“Social media is a side quest,” says 24-year-old TikTok star Izzy Perez, one half of comedic duo Izzy and Emma (aka “turtlewithhat”) alongside her girlfriend Emma Fuente, 23. The main quest? Writing and directing films together.
The pair originally met in high school in New Jersey and rekindled their teenage situationship over Zoom in 2020. Since then, the couple has posted comedic skits only someone whose screen time is over 10 hours could understand. Their niche videos and quirky online humor, which includes roleplaying as the lesbian version of Nara Smith and Lucky Blue Smith and dancing to Billie Eilish’s "Birds of a Feather" dressed as birds (face-paint and matching beaks included), might seem sporadic and random, at first. In one viral TikTok in collaboration with Marc Jacobs, Izzy and Emma jokingly perform a spell, “Marc Jacobs Jacob Sartorius,” and Izzy is left in only boxers and a white tank top on a New York City sidewalk. They reveal this was filmed on-the-spot. Other videos, however, require thoughtful planning, scheduling, and collaboration from deciding the props to scouting a location to drafting a script.
Much of their creative process reflects their love of filmmaking, which the two have connected over since high school. Both pursued artistic paths in college: Izzy studied film at NYU Tisch and Emma recently graduated from RISD. “We treat most [TikToks] as if they're a film. But now our content has changed a little bit,” Izzy says. Emma adds, “That was in the beginning when we mostly did skits. Now it's mostly on the fly."
There’s an on the fly energy in the room currently as we set up a makeshift shoot in their college friend’s Brooklyn apartment on a rare sunny afternoon in February. Friends mill around the kitchen big enough to fit a decently-sized dance party and an adorable Australian Shepherd named Rosie roams freely. Izzy and Emma are relaxed and make each other laugh in between shots as they jump on the bed while “CrimeWave” by Crystal Castles plays on repeat.
As the two share creative aspirations beyond the internet, they reveal their latest project: finishing Emma’s thesis film called Girl Dinner. Although they keep tight-lipped on a specific release date, the comedic short, which also marks the couple’s acting debut, is set to premiere later this year.
Teen Vogue sat down with the it couple in the spirit of Valentine’s Day to chat about their high school-friends-to-lovers romance, honest opinions on long distance relationships, and the kinds of films they can watch over and over again.
Izzy: We first officially met in high school.
Emma: In biology.
Izzy: In biology class. Yeah. We were 16/17 years old.
Emma: Then we met through a mutual friend because she was actually interested in making a little film for a project. The only people she knew who were into that were me and Izzy. She was like, "You two should team up and make me a film," and we were like, "Okay."
Izzy: We said, "Sure, we'll make a film." So we started writing the film, just really silly. It was a horror film. [A] girl runs through the forest, getting chased, and it's scary. We would write it, add to it, write down what props we need to get for it, [and] plan the whole thing out. We forgot about the project, eventually, and then Emma and I were just hanging out in the library, every day.
Emma: It was our off period. We would just be doing what we would consider research then because we would be like, "Oh, I saw this video last night, and I thought I should show you it. That's how we bonded through making this one film. I remember it very fondly.
Izzy: Me, too.
Emma: It was one of the first times I connected with someone on that topic, on the topic of film. I felt like you were so into it as much as I was into it…
Izzy: We were both really committed, but I think we also both realized we really liked being friends with each other, and it just blossomed our friendship. We've stayed friends since then, and now we're in a relationship, added layer.
Izzy: No…
Emma: We were friends who kissed, but we just didn't talk about it. You know how those things go…
Izzy: We would kiss sometimes. Never speak on it the next day.
Emma: But I still had a crush on you.
Izzy: Yeah, I had a crush on Emma. I specifically remember drawing this picture, and in the background of the picture, I scrambled up a bunch of letters and wrote "I Love You" in it, in high school.
Emma: Like a secret code. I feel like our friendship was very fun and silly and light, but I did feel like there was this intense underlying attraction, but not even in a sexual way. I just wanted to be near you. I wanted to hang out with you. I just was attracted to you.
Izzy: I felt the same.
Emma: Izzy would go out of her way to get out of class.
Izzy: I would leave my class, specifically my math class, which I had to then drop the pre-calc paths because I literally wasn't paying attention in math. I would leave for upwards of 30 minutes. I would set a timer on my phone and go into Emma's art room and just sit at the table and talk to everyone but her. I was trying to get her to want to talk to me, but not directly be so overt about it.
Emma: But half of the time I feel like you're trying to make me, not jealous, but you were talking to everyone else but me.
Izzy: Yes. So hopefully you would talk to me.
Emma: Because reverse psychology.
Izzy: It was like reverse psychology. But then we went to college, and we talked a little bit less. We came back home during COVID to quarantine, and we got talking again, and kind of revealed to each other that we had a crush on each other in high school. I didn't believe it. I was like, "Wait, what?" Even though we literally kissed and hung out all the time and all the things that would point to people having a crush on each other.
Emma: I don't even know why we both didn't know it, though.
Izzy: Me, either. I really don't.
Emma: Because I felt it deep down inside, and it became this thing that I kind of suppressed so much that I never thought I would actually... It would come true. I didn't actually think we would be together.
Izzy: Me, neither.
Emma: So it was something like, "Oh, wait, you did like me?" That wasn't a possibility.
Izzy: It did feel like unattainable for some reason, like this is off limits.
Izzy: We just started kissing again.
Emma: *giggling* We kind of reverted back. It was like natural.
Emma: Yeah, a little.
Izzy: Yeah. But it was like no time passed.
Emma: Now we were a little bit older. I knew what was going on. I know why I want to be with you all the time, because I like you. I was very sure of it. Being in high school, everything's so confusing. I didn't know what I was feeling at the time.
Izzy: Plus, we weren't really around that many lesbians and gay women.
Emma: Yeah, there wasn't....
Izzy: Not a big gay community in general in our high school.
Emma: Yeah, so it was…
Izzy: It was definitely uncharted territory.
Emma: But when we reconnected, I did feel more sure.
Izzy: Me, too.
Emma: And I was like, this is something that I can just very... I know what I want. I know what I feel, and I want to act upon it.
Izzy: It was a secret at first, but then we just gained confidence. We were like, "Okay, we're just going to get together," even though, I don't know, maybe our peers at the time saw that as a little taboo, because we were all close friends. Emma and I were close friends. People will tell you just don't date your best friend, because you'll ruin that friendship and something will happen, and you compromise the friendship. But I don't know. I don't really see the point in just not doing something because you're scared of the outcome of it. You just have to... If it's something that you feel inclined and passionate to do, then you should just do it.
Izzy: Yeah. Emma convinced me, because I didn't even have TikTok.
Emma: Izzy was anti-TikTok—
Izzy: I, for some reason, was on my high horse, like, "I'm never going to post a TikTok."
Emma: Well, because at the time when I downloaded [TikTok], it was just dancing. So I was loving that. I was doing all the dances.
Izzy: I'm not into dancing, so I just didn't want to do it.
Emma: And then I was like, "Izzy, Izzy, let's have a TikTok, and let's post these funny videos that we make already. We have all these videos." And then you're like, "Okay, okay." But then Izzy got really into it.
Izzy: We started this series where Emma and I were characters. I was Alt Teen, and then she was Fairy Girl, and they were small gay comedy skits.
Emma: We love a good skit.
Izzy: At the time, I mean, there wasn't that much content on TikTok that was [a] skit or people talking, and stuff like that. So it was a little bit niche in that time period. I don't remember which one exactly hit, but one of them got 10,000 views, and we were like, "Whoa, we need to keep doing this."
Izzy: No. No. We were like, "Oh, my god, I can't believe [it]."
Emma: Oh, my gosh, that's so true.
Izzy: "I can't believe so many people watched our video."
Emma: We could have retreated.
Izzy: We could have. I didn't for a second think to myself, like, "Oh, I should retreat."
Emma: You did not?
Izzy: No.
Emma: Me, neither.
Izzy: I know it's kind of scary. I mean, I think as time goes on, it's like it's scary to be in the public eye. I just see myself as me, not some person that's supposed to be online. And that's a crazy thought, because, I don't know, maybe I idolize people who I see online, and I feel like they're cut out for it, and sometimes I wonder if I'm cut out for that life and the life that I'm heading into. But, I don't know, the only way to find out is you just keep going and just roll with the punches. It's a scary space, but-
Emma: I think we took a risk starting our relationship, and it felt really good. So we're also heading into kind of a risk.
Izzy: But we're together now doing it, so that's helpful.
Emma: And it's awesome. It's awesome.
Izzy: I like doing it with you.
Emma: You always have to take a risk.
Izzy: I don't think I would've personally done it by myself, so to put that. I think it helps that we make it together and we do it together, because if I were to do this, I just wouldn't do it on my own. I really wouldn't. I would have no interest in doing that without Emma.
Emma: It's because it's so fun. It's fun.
Izzy: We support each other, and doing it together makes it easier.
Emma: We kind of have a balance.
Emma: We're figuring it out, but…I think Izzy's very... You're very, what's the word? Planning. Organized.
Izzy: True.
Emma: And then I'm more sporadic, like, "Oh, my gosh, let's do this, let's do this, let's do this, let's do this."
Izzy: Which is kind of funny, because I feel like that reflects the NYU, RISD kind of thing. Maybe I plan a bunch of stuff because of the way that we're taught. And then you are just, "Let's do this, let's do this, do this," because it's on the fly.
Izzy: Well, I think I have dreams of being a director with Emma, and we make films together. We're a partnership because I think we work well together, and I wouldn't want to do it with anyone else. I hope that we head in that direction, eventually.
Emma: I think it is scary just because of how things are right now. It is a scary thought mixing your work with your relationship. But I do believe that I am someone who likes to work, and I like to be always moving. And being able to work with Izzy, who I love, and who I love being with and creating with, and who I'm comfortable with, and we are able to inspire each other, push each other, ask questions about our ideas…It's such a safe space that it makes me want to work even more. It makes me love the work I do. I feel so lucky.
Izzy: And I wouldn't take it for granted. It’s a blessing to me, because the fact that I can wake up and work with Emma, whom I love very much, not everyone can say that. I am very grateful for that opportunity, and the only reason we got that opportunity is because people just thought we were funny one day. Now we've been trying to do it ever since.
Emma: It's the path that felt natural, and I felt like we kind of fell into it, luckily. I feel so lucky every day that we get to do it.
Emma: Oh, yeah, all the time.
Izzy: I watch a lot of lesbian movies.
Emma: Izzy has watched every single lesbian movie.
Izzy: I like You Can Live Forever, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, iconic, and Water Lilies is a really good one, too.
Emma: What about together? What have we seen recently?
Izzy: Yeah, we watched Smile 2. Oh, we watched Nosferatu, but I had to leave the theater, because I had anxiety.
Emma: No, no, no. We should say Smile 2.
Izzy: Okay. We saw Smile 2, and Emma had a rush of adrenaline.
Emma: I loved it. Okay. No...What's a real one?
Izzy: We love a movie you could talk through, just talk the whole time and kind of just laugh.
Emma: We're big fans of Addison's movie.
Izzy: Addison, He's the-
Emma: He's All...
Izzy: He's All That.
Emma: Yes. That one.
Izzy: We love the Addison Rae movie.
Izzy: When it's silly.
Emma: When it's silly, and I love movies that you could just watch and be entertained, and you don't need to think about anything, and you're just having a good time. No, I'm serious.
Izzy: Yeah, you don't need to think, right? Like Anatomy of a Fall, I was just laser-focused, because I was wanting to know. I mean, you're trying to figure out whether or not this woman killed her husband... You had to focus.
Emma: Intense.
Izzy: It's intense. But would you like that?
Emma: No, that's my favorite. My favorite genre is comedy.
Izzy: Turn your brain off like the Noah Beck movie.
Emma: Oh, my gosh, yes, we recently watched that.
Izzy: Sideline. Sideliner. [Editor’s note: Sidelined: The QB and Me]
Emma: And then we posted on our story and tagged him, and did he reply, or did he like it?
Izzy: No, he just liked it. And now we're obsessed. We're bringing Noah Beck to the lesbians.
Emma: I don't think I would say movies, because you can't talk. That’s maybe a third or fourth date.
Izzy: I like the idea of getting food, driving somewhere, and sitting and eating it.
Emma: And talking.
Izzy: And talking.
Izzy: Kind of, yeah. I feel like our first official date that we put into our brains, was us getting soup dumplings and looking over the George Washington Bridge.
Emma: We got our dumplings. We got our view.
Izzy: And then, I don't know why it's ingrained in my brain like, "Oh, this is our first date."
Emma: I don't know why, I think that, too.
Izzy: But that's the memory, right?
Emma: Oh, no, I can't say. I've gotten so many gifts from Izzy that I love.
Izzy: What's the best you've ever given me? You've given me so many gifts as well.
Izzy: Well, Emma literally gifted me coconut water. And not to bring it up again, but for Valentine's Day, she asked me to [be her] Valentine's with coconut water.
Emma: I don't know, she recently got me pillows. And I needed pillows.
Izzy: Emma is a very practical gift-asker. So if you ask her for a gift, she won't say a dream, she'll say a need, like socks or pillows.
Emma: That's my favorite. Socks.
Izzy: All gifts are good gifts. And also, we are very pro-long distance.
Izzy: Very pro. I'm really glad we did it. I don't regret it for a second. Especially for younger people, I think it's really important.
Izzy: I think it teaches you a lot and it rips you away from possibly being co-dependent. It helps a lot with just trust and communication, and all of those things because you have to figure it out if you're going to make the relationship work long distance. That's exactly what we did.
I think that's why I feel so separated from the person I was in the beginning of the relationship, because I went from knowing nothing to knowing almost everything. It's a good feeling to be here now, even though there are challenges with long distance and it kind of sucked. It's better on the other side.
Emma: Especially when you're younger, you always want to have that space for yourself and have that independent time, and have that time to do the things you like on your own and to reflect on yourself by yourself. I do think co-dependency gets a bad rap. Because a lot of people are co-dependent in not an unhealthy way.
Izzy: That's true-
Emma: Yeah, that might be a weird opinion to have, but I do believe that co-dependency doesn't always have to be unhealthy. But yeah, I do think long distance helps prevent that unhealthy-
Izzy: That unhealthy side of it.
Izzy: We thought about that the other day.
Emma: What would you say?
Izzy: I was thinking, what if I told young Izzy, "You know you will end up with Emma, right?" But I wouldn't want to tell her. I wouldn't want to tell her.
Emma: Me, neither.
Izzy: Because if it was going to happen, I just feel like young Izzy… I am very glad with the timeline in which things played out.
Emma: Me, too.
Izzy: I needed time to grow and to experience certain things before we started our relationship, and I'm fortunate that they happened. I'm glad with exactly how it turned out.
Emma: That's true. I don't even know what I would say. Oh, I'd probably say, I would say... I don't know. I don't want to say this, actually. It's a little silly. It's like, "It's okay. Yeah, you're gay, so it doesn't need to be that serious." Because I felt, when I was younger, it was very confusing, which it's valid to be confused. I think it just took a lot of time for me to feel confident in myself and knowing myself. So I would probably say, "Yeah, you could just relax a little bit. You don't need to stress yourself out like that."
Izzy: [I’d] be radio silent to young Izzy.
Emma: You wouldn't say anything?!
Izzy: I'd be radio silent. She'd be barking for answers from me. No, I couldn't. I don't know. I'm such an over-thinker. I would just...Young Izzy would ruin it. Butterfly effect.
