Empowering students to tell their stories through digital media.
The Content Lab is an in-house creative team at the Harvard College Office of Admissions and Financial Aid that I established in 2021. The program’s goal is to address misperceptions about Harvard by empowering students to tell their stories through creative media. By creating digital content that prospective college students can identify with, we communicate useful information, perspectives, and ideas that help students apply to the right schools for them. View a sampling of projects from the Content Lab below.
By building an efficient ideation, production, and review process for social media content, we have organically earned over fifteen million views across TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram in just two years, and our TikTok channel has grown from 0 to over 175,000 followers.
Harvard sophomore Kiani Akina ‘25 reacts to herself as a first-year student. This video is meant to demonstrate the transformative nature of the Harvard undergraduate experience. This video was filmed vertically and horizontally, so it is available on TikTok as well. I was the videographer, editor, and producer for this project.
The Harvard College First-Year Retreat & Experience Pre-Orientation Program (FYRE)
Cinematographer, Producer, Editor
FYRE aims to provide first-generation, low-income, and underrepresented first-year students with the resources and community to feel supported, celebrated, and ready to take ownership of your Harvard experience. I produced, filmed, and edited this project in collaboration with student and staff organizers to highlight the program’s benefits and the welcoming and supportive community of first generation students at Harvard College.
Welcome Class of 2027!
Producer, Editor
Every year, I create a video to welcome the newly admitted undergraduate class. The video is produced in horizontal and vertical formats to fit multiple platforms. It is also included in the email which notifies students of their admission to Harvard College. This video was shot by a student under my supervision, and I produced and edited the project.
A Message from the Dean of Harvard College
Videographer, Editor
As a special welcome address to newly admitted students in the class of 2028, Dean Rakesh Khurana wanted to share an inspirational message of inclusion and belonging to help students understand that Harvard College can be their home. As videographer and editor for this project, I ensured this project had elevated production value to show Dean Rakesh in more official or professional capacity. This contrasts with much of the marketing content I produce at Harvard College, which tends to mimic user generated content seen on social media platforms.
The video is also available in vertical formats.
College Essay Tips + Writing your Best College Essay
Videographer, Producer, Editor
This video exemplifies the style and strategy underlying much of the content I produce at Harvard College. The Admissions Office is well positioned to provide information about the college application process, and I found existing student generated content lacked useful and accurate information about writing an application essay. To fill this unmet demand, I partnered with a student influencer to create an informational video that adopted many common aesthetics found in the student generated content our audience typically consumes. By adopting these aesthetics, optimizing the video title and thumbnail, and treating YouTube like a social media platform, I leveraged the platform’s organic discovery features to attain a 10% click-through-rate and reach over 100,000 viewers. I subsequently cut the video into three short segments and published each on TikTok, collectively earning an additional 200,000 views.
Harvard Students Answer the Web's Most Searched Questions
Producer
This video was produced by a student intern under my supervision. I have long been inspired by WIRED magazine’s Auto-Complete Interview series and thought it would be a great way to showcase the diverse perspectives of Harvard students while tackling some of the most common questions our office receives. I assigned this project to an intern and guided them through the production process such that the video could be delivered on time.
Weld Hall Dorm Tour
Videographer, Producer, Editor
I found a distinct lack of official content about what Harvard College residence halls are like. I wanted to fix that, so I partnered with student tour guides who wanted to share their living space with prospective students. The style of the video is meant to resonate with gen-z viewers who primarily consume content over the internet. This specific example was made in collaboration with the Harvard College Dean of Students office, which also identified a need for dorm tour content. The title, thumbnail, and overall style of the video make the content more discoverable to our intended audience. The dorm tours I produce are among the top video results when searching for terms such as “Harvard dorm” or “Harvard dorm tour”.