MARIANA RODRÍGUEZ’S INSTAGRAM STORIES: ANALYSIS OF HER AGENDA AND ROLE AS FIRST LADY

Mariana Rodríguez (@marianardzcantu) is a businesswoman and influencer with more than 2 million followers on Instagram. Since October 2021, she is the head of the Amar a Nuevo León office, a position she obtained for being the first lady of that Mexican state. The aim of this research was to identify what role Rodríguez played as first lady during her first 100 days in office. To do so, a sample of N=1816 Instagram stories posted on her (n=990) and her husband, Governor Samuel García's (n=826) were analysed by consid-ering Rodríguez's actions, the people who accompanied her and the agenda of topics discussed. The results indicate that the first lady continued her work as an influencer by publishing her private life and promoting different brands. Likewise, a populist personalization was detected since her stories reflect her closeness to the mass of citizens. It was concluded that Rodríguez presented herself as a multifaceted first lady, that is, one who appears in both traditional and non-traditional roles and from a privileged position that does not question elitist frameworks.