One of the most difficult transitions in college is the change from snacks and meals at home to eating on-campus and in dining halls — a reality that Jess Lee, 21, struggled with when she began studying Advertising & Marketing at The University of North Carolina Chapel Hill in 2021. Overwhelmed by all the options, meal swipe plans, and “diet-culture-y warnings about The Freshman 15,” Lee turned to TikTok to figure out how other students were hacking the cafeterias at UNC. The only issue? No such content existed.
Lee, a North Carolina native and senior at UNC’s Hussman School of Media & Journalism, saw this as an opportunity to make the TikTok content that she, and countless other freshmen, were craving. This realization sparked the rebrand of @jessicajunelee, where Lee shares her trips to UNC’s dining halls, balanced WIEIAD videos, and favorite eats at on-campus cafes — all with a fun and relatable approach.
“When I came to UNC, I was trying to look it up on TikTok, wondering if there are any influencers at UNC who posted what they eat in a day, or from the UNC dining hall,” she says. “I had no idea what I was getting myself into, and I didn’t really see anything there, so I thought, ‘Wow, well, like, maybe I should try and do it.’” Lee had a personal TikTok that she decided to rebrand with a focus on what she was eating every day, so she started posting and taking videos of her snacks and meals.
Given her busy academic schedule, Lee doesn’t have set days for filming or creating content. Instead, she films when she’s up for it, or if she has a fun plan to cook or try a new spot on campus. On the days when Lee does make content, it’s pretty simple: quick flicks of her food throughout the day.
“I’ll just make a quick breakfast if I have time, and I can make it look cute, and I’ll take a picture of that.” Lee says. “It’s very dependent on my schedule, since I’m so busy.” Then, throughout the day, she’ll snap a picture of each of her meals and every snack. At night, she compiles her photos into a TikTok slideshow, adding text, music, and captions. Typically, she plans her posts a day or two in advance, but “wouldn’t say that [she] posts consistently.”
“I like to show other students that it’s okay to be balanced,” Lee says. “It’s okay to have a cheap meal or go get the ice cream at 9:00 p.m. I try to be balanced with everything.”
Lee credits a lot of this mindset to her dad, who’s her biggest foodie inspiration. He’s a Korean immigrant who grew up in New York and worked at a deli. According to Lee, he has the best recipes and makes the best chicken she’s ever had. “We also used to bond after school,” Lee says. “He would take me to get a slice of pizza after school, or doughnuts, which also helped my relationship toward balance with food.”
Outside of her personal food page, Lee is also a member of UNC Carolina Dining Services Student Dining Board, which is a group of students who meet to discuss budget, menu items, and all things related to the dining halls. As a student member, Lee receives dining dollars to be a secret shopper on campus, which allows her to try a bunch of different spots on UNC’s campus. Her favorite? The Mad Hatter’s Cafe at the Brinkhous-Bullitt building on campus.
After trying Mad Hatter’s, Lee posted a TikTok of her experience. “A lot of the comments were like, ‘I had no idea this was on campus,’ so that made me happy, because the dining board allowed me to have the opportunity to even go and hear about that in the first place,” Lee says. “The Egg Florentine Crepe there is, like, the most perfect thing I’ve ever tasted.”
The Egg Florentine Crepe, paired with an iced vanilla latte, would be Lee’s go-to breakfast if she could only eat on-campus at UNC for a day. For lunch, she would stop in one of UNC’s two on-campus dining halls for Peruvian Chicken with corn and crispy fries (“they’re SO crispy”), plus yellow and green sauce from Alpaca, a local restaurant that operates a food stall in Lenoir Hall. Or, if she’s not feeling Peruvian, Lee’s go-to is a chicken gyro with sweet potato with cucumber feta salad from Mediterranean Deli, another Chapel Hill restaurant that operates a food stall in Lenoir. For dinner, she would venture to Chase (the other dining hall on campus) where she usually opts for fried chicken with smashed red potatoes and a Caesar salad, plus a strawberry banana smoothie. And, for dessert (“obviously”), Lee will have vanilla soft serve with diced mango.
Ultimately, for Lee, it’s important for people to not feel bad about themselves and their eating habits. “Everyone eats differently,” she says with a shrug. It’s the reason she started her TikTok page in the first place, sharing her balanced and unbalanced eating habits as a college student. “I’m happy that, at least from some of my comments, that people can find me relatable and find comfort in that,” Lee says. “That makes me feel proud.”
You can follow along with Jess’ UNC eats on TikTok at @jessicajunelee.