The Creator Class
Growing their social media audience one viral video at a time, these Rice students and alumni are redefining connection.
By Deverly Pérez
The impulse to connect, share and perform is a human constant, but the tools are ever-changing. Just as students once wrote ’zines or started blogs, a new generation of Owls is building community and forging careers in the global town squares of Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and other social media platforms. In transforming their interests into pages that educate, entertain and empower, they are part of the fast-rising creator economy, valued in the ballpark of $190 billion to $250 billion globally. They are demystifying college admissions, championing sustainable fashion and building Pokémon empires, all while carrying the Rice spirit of intellectual curiosity and community into the digital age.
The College Guru
Melody Dao ’26
@studyforyoubestie on TikTok and Instagram
Melody Dao ’26 (Will Rice) has become a trusted online bestie for her 100,000 followers looking for advice on the college application process. From her own experience earning a full ride to Rice, she offers free, practical advice, building a supportive community that has helped students gain admission to top universities nationwide.
What inspired you to first hit ‘post’ and start sharing your content online? What first inspired me was honestly, curiosity. During quarantine I realized that social media is such a powerful, free way to not only share my own story but also give others a platform. I had learned so much from creators online and wanted to be that kind of resource for someone else.
What was missing in the advice you found when you were going through the college application process? When I was applying to college, I noticed a huge gap in advice that was both trustworthy and simple. A lot of what I saw online was either fear-mongering for clicks or overly complicated, so I wanted to share what I’d learned in a clear, supportive way. My goal became to make that information free and accessible — no gatekeeping.
How has your time at Rice contributed to your path? As a business major minoring in data science and entrepreneurship, I naturally love systems and structure but also moving at a fast pace. That shows up in my content — spreadsheets, templates and step-by-step guides — because I want to make college application processes feel less overwhelming and more actionable.
Do you consider yourself an influencer or a content creator, and why? I think the term influencer has gotten a bit of a negative connotation recently, even though I still see it as a powerful word. Everyone has influence in some way — it’s about the ability to shift perspectives and inspire action. To me, an influencer is someone whose opinions people genuinely listen to, while a content creator focuses on the content itself, making videos that move people. I am a content creator and I also believe my work is influential. I don’t really care about the labels. What matters is that I’m creating something meaningful that helps students grow.
The Open Book
Priya Armour ’26
@priarmour on TikTok and Instagram
Priya Armour ’26 (Sid Rich) began creating content to share her life at Rice and quickly built a community around her journey. Having just wrapped up her final fall semester studying abroad in London, she continues to document her experience as a pre-med student for her 340,000 TikTok followers.
What inspired you to first hit ‘post’ and start sharing your life online? I was thinking about my journey to college. Moving from a small town, I was really scared of what Rice would be like. I turned to social media, but there were very few resources online that were accurate about what the university was like. I thought about what I wish I had known and what things I have come to love about Rice and decided to share with the internet.
How do you navigate setting boundaries between your online persona and your offline life? I take time for myself whenever I need it. My content is not about numbers; I’m okay with losing followers if it means protecting my mental health. I’m not afraid to tell people that life doesn’t always go your way, and I think that’s allowed me to stay levelheaded online.
How has your time at Rice contributed to your path? The community at Rice has taught me it’s okay to ask for help, to suffer setbacks and not to be perfect. This is at the core of my content, and I don’t think I would be this open if it had not been for my friends and mentors at Rice.
What’s been the biggest surprise from your growing platform? Every year when freshmen arrive on campus, I meet so many new students who have seen my content. Many of them tell me my videos are the reason they applied or even committed to Rice. Knowing I played that big of a role in their lives and then getting to meet them and connect has definitely been the coolest thing about making content.
The Pokémon Pro
Michael Groth ’17
@MandJTV on YouTube and TikTok; @mandjtv_michael on Instagram
At the age of 14, Michael Groth ’17 (Baker) launched his YouTube channel, MandJTV, to make comedy sketches with his younger brother. The hobby followed him to Rice, where his channel soon went viral. Today, he has expanded that single channel into a trio of successful YouTube channels — MandJTV, MandJTV Plays and MandJTV Extra — which have a combined 4 million subscribers and are built on a lifelong passion for Pokémon, the wildly popular cartoon and game franchise in which players collect, train, battle and trade fictional creatures.
What was the initial spark that inspired you to start creating content about Pokémon specifically? I actually made my YouTube channel [in June 2009], four years before I started making Pokémon videos. The pivot to Pokémon happened the summer before I came to Rice. I was watching other creators and saw one listing his top 10 favorite Pokémon, and I thought, “I want to be funny while I talk about my top 10 favorite Pokémon.” I made a video, “How Old Is Ash Ketchum?,” in 2013 and it slowly built momentum. In December of my freshman year, it became my first video to pass 1 million views. From that point on, I was like, “This should be my main focus.” I was better at it, and I enjoyed it more.
What was the turning point when you decided to make this a career? My first three years at Rice, it was like, okay, the degree is my job, and YouTube is my hobby. And then, my senior year, they flipped. The summer after my junior year, [the launch of the interactive game] Pokémon Go created a “rising tide lifts all ships” effect — my old “How Old Is Ash Ketchum?” video got triple the views in one day in 2016 than on its best day in 2013. I [was] working an engineering internship I did not like ... and from YouTube, I was making more money than an engineer’s starting salary. My parents were very scared, [but] I told my mom, the difference between [other people who are chasing their dreams] and me is that I’ve already made it. I decided to finish my degree and then went full time with YouTube immediately.
How did your time at Rice contribute to your path? The best thing Rice gave me was community. The residential college system was the biggest selling point for me because it guarantees you a community. I’m still very good friends with a lot of people who I may not have become friends with if not for how Rice is designed. The community that I forged there has been incredibly valuable, not only for my mental health, but also for being able to keep doing a sometimes isolating job for a very long time.
Do you consider yourself an influencer or a content creator, and why? My girlfriend was telling me a story and said, “Yeah, I told them that my boyfriend does social media.” And I went, “What? Social media? How dare you! I am an artist!” I personally prefer content creator. But even more specifically, I just prefer the term creator. … I got into YouTube because I wanted to be creative. The influencing is a side effect.
If you had to assign a Pokémon type to your residential college, Baker, what would they be and why? This is really easy. Baker is clearly a fire type. It’s red. It’s got the “Hell, yeah.” It’s got the hell car with flames all over it — the devil’s kind of the mascot. Maybe you could argue it’d be a fire/dark type, but it’s fun there, so I think Baker is just pure fire.
The Cultural Ambassador
Sissi Stahlecker ’29
@saishenxian16 on RedNote
Freshman Sissi Stahlecker ’29 (Wiess) from Beijing has carved out a unique niche as a cultural translator. With over 10,000 followers on RedNote, a Chinese social media and e-commerce platform that combines features of Instagram and Pinterest, she provides a real-life look at navigating college in the U.S. to her global audience through her videos.
What inspired you to start sharing your college journey online? I started making content on RedNote in high school to record memories and share my experiences. I noticed there weren’t many vlogs that gave a real sense of student life, so I decided to open a YouTube account to share my college experience with prospective students, starting with videos like my college acceptance reaction, college move-in and O-Week.
What has been the most rewarding part of guiding other students through your content? I genuinely take pleasure in editing my videos, posting them online and seeing the positive feedback from the internet community. Whether a video gets views or not, it feels good to know that prospective students will have resources to get a better sense of life at Rice. Also, an extra bonus will always be the sponsorships and pocket money I earn through the videos.
Do you consider yourself an influencer or a content creator, and why? I consider myself both. To me, the difference between the two labels lies in intention and impact. A content creator focuses on producing and sharing ideas, stories or visuals; an influencer goes a step further by using that content to spark change, whether it’s shifting someone’s mindset or boosting their confidence.
The Trendsetter
Victoria Roman ’27
@vickyvvv.com on TikTok; @victoria.m.roman on Instagram
A viral sensation by the age of 16, Victoria Roman ’27 (Duncan) transformed a hit video on TikTok into a deep understanding of digital audience engagement, growing her accounts across TikTok and Instagram to almost 200,000 total followers.
What inspired you to first hit ‘post’ and start sharing your life online? In my sophomore year of high school, I posted a silly 7-second video to a trending audio, and it blew up. I was just starting to discover my love for marketing and I thought, “I can definitely do this again.” By the time I had 100,000 followers on TikTok, I knew it was time to conquer Instagram — perhaps I could tap into my own life to drive longer forms of content? As soon as I did that, not only did my numbers skyrocket, but I enjoyed creating content that much more.
How do you strike a balance between posting about college life and posting about general lifestyle interests? I try to align my content with the relatability of the college experience, more specifically, the struggles. We can all find comfort in our own blunders. However, lifestyle and fashion content make up most of my rotation because I have more to draw from. I’m extremely passionate about my short hair and creating my style out of vintage clothing.
How has your time at Rice contributed to your path? [My] classes taught me analytical approaches to creative problem solving, which I use in everything I create. Even classes like improvisation taught me how to be more confident in front of a camera, project my speech, and improve my body language and the gestures I use.
What has been the biggest surprise about being a content creator? Seeing my videos get recognized by celebrities. It boggles my mind that SZA has liked two of my reels. I joke around to my friends that we’re besties.
The Sustainable Stylist
Ally Purugganan ’23
@allyduhrey on YouTube and TikTok; @allyysophia on Instagram
For Ally Purugganan ’23, being in front of the camera feels natural. She’s been making videos since she was a child, but at Rice, the Brownie-turned-Wiessman transformed her love for fashion into a full-time career on YouTube as a content creator focusing on sustainable fashion with over 1 million subscribers.
When did your content start gaining real traction? I made a “Thrift with me at 7am” video where I started by getting up at 5 a.m. I mentioned in it that I had an exam later that day but was still going to thrift before. I think that was a great hook. That first TikTok went viral in December 2022 … but when TikTok was getting banned at public universities, I decided to move to YouTube to protect my audience — and because you can actually make money there. I posted my first “Thrift with me at 7am” on YouTube in February 2023, and that video also went relatively viral.
How did your time at Rice contribute to your path? Mostly, it’s the skills of determination and being hard-working. Having to balance being a Rice student with difficult classes and multiple extracurriculars taught me a lot. I do so many different jobs — filming, strategy, co-editing, working with brands. As a Rice student, I definitely learned how to push through.
Was focusing on sustainable fashion a conscious choice from the beginning? My whole life I’ve loved fashion; I was the girl carrying 20 bags out of the Galleria. But in 2020, I saw infographics about how bad fast fashion is. I got really deep into sustainability, and the immediate question was, “If I love fashion, how can I do it in a way that doesn’t harm the earth?” So I got into thrifting. It’s great for a lot of reasons, but for me, the biggest is the sustainability aspect.
Do you consider yourself an influencer or a content creator, and why? I would never call myself an influencer. I call myself a YouTuber, primarily, since it is my biggest platform. I see a lot of people criticizing influencers as a monolith, and I don’t like people thinking I exist within that. The content I make is very creative; it’s putting out something in the world that not a lot of people are doing, and it’s inspiring young women.
From the Winter 2026 issue of Rice Magazine