Brandon Axelrod
NEED TO KNOW
A New York City surgical resident with $400,000 in student loans is turning his childhood talent for balloon art into an online side hustle
Brandon Axelrod began sharing his creations online in January 2026 during his limited free time
While it won't pay off his debt overnight, the 27-year-old enjoys that it has become both a supplemental income and a creative outlet amid the "grueling" demands of residency
Most surgical residents spend their rare free hours sleeping, studying or calculating how long it will take to chip away at their debt.Brandon Axelrod, however, uses his little spare time twisting balloons into pirates, pop stars and even medical instruments.
With $400,000 in student loans and three-and-a-half years of residency left, the 27-year-old figured he might as well put his childhood talent to use and see if it could do more than just entertain. If he's going to be buried in nearly half a million dollars of debt, he might as well have some fun digging himself out. "So much of my positive support is from other healthcare professionals commending me for staying true to my passions," Axelrod tells PEOPLE exclusively.
Long before scalpels and operating rooms, Axelrod was dealing with card tricks and coin illusions. "I started with magic, as most do, around 5 years old. Small-scale, impromptu and low budget tricks were the name of the game," he recalls.
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By age 8, Axelrod had persuaded his parents to enroll him in formal lessons at a small magic shop on Long Island. He took it seriously, studying not just tricks but the discipline and psychology behind becoming a true magician. Soon he was performing at events, building both skill and confidence.
Balloon art entered the picture around age 10, when Axelrod, once again, convinced his parents to let him expand his repertoire. He started off with dogs, swords, and flowers until one pivotal moment during a live performance. "I remember the first time someone had asked me for a monkey during a live performance, and I remember the feeling of telling them 'I don't know how', " he says. "That must have been the motivating factor I needed to begin pushing the boundaries of what I thought was possible with balloon twisting."
From that point forward, he promised himself he would never decline a request again.
Brandon Axelrod
That promise turned into years of deliberate practice and increasingly complex creations, from Buzz Lightyear to Elmo to aliens to Bluey, as Axelrod's weekends became filled with birthday parties, block parties and religious celebrations.
By the time he was attending dental school on Long Island, Axelrod was well known across Nassau and Suffolk counties and could book events without much advertising. Now, as an Oral and Maxillofacial surgical resident in Manhattan, the pace is different.
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Brandon Axelrod
Although residents are paid, the salary stretches thin against rent, food, and daily expenses in one of the most expensive cities in the country — especially when loans approach $400,000. Axelrod's grueling schedule makes booking weekend gigs nearly impossible.
Still, he saw another route. "I was well aware that social media is an established method of supplemental income through monetization," he shares. Instead of party bookings, he pivoted to viral videos, monetizing through social platforms "with hopes of landing the right brand deals."
Brandon Axelrod
The early results have surprised even him, especially after earning around $700 in just three weeks and gaining over 75,000 followers on TikTok and Instagram since his first video on Jan. 23.
Axelrod does admit, however, that production for his balloon art isn't cheap. "My materials are expensive since the highest quality is needed to accommodate the demanding designs," he explains.
Intricate sculptures put balloons under serious stress, and certain specialty items are already running low. Still, he's working largely from a stockpile built over years of performing.
Brandon Axelrod
Over time, Axelrod's creations have also grown more ambitious and now include life-size figures that take one to two hours to complete. "My favorite piece to date is my life-size pirate and life-size Bad Bunny," he reveals. Recently, he merged his medical world with his artistic one, crafting a five-foot-long lidocaine syringe as a gift for his attending surgeon.
When asked how long he thinks it will take to wipe out his $400,000 in student loans, Axelrod says he is unsure — but he's hoping that continued growth and aligned brand deals will accelerate the process.
For now, the balloon artist and surgeon sees the project as both financial strategy and emotional lifeline. His advice to fellow residents is practical and personal. "Live below your means. Begin working with wealth managers and companies early who have experience working with healthcare professionals," Axelrod tells PEOPLE in regard to managing debt. "Also, I love the idea of residents keeping up with their longstanding hobbies during their training in any capacity that they can."
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