In our current digital and cultural age, Harvard students are making their mark not only in academics but also online, cultivating followings across various social media platforms. From YouTube vlogs to TikToks, Harvard content creators have leveraged their unique Harvard experiences to inspire and connect with audiences within the college and worldwide.
Helen Piltner ’25
Helen Piltner ’25 was inspired by the college acceptance and reaction videos she would watch on YouTube, sparking her desire to one day post her own. Her “College Decisions Reaction” video went viral, amassing 1.9 million views on a YouTube channel that now has over 50 thousand subscribers. “I wanted to mess around with some vlogs,” she explained, discussing her decision to continue content creation once arriving at Harvard since her reaction video received the attention it did. “I also wanted to get into showing the parts of Harvard College life that other creators had not done so far.”
Piltner decided to include her friends in her vlogs, posting day-in-the-life videos, gameday vlogs, and move-in updates. “Freshmen started coming up to me and said that I was the reason they decided to come to Harvard. That was really inspiring, and that’s why I continue to do it to this day.”
It took time for Piltner to get used to filming, but with time, the impact of her videos made the process easier for her. “I was so awkward on camera at first. Asking my friends and random people to be in my videos is very nerve-wracking,” Piltner said. “But, I think it’s nice knowing that I started these types of vlogs at Harvard, and it’s inspired others to maybe do the same wherever they go to school.”
“The impact has been really good for what my intended target audience is. A lot of those people happen to be people who end up coming to Harvard, which is really nice,” she explained. “I’ll have a few people come up to me just once in a while, especially during Visitas and move-in periods and they’ll be like, ‘Hey, are you Helen?’ Or, ‘Hey, are you that YouTuber? I’ve watched all your videos in high school. I really liked seeing what Harvard is like,’ and that’s why they said they decided to come.”
In addition to seeing the impact her videos had on her audience, Piltner has also experienced changes in her own life, learning important life lessons while running her channel. “It’s been nice to look back on the memories with my previous videos, and I’ve seen how I’ve changed myself over time,” she said. “Thankfully, my friends are really supportive of it. Because of YouTube, I started to become financially independent of my parents in college, which is really great. It’s taught me building strategy in terms of business, owning a YouTube channel, financial skills, and more social skills.”
Piltner’s advice to future Harvard content creators is to make sure they know the reason why they are pursuing the venture. “If it’s for clout or just for money, that will get you nowhere. You really have to think about the underlying mission of why you’re doing this.”
Elio Kennedy-Yoon ’25
Elio Kennedy-Yoon ’25’s Internet fame came accidentally. A singer and former producer for Harvard’s jazz acappella group the Din & Tonics, Kennedy-Yoon’s video covering “Copacabana” on the group’s TikTok page launched him into the spotlight, amassing over 20 million views and 2.5 million likes.
Before the viral video, his social media usage was average, posting the “obligatory” Instagram semester dump. On TikTok, Kennedy-Yoon posted a “video journal” for himself and his 50 friends following his gender affirmation journey. This diary documented surgical before and afters, including the moment he got his bandages off and saw his transformed chest for the first time. Two weeks after his procedure, he went viral: “I think people love to see a gender-ambiguous, slightly racially ambiguous, person who has the Harvard label. Also, I think the tux does wonders.”
“This is for the Dins,” he felt, focusing on the positive attention the group received as a whole from the viral video. For instance, upon arriving in Asia for their performance tour after recovering from his chest reconstruction, Kennedy-Yoon felt the public energy towards their performance rise exponentially. “The crowds were insane. The people were very kind and very nice, but I was like, ‘Holy shit! The people really want to see the Dins!’ Collegiate jazz, are you serious?”
The Din & Tonics currently have 158.9k followers on TikTok and 74.3k followers on Instagram, making them the most-followed acapella group at Harvard. Their international tour was well-received, with packed shows throughout their travels. “People screamed. They knew our names, and people gave us gifts. It was insane,” Kennedy-Yoon described. “We had to sneak out the back when we were leaving, and people ran after us and surrounded our bus and were knocking on the windows asking for pictures.”
Yet, despite this newfound fame and the positive attention he received from it, Kennedy-Yoon also felt the negative effects of social media, with people making “horrifically” transphobic comments on his page and criticizing his pro-Palestinian stance. He admitted, “I got a lot of negative comments weaponizing my queerness as a reason why I shouldn’t be against genocide. It was really jarring and disturbing for the first few weeks to see how much people hate trans people and [speak toward] trans and queer people with such vehemence.”
“Despite viewing myself as an apolitical figure, people will view me as inherently politicized because of my identity, and I wondered if I should or should not lean into that,” Kennedy-Yoon elaborated.
After weeks of “reeling from death threats,” Kennedy-Yoon decided to not care as much about the comments he was receiving. “Some things still bother me. I hate when people try and use the biology argument to try and be transphobic.” However, considering his knowledge of the subject as a biology concentrator, Kennedy-Yoon ultimately learned that these comments are inaccurate and thus “not worth the time of day.”
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The opportunities the virality has presented for a potential future career in theater have made a huge difference in Kennedy-Yoon’s life. “People are reaching out and asking to do things, represent me, or for a photo shoot. I’m going to Korea in October because TikTok Korea wants me to and they’re flying me out, which is insane… I text [a family group chat] every time I’m recognized or asked for a picture because I still think it’s crazy. I don’t ever want to think this is normal.”
Kennedy-Yoon hopes that his followers that identify as trans or queer can look up to and relate to his journey. “I’ve had to be up front with transphobia and my identity. After I blew up, I was like, ‘Maybe because I’m so publicly perceived, I should stop posting about my journey.’ But I ultimately settled on the decision that people should see this and see a queer person who has had options for gender affirming care, and that I sing, and all of the things that I like,” he said. “If I can make one more person feel comfortable with their identity or in their body, it will have been worth it. It’s all worth it if I can just do that for one trans kid somewhere.”
Olivia Zhang ’27
Olivia Zhang ’27 started creating content a month before starting her first year at Harvard. Zhang always had a keen interest in social media given her social media background, including running 75 accounts for different companies and nonprofits. She credits this for her ability to understand social media marketing, algorithms, and self-promotion.
Zhang is the founder and executive director of the largest youth-led nonprofit organization helping kids with cancer, Cancer Kids First. After creating her non-profit, Zhang hoped to build a platform to encourage other young people to get involved with service. She saw her acceptance into Harvard and other top institutions as a way to break into the content creation scene. “I started out on YouTube first, posting my college decision reaction video, and then I told everybody to follow my TikTok in the comments, and then I posted my Harvard decision reaction video [on TikTok], and then that went viral, and then I just built my brand around nonprofits and my life at Harvard.”
Cancer Kids First works towards normalizing the hospital environment and providing a loving community for pediatric cancer patients and their families. Zhang uses her platform to give nonprofit-related advice and posts about her daily life at Harvard, “whether it’s a day-in-the-life or get ready with [her], and then also advice on college applications.”
This summer, Zhang’s TikTok profile, @livviazhang, reached a following of 100k. She explained how she frequently forgets the gravity of just how many people 100k actually is: “Getting to meet people or go out on the street and have people recognize me is a really cool feeling [knowing] that people from random places and of diverse backgrounds are watching my videos. I would say overall, 90 percent have been very positive comments, and people are really nice about it and supportive.”
While appreciating her immense amount of positive, fan-based support, she couldn’t help but acknowledge the lingering presence of judgment toward her content in her daily life. “I guess some people will judge me based off of the videos that they see, and so they might talk about it… When I meet people, sometimes they will tell me, ‘Oh, based on first impressions, I thought you were gonna be a certain way, but you’re different in real life.’”
Zhang believes there’s a culture at Harvard that encourages students to not become content creators. She described how the “connotation of influencers at Harvard is not good.” To dismantle this prevailing image, Zhang urges those interested in content creation at Harvard to “diversify and show all parts of life.” Her platform boasts a variety of content from daily routines and gym workouts, to partying and socializing, to academic, professional, and college-related content. Zhang attributes her success online to her authenticity in her personality and advises others to “letting people see all sides of yourself, rather than only sticking to Harvard’s content.” Zhang’s content emphasizes the importance of balance for current students and aspiring leaders.
Elise Pham ’26
Elise Pham ’26 started her content creation off with lifestyle vlogs, showcasing what she was doing on a day-to-day basis at Harvard. However, with time, she realized that this content was not exactly what she was interested in sharing. “I came to realize that this wasn’t fulfilling to me because it didn’t align with my values. Service is one of my top values… If I’m going to have such a big platform, [I thought], ‘How can I use it in a way that will actually help people?’”
Pham found her niche in posting about college admissions and academics, leading her to create her business, Ultimate Ivy League Guide, offering students exclusive access to her mentorship and resources during their admissions cycles. “I grew up as a child of a single immigrant father. I didn’t necessarily have a lot of resources and mentorship regarding the college application process, and in my high school, over half of the students were so economically disadvantaged, and so navigating the college admissions process was extremely difficult for me,” Pham explained, discussing her decision to start the Guide. “These elite institutions like Harvard have the responsibility to cultivate the next generation of leaders, but how can we help students from lower income families to also reach their fullest potential? That’s why I started posting a lot of college admission videos and I provide a lot of free guides and courses.”
The Ultimate Ivy League Guide has grown to amass 64.9k followers and 1.2 million likes on TikTok, and her Instagram page has over 477k followers. Pham’s personal TikTok has a large following of over 153k followers as well. However, originally, her intentions were not to become the Harvard content creator she is today. “I wanted a personal diary that I could look back on, and I honestly am very grateful that I did do that. Whenever I look back on my freshman year vlogs, I remind myself where I was at that time and how much I have changed since then.”
Pham has found difficulty in balancing running her business while being a student. “I spend a lot more time on my business than I do with school. I work during the summers between 60 to 80 hours a week, and then during the school year I work between 30 to 40 hours per week.” Because of this, Pham decided the next best decision for her was to take a full gap semester to continue growing her company.
“I’m focused on empowering the next generation of leaders and really building a program that will help millions of students. My purpose is to really help students, especially younger high school students who don’t have resources to navigate the college application process.”
Pham’s advice is similar to Piltner’s for those considering content creation: know why you are doing it. “The reason why [most people] create content is because they want clout. I think initially I got caught up in that, especially whenever videos go viral, but that’s not what I was trying to go for… I post and try to grow my content platforms as an opportunity to help more students.”
Tarah Gilles ’25
Tarah Gilles ’25 initially got into content creation in hopes of finding a way to creatively document her time at Harvard. Most of her content, Gilles explained, are YouTube videos that serve as a time capsule of day-to-day life during her time at Harvard. She also focuses on “events going on at the College that [she feels] like you wouldn’t necessarily have insight into unless you were attending the College.” Gilles noted her “Housing Day” video to be one of her biggest hits.
When reflecting on the impact that content creation has had on her life, Gilles noted that she tends to be a very reserved person, but has appreciated the ways in which her online presence has been “a good way to build a community.” Gilles has also found that the creative outlet has taught her about editing, visual effects, and different media. “[Through] the process of figuring out video capturing and film, I think I’ve learned a lot of transferable skills.”
Gilles draws inspiration from the kind of content she engaged with before attending Harvard. “When I was coming to Harvard, I watched videos like this all the time, but I was so thankful to kind of get that insider perspective, and it really helped me make my decision.”
Providing a similar perspective through her own content has been important to Gilles. She hopes that, whether her viewers are “someone who wants to potentially come here, or someone completely different in their 30s or older,” they can gain a sense of what Harvard culture looks like.
To Gilles, perspective is one of the most important attributes of content creation. “I think what’s really unique about the content creators is from each person, you’ll see a very different perspective, because we all have our own little flair and the way that we like to present things and film.”
Whether through personal diaries, educational advice, or social activism, students like Piltner, Kennedy-Yoon, Zhang, Pham, and Gilles are reshaping perceptions of content creation within our community and beyond.
Layla Chaaraoui ’26 (laylachaaraoui@college.harvard.edu) watched Kennedy-Yoon get stopped for a photo after their interview.
Rania Jones ’27 (rjones@college.harvard.edu) is a frequent viewer of @livviazhang.