
LEON’S BAGELS
Leon’s as a Lifestyle Brand
What started as a neighborhood bagel shop quickly became a cultural touchpoint. Through creative direction, content production, and collaborations with brands like HBO, Glow Recipe, and Djerf Avenue, we positioned Leon’s as more than food; it’s merch, it’s aesthetic, it’s NYC culture. Now it’s the bagel shop all over TikTok, a must-visit for both tourists and locals.
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I led the creative vision across shoots and socials, developing shot lists, styling, and execution. Every asset merged NYC energy with clean, scroll-stopping visuals, positioning Leon’s as a lifestyle brand.
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I led full-scale shoots spanning editorial photography, merch moments, and quick-cut video. Every asset was designed to feel iconic and to fuel Leon’s growing presence online.
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I built Leon’s TikTok presence from the ground up; defining its voice, visual style, and narrative direction. Every video was produced in-house, from ideation to editing, designed to merge New York attitude with bagel culture in ways that felt fresh, funny, and shareable.
Alongside day-to-day content, I led collaborations with brands like Glow Recipe, Djerf Avenue, Still Here, and HBO, creating cross-industry moments that pushed Leon’s beyond food and into fashion and beauty culture. These collabs were crafted to feel native to TikTok, quick, clever, and community-driven, which amplified reach and relevance far beyond a single niche.
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I scaled Leon’s following from 2K → nearly 12K in under a year by producing a portfolio of TikToks that consistently broke through.
Collectively, the account earned 356K+ likes, thousands of comments, and steady month-over-month growth.
1.9M views, 129K+ likes, 5.9K shares, 400+ comments: a single video turned a bagel stuck to denim into a cultural talking point.
267K views, 58K+ likes, 3K+ shares: the “Sandy Cohen schmear” post blended pop culture with brand voice and sparked conversation.
303K views, 214K views, 125K views: multiple quick-cut, concept-driven videos drove hundreds of thousands of impressions each.
Engagement trend: nearly every post earned 100+ comments and thousands of likes, creating active dialogue between Leon’s and its community.
By producing and editing all of these videos myself, I turned Leon’s into not just another bagel shop, but a brand woven into New York culture, the bagel shop showing up on everyone’s FYP and every tourist’s must-visit list.