Suki Lin: UNC’s hidden gem

UNC is filled with notable figures but there is one bright star on UNC’s YikYak: the corgi, Suki Lin. 

Suki first became known to the UNC community in the fall of 2023. The campus had been dealing with a tragedy after a shooting that resulted in the death of Professor Zijie Yan, so, understandably, anxieties were high and felt throughout campus. 

Within the student body, Brianna Martin, Suki’s owner, was among those who were shaken up by these events and wanted to spread the goodness that Suki brought her.

“Everybody was really struggling, and if she was making me feel better then I knew she would make others also feel better,” Martin said. 

Outside the steps of Wilson Library, which became Suki’s designated meeting spot, people would gather around to meet, pet and talk to Suki. 

Martin would post on both Suki’s Instagram @Sukilinthecorgi and YikYak to let the herd know when and where Suki would be on campus. 

The corgi that is named after characters from Avatar: The Last Airbender and Legend of Korra may have gotten her celebrity status at UNC through YikYak, but she has been loved for a long time. 

Suki is featured in Martin’s high school yearbook as the corgi who licked a freshman's face, a hazard that comes with being around Suki as she will take any opportunity to be as affectionate as possible.

Nathaniel Burchette, a sophomore at UNC and a friend of Suki’s since high school, recalls the first moment he met her. It was at a tennis match during his sophomore year of high school. 

Martin went up to Burchette and introduced Suki to him. She thrust Suki on him and went to the restroom, leaving him to greet the young children enthralled by Suki alone. 

As a corgi, Suki is easy to describe. When Charlotte Wilson, a Suki fan, was asked to describe her she said, “Oh, she’s a Diva!”

Known for her playful nature, one of Suki’s favorite schemes is enforcing a petting tax, where she will not allow people into Wilson Library unless they pet her. 

Great fashion sense also comes easily to Suki. When on a stroll on campus wearing her best pickle costume on Halloween, she got stopped by UNC football players who asked Martin, "Is that a dog in a pickle costume?"

“The football team was on a losing streak at that time, and I was like ‘Now you’re going to win because you’ve met Suki in her pickle costume’,” Martin said. “Guess what they did? They won the next day. Look at Suki go!”

The pickle costume was one of Suki’s most viral moments as she was photographed and posted all over YikYak.

As part of UNC’s cohort, Suki tends to gravitate toward the geography building, and if she were a student at UNC that would be her major, according to Martin. 

Martin said that, being the foodie Suki is, she would be spending her time at Chase Dining Hall where she would make use of her unlimited meal plan.

Like every major celebrity, Suki has received her share of hate. 

“I knew that Suki had made it whenever people started hating on her,” Martin said. 

Within anonymous applications like YikYak, there is always a subspace of people who will choose to spread hate, yet Martin has taken this on the chin by replying to said comments in a joking matter and moving Suki primarily towards her Instagram account.  

Suki has created a community for people. Wilson said that through Suki she has found a great friend in Martin and that Suki has left nothing but a positive impact on her life. 

“Me and Suki are both just girls and I have no malicious intentions bringing Suki. It's genuinely innocent and I just want to spread joy where I can,” Martin said.

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