Seawolf Sweethearts: How SBU Shaped BingBuzz Creators’ Relationship and Careers

Seawolf sweethearts Ben and Ming began their account BingBuzz in 2020 as a way to share local restaurants in their home borough of Queens in New York City. Since then, BingBuzz has grown dramatically, gaining hundreds of thousands of followers and millions of likes on Instagram and TikTok. Today, Ben and Ming continue to share their favorite spots in New York City, alongside content focusing on parenthood and family.

Ben, who earned his BS in engineering science, and Ming, who earned her BS in health science and her MS in occupational therapy, say the State University of New York at Stony Brook has profoundly shaped both their relationship and career paths. The couple met through mutual friends on campus, and what began as a friendship soon blossomed into romance. They were both active in campus life and created many special memories that they revisited in a popular video last Valentine’s Day. 

After graduating, Ben became an engineer and then a photographer, and Ming became an occupational therapist. They married in 2023 and welcomed a child in 2025. The couple reflects that in addition to bringing them together, Stony Brook gave them the tools and flexibility to succeed professionally and pursue their passion for digital content creation.

Why did you choose Stony Brook? 

Ming: I applied to Stony Brook because it was close to home, but not too close, so I could live on campus but also visit my family. I also heard it had great campus life and academics, especially for science. I knew I wanted to go into some form of health science, I just wasn’t sure of which specialty.

Ben: I also thought the location was great because I missed my family a lot too. A lot of my friends wanted to go to Stony Brook, so I kind of followed them. Major-wise, I didn’t really know at the time. In high school, art was a passion of mine, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to pursue a career as an artist. I chose engineering because it’s so versatile; there are several different career paths I could have gone down, and there are opportunities for creativity as well.

While you were at Stony Brook, what activities or organizations were you part of? Did you live on campus?

Ming: I lived on campus during undergrad, and then off campus for graduate school. As far as organizations, I was part of the Asian Students Alliance (ASA), which is a cultural club. We were both involved in TLT (Teaching, Learning and Technology), which was the SINC (Students in Need of Computers) site job on campus, and we participated in Alternative Spring Break Outreach for a year, where we volunteered to build houses with Habitat for Humanity. We went to Florida; it was a really great trip. 

Ben: I lived on campus for all four years in a few different buildings. As Ming mentioned, we were a part of some of the same communities, and I was also part of the engineering fraternity, Theta Tau. I worked at the SINC sites with Ming, but eventually I got a separate role working with Mac computers on campus. My boss handled updating the computers and hardware of all the new Macs at the SINC sites, so I got to work on that, which was fun. 

Tell us the story of how you met. How did Stony Brook shape your relationship?

Ming: We met on the job, but not really on the job, because we didn’t meet face to face while working. There was a Facebook group where employees could request coverage on shifts they weren’t able to work, so we were all connected there because there were over 100 consultants that worked that job. I would see Ben on that page a lot because he was a workaholic, and he picked up a lot of the shifts. During winter break, some friends invited us to the city for a hangout. Ben and I both went, and that was how we first met in person. We started dating officially at the end of our junior year.

Ben: We started hanging out because we had mutual friends at that point, and then it just became more frequent. And when you’re living on campus, you tend to see the same people over and over. It’s a lot of fun. There’s always an excuse to meet up and go to an event or do something casual, like getting late-night burritos. So it was just a very easy and seamless transition into a relationship. 

What were your favorite spots on/around campus? Do you have a favorite memory together while at Stony Brook?

Ming: We would go out to eat on and around campus. There are just so many options that we were able to try a lot of different places. We also liked the Staller Steps. We enjoyed going to the Staller Center for shows and even to just explore the random floors.

Ben: And the Simons Center — we spent a lot of time there. It’s more for grad students, but it was open to everybody. And occasionally there were snacks that they were giving out. There’s a piano room, and there’s a nice rooftop. Ming also introduced me to the hospital cafeteria, which is pretty good, so we would go there too.

Ming: One funny memory is when Ben would do grocery runs. He’d ask if I needed anything, and at the time, all I ate besides the campus food was bread and milk. So I would tell him I just needed the essentials. It was an excuse for us to meet up and hang out. Ben would also make lunch or dinner for me, and it would usually be linguine and chicken breast. It was really good. I think that’s one of my favorite memories. 

Ben: We’d take a lot of night walks. At night, it’s quiet on campus, it’s safe. And it was spring, so the weather was really nice. I think those late-night memories are really fun. 

Ming: Watching the sunrise! We didn’t sleep one night, and then we, along with three other friends, just hung out all night and watched the sunrise. 

What have you done since graduation? Talk about your career paths. What are you doing now?

Ming: After graduate school, I started working in a bunch of settings, such as nursing homes, home health and schools. I always knew I loved working with kids, so of course my favorite setting was the schools. That’s where I decided to put my full-time job hours into, and then after school hours I would work in other settings. Right now, I’m actually on child care leave, so I’m just spending as much time with my baby as possible.

Ben: Luckily, I found an internship right before I graduated. From that internship, I was able to get a project management engineering job, working for a company that’s a consultant for the state. I worked there for a year and then got a job with a construction agency, working directly for the city. After that, I worked as a consultant for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority for about seven years. In April 2023, I left the engineering world and have been working full-time with digital content and photography. 

How did you become content creators, and how has BingBuzz evolved over the years? What’s your favorite thing about creating videos together?

Ming: During the pandemic, we found ourselves with some extra time because we couldn’t go out, so we decided that we could probably make something together.

Ben: We always wanted to have some kind of project or business later on in life, and we thought, maybe we should just get busy and do something. We live in Queens, where there’s a variety of food around, so we started doing photo shoots and collaborating with local restaurants. Initially, we were just doing it to build a photography client list, and then we started putting our work on social media and were really having fun with it. That’s the period when short-form content came out too — TikTok and Instagram reels — so we jumped on the opportunity to start those. It’s a medium where you get feedback right away, so it’s a lot of fun. We enjoyed studying trends and posting and just kept getting better at it, without much expectation.

Ming: In the beginning, we were posting about places to go and what we like to eat together. We wanted to share good spots with people. We still do that, but now we have a baby, so he’s been integrated into our content as well. Sometimes we just have him with us or we have a little snippet of him. And in the future, we’re going to look back and say, “Wow, look! Our baby was so small here.” Reflecting on our time at Stony Brook, we used to love all of those off-campus foods, but I don’t really remember exactly what we got there. I just remember the feeling that it was good. But now, if we look back at our videos, we can remember a lot more. 

Ben: Social media has evolved a lot since when we first started, so we’ve been navigating that too. It’s a lot of fun, and I might be editing videos all day. Ming might be reading emails and posting all day, and then at night, when we have dinner, we still sometimes can’t stop talking about it. It doesn’t really feel like work. We feel like we’re in a really good sweet spot right now.

-Rachel Steigerwald