Alex Fuhrmeister, also known as one of the faces behind the Rowan Barstool account, will be graduating this upcoming May, leaving the student population with a growing number of questions in regard to who will be taking over the campus’ main form of prime time entertainment. 

But what does the student body actually know about her? Besides the fact that she is notoriously funny and is working with one of the largest social media franchises in the country?

“I grew up in Mullica Hill with my family, and they are infamously loud and always joking. When I think of ‘funny’ I think of my grandpa, just always very playful banter,” said Fuhrmeister, sitting criss-cross on her floral quilt. 

The walls surrounding her look almost as though her life was spilled onto them, displaying countless posters and knick-knacks of The Grateful Dead and Beatles, cutout photos of friends and loved ones, and memorabilia gathered throughout the past few years of her life. An accumulation of memories surrounding the past few years of her life surrounds her in the walls of her very room. 

“I feel like a big part of my childhood was being home alone with my brother since my parents were always working, so we just did things out of boredom,” she said. 

It was around this time she began to pick up hobbies and interests of her own, learning to discover what piqued her curiosity the most.

“I definitely was not a cartoon kid, I was more of a Stampylonghead (Youtuber), Minecraft, Roblox kind of kid,” said Fuhrmeister. 

Her decision in the long run to attend Rowan would be out of convenience and location, given she is right in the neighborhood. But it would ultimately be a decision she is ever grateful for, leading her down her own path of self-discovery. 

She also immersed herself in the online world from a young age, so it would be naturally safe to assume that she chose to major in something that is largely related to this area in her life, right? But you would be wrong. Instead, she chose to major in English in hopes of one day becoming a high school teacher.

“I wanted to pursue this because I really liked my high school English teacher. He was a really cool guy and was just very supportive of everyone. But once I started observing high schools last spring, I was like, this is the hardest job in the world,” said Fuhrmeister.

“People don’t realize how hard teaching is, you’re not just teaching the Great Gatsby, you have to worry about them. There was also the aspect of being in a classroom for the rest of my life, which was also extremely daunting,” she said.

One of her main concerns coming into the field of teaching was also the tone of her online presence. 

“My TikTok videos were always kind of raunchy, and I kept worrying that these kids would see this, and I’d be smacking myself in the face for past me making all of these videos,” Fuhrmeister said. 

The combination of Fuhrmeisters’ humor and unexpected circumstances is exactly what led to her entrance to her position at Rowan Barstool. 

“I was always kind of anti-Rowan Barstool, I thought it was just some dude running it, but it actually started to become funny. And coincidentally, they posted one of my Rowan-related TikToks, so I realized we shared the same humor,” she said. 

One day, the account decided to post an application for an up-and-coming Viceroy’s, which is what Barstool calls their representatives who run accounts. Fuhrmeister decided to not apply until the account personally messaged her asking if she was interested. The face behind that account and message at the time would be that of Jackie Smith, a recent Rowan graduate. Smith decided to pass down the position to Fuhrmeister and Rowan student Christian Tantillo. 

“Now, me and Jackie are like best friends. She is the funniest person ever, and I’m so proud that we became friends through this. She’s just a good person and a good friend,” said Fuhrmeister.

So, what does the job of a Viceroy entail? 

On a typical day, students will submit videos either they or their friends have recorded. The job of Fuhrmeister and Tantillo is to rake through and evaluate these videos, to ensure that the content fits within the criteria of what Barstool looks for. They make sure that all content posted is relevant, entertaining, and appropriate enough for their platform. This is all paired with a punchy caption.

This is a considerable amount of content and work for a college student also balancing a full workload and job. Fuhrmeister does not get compensated for her position with Barstool and acts more as an unpaid intern. 

She expressed feelings of frustration in regards to this, as well as towards the fact that Barstool’s humor is tailored to men’s humor, given that it is a male-dominated industry. 

“I feel like a lot of people expect the account to be run by a man because it’s barstool right? When people DM me I honestly will try to seem like a guy as much as I can because I honestly feel like people are going to bash the account more if they find out that it’s a girl. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but that’s just what my brain tells me to do,” Fuhrmeister said.

Despite all of this, she says she actually enjoys her work at Barstool. While it’s a stressor at times, and a huge pressure to keep the humor constantly going, it’s the interactions she’s granted through this platform that makes her most happy. 

“My favorite part is probably when people actually interact with the post.  Not that people even have to find it funny, but they’re creating their own joke around it. That’s what makes me happiest,” Fuhrmeister said.

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