Danielle Zaslavsky: A Legacy of Taste
As Danielle Zaslavsky continues to expand her world as a lifestyle creator, she is bringing the same distinctive blend of cultural heritage, refined style and intentional living to a new generation of ventures. Known to her nearly 1.5 million followers as the “Caviar Queen,” Danielle has turned her family’s Marky’s caviar business into an engaging digital conversation, sharing its traditions and history alongside her own take on fashion, beauty, food, home and family life. Rooted in her Eastern European and Jewish heritage, her approach to modern living balances old-world sensibility with an unmistakably contemporary voice: elegant, educational and refreshingly relatable. We caught up with Danielle to talk about caviar, family traditions, personal style, hospitality, and the exciting new chapter taking shape beyond social media.
Miami Living (ML): You grew up around your family’s caviar business, Marky’s, and have now become known online as the “Caviar Queen.” What do you remember about caviar being part of your family life before it became such a big part of your digital presence?
Danielle: I grew up in an immigrant family, and I remember being little and seeing everyone in my family, along with family friends who immigrated around the same time, all working in my grandfather’s business. My mom would pick me up from school, and I’d spend my afternoons at Marky’s Gourmet doing homework, hanging out in the warehouse, playing between the pallets, and trying all the new foods being imported. My grandfather always included us, and anytime caviar came in, he’d have me try it. But beyond the business, caviar is part of my culture. It’s something we grew up eating, and it wasn’t always considered expensive.
ML: You’ve introduced your audience not just to caviar itself, but to its traditions, etiquette and history, while also showing unexpected, creative ways to enjoy it. What are some of your favorite ways to make caviar feel less intimidating and more at home around an everyday table?
Danielle: My favorite way to eat caviar is on a piece of lightly toasted, dense rye bread with a thick slice of cold butter (teeth marks in the butter are a must), topped with caviar, with a peeled cucumber on the side.
ML: Your TikTok content helped turn something that was once viewed as an exclusive luxury into a much broader cultural conversation, eventually leading to national press coverage and your “Cosmos + Caviar” collaboration with Cointreau. What was it like watching something so closely connected to your family become part of a much larger conversation online?
Danielle: It was so interesting to watch, because one of the main reasons I started sharing caviar online was that I realized there wasn’t much education or “less fussy” content around it. Back then, if you searched caviar, it was always tied to a very unattainable lifestyle: Michelin star restaurants, yachts, private planes. I wanted to show how I grew up eating it. Caviar was historically called “the poor man’s food,” and we never made a fuss about it. It was a typical breakfast or brunch food and always on the table for holidays. I wanted to share that.
ML: You describe your Eastern European and Jewish heritage as something woven into the fabric of your brand. What are some of the traditions, foods, rituals or family customs that naturally find their way into the content you create today?
Danielle: I always share our Jewish holiday tables. I also like to explain why some Eastern European Jewish families still have what looks like a “Christmas tree” for the holidays. It’s not actually a Christmas tree, it’s a Novy God Yolka, a New Year tree. Jewish families in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union often put up a decorated tree for Novy God, the secular Russian New Year, rather than for Christmas. Some of the Eastern European foods that make it onto our holiday tables are Olivier salad, herring under a fur coat, kampot, cholent, matzo ball soup, borscht, and so much more. I share it all in bits and pieces.
ML: So much of your content moves between seemingly different worlds: luxury beauty and fashion, home cooking, motherhood, family celebrations and personal style. What does that blend of polished and everyday living look like when the camera is simply off and you’re at home?
Danielle: It’s definitely not polished, and it’s not really a blend. My life exists off camera the same way it does on camera. I enjoy so many things, I’m multidimensional, and I love luxury and simplicity at the same time. I’m not different when the camera’s off. I go with the flow. Yes, I might be wearing a crisp white Uniqlo tee and a Patek Philippe while making tinned fish pasta, but that’s who I am. I try my best to live authentically on camera, which is why my content isn’t preplanned. I don’t have a team repurposing my content into new content. I just pick up the camera, record, and post. Sometimes it’s delayed by a few days, especially when I’m traveling for safety reasons, but that’s because I edit everything myself. I think there’s more longevity in that, and I want to keep showing up as myself, not as a polished version of my LLC.
ML: You have a particularly strong point of view when it comes to fashion, beauty and the pieces you choose to share, while also emphasizing that you genuinely wear and use what appears in your content. How do you approach curating what earns a place in your wardrobe, beauty cabinet or home?
Danielle: I’m a high/low girl and I love easy fashion. My staple is always a crisp white tee from COS, Uniqlo, or Everlane with silk trousers or jeans. When it comes to high fashion, over the last four or five years I’ve tried hard not to spend a lot on designer pieces that will feel dated in six months or are overly trendy. I made that mistake in my mid-twenties when I was working in fashion spending way too much money on trendy items. Sometimes I can’t help myself, but I try to only invest in high-quality capsule pieces like timeless bags, jewelry, and jackets, and I shop high street brands for anything trendy. With skincare, I try it all, and you’d be surprised how often drugstore brands outperform luxury ones. What really earns its place, though, is anything timeless and classic, because you can always dress it up or down and restyle it with trendier, less expensive pieces.
ML: Hospitality is such a natural thread through your work, from sharing family traditions to cooking at home and creating celebrations. Are there particular details or rituals you return to when you want to make people feel especially welcome?
Danielle: I don’t know if many people know this about me, but as a teenager I worked at my grandfather’s store selling gourmet foods and packing orders. Later, when I left my fashion job to open the first Marky’s retail shop in New York, Marky’s on Madison Avenue, we had a connected restaurant in the back, and I was a server there for almost two years until we really got dinner service down, with steady reservations and the right team in place. I opened the shop, mopped floors, polished wine glasses, learned what mise en place was, worked dinner service, learned how to give the spiel, did wine pairings, learned proper cutlery placement, and so much more. All of that stays with you for life. When you’re striving for a Michelin star, you have to pay attention to every single detail, from napkin placement to how food is coursed out. So, when I have guests at home, even in a relaxed setting, I pay attention to the details so that when they leave, that’s what they remember.
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