Camilo Fonseca
- Davis Clarke, a risk management advisor at Citizens, has gained quite a following on social media.
- His motivational videos are all about bringing positivity to the everyday routines of office life.
- Clarke says his whole message is about sharing his enthusiasm and uplifting people doing unglamorous, hard work.
You don't have to look far on social media to find people who are sick and tired of their office jobs.
But one office worker has gained a following for his unabashedly upbeat and positive content. And his videos aren't anything crazy — they're all about his daily commute, quarterly meetings, spreadsheet certification, and the other mundanities of the 9-to-5 workday.
Davis Clarke, who works at Citizens Bank in Boston, has become something of a social media sensation with his Instagram videos, amassing 700,000 followers over the last few months. His content is overflowing with motivational content, to the point of corniness or even cringe-worthiness.
But Clarke says he's not focused on trying to build his audience.
"I'm not an influencer," he insisted to Business Insider, who met up with Clarke on one of his lunch breaks. If his message of unfailing, everyday positivity resonates with people, it's because they can probably relate to his unremarkable routine.
In one video, he's walking through downtown on a Monday morning, ready to start "hammering spreadsheets and chugging waters." In another, he's in the office on a Friday. "The heavy hitters of America are about to be shaking in their boots," he tells the camera, "seeing that the young people are actually motivated to work."
"Everyone now has to study, they have to work," he told BI. "And so I'm just going in and saying, 'Hey, it's gonna be a good day.'"
In just a few months, the 27-year-old risk management advisor has found himself getting recognized offline. While meeting with BI in Boston, Clarke was approached by several people walking by, including a college student, an Amazon tech worker, and a middle-aged lawyer, who all asked for selfies.
"It's just inspiring. That's it," Ryker Puls, the Amazon employee on vacation from Seattle, said of Clarke's content.
Invariably, Clarke will ask his fans about their day, where they work, and maybe even the name of their dog. After a few minutes of conversation, he'll often urge them to "stay locked in" or "get fired up."
Tom Ranucci, an IT worker and food blogger, met Clarke at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He described Clarke was "full of energy," someone excited to meet anyone and everyone and chat about anything and everything.
"He's the exact same person" in real life, Ranucci told BI.
The two stayed in touch after college thanks in part to their shared interest in running (Clarke's explosive finish at the Boston Marathon last month went viral). Ranucci never expected his friend's social media following to skyrocket the way it did earlier this year — though he wasn't surprised that the message found an audience.
"In my mind, it was only a matter of time," he said.
For his part, Clarke never expected to become a phenomenon. Besides a barely-used Facebook account, his digital footprint was almost nonexistent until a class project his freshman year of college. The assignment? Build a social media account and use it to show the world the values he cared about.
"When I first set out, I truly just wanted to get people confident and fired up to go after their goals. I try to stay true to that vision," he said.
He isn't under any illusions about the nature of his content. Clarke knows there are people out there doing "way more" interesting things than his daily routine.
"I think just showing normal life, and the good side of it, is what gets people going," he said. "And it's interesting because so many people out there are working hard, doing all these same things every day."
His positive outlook doesn't mean everybody loves his content. Some doubt that he, or anyone, can seemingly always be so genuinely enthusiastic. Other commenters just think it's repetitive or annoying.
But Clarke says he's not worried about the hate — and, if anything, he's glad that it's getting more people to engage with his content.
"It just gives me a chance to say, 'Hey, we're going to try to take someone who's negative and make them pause. Let's show them what we're doing, show them why we're doing what we're doing.' Just try to earn their respect."
He added that he thinks some of the comments are good-natured trash talk, rather than people being "genuinely mean."
"Some people say the comments are like a community of their own, so maybe that's good," he said. "People will be creative, they'll come up with funny things like they'll be like 'bad day to be a spreadsheet,' 'bad day to be a whatever.' I don't think I ever came up with that at all. "
Ranucci said he "certainly" thinks that Clarke's content gets people to approach their boring, everyday routine differently, "just because how infectious his energy is."
"It's contagious," he told BI. "It's like a laugh."
"People see that and, you know, it's hard to not to join right in, and take that same love and passion into what they're doing" in their own lives, he added.