Bravo’s coming for your favorite nepo-baby’s crown with Making It in Manhattan, which follows a group of friends striving to make something of themselves in the Big Apple. The twist is that many of the show’s cast will be the adult children of Bravo’s Real Housewives franchise.
Currently filming in New York City, cameras were seen at Countess Luann De Lesseps’ cabaret show following RHOSLC’s Meredith Marks’ son, Brooks Marks, RHOA’s Kandi Burruss’s daughter, Riley Burruss, and company. Also sighted filming was RHOA’s Kim Zolciak Biermann’s daughter, Ariana Bierman and RHOFNJ’s Teresa Giudice’s daughter, Gia Giudice.
Rumored cast members include Kimora Lee and Russell Simmons’ daughter, Ming Lee Simmons; Rachel Roy and Damon Dash’s daughter, Ava Dash; New York City socialites Julia Moshy and Andrew Warren; and influencers Emira D’Spain and Dylan Geick.
Some of these names may seem familiar to you if you’re an active reality TV viewer, and others may seem obscure, so here’s a rundown of what we know about these living luxe kids. Brooks Marks (24) has a clothing line that walked a small runway in Salt Lake City with the encouragement of Real Housewife Meredith Marks. Brooks is an LGBTQ+ advocate after being forced to come out due to his mother’s co-star, Jen Shah’s, online harassment in a storyline on Real Housewives of Salt Lake City.
Riley Burruss (21) is a digital influencer popular on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. She is also an active student at New York University with a specialization in Music Business. She follows in the footsteps of her father, Russell Spencer, founder and CEO of Block Entertainment and creator of the group Boyz N Da Hood. Riley has been on RHOA alongside her mother, Kandi Burruss, since the TV show’s second season. Riley has also modeled for the Brooks Marks fashion line.
Ariana Biermann (22) is a prominent digital influencer on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. She is a regular sight beside her mother, Kim Zolciak Biermann, on RHOA, whom she most recently publicly criticized for a misleading Instagram post. Ariana travels often with her boyfriend, Hudson McLeroy, and posts about it on social media.
Gia Giudice (23) is best known for her viral serenade from season 3 of Real Housewives of New Jersey: “Waking up in the morning, feeling so many things, I just wish things would get better …” Beautiful. In addition to her regular appearances on RHONJ, Gia has collaborated with Evry Jewels to create a collection.
Ming Lee Simmons (24) is a fashion influencer on Instagram and TikTok. She has a budding modeling career with campaigns with SKIMS and Good American. Ming studied Fashion at NYU and regularly attends New York Fashion Week alone or beside her Fashion Designer mother, Kamora Lee Simmons. Interestingly, her godmother is ’90s icon Tyra Banks.
Ava Dash (24) is an influencer with some modeling experience. Her first campaign with BCBG was in 2023. Ava appeared on Growing Up Hip Hop, focusing on her experience as the daughter of Roc-A-Fella Records co-founder Damon Dash. It is also rumored that at one point, she nannied for Real Housewives of Beverly Hills’ Crystal Minkoff and had a relationship with RHOBH’s Diana Jenkins’ son, Innis Jenkins.
Emira D’Spain (27) was the first Black transgender woman to model for Victoria’s Secret. She was born in Dubai and moved to the United States as a toddler. She is an NYU graduate and an influencer on Instagram and TikTok. She is one of the few on this list not to have hyper-connected parents.
Julia Moshy (32) was one of the hardest on this list to research. Her public exposure outside her social media is limited. She is a self-described Hospitality Brand Strategist and Advisor with a stacked LinkedIn page and is constantly seen traveling on Instagram. Julia is also rumored to be one of the OG rich kids of Instagram.
Andrew Warren (31) also has one of the most impressive resumes. He is the co-founder and Creative Director of CollXab. This endeavour seems to put him at the center of the rumored cast’s circle as CollXab is a talent management company involved in the social media engagement metrics and product placements for their collaborators and clients, which largely aligns with the majority of the cast’s career trajectories.
Dylan Geick (25) is a fitness influencer and LGBTQ+ advocate. While in the wrestling program at Columbia University, he was persecuted for unearthing the program’s homophobic, misogynist, and racist bigotry. He was promptly forced out of the program and left Columbia. Dylan also briefly trained for one year in the U.S. military, only to leave for very similar reasons. He has since gained notoriety on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and OnlyFans, amassing over one million views.
As Bravo is just filming now, it is likely that Making It in Manhattan will be in production and post for another year before we see it, hopefully in summer/fall 2025. The show’s foundation is young entrepreneurs trying to make it work. We’ll likely get a mix of storylines similar to Summer House, Vanderpump Rules, and the Real Housewives franchises by following their financial success and interpersonal relationships.
What I find most different from other Bravo properties is that the initial, rumored cast of Making It in Manhattan has nearly a third of its members in the LGBTQ community, which gives me hope for new angles on the regular coming-of-age reality show.
Published: Jun 26, 2024 12:43 pm