When thinking of what’s popular on social media, images of bodybuilders throwing around 400 pounds in the gym or influencers dancing to a new popular song probably come to mind first. Anthony Polcari, ‘21, or as he is known on social media, TonyPinDC, is destroying these assumptions.
The University of Richmond alum’s day in the life videos, often boasting over one million views, have cultivated a loyal following for Polcari. The former class co-president’s rapid rise has taken him from the Democratic National Convention to a weekly segment on Fox News and even the White House.
Back in 2017, Polcari’s life as a social media sensation seemed far away.
“I walked in [to UR] scared,” he said. “I walked in here without a true voice. I wanted everyone to like me.”
Starting as a class senator for the Richmond College Student Government Association, Polcari worked his way up to class president–the same year as the coronavirus pandemic, coupled with a period of heightened social unrest and the presidential election.
Despite these challenges, Polcari worked hard to create lasting changes on campus, including increasing funding for student organizations and changing the grading system to pass/fail for the year.
Polcari capped off his presidential tenure with the fight over the building names on campus. The argument over changing the names of Ryland and Freeman Halls, which were named after a slave owner and eugenicist, respectively, drew national attention to UR. Polcari said he was willing to essentially shut down the RCSGA over it and, without the assurance that the Westhampton College counterpart would follow, the gamble came with monumental risk.
“Like Nancy Pelosi always says, ‘don't go to the floor without the votes.’ I went to the floor without the votes,” he said.
This risk ended up paying off and led to the changing of six building names around campus. Polcari was quick to hand credit to others, namely the Black Student Coalition, who he says were the primary reason his proposal was passed.
The same willingness to take chances helped him get his start online. His journey to over 300,000 followers across social media was, like his content, far from normal.
Originally, TonyPinDC was just a hobby for Polcari. He had previously dabbled in sports broadcasting during high school and college and just wanted an outlet that put him in front of a camera again. He began with videos focusing on his sense of fashion and detailing his life and experiences in Washington, D.C., with a key difference from his content to try and set him apart from the rest of those already filling a similar niche online.
“I'm not kind of like a bro,” he said. “I'm not really like a guy who drinks a lot. So you can kind of show people, like, a unique weekend for people who don't drink. I like to kind of do different things, so I just started doing a bunch of different things in D.C. and posting about it, and doing these recaps […] Just kind of the mundaneness of life.”
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Polcari’s first hit was a recap of a week in his life, one of his most popular segments to date. It took a few more videos before he jumped from 2,000 followers to 66,000 within a month. Outlets from the Washington Post to Barstool Sport were talking about the perplexing ‘Tony P.’
Richmond College Dean Joe Boehman said that the Polcari his audience knows is the same as who he met through the RCSGA.
“He was very much, what you see on your video was how he introduced himself to me; just very gregarious and very open and very friendly,” Boehman said,
Polcari uses a term he has coined, “vibrant masculinity,” which has become popular around social media, but is often misunderstood. He likens it to being a five-tool baseball player, or someone that has speed, can run, can field, hits for contact, and hits for power.
“It's about having range and having five tools,” he said. “For example, it is about, I think, embracing an effect, that is any and a way of engaging people, that is warm, that is joyous, that is expressive, that that embraces your emotions in a healthy way.”
With many voices online spreading conflicting and often dangerous opinions about masculinity, Boehman sees Polcari’s content as a necessary alternative.
“I think that right now, in the online presence, particularly for young men, there's a lot of, advice or ‘role models’, so to speak, that are not necessarily promoting a positive expression of masculinity,” he said. “Having an alternative, and somebody that is comfortable in their own skin, and somebody that is very positive, and somebody that can show guys that there's another way.”
Polcari believes there is space for all of this within vibrant masculinity.
“You can be a protector. And you can love the gym, be ripped, be macho and all these things, but you can also have a heart of gold,” he said. “You can also have a soft heart that is warm and cares about people. You can do it all.”
Contact writer Jeremy Young at jeremy.young@richmond.edu
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