Sai De Silva is pulling back the curtain on what life is like as a content creator.
The Real Housewives of New York City’s Sai De Silva makes a living looking at the big picture.
As a lifestyle content creator, Sai meticulously curates every detail in the images she shares with the world, from selecting the perfect setting to choosing the right pair of sunglasses to make an outfit pop.
The result is sleek photos that look effortlessly cool — but there’s nothing effortless about the work Sai, who often shares her work under the Instagram handle Scout the City, does to achieve each and every look.
What does Sai De Silva do for work?
In an all-new digital clip, Sai pulled back the curtain to show fans just how much work goes into her unique job.
“I am Sai De Silva and I am a lifestyle content creator. I know you’re wondering what does that even mean?” she began the clip. “OK, guess what? I am the girl who creates the content on all your social media platforms. I’m talking about TikTok, Pinterest, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, all your favorite places to go.”
Sai brought fans along as she teamed with her photographer Ali and trusty assistant May De Silva to create a new set of images for an unnamed client. As the trio stood at 78th and Fifth Avenue, Sai explained what she typically looks for in an ideal location.
“Ali picked this location because she knows me very well,” Sai said of the all-white building and heavily stylized white railings. “I’m looking for a very, like, clean aesthetic for the 'Gram as well as the brand.”
The next step was finishing off her look. Sai pulled out her “bag full of treats” which held a few different shoe options and sunglasses.
“It’s super chaotic. It’s always messy,” she said as she dug through the bag on the side of the street. “It’s never really fabulous, but I get paid to make it look super easy.”
Prepping the perfect look is no simple task.
“I know you’re wondering like how long does this usually take?” Sai remarked. “Ok, this can take a while. Sometimes I bring my car because that’s my mobile dressing room. Obviously, I need to change somewhere.”
Sai shared a bit more about “how the magic happens,” explaining that during a typical day of shooting, she and her team drive to different locations in the city and take photos of her rocking different outfits.
“What we do is we’ll bring maybe 3 to 5 outfits out with us. I used to change in the Starbucks bathroom, but then I got a car and moved on up,” she joked.
On the scene at 78th and Fifth, Sai put on a “stunning” pair of sunglasses to finish out her look, then got to work taking photos, doing her best runway walk up and down the street, and posing for some close up shots.
“They want full body,” May said of the client. “She actually has to highlight the jewelry stacking that she did.”
While Sai may work hard to give the client exactly what they are looking for, she mentioned that stacking her jewelry actually had a personal connection for her as well.
“It’s like a nod to like, my grandmother used to jewelry stack,” she shared, before adding that it was like “the exclamation point to an outfit.”
While the team typically has about 72 hours to turn the images into a chic social media post, this time they were working on a much tighter deadline.
“Today, it is a rush because we are on a deadline,” Sai said. “Everything is due tomorrow.”
They snapped a few more photos — with Sai occasionally stopping to look in the viewfinder to see if they were getting what they needed — before their work was done.
“That is it,” Sai said. “We’re going to start preparing the Instagram Stories for this particular look.”
While Ali does all the photo editing, Sai helps create the captions before sending it to the brand for final approval.
“All right everyone, thanks for hanging out with me,” she concluded the clip. “That was a minute in a content creator’s life, but I got tons more to do, so I’m going to take off, but don’t forget to follow me at Scout the City on Instagram and Sai De Silva on TikTok.”
To see what else Sai is up to in Season 15, watch The Real Housewives of New York City Tuesdays at 9/8c on Bravo or available streaming the next day on Peacock.
