Sonoma’s 2nd annual social media powerhouse list

For guys and girls, the young and... less young, Instagram continues to be a pervasive and popular photo-centric social media platform. In 2019, about a third of all adults in the U.S. reported using an Instagram account.

The Index-Tribune’s inaugural list of the most prominent social media stars in Sonoma last year uncovered dozens of semi-professional influencers who grew up in, or currently live right here in Sonoma.

The 2020 list of Sonoma’s most popular personal Instagram users includes a tortoise, a chef, a personal trainer, a rapper and everything in between. About half attended Sonoma Valley High, a few moved to town more recently, but they all claim a legitimate Sonoma bond.

These dozen locals have gained an impressive number of followers reaching far beyond the Bay Area, considering that fewer than 5 percent of all Instagram accounts have 10,000 to 50,000 followers.

There's no official way to tally a region's top Instagram accounts, but we've done our best. If we missed anyone, email managingeditor@sonomanews.com or, better yet, send a direct message on Instagram @indextribune (2,989 followers, up almost 30 percent since last year).

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Anna Katharina @akatharinav

1.3 million followers

Holding onto the No. 1 spot easily in 2020 is swimsuit model Anna Von Staehle, 28. Von Staehle grew up in Sonoma, and attended Prestwood Elementary and Adele Harrison Middle School before graduating from Justin-Siena High School in 2010. She now lives in L.A. and posts bikini photos and fitness and nutrition tips.

Von Staehle said that if Instagram was not one of her main forms of income, she actually would have spent less time on the platform in 2020. “I feel incredibly lucky to be able to pay my bills in a time where most have lost their jobs and are scared to leave their homes,” she said. “But while I feel thankful every single day for the opportunity, it is vital to keep perspective and know the difference between real life and the false narrative created on social media. [But] while social media can be isolating, it has offered a community of support as well.”

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Scott Mathison @scott_mathison

377,000 followers

Athlete and fitness celebrity Scott Mathison attended SVHS from 1998 to 2002. He told the Index-Tribune that in 2020, the biggest difference for him with work now, is doing everything from home. “A lot of my workouts and online training have become more focused on training at home with minimal equipment,” he said. “For me, personally, I love staying active and getting outdoors, so I’ve had to adjust as far as where I’m going and what I’m doing with respect to the pandemic.”

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Thomas Delauer @thomasdelauer

261,000 followers

Sonoma Valley High graduate Thomas Delauer launched a career in health and fitness after graduating from Sonoma State. Today, he runs a digital publishing company specializing in health and wellness. He has 2.5 million You Tube subscribers and is also the author of the “New Mediterranean Diet.”

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Lili Arnold @liliarnoldstudios

222,000 followers

The artist, printmaker and designer grew up in Sonoma and posted recently that whenever she returns home, she volunteers at Sonoma Ecology Center’s Garden Park on Seventh Street East. “I love spending time in the beautiful community space.” She is currently based in Santa Cruz.

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Katy Marioni @katymarioni

135,000

U.C. Santa Barbara senior Katy Marioni is a fourth generation Sonoman and her Uncle Hank owns the Swiss Hotel. She graduated from SVHS in 2016. She has amassed a huge following at a young age. She primarily posts photos of herself in bikinis and lingerie in charming settings.

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Hilary Fitzgerald Campbell @cartoonsbyhilary

72,000 followers

Sonoma Valley High School graduate Hilary Fitzgerald Campbell (’09) is a cartoonist, writer and director, whose work has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times and more. Her first book, “Breaking Up Is Hard To Do, But You Could've Done Better” was published by Animal Media Group in 2016.

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Ethel the tortoise @etheltheglamourtort

63,200 followers

Rising fast in the Instagram world is Ethel the Glamour Tort who doubled her followers over the past 12 months. Ethel, a sulcate tortoise, can be found walking around the Plaza with her friends Kasey Kucinski and Daniel Rodriguez. Kasey spreads the love around Sonoma, posting pictures of Ethel at pet-friendly businesses and locations around town.

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Brian Posehn @brianposehn

59,600 followers

Comedian and writer Brian Posehn got a lot of buzz in in the past year and his Instagram account almost tripled since 2019. Posehn grew up in Sonoma and graduated from SVHS in 1985. In addition to stand-up, he has appeared on “Seinfeld,” “NewsRadio,” “Everybody Loves Raymond” and “Friends”; as well as films like “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer” and “Surf's Up.” He has a new book out, “Forever Nerdy.”

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Jenna Pardini @jennapardini

57,400 followers

Pardini grew up in Sonoma and now lives in San Francisco. She attended Prestwood and St. Francis elementary schools and graduated from SVHS in 2005. She posts about styles, beauty, fitness and life in general. When reached in October, Pardini said her goal during the pandemic has been “to focus on the positive. I have loved spending this time with my family in Sonoma, growing personal relationships and focusing on my own health and wellness more so than ever before.”

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Ethan Cohen @emoneydoesit

57,100 followers

Ethan Cohen is eMoney - a SVHS graduate (class of ’09) and a hip hop artist. He has also appeared on a few TV shows, including MTV's "Are You The One?" He currently lives in Hollywood, where he also works as casting associate producer for Casting Duo - tasked with finding interesting candidates for reality TV shows. “I find people on Instagram, and send out, like, 50 DM’s a day, if not more,” Cohen told the Index-Tribune in May. “I get them on the phone and decide, ‘Does this person have good energy? Would they be fun to watch on TV?’

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Molly McAdam @mollsmcadam

56,400 followers

Fashion and lifestyle blogger Molly McAdam splits her time between Los Angeles and Glen Ellen. She said she’s honored to be one of Sonoma's social media influencers and that while the effects of the pandemic have been largely negative, one bright side has been a greater increase in social media interaction. “Personally, I’ve noticed an increase in my engagement, follower count, and sales since lockdown began,” she said. “I’ve chosen to use this time to connect more with my community, as well as focus on honing my aesthetic to best represent my brand. I expect to carry these strengthened relationships and new-found inspirations with me while life begins to segue back to normal.”

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Chef Casey Thompson @chefcaseyt

50,000 followers

A relative newcomer to town, chef Casey Thompson moved to Sonoma to open a series of restaurant ventures for Sonoma’s Best Hospitality Group including Georgette, Folktable and more. Her posts center around what she is cooking and her food posts have garnered her an impressive following. “It was a very difficult year to find the right things to post about,” Thompson told the Index-Tribune. “Nothing seemed appropriate. Food or funny. Even those can be a struggle.”

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Nikita Ducarroz @nikita.ducarroz

48,800 followers

This 24-year-old BMX athlete from Glen Ellen trains with the Swiss national team and had planned on competing in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Ducarroz got started on Instagram as a way to share her journey as an athlete and she has also garnered some impressive sponsorship deals (Mongoose Bikes and more).

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Corrine Monique @corrin_monique

34,500 followers

Blogger Corrine Monique almost tripled her followers over the past year posting about fashion, beauty, family and travel from her home base in Sonoma. In her most recent post from this week, she praised a necklace from Sonoma jewelry designer Megan Bo. Her next adventure will center on a move to Boise, Idaho with her husband and young children.

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Ben Flajnik @benflajnik

33,100 followers

Bachelor Ben gathered quite a social media following during and after being a runner-up on the seventh season of ABC-TV's reality show, “The Bachelorette” and then starring on “The Bachelor” in 2012. He told the Index-Tribune that life has been quite different recently due to COVID. He left San Francisco in July. “In fact, I'm planning on moving back home full time very soon. There's no place like Sonoma.” As far as work goes, he is still selling his wine brand, Ion, and has a few other projects in the pipeline. “Life's good, I’m very happy at the moment.”

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Max Scoville @maxscoville

24,900 followers

Max Scoville grew up in Sonoma (SVHS ’05) and currently lives in San Francisco where he's a video host and producer for the IGN video game news and entertainment website. He’s obsessed with action figures and his adorable dog, both of which feature largely in his posts. “Normally, the busiest parts of my year are crowded germ-filled events like San Diego Comic-Com, video game shows like E3 and GamesCom, and red carpets for movie premieres,” he told the Index-Tribune. “But we quickly pivoted to produce our normal deluge of video coverage remotely and I built a studio in my former guest room.”

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Bradley Van Patten @bradleysuicide

18,700 followers

This SVHS graduate, class of '01, is a lifestyle guru focused on tattoos, cannabis, whiskey and baking. She said 2020 has been an unusual year for her. “The positive that came out of this year was forcing me to get out of my normal activities and allowing me to spend more time in the wilderness hiking and camping,” she said. “I was able to spend more time in Sonoma and I’m looking forward hopefully to a new year filled with friends, wine and family back in the town we call home.”

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Rush Kemp @rushalan

16,400 followers

Last year, Rush Kemp could be found most days at Sonoma Fit where he worked as a personal trainer/coach. He is also an ambassador for Dry Farms Wines, an organic winery in Napa. His PG-13 (sometimes R-rated) posts focus primarily on fitness and inspiration.

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Matthew Martinez @thematthewmartinez

14,000 followers

New to the list this year is real estate broker Matthew Martinez. Martinez lives in Sonoma and works for Diamond Real Estate Group and specializes in Sonoma, Napa and Marin counties. He told the Index-Tribune that the pandemic has forced him to adjust the way he shows homes, meets with clients, prospects for new business and uses technology. “With more people staying at home and spending more time on social media, I used Instagram to attract new clients, keep in touch with current ones and maintain my reputation as a trusted real estate resource,” he said.

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Email Lorna at lornasheridan@sonomanews.com or follow her on Instagram @lornasheridan, where she has a measly 339 followers, up 250 from 2019.