KJZZ is a service of Rio Salado College,
and Maricopa Community Colleges

Copyright © 2025 KJZZ/Rio Salado College/MCCCD
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

This influencer hates Arizona. But she's trying to find and film the good parts

Destiny Liley
Amber Victoria Singer/KJZZ
Destiny Liley

There are a lot of influencers on social media who show us all where to eat and what to do in the Valley of the Sun. But, Destiny Liley does it a little differently.

Liley hates Arizona. That’s why she says she started this social media project, to find the good, and she said it’s working — sort of.

Liley joined The Show to discuss, beginning with a central question: Why? What do you hate about Arizona?

Full conversation

DESTINY LILEY: Oh man, you know, it's like, where do you begin? I think for me, some of the things that I don't love about Arizona — I think it is getting better — but the lack of diversity and almost not even really the diversity, it's really the culture. Someone has described it to me as, “Arizona doesn't really have a soul.” And I was like, “OK.”

And I also heard someone describe Arizona as when you're on a road trip and you stop at a gas station and you keep going. Arizona is that gas-station state. It just doesn't feel like somewhere you, I don't know, it's just that's, and I can't put my finger quite on it. But yeah, just kind of that lack of culture, that lack of like, spark drive. I don't know, It's just kind of like, it's just so random here.

LAUREN GILGER: All things I've heard before. OK. You're not the only one to make these critiques of this place for sure, but you've decided with your social media to try to find some good in it, right? It's like a project. It started like, it sounds like, just post things you like about this place.

LILEY: Yes, so honestly, I've always been kind of dabbling in and out of social media, just with my background and my job and everything. And so one day I just hopped on, I think TikTok and I just, you know, was like, “I live in Arizona, and I hate it here,” and I just was like, “but let's find the good,” you know, I'm like, that's the key.

And it just took off and I, you know, I have other friends in the community that are content creators here and they're very positive about Arizona, and I love that for them, but I was like, “I wonder if there's anyone out here who feels like me. Am I crazy?” And the amount of just positive, like, “Me too, you know, I've lived here, I moved here and I hate it,” or “I'm from here and I hate it.” It was overwhelming. I didn't know so many people felt similarly.

GILGER: That's so funny, so many people hate it.

LILEY: Yeah, I was shocked because I mean, you know, it's kind of bold to put yourself out there and I'm sure we'll get into it, but I'm sure I trigger a lot of people and my content. The comments get crazy, but yeah, I was just shocked at how many people related.

GILGER: So people relate, which is, I don't think that's surprising, but also like they seem to want to find the good as well, with you.

LILEY: Yes, exactly. So, that was part of it for me. A lot of people will watch a video and the first thing they hear is, “I hate it.” They click the video off and they start typing and I'm like, “But you missed the good.”

GILGER: Wait, I'm getting there, right?

LILEY: “I'm getting there, I swear this isn't just a hate video.” But yeah, just finding the good, and I think I'm trying to normalize, you know, not being obsessed with where you live and being OK with saying, “Hey, you know, this is where I'm at, this is my circumstance, this is the situation I'm, how I ended up here, but we're gonna find the good here.” You know, it may not be my favorite dream city, dream state, but we're gonna make the best of it.

GILGER: Yeah, and you moved here from California, from LA, which you said was kind of your dream place to live.

LILEY: Yes, I moved here from LA a few years back, and LA was my dream. Ever since, you know, being born and raised in Seattle, rainy days, I think as a kid we used to take trips to Disneyland every year, and I remember my first time seeing a palm tree. I'll never forget I was maybe 6 or 7. I was on my dad's shoulders at the park and I saw a palm tree, and I remember being like, “I want to live in California.” And from that day on that palm tree got me, so yeah, California was the dream.

GILGER: Alright, well, at least we have a few palm trees here for you.

LILEY: We do.

GILGER: So, talk a little bit about growing this, because this is pretty fast and furious that these accounts have sort of skyrocketed for you, with this kind of approach.

LILEY: Yeah. So, probably a couple of months back, I just started, I think I did one video before the “hate Arizona” kind of thing started. I just did a video about kind of romanticizing your life, despite your circumstances, and that kind of sparked a little like, “OK.” And I was like, “OK, so maybe this is a thing.”

So then I was like, “let's just get honest and real.” I've always been raw, honest, real. I'm like, I'm gonna give you my feedback. I'm gonna give you how I feel. You can agree or not agree, but I was like, “I hate Arizona.” And it just kind of took off. And so, I just started kind of, it just became as simple as, you know, when I would meet friends for coffee or drinks or dinner, I would just pull my phone out and be like, “can I record your food? I'll just record the food, record the restaurant, maybe someone doesn't know about this.”

And then the comments started turning into, “Wow, I'm from here and I've never heard of this coffee shop” or, “I'm from here and I've never heard of this restaurant.” And I'm like, “Wow,” so. You'd be surprised the places that I would consider my regular spots are not for a lot of people.

GILGER: Yeah. So, let's talk about some of the things that you have found that you do like here. Are you sponsored by these places that are bringing you in that are, you know, that you're posting about?

LILEY: Sure, for the majority of the part, I pay out of pocket a lot of the stuff I'm doing, I'm spending the money. I'm buying the food. Now that things have taken off, I have partnered with restaurants where they will pay for the meal, but that's pretty much it. I'm not getting paid for any of the posts. It's really just like, here, have the food and I still record. But for the most part, it's when I'm out with family or friends and I'm paying for dinner, I'm going to record it.

GILGER: OK, so what stands out to you? What are some of your highlights?

LILEY: Oh, good question. I will say it's a running joke. When my parents moved here, I just, I told them I was like, “There's nothing to do here but eat and shop” ... “That's all that there is to do is just shopping strip malls and restaurants,” but I will say I've enjoyed this, I don't want to sound crazy. I'm like, “But there's some really good cocktails and some really good bars here.”

I've enjoyed, I've enjoyed the bar scene here, and I'm, I'm really enjoying some of the, annual, like, festivals, like the Oktoberfest and the pizza festival and the taco festival, kind of some of those quirky things that I'm like, feel like Arizona's trying to build some kind of culture around, so that's been kind of fun to see.

GILGER: Yeah, yeah, OK, I can see that. What do you make of the food scene here? Because a lot of what you post is about food.

LILEY: Yeah. I don't know what I make of the food scene. I think it's fine. I'm, truthfully, not a foodie, which is interesting because even though a lot of my content is food, love a good meal, but I'm not a foodie. I'm not a big food critic. I'm actually quite a picky eater, like I eat like I probably eat the same thing your 5-year-old would eat. But, you know, the food here's been pretty decent.

I do wish there were more other cultural options, you know, I'm from Seattle where there's a huge Asian presence with the food. I just, I miss that food every day. I would do anything for some good authentic chicken teriyaki, and maybe that's here and I haven't found it, but yeah, I'm just, I'm not seeing a ton of options of, like, really eclectic food.

GILGER: So I have to ask you this because I know it shows up in your comments a lot like you said, they get a little crazy, but, but why do you stay?

LILEY: And that's the biggest comment I get. “Well, why don't you just leave?” Honestly, my family's here and that's a big thing for me at this just phase of life. And honestly, I don't know where else to go. And we're being honest, I loved California.I don't know if that's the right place for me right now, but, Arizona right now, as unfortunate as it is, just feels like the right place for me right now. So, we're staying.

GILGER: Is it starting to change your mind, this project that you're doing on your social media?

LILEY: That's a good question, a little bit. It is a little bit. I am starting to see some of the pros of living in Arizona. There's still some things that I just can't get over that I'm like, “I hate this thing about Arizona,” but, it is starting to change kind of my perspective on being here.

GILGER: I want to ask you specifically about the black community, because you're a black woman, and I wonder this because there's not a large black population in the city, in the state really. Are you finding that? Is that part of what you're trying to do here?

LILEY: That is part of what I'm trying to do. I personally have not been finding it. I'm working on it, you know, I think it's a slow thing. What I am learning about the black community here, from my point of view, is I think a lot of people, a lot of black people are moving here, which I think is amazing, and I think I'm loving to see more diversity in Phoenix and in Arizona in general, but the state is still so vast, so everyone is so spread out and you know it's not like, I mean, in Arizona, you know, there's a lot of land and you can live 40 minutes away from this, to this, to this.

So it's, it's been tough to kind of find out where everyone's hanging out or kind of a meeting, a central meet up spot where we could do, you know, events and, there's a ton of, you know, black, young professional events and groups in Phoenix that put on game nights and, you know, mixers, and I think that's awesome, but it's still tough to kind of reach everybody, so that that's kind of my hope as well with the content, just getting eyes on different places and things to do.

KJZZ's The Show transcripts are created on deadline. This text is edited for length and clarity, and may not be in its final form. The authoritative record of KJZZ's programming is the audio record.

Lauren Gilger, host of KJZZ's The Show, is an award-winning journalist whose work has impacted communities large and small, exposing injustices and giving a voice to the voiceless and marginalized.
Related Content