Brittany Simmons
TikTok creator and urban planning analyst, Karp Strategies
“Who decides where the bus stops go?” Brittany Simmons asks in one of her pinned TikToks, which sits atop her profile. The answer, Simmons tells viewers, is urban planners. She loves her field, she says, because it’s all about making cities better and easier for people to live and work in. But despite this passion, Simmons wasn’t always on the path to urban planning. Now she displays her creativity on TikTok to engage with followers who may be curious about the field.
DOSSIER
AGE 26
RESIDES Upper West Side
FUN FACTS Simmons has more than 50,000 followers on TikTok. Overall her content has amassed more than 2 million likes.
ADVICE “You can’t be afraid of trying new things or being bold,” she says.
What is a typical day like for you?
I work in an urban planning consulting firm, working on projects that deal with things like offshore wind, economic and community development, and business improvement districts. But I also identify myself as a creative person. So when I'm not at work, I make informative videos on TikTok about urban planning and design to raise awareness of the field, but also to connect the dots of physical design and its wide-reaching impacts on people and communities they belong to.
What led you to urban planning—and TikTok?
In college I was pre-law until I discovered urban planning, and I basically dropped everything for urban planning. After finishing undergrad, I went straight to grad school for my master’s in urban and regional planning because I wanted to learn more and understand what it means to plan for and engage with communities for the greater good. So that's what landed me here professionally. But in terms of social media, I never intended to post about my job on TikTok. But I decided to once, and I haven't stopped since just because people really took an interest [in] it.
What are some resources that you were able to take advantage of as you got into your field?
When I was starting out in grad school, I just wanted to learn more about the day-to-day of being a planner, so I turned to podcasts. At the time, there was one podcast that I really enjoyed. It was called “The Urban Planner’s Podcast,” where the host spoke to her experiences in the field and also interviewed other practitioners. And at the time, she was one of the few resources I found in the media that spoke to that. I [also] reached out to people on LinkedIn—other women, particularly Black women and other women of color—who work in the field to learn more about their lived experiences so I could kind of get a sense of what I could expect.
How are you paying it forward or giving back?
It’s very closely linked to TikTok. A lot of people will see my TikTok, and then they'll reach out either on TikTok itself or on Instagram or via email, asking me more tailored questions about their specific experiences. Aside from those connections, I have done podcasts, where it's putting me in front of different audiences who have similar questions and interests. It's mostly routed through social media. People will find me, and then they'll reach out, and I'll just answer whatever questions they have.