A Simple Question Made This TikTok Influencer Famous

In the spring of 2020, Edward Zharnitsky, 28, picked up his phone and went out in his hometown of Great Neck, New York. He spotted someone in a nice car and asked, “What do you do for a living?” 

Zharnitsky, who is Jewish, Ukrainian and Russian, posted this video online, and it took off. So, he made more like it. 

Pretty soon, he started going up to people on the streets of Manhattan and asking them the same question: “What do you do for a living?” He’d make videos with common themes like, “What Do Foreigners Do For a Living?” and “What Do Old Guys Do For a Living?” The answers he received were funny, sweet, interesting and eye opening.

The content creator started amassing a huge following with these videos, which feature people from all walks of life, including Americans and immigrants, men and women, younger and older individuals and people with a variety of jobs in the arts, the law, finance, media and more.  

On TikTok, Zhar (his online handle) has 33.5 million likes and 669,000 followers, and on Instagram (@tedzhar), he has over 150,000 followers. By building his brand from this one simple phrase, he was able to quit his full-time job, secure sponsorships and work with the biggest celebrities in the world.

“I was just interested in what everyday people do for a living.”

“I was just interested in what everyday people do for a living,” Zhar, who lives in the East Village, said. “The videos took off, and I haven’t stopped since.”

Recent videos feature singers Ed Sheeran and Demi Lovato, actor Jared Leto, boxer Mike Tyson and the Instagram star Dude With a Sign. Sometimes Zhar sets up to shoot with the celebrities, and other times, he randomly runs into them on the street. For instance, when filming, he caught Adam Sandler on tape, who hit the camera out of his hand. 

“I’ll never forget that,” Zhar said. “It was the best and worst day of my life.”

Looking back at the times when people like Sandler have been more aggressive or others haven’t wanted to answer his questions, Zhar said it’s a learning opportunity.

“I think, ‘Where did I go wrong? How can I improve to get people to engage with me?” he said. “A lot of the time, people didn’t answer me because I was looking at my phone. Now I look people in the eye. If you don’t fail, you don’t learn.”

Zhar grew up in a home with Jewish parents who work as dentists. His mother, a Russian immigrant, was always extroverted and talking to people, and inspired Zhar to do the same.

“She is very gregarious,” he said. “I got my personality from my mom. I’ve always wanted to be an entertainer. So now I have an outlet for that.”

Zhar went to Hebrew school, had a bar mitzvah and has always celebrated the Jewish holidays. While he doesn’t consider himself religious, he is familiar with Orthodox culture. When he ran into young Chabadniks on the street asking men to wrap tefillin, he put the tefillin on and danced with them, singing the Moshiach song.

“I grew up in Great Neck, Long Island,” he said. “How could I not know the Moshiach song?”

That video received some antisemitic comments, including people who wrote “Free Palestine” and told Zhar they were unfollowing him.

“I can’t control what people think or say on social,” he said. “As a Jew, it was upsetting to see some of those comments. But people are going to say whatever they want to say.” 

Looking forward, Zhar is trying to build a podcast he recorded with his mom, Svetlana (a “natural born star,” he said). “Sometimes she records people for me and sends me the clips of her asking people in her Russian accent, ‘What do you do for a living?’” 

At first, Svetlana didn’t understand why Zhar was making these videos.

“She was like, ‘What are you doing?’” he said. “She saw it as a hobby. Now, when she sees me with this amazing career and life, she’s proud, especially when people in Great Neck stop her and ask her if she’s my mom.”

Zhar is also planning on starting a headhunting firm, which perfectly fits into his online personality.

“I want to have a recruitment business where people who don’t know what they want to do for a living can use me as a bridge to different career paths,” he said. “I hope to help people figure out their passion or scale their current business.”

As a child of immigrants, Zhar believes in working hard and never settling.

“I’m a workaholic,” he said. “If I’m not working, I’m thinking about working and new ideas and how to get ahead in life.”

He continued, “My parents always wanted the best for me. I’ve been hardwired to be successful.”