Rockstar Diaries/Love Taza Decamps from NY to AZ

[SolomonFundy]

I feel like I start every thread with a disclaimer that it's probably in the wrong place (and it inevitably is), but I was unable to find any recent threads on Naomi Davis. Please move this to the appropriate spot if I've messed up, Mods!

Background for anyone unfamiliar with her: Naomi ("Taza") of "Rockstar Diaries"  is one of a crop of Mormon mommy bloggers that rocketed to fame about a decade ago after the publication of a Salon article. In the intervening years, she's managed to turn her Zooey Deschanel bangs and dorm-room decor into an instagram influencer wet dream of a business. Her husband quit working a lucrative bank job in order to play blog with her, and the two have 5 children (the eldest and twin youngest are girls, and the two middle kids are boys). Naomi is basically a walking sponsorship deal, with her kids carrying most of the weight. Her posts run the gamut from bland product-placements, to full-scale paid family "vacations" that usually involve overlapping sponsorships with clothing brands and stroller makers in addition to advertising resorts, luggage, and AirBnB. She is originally from Utah, but moved to New York in her teens to attend Julliard to practice ballet. She and her husband, Josh, have lived mainly in NY during their married lives, but briefly lived in Washington DC as well. She's been very vocal about how proud she is to be a New Yorker.

About 6 weeks ago, as the pandemic restrictions were ramping up in New York City during the initial wave of the COVID-19 outbreak, Naomi, Josh, and all 5 kids fled their apartment in the middle of the night in an RV, and then drove across the country to Arizona. This was done for "mental health reasons" for Naomi and Josh after about a week of self-quarantine in their NYC apartment with all 5 kids. Naomi has received a lot of backlash for this decision, namely the risk and exposure to illness that she and Josh perpetrated upon every person they encountered during their week-long promenade cross country, and the fact that many states were actively blocking evacuees from New York due to the pandemic. They elected not to blog/post/talk much about this. After settling in Arizona, Naomi posted yesterday that the family intends to remain in the state indefinitely. Josh has found a job, and they are just going to remain where they are or the foreseeable future. 

I've followed Naomi off and on for years, and have been legitimately surprised by her decision to post about leaving New York (the instagram post with the RV is still up, and garnered thousands of critical comments), and furthermore, to announce that they don't plan to return anytime soon. 

Edited June 14, 2020 by Coconut Flan

[ophelia]

I haven't followed her in a long time and I'm surprised to see that they fled New York AND posted about it. She always seemed to be way more social media savvy.

[Maggie Mae]

That's crazy! Somehow I missed that she was Mormon, and I never thought she'd leave New York. 

[ophelia]

I wonder wether they are actually other reasons for them to leave NYC and corona was simply the perfect excuse.

[hoipolloi]

Never followed her social media but learned about her after the uproar over the family's sudden departure from NYC.

Talk about getting out of Dodge -- what selfish assholes she & her husband are. The current inter-state travel limitations are there for a very good reason but I guess they don't apply to influencers.

The comments on her latest IG update post from AZ alternate between getting called out by critics and her fangirlz slapping the critics' hands as fast as they can. 

[AnnaSofia]

 

5 hours ago, ophelia said:

I haven't followed her in a long time and I'm surprised to see that they fled New York AND posted about it. She always seemed to be way more social media savvy.

I've only been loosely following this (I'm not into Mommy Blogs and only look at her stuff once in a blue moon), but one of the theories (from Reddit, I think) was that someone busted her, and she more or less had to post about it in order to avoid the bigger scandal of being "caught".

When she first posted that overhead photo (presumably taken from an apartment window) of the family getting into a rented RV parked in front of their NYC building, she credited a neighbor for taking the pic and letting her use it. The theory was that the neighbor passive aggressively offered her the pic, and she posted it knowing that if *she* didn't, it would get out there anyway.

If not, I suspect she probably would have just tried to stay vague about it the exact date they left the city, though she was posting some pretty timeline-specific content a few days before, so it would have been tricky to try and claim they left prior to when the stay-at-home order was announced.

2 hours ago, ophelia said:

I wonder wether they are actually other reasons for them to leave NYC and corona was simply the perfect excuse.

Could be. There's been a lot of theorizing over the years that as their family got bigger/kids got older, they would get tired of city living and bail for a McMansion in Arizona (where his family lives) or Utah, where hers are. I'm not sure I agree, though. Being in NYC is such a huge part of their brand. I can totally see them bailing as soon as it got uncomfortable, but I think they'll go back.

[NachosFlandersStyle]

15 hours ago, ophelia said:

I wonder wether they are actually other reasons for them to leave NYC and corona was simply the perfect excuse.

If they had other reasons they surely would have stated them-- traveling for a move or a new job is fine under CDC guidelines, while advertising that you're just taking a trip because you feel like it is a good way to earn public condemnation, as she's learning.

[Jasmar]

Was there a Mormon mommy blogger in NYC awhile back whose marriage fell apart when they moved to NYC, and she was kind of starting fresh as a single parent? I can’t remember where I saw this (an article somewhere, maybe?), and it’s driving me crazy. 
 

Does this ring a bell for anyone?

[Maggie Mae]

1 hour ago, Jasmar said:

Was there a Mormon mommy blogger in NYC awhile back whose marriage fell apart when they moved to NYC, and she was kind of starting fresh as a single parent? I can’t remember where I saw this (an article somewhere, maybe?), and it’s driving me crazy. 
 

Does this ring a bell for anyone?

It wasn't NYC, but are you thinking of Jenna/That Wife/Living Selfishly absolutely? 

[AnnaSofia]

Maybe Natalie Holbrook/Natalie Lovin?

Though her marriage actually imploded shortly after she left NYC.

https://www.elle.com/life-love/a29438763/natalie-lovin-mommy-blog-influencer/

[Jasmar]

Yes, Natalie, that’s the one! It was such a compelling read. Thanks!

ETA: Part of what drew me in was that she moved to Portland, where I’ve lived all my life.

Edited May 8, 2020 by Jasmar

[ophelia]

7 hours ago, NachosFlandersStyle said:

If they had other reasons they surely would have stated them-- traveling for a move or a new job is fine under CDC guidelines, while advertising that you're just taking a trip because you feel like it is a good way to earn public condemnation, as she's learning.

Well maybe her husband lost his good paying job or her income as an influencer just wasn't enough anymore to support their lifestyle and she wasn't willing to state that publicly and then came corona and she took the chance and left NYC without admitting it was getting too pricy for them.

[SolomonFundy]

I tend to think that the move to Arizona wasn't remotely as much of a snap decision as they claim.  I think they made plans to get out of the city when projections about the illness hit, and probably just stayed as long as they did in order to fulfill sponsorship obligations, or for specific meetings. They may not have realized how fast things would move once the virus was actively spreading in NY, but I sincerely doubt that they managed to pull enough strings to:

a., get an RV rental on short notice

b., make arrangements to secure their apartment

c., pack an RV for a cross-country trip with 7 people on board, two of which are still in diapers, with enough clothing, toys, medicine, and supplies to keep the whole family covered for an unknown/open ended period of time

... all within the midst of the chaos that was reigning during the 48 hours before they bailed. They had to have lined most of this up in the weeks before, and played up the frantic mental health escape angle in order to gloss over the incredibly irresponsible timing.

I think that they intend to return eventually, but I wouldn't be surprised if the Arizona move truly turned out to be permanent. The world they used to inhabit isn't waiting for them. Cushy corporate sponsorships are not going to be as prolific in the coming months/years, and many of their "partner" brands are already in financial difficulties due to the crisis.  I'm sure they have buckets of money from their various ventures (and Josh's family), and their kids will probably enjoy the change in scenery. Neither one seemed to ever enjoy full-time parenting, and being stuck in an apartment (even a 3-bedroom on the Upper West Side) with 5 small children during months of rolling curfews and stay-at-home orders would probably test stronger constitutions than theirs.

 

[AnnaSofia]

This was on the Blogsnark Reddit sub, but not specific to Taza. It really summed up the entitlement, not just of Taza and the fleeing NYC blogger set, but also James and Stacy, et al.

[just_ordinary]

Phew. I am very surprised that they chose Arizona. They didn’t seem very close with his side of the family. There was talk that they were pretty disappointed in him dropping his good paying banker job to be her left hand. They also never appeared on her SM (like her family in the beginning) so it was assumed they were not too fond of her career choice. It was all speculation as you can never know for sure from the outside. Watchers were also always irritated how they seem to finance their lifestyle and many assumed it wasn’t sustainable in terms of  reserves. There was talk about them finally hitting irrelevance for years (like at least 7). 
Him starting to work again seems to be a big sign that they have left NY and their old lifestyle for good. She seemed to be over it for years and with 5 children even their new apartment seemed crammed. I am pretty certain after a couple of years the pressure relying on SM as your income in NY with a big family was insane. She is probably relieved even though they couldn’t stay -which they probably wanted. People always talked how he could never get back into his old work environment after selling himself out like this. And honestly there were some pearls that I believe support that (never forget the bumpet, the trapez, the train conductor hat and other VERY questionable fashion choices.)

I really liked her blog in the first years but after kid number three (who just didn’t cut it in terms of the cruel Insta cuteness factor in the first years) they seemed mostly desperate and you couldn’t miss their sell out behaviour even if you wanted.