Hamptons.
Even earlier than that, Smith, who boasts over 634.5 million likes on TikTok, was featured in Harper’s Bazaar in August — an aspiring influencer’s dream.
“I by no means know what to say when individuals ask me [what I do], as a result of technically, sure, I create content material,” she instructed the outlet. “However then I’m simply residing my life and sharing that with individuals, which lots of people do.”
The TikTok sensation turned mega mother influencer’s rise to superstardom hasn’t been with out its hiccups. She was accused of stealing content material from Onezwa Mbola, a lesser recognized creator from South Africa, who shared her personal life-style and “constructed from scratch” content material. Followers started to note uncanny similarities to their movies, together with one occasion of Mbola making boba fully from scratch – all the way down to the goat’s milk which she sourced from her personal livestock. Solely two days later, Smith posted her personal video additionally making boba from scratch. We’ll depart that as much as you to determine if the ordeal was greater than a mere coincidence.
Regardless of the hateration on this dancery, Smith’s affect is sort of plain and considerations about her verity could be put to relaxation.
“There was this lady who had lately had a liver transplant and instructed me the one factor that helped her get via it was watching my movies. Some individuals are like, ‘I actually simply put your movies on to go to sleep to’ or ‘I do know what to make my children now,’ ” she instructed Harper’s Bazaar.
In the end, Smith, who was additionally featured in GQ in August, declares how she posts “movies of me cooking for my children and my husband.” And for these nonetheless bothered, she stated: “It’s actually not that deep.”