If you’re in Milwaukee and you’ve been on Instagram Reels the last few weeks, you may have seen a viral video going around from local jewelry store Link & Spark.
“If you are the woman who went to lunch to Huế Vietnamese restaurant in Bay View, Milwaukee with some f*** boy wearing two different colored socks, and he had the audacity to dump you in public, reach out to me because we are turning this day around,” Jessie Riesterer, founder of Link & Spark says in the video, posted on Feb. 17.
Riesterer then says that she plans to treat the woman to jewelry from Link & Spark if she reaches out.
It’s time to pick your Milwaukee favorites for the year!
“When I posted it, I had 400 followers, and most of them are people that I know personally or like, neighbors or friends,” Riesterer told Milwaukee Magazine. “So I thought it would [just] be people in my neighborhood that were gonna see it.”
But the video quickly went viral, amassing over 226,000 views.
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And 640 comments later, dozens of Milwaukee- and Wisconsin-owned businesses rallied in the comments to offer their services to this mystery woman.
“I’ll throw in a free booty portrait for this person!” @radIllustrates.
“Well f*** does she need some cute home decor too?” @wicker_bitch.
“If you find her send me deets for a fresh haircut.” @shanneyylee
“We’ll sponsor a dog or cat adoption! Who needs a boyfriend when you have a loyal cuddle buddy waiting at home for ya?” @ontaileatatime
“Hooking this babe up with some sweets… where’s she at??” @chef.carly
“And when she’s ready I got a mini photoshoot for her!” @gm.creativephoto
“I’ll do her makeup for the photoshoot offered above!!” @rsvp_glam
“When you find her, hit me up so I can send her some cookies with positive affirmations!!” @alliescraveablecookies
“Sharing this! I’m in Milwaukee! If we find her I’ll treat her to a yoga class.” @boabiyoga
Other comments shared how nice it is to see women supporting women.
“This comment section is the girls bathroom at the bar.” @blondiesioux
“This comment section is girlhood at its finest. I’m so glad I came across this video” @samantharolmsted
“This got me feelin’ some type of way, we gotta find our girl!” @roxiebeane
“Can I live in this comment section please?” @honky_chonky_baby
“My heart is exploding because of this comment section!” @deardarlington
After the initial video, Link & Spark shared another video on Feb. 22, with Riesterer noting that the woman had not come forward.
“[I want to] redirect this amazing energy of women supporting women to a place that is not an echochamber,” the caption reads.
In the post, she tagged all the small businesses who offered their services and asked people to nominate other women who need a pick me up. “Business owners, please connect with nominees whose stories resonate with you,” she writes.
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“Everybody had so much to give that I thought it would be nice if we could spread it around,” Riesterer says.
Milwaukeeans flooded the comments again, women nominating women who just need a little extra joy, and businesses connecting with the women whose stories resonated with them.
As of early March, Riesterer still had not found the woman whose breakup sparked the viral moment – but whether she’s seen the video or not, she’s united a community of women in the comments.
“It’s been really positive. It felt good to see everyone kind of pile on,” Riesterer says. “It’s been exciting to see it grow because my initial offer was very, very small. And seeing everybody else also offer something relatively small, and seeing it snowball, it just was really exciting.”
