By Neneh Burnside

From documenting a typical day on campus to sharing personal interests and experiences that attract thousands to millions of views, some University of Maryland students turn ordinary moments into content that reaches audiences beyond the classroom.

While some students view content creation as a potential career or business opportunity, others see it as a way to document their lives, connect with people and explore their interests that go beyond a career.

Rafaelle Douma Ze, a junior finance and marketing major, said she started documenting her everyday life four years ago to preserve memories. She posts lifestyle and beauty content, including “get ready with me” videos and glimpses into her life on TikTok and Instagram.

“I just always find an interest in recording my life … I want to remember the moment,” Douma Ze said.

She also hopes viewers take something meaningful away from her videos.

“I feel like it’s more so about the influence that you have rather than the follower count,” Douma Ze said.

During her sophomore year, Douma Ze said she felt pressure to post daily, which she said eventually affected her grades.

“If I have an assignment to do, and I want to do a video, but the assignment is due, I’m going to do the assignment because I’m here to get my degree,” Ze said.

Content creation has also given her opportunities like attending pop-up events hosted by Coach and Spotify in Washington, D.C. with her roommate, who also creates content.

Douma Ze said prioritizing her responsibilities and relying on her faith have helped her manage competing demands.

“I feel like prioritizing what’s important has definitely helped, and just knowing that God got you, because things get hard,” Douma Ze said.

Brian Nguyen, a UMD graduate with a bachelor’s degree in family science, said he turned to social media to promote his barbering business after starting to cut hair during his freshman year.

After a friend suggested using social media to promote his work, Nguyen started posting haircut videos.

“At first I was like, ‘Nah I don’t really need it,’ but you can’t knock it till you try it,” Nguyen said.

He posts before-and-after haircut videos and clips showing his process on Tiktok and Instagram, which he said helped him gain clients and grow his business.

He said he often prioritized his business over his schoolwork, despite trying to schedule time for each responsibility.

“I feel like knowing that I was gonna cut hair full-time made me not prioritize my homework and schoolwork as much,” Nguyen said.

By his senior year, Nguyen said he had begun recognizing the importance of managing his responsibilities.

When describing what he learned from creating content, Nguyen said, “time management and learning to stay consistent even on the days that I don’t feel like doing it.”

After graduating, Nguyen began pursuing barbering full time. He said now he hopes to grow his online audience, earn money from his videos and eventually build a team of barbers.

Elena Power, a sophomore mathematics and economics major, first started creating content in high school to share math tutorials showing viewers how to solve different math concepts. She now posts academic content and moments of her college life on Tiktok and Instagram, including ‘study with me’ and ‘day in my life’ videos.

Power said she prioritizes schoolwork but fits content creation into her schedule when she has time. She said she posts once a week or every other week during the school year.

“Right now I just want it to be a hobby,” Power said. “I’m trying to find things that’s  something I can do outside of school to recharge.”

Power’s videos have reached audiences beyond her family and friends. A video ranking AP classes received about 1 million views, while another showing the clothes she packed for college received more than 400,000 views.

Her videos have helped her connect with high school students considering UMD and freshmen looking for advice about college.

“I really like talking to them and giving them advice, what I can,” Power said.

She said creating content encouraged her to explore campus and participate in activities she might not otherwise have tried. She hopes to continue expanding her content beyond academics.

“It’s literally just for fun and [I don’t] worry about views and stuff like that because I feel that’s when it becomes not fun; it’s when you start overly tracking how people respond to it,” Power said. “It should be what you like.”

Shelton Alexander, a junior international business and marketing major, began creating content during his freshman year to document his college experience. He uses TikTok to share his experiences at UMD, while YouTube allows him to create longer videos about his personal life.

Alexander documents campus events, student activities and college life through his Meta glasses, smart glasses with a built-in camera that allow him to record videos hands-free.

“I just enjoy doing it. Even if I don’t have an end result and I just keep doing it, it takes a lot of time, but I enjoy every second of that process,” Alexander said.

Alexander said his Christian faith is a central motivation behind his content and he hopes to use his platform to influence others.

“Just to use my platform to tell people about Jesus. That’s the biggest thing for me,” Alexander said. “If I’m not using my platform for that, what’s the point?”

Although Alexander aims to post daily, he said editing videos can take four to six hours, making it difficult to balance content creation with schoolwork.

“I don’t think I’ve ever put it above [school], but I did prioritize it,” Alexander said.

Despite the challenges, Alexander said his videos have connected with prospective students who ask about UMD dorms and admissions.

He said creating content encouraged him to try new campus activities.

His advice to students interested in creating content is simple: “Have fun with it.” He encourages students to explore campus, try new activities and document their college experience.

Featured Image: Rafaelle Douma Ze (top left), Shelton Alexander (top right), Brian Nguyen (bottom left), Elena Power (bottom right). Photos by Neneh Burnside.