Suzanne White Just Wants To Lean Into The Silly

Suzanne White may be a community college instructor in the Minneapolis area, but she’s better known on the internet as @momchats, where she endlessly pokes fun of her husband, Dillon, aka @dadchats. The pair have four kids — ages 9, 7, 4, and 1 — and they tend to post the kind of content I like to see: funny, silly, heartfelt, and community-focused.

I recently caught up with White to talk about how it all started, how it’s going and, of course, her preferred ice cream flavor.

Scary Mommy: You’re a community college instructor. How did all this happen for you?

Suzanne White: So, my husband, Dillon, had started posting right before the pandemic. We were coaching high school speech and debate at the time, and it was when TikTok was first starting to become really well-known. One of our students was supposed to be in a round, and they were trying to film a dance or something for TikTok.

Dillon had walked up to them and said, "What are you doing? You're supposed to be in a round. What is this thing?" Because, obviously, he was just like, "What is this?" and they were like, "Oh, it's TikTok, you're too old for this." And because he's competitive, he was like, in a joking way, "Give me 30 days and I bet I will have more followers." They had 30,000 followers or something.

And then he had some random video that went viral.

I never had any interest in doing social media, but I loved watching it. I took the username Mom Chats, and Dillon didn't know... I just wanted to troll him. I started sending him creepy DMs, nothing that was harmful, but just to mess with him a little bit. One day, I can't even remember the full context of it, someone had posted something where only I could really clear up what Dillon had said because someone had taken something out of context. I made a quick video and then, all of a sudden, people started commenting and following, and I'm like, "Oh, that was fun. That was a fun community, that was fun goofing around.” Then it literally just spiraled into this.

SM: How do you carve out time because you have so much going on?

SW: It really depends. We honestly do a lot of our filming — or, if we're working on different campaigns — we do it after our kids go to bed. We try to not let them see us on our phones as much as we can, so it creates some late nights, but that's just what has worked for us. Is it ideal sometimes? No, but we just pick out pockets of time, typically after they go to bed or Dillon will, right after he drops the kids off at school, quickly film something in his car.

SM: You have such a big following. What is the goal in the long run?

SW: It varies. I think our central goal is always having an avenue that also allows us to give back to our community. That’s one thing we've been very, very, very thankful for, having a platform where we can either gain other resources or find other networking where we can give back. That's always been our central goal: How can we try to be more positive, and how can we give back to the people around us? Then our second one is, how does this allow us more flexibility?

SM: I know you were really vocal when ICE was in Minnesota this winter. Because your community is so big, and I know the internet is a weird place, how was the reaction to that?

SW: I think one thing we always try to keep in mind is you're never going to make everyone happy. It doesn't matter how positive you are, how researched you are, someone's always going to find a flaw because it's their frame of reference, so we try to keep that in perspective. We always, especially with that specific topic, tried to talk about what we were seeing from our experiences and not try to pull in other things but, rather, here's what I saw today, or Dillon's an attorney, here's what he saw when I was at the Whipple Building; here are the different things that we physically were experiencing with my students or my neighborhoods or here's what I saw at the bus stop. For us, it feels like a value that is central. We talk about it, and we try to talk about it from how we've experienced it.

SM: That makes sense. I need to ask you really quickly about your run-in with the Texas Mafia because I think you...

SW: Oh, my God… We find ourselves in such odd situations.

SM: You clearly do. You're like a magnet for this stuff.

SW: It was the start of the pandemic; it was when everything had closed down in March. We moved cross-country for jobs that we thought would be a good fit for our family that just weren’t. And so, we got there, and it had to do with our movers, and then it just spiraled. Then we found ourselves, because it was the pandemic at home, Googling weird connections. We really should have had one of those stringboards behind us that is like, "OK, I found this connection." To be honest, we found one connection, and it's like, "Yup, they're coming to get us because they know that we said this.” We were probably not mentally doing well, and we created connections that were out of control. We called the FBI! One day we called the FBI, and did you know that when you call the FBI, unless it was the mafia hacking our phones, they answer the phone, “FBI”? And that was the point where we're like, "What has happened to us?" We should have looked for birds at that point.

SM: God, we all slowly lost our minds. So, I know laughter, especially with your husband, is a really big part of your marriage. You say you set up your account to troll him; who trolls who the most?

SW: Oh, I troll him way more. Yeah, I shouldn't admit that. For so long we took things so seriously, and then, once we had our third, I think it was like, "Oh, OK, things can't be that serious all the time." And then our fourth, and it's like, "OK, well, are we going to get frustrated by this because they're kids or because we're tired or we have jobs, or is this just what's still going to happen even if we're feeling serious?"

SM: What's a dream day for you?

SW: I'd say waking up with the windows open where it's that crisp ... You know what I'm talking about where it's early fall or early spring where it's just, oh, it's extra crispy and then coffee is ready and my kids are not awake just yet because, as much as I love seeing them, sometimes it's nice to see them come down the stairs. And so, having coffee with Dillon, I think, before the chaos of everything, having a slower morning. Probably bagels in the morning, that would be ... We are so simple. Having some bagels and then spending as much time as we can outside, swimming, being outside. We really do try to have our kids outside as much as we possibly can, and I think those are my favorite days where we get to sit and hang out while they are just content playing together and just enjoying their surroundings.

SM: Yeah, totally.

SW: And then probably ordering something for dinner that is not any of us cooking.

SM: Even better, honestly.

SW: Yeah. And then, obviously, I have to end my day with ice cream every day. So, that would be what I would need.

SM: What flavor of ice cream are we talking?

SW: My favorite is Half Baked from Ben & Jerry's, that's what I love. Any kind of ice cream really gets me. I love ice cream so much.

SM: OK, so last question: You are dying on death row or you're dying the next day, what is your last meal on earth?

SW: A really good Caesar salad with homemade Caesar dressing and a good loaf of sourdough bread, something that's just fresh and homemade. But I love a good salad that I don't make. I never make anything as good as that but someone else makes me a homemade Caesar salad with fresh warm bread with it, that is it for me.

SM: Honestly, a Caesar salad with Diet Coke on the side is one of the great meals. It just hits every time, I totally get it.

SW: Every single time. Yes, I agree.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.