influencer
THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE HOME
Lifelong friends Angela McCaffrey and Caitin DiRuggiero share their love of Montclair
INTERVIEW BY JORAM MUSHINSKE
Names:
Angela McCaffrey (Ange)
Caitlin DiRuggiero (Cait)
Where you grew up: Essex Fells (Ange)
and Montclair (Cait) — we are both
Essex County girls born and raised.
Where you live now: Montclair
Education: We both graduated from
Montclair Kimberley Academy in 2006.
This is where we met and became best
friends in seventh grade, and are now on
the alumni council. Ange graduated from
Providence College and Cait from the
University of Scranton.
Recognitions & Awards: Our businesses
have been featured in The New York
Times and GQ. Over the years we have
also won several local awards (Suburban
Essex, Montclair Magazine, Bergen
Magazine) for our business,
mycorefire.com.
Favorite follow: @garyvee
Future Aspirations: To continue to grow
together as best friends and business
partners and create businesses and
platforms where people feel they’re part
of a greater community that genuinely
and authentically cares for and about
them. We’d also love to one day host
a show together.
14
SPRING 2020 MONTCLAIR MAGAZINE
S
ocial media has enhanced our awareness of
influencers, bloggers, trendsetters and more.
Focusing on beauty, entertainment, fashion,
food, health, photography and beyond, these
professionals have stories to be told, and we want to
share them.
When and why did you start
posting about Montclair?
Applegate’s together when we were 12
years old to now having our office
headquarters on Bellevue Avenue
in Upper Montclair together. We
will never forget the place and
the people who made us who
we are. We are forever indebt-
ed to this incredible town.
We started posting about
Montclair because we absolutely
love the community that raised
us. We wanted to celebrate that
in a place where others could
partake and share the awesome
content the residents were
already posting. We have lived all
over the world together — from
ANGELA McCAFFREY How do you curate photos for
California to Europe — but Montclair
your feed? We utilize the
always drew us back. There is
incredible artists and photographers
something special here, and
who are already taking photos of
whenever anyone would ask us
town. It’s all organic.
why we loved “home” so much,
we always wished we had an
How often do you post? Do
account to share that
you have a set schedule?
showcased all the incredible
We do not have a set schedule.
people, places, businesses and
When something catches our
outdoor spaces that are so unique
eye, we re-post immediately
to Montlcair.
because we know if we like it, then
CAITLIN DiRUGGIERO
We owe our sisterhood to
we want others to see it as well.
Montclair, and if we both didn’t go to
We try to keep the IG story as a community
school here when we were little, we never
board where local business owners and
would’ve met or had the lives we have now
community members can take over and talk
built together. We live next door to each
about whatever it is that’s important to them,
other, own and operate two businesses, plus
so our followers can get a peek behind the
maintain the montclair.newjersey Instagram
curtain into their everyday life.
account together. We have two bulldog
sisters (hi, Cutlet and Ziti) and even celebrate
How did you build your large social
holidays with our families together.
media following? We believe our social
Montclair is the place where we
media following happened because we try
formed our early friendship, from biking to
really hard to be genuinely, from the heart,
@montclair.newjersey
@angecaitrealestate
@corefirenj
mycorefire.com