Dr Lily Rosewater designs websites, brand assets, and has a service for social media on demand at her company, Pitch Science. I knew she’d be a great expert to share with you. She joins me live from Australia to talk about what it means to be a visible expert for scientists and researchers.
Lily is an expert for scientist websites, social media, and branding through her company, Pitch Science. What about you? What would it mean to be more visible as an expert yourself? We talk about how many academics are known in their communities, but hidden online. Are you one of the HiddenExperts™? Whether it’s been intentional for you or not, you may want people to find you and your research online. Lily can help you too.
This interview will be also be shared on Spotify soon.
Bio
Dr Lily Rosewater is a science communicator, neuroscientist, and founder of Pitch Science. Armed with experience in both scientific research and digital marketing, Lily helps life science organisations and individual scientists share their brilliant ideas with the public to produce meaningful change.
Lily Rosewater, PhD
At Pitch Science, she turns science into stories through her purposeful, strategic, and human-centred online science content. Lily’s branding and website design services transform HiddenExperts™️ into VisibleExperts, so that scientists and science brands are ready to guide online conversations and get their work seen by those who matter. She is also empowering scientists to do science communication themselves and extend their reach beyond traditional academic channels with science communication training sessions and her Pitch Lab community. Because the more research expertise is shared online, the more it benefits everyone.
What do you dream about your online presence that you’re not at now? Is there something you think you want in the future, but you just can’t see it happening? Feel like it will take more work than you have capacity for right now?
That’s how I felt about my blog/podcast/updating my website. At one point, I felt not good about each of these things. You see, website updates are something that can happen anytime. For professors that might include adding a new publication or speaking engagement.
But when there are substantive changes you dream about? Or a new project? Sometimes that list of to-do’s can add up. That makes it more than updating what you already have.
For your online presence, that might look like doing an overhaul of your LinkedIn profile. Writing a new academic bio or faculty profile. Doing a professional photoshoot for photos of you.
So what sparked taking action for me? Doing it for myself wasn’t enough. It’s when I thought about who this would help, the people who were involved. Which is you! The readers! And all the academics to come.
I was open about the fact that I was behind on this with my friends, Brittany Trinh and Jennifer Ho. They happened to need to update their websites too. I ended up hosting a coworking day for us. It was fun to do it together, each of us using our energy towards better communication. Sharing a clear representation of who we are on our websites is always a good use of time.
That’s true for clients I work with on their websites. We’re doing it together. The process of dreaming can make it beautiful. If you have a friend or colleague who is also interested in their online presence, I encourage you to do it together and cheer each other on too.
That’s one thing I love about websites: it allows me to create an open source trove of articles and interviews that people can find, and people do find, even years after they’ve been shared.
I’m sharing this story with you because of what came after my redesign, when there was no more to-do list and I had space to think and dream again. That’s when creative opportunity sparked.
I want to have more conversations with professors, grad students, researchers, the people who help them… because telling our own stories is really powerful.
When we can build community and share what we’re open about with people in ways that could help them, we have to make that work for our lives. It has to be doable within our creative constraints, equipment, budget, tech, skills, and time. There are all these things that might impact how we feel about our dreams.
For me, having my podcast has always been not consistent. I don’t release episodes on a set schedule. I don’t have the regular publishing schedule that I admire in other podcasters. But I love being able to share in these more accessible ways.
I love that you can experience an interview in written form, or watch it on YouTube, or check it out on Spotify. Creating in written, audio, and video format makes it interesting for me to create and it helps more people. I have the capacity to do that. Consistency is the only thing I sacrificed.
Actually, I remember my first time being open to being on video for my podcast (which had been audio only for 1+ year). I interviewed Dr. Ruth C. White about being on video and TV. She shared a story about pitching herself to the local TV station in the middle of the night. In the morning, she had an invitation to appear on their show that day as an expert on mental health.
I thought, ‘Wow! I’m so glad I was open to trying out putting myself out there when I didn’t know if I was going to stick with it.’ To be honest, I thought I’d go back to audio and leave YouTube. Nothing was set in stone, except my willingness to try.
When the spark came that I wanted to highlight more people on The Social Academic this year, I realized my current process of getting episodes out wasn’t going to be within my capacity.
I’d been teaming up with an audio engineer, Sir Nic, and my husband, Matthew, was doing the video editing. We had a process we were happy with that worked for a long time. But the time frame to get episodes out wouldn’t have allowed me to highlight all the people that I had dreamed about.
That’s why The Social Academic interview series is now a live-first format. And honestly? That kinda makes me laugh. It brings up a memory of a friend from college, Jose, who was a YouTuber. He was well known enough that some people recognized him. And he made it work, recording in his college dorm room. Jose used to livestream on a platform called YouNow, which is how I met one of my favorite DJs. And, where I first forayed into livestreaming.
At the time, I was deep into research for my creative thesis, a collection of poetry based on the pianist, Glenn Gould. Gould had a fascinating view of the relationship between audience and performer, and became reclusive later in life. I was a singer. And my own relationship with performance had shifted. It was like better understanding Gould helped me make a more informed decision for myself.
I no longer wanted to sing for people in person. But I was curious about how musicians were opening themselves up to performing virtually. It seemed like a different relationship, one that created distance while also sharing this more intimate personal side of the musician livestreaming. And the musicians? They seemed mostly relaxed.
I wanted to explore how I felt performing live to strangers. It touches me to think back to that moment of bravery because opening yourself up can be scary for many people. It certainly was for me. I tried livestreaming a few times. I even got a couple virtual tips. And while my livestreaming experience on YouNow was shortlived, it opened up my mind to what it meant to hold space for people. And, to create space for yourself too.
Sometimes, the things we try out aren’t your dreams. But they help other people. Maybe they build your capacity. Or, help you to better understand yourself.
While I never dreamed about being a livestreamer, it really works with the kind of openness I am hoping we can create for each other in that conversation when we are live on The Social Academic interview series.
LIVE ON THE SOCIAL ACADEMIC
P.S. There is another live on YouTube this evening! Dr. Lily Rosewater joins me to talk about what it means to be more visible as an expert.
When you want support to make your dream happen
What dreams do you have? What dreams have you been holding back? Is there something you’re open to, but you aren’t sure how to get there?
You don’t have to move forward with your dream now. I just love that you’re open to it for yourself in the future. If I’m more open to my dreams, if my guests are open to their dreams, if you the reader are more open to your dreams…we can better protect higher education in the ways that we care about it.
Research is important, teaching is important, faculty, and each person on campus has value.
I want people to be able to have a voice.
It’s ok if the way you dream about sharing your voice doesn’t feel accessible to you right now. There may be ways or opportunities for you in the future. Naming your dream now can be a gift to ourselves.
I want to wrap up with a personal story. My father-in-law, Bob Pincus, was one of my first clients back when I started The Academic Designer LLC in 2018. His online presence was not something he dreamed about. Social media in general was not a priority for him. He’s an art history professor, and a local celebrity here where he was art critic for the San Diego Union-Tribune for many years.
Whether social media was a priority for Bob or not, his audience of people who already care about and were connected with him, were on social media. Every time he posts on Facebook, people are excited to talk with him. Do you have a professor friend like that?
I’m sharing this story with you because Bob, who never loved social media, had a new dream recently. And actually this is funny, because none of us can remember what first sparked it. My mother-in-law, Georgie, says it was my idea. My husband, Matthew, says it was Bob’s. One day at the Costco in Carlsbad, California, we’re sitting at the outdoor bench having a slice of pizza. By the end of the slice, a plan for his YouTube channel was already in the works.
Someone who never dreamed about having a YouTube channel now has multiple episodes in progress. He’s sharing in meaningful ways with the public about art in America through video.
When Bob was laid off from paper, like many excellent journalists around the country were, people suggested he create something for himself. They said, “You should start a podcast!” or a blog. More recently he’s been encouraged to try Substack or a LinkedIn newsletter.
But you have to want it for yourself.
I’m so glad that when the spark for sharing on video came to Bob, he was open to the conversation. To turning the idea over in his head and seeing what we could make happen for him as a team. While you can totally start your YouTube channel on your own like I did, Bob knew he didn’t want to get there on his own. When you have an idea, it’s okay if you’re like Bob, thinking, “I need collaborators on this.” Maybe your idea is best solo, but it’s okay if you need a team to support each other too.
One professor I chatted with who dreams about a podcast to talk about her research field, shared that a reason she’s wanting to be more active on social media is in hopes of finding a co-host for that dream.
When we have a dream that feels like us and helps share our voice, it’s ok if you don’t know how to get there. These academics were all DIY for their YouTube. I’ve met podcasters who have started on their phone. I’ve met people whose university was able to support them in creating their podcast.
I want you to believe that if you don’t know how to do something, there’s an opportunity to explore your dream in the future when you’re ready.
What’s your dream, academics?
Here’s a few ideas for what you may dream about for yourself as a professor or researcher. You can help more people by being intentional about how you show up online. If it’s something you want for yourself? I’m excited for you. You’ve got this. Find resources on The Social Academic blog to help you.
When Sarah Layden shared her satire piece, ‘Unfriend Me Now’ on her LinkedIn profile, I reached out right away about her appearing on The Social Academic interview series. She wrote ‘Unfriend Me Now’ after reading research from Floyd, Matheny, Dinsmore, Custer, and Woo, “If You Disagree, Unfriend Me Now”: Exploring the Phenomenon of Invited Unfriending, published in American Journal of Applied Psychology.
Bio
Sarah Layden is the author of Imagine Your Life Like This, stories;Trip Through Your Wires, a novel; and The Story I Tell Myself About Myself, winner of the Sonder Press Chapbook Competition.
Sarah Layden
Her short fiction appears in Boston Review, Blackbird, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, Best Microfiction 2020, and elsewhere. Her nonfiction writing appears in The Washington Post, Poets & Writers, Salon, The Millions, and River Teeth, and she is co-author with Bryan Furuness of The Invisible Art of Literary Editing.
She is an Associate Professor of English at Indiana University Indianapolis.
Are you thinking about starting a podcast? I invited Dr. Anna Clemens to share her podcasting journey. We talk about how social media and online presence has changed for researchers in 2025. And, how storytelling can help people connect with your research in meaningful ways.
Dr. Anna Clemens is an academic writing coach who specializes in scientific research papers. She runs the Researchers’ Writing Academy, an online course where she helps researchers to get published in high-ranking journals without lacking structure in the writing process.
Jennifer van Alstyne: Hi everyone, this is Jennifer Van Alstyne. Welcome to the Social Academic Podcast. I’m here with Dr. Anna Clemens of the Researchers’ Writing Academy. Anna, I’m so happy to have you here today. First, because you’re my friend and we’ve been trying to do this for multiple years now. I’m so happy! And second because I want to share the program that you’ve created for scientists to help them write better. It’s actually something I’ve recommended to clients of mine, something clients of mine have participated in. So I wanted to share you with everyone who listens to the podcast. Would you please introduce yourself?
Dr. Anna Clemens: Yeah, of course. Thank you so much for having me. And I’m super excited. And it’s been such a joy having some of your clients in the program.
I run a program called the Researchers’ Writing Academy, where we help researchers, well, kind of develop a really structured writing process so they can get published in the journals they want to get published in. We kind of look a bit more toward top-tier journals, high-impact journals. But honestly, what we teach kind of helps you wherever you want to go.
I have a background in chemistry. So my PhD’s in chemistry and I transitioned into writing after that. So it’s a really fun way to be able to combine kind of my scientific knowledge with writing and helping folks to get published and make that all really time efficient.
Jennifer: Gosh, that’s amazing. I think that I did not have a lot of writing support when I was in grad school. And I really felt like even though I’m an excellent writer, like I’m a creative writer, like that’s what I went to school for.
Anna: You write poetry.
Jennifer: I write poetry and I think I’m a good academic writer, but I feel like I had to teach myself all of that. And it was a lot of correction after something was already submitted in order to bring it closer to what was actually publishable.
Anna: Right.
Jennifer: I lost so much time by not knowing things. So I love that you created a program to support people who maybe aren’t getting the training that they need to publish in those high impact journals.
Anna: Yeah, because that’s so common. Like, honestly, who gets good academic writing training? That’s really almost nobody.
I often see even people who do go on, do some kind of course of their university if they offer some kind of course. They’re often not really so focused on the things that I’m teaching, which is like a lot of storytelling and a lot like being efficient with your writing, like kind of the step by step. You kind of often know just like academic English, how do I sound good? And I think honestly, this is less important than knowing how to really tell a story in your paper and having that story be consistent and not losing time by all the like edits and rewrites, etc., that are so frustrating to do.
Storytelling for Researchers and Scientists
Jennifer: Hmm, you brought up storytelling. That’s really insightful.
As a creative writer, story is so important to the words that we create and how people can connect with them. Why is storytelling important for researchers?
Anna: Well, I think it’s because we’re all humans, right? So we just as humans, really need storytelling to be able to access information in the best way and to connect to that information and to kind of put it into the kind of frameworks that we have already in our minds.
This is what a lot of researchers really overestimate is like, your research is so incredibly specific, right? It’s so much, like that thing to you, it’s all like when you’re doing it, you’re like, of course you know every detail about it. And you just forget how little other people know. It’s even if they’re in the same field because we always think, “Oh, no, everyone knows what I know.” Also a bit this feeling of like, not quite realizing like, it’s also called like the experts curse I think, when you are an expert in something, and you don’t realize how little other people know. And you kind of undervalue what you know.
So anyway, if you really want your papers to be read, if you want to get published, you need to be able to, to make it accessible to like the journal editor, right? The peer reviewers, but also the readers later, they need to be able to understand the data in a way that makes sense to them. And I think that’s where storytelling comes in. Also, it really helps with structuring the writing process. Like honestly, if you think about storytelling first, the really nice side effect is your writing process will be a lot easier because you don’t have to go back and edit quite so many times.
Jennifer: Oh, that’s fascinating. So not only does it improve how the research is being communicated It improves the process of writing it too.
Anna: I think so. Yeah, because when you’re clear on the story, everything is clear in your head from the start. And you don’t need to kind of . . . I mean, when you write a paper for the first time, or even people who’ve written a few papers, they still sometimes start writing with the introduction. And it’s such a waste of time. Like they just start at the start, right? And then they end up like deleting all those paragraphs and all those words after when they actually have written so much that they then after a while understand the story that they want to tell. And instead, what I’m suggesting is like, define the story first. And I like guide people through how to do that.
Because I think the problem is you don’t really know how to do it when you don’t have like a framework for it. You have kind of the framework there from the start. So you know what the story is and you don’t have to kind of figure out the story while you’re writing. Instead, you know what the story is and the way I’m teaching it, I’m like giving people prompts so that it’s really easy to define the story because also story is really elusive, I think. Or we use it in this elusive way often when we like we kind of use it as like a throwaway term. Oh, yeah, you you should tell a story in your paper. And you go like, “Yeah, I guess. But what does that mean?” I’m trying to like give a definition for that. So that is like really clear. Okay?
Jennifer: I appreciate that. I think so many people aren’t sure what it means. And even if they think they know what it means, they don’t necessarily know how it applies to their scientific writing. So that’s really interesting.
Researchers’ Writing Academy
Jennifer: I want to talk about podcasts, but actually, since we’re already talking about program stuff right now, I’m curious about the format of your program because people who are listening to this may not be familiar with your work. And I want to make sure that they get to hear about all the cool things that they get if they join.
Anna: Yeah, the Researchers’ Writing Academy is very comprehensive.
Jennifer: Yeah, in a good way.
Anna: It’s almost hard to tell people about it because there’s so much in there. So, what people get is like, there’s an online course, we call it the journal publication formula, that’s like the step-by-step system, walks you through online lessons that you can watch, super short digestible lessons that walk you through step-by-step. So you can just write your paper alongside the lessons.
And then because we noticed that you really may want some help actually writing in your day to day work, right? Because we’re also incredibly busy. And then it’s just helpful to have some kind of accountability, some community, and that’s what we offer as well. So we do a lot of things around accountability and we have like, cowriting sessions, for example, where we meet, we have six now, six per week across time zones.
Jennifer: Wow, that’s amazing! So if you’re anywhere in the world, there’s a chance that one of those six times during the day will work for you. Oh my gosh, that’s so cool.
Anna: Yeah. I mean, they should work. I mean for Europe and the US, most of them will work. Or not, but it depends where in the US you are, etc. But even like a few in Australia, there’s at least one per week that will work for you depending on how long you want to stay up. Some people do, we have one client who comes, he likes to do writing after his kids are in bed. So he loves nine to 10pm, you know, like, yeah. So yeah, there’s a lot. And we do like, writing retreats every now and again, and writing sprints. So we like offer a lot of support around that. And we have like a really lovely community that are so supportive. Actually, I just talked to one member today, and she just got promoted to full professor.
Jennifer: Exciting
Anna: And she was like, “I couldn’t have done it without this community.” This was so like, valuable, not only getting the feedback on her article, but also, just knowing that like, there’s the support. And that’s really, I mean, that’s so lovely for me to hear, because this is honestly what I dreamed of. This is what I wanted to build. And it’s really nice knowing that people do, you know, really, not only reach career goals, but have a supportive community because academia can be a little toxic.
Jennifer: Yeah, yeah, there’s so many reports that have come out and said, mental health struggles, toxicity, it’s consistent. Yeah.
Anna: And honestly, writing plays a big part in that, because like, kind of the way we are normally not talking about writing. I think writing like, it’s, you sometimes see like, more seasoned academics. They sometimes are really good at writing and then act as if they have it all figured out, but not share their process. So you as like a novice writer think, “Shit, I should have figured it out. Like, why do I not know how this works?”
Jennifer: This is easy for them.
Anna: Yeah, exactly. The other day, someone said to me, “Yeah, I know this professor and he just writes his paper while I’m talking to him at a conference.” And I’m like, “Oh, okay, this is an interesting process.”
Jennifer: Wow. Like, it’s so clear in his brain that he can focus on that and a conversation at the same time. Fascinating.
Anna: Fascinating. And honestly, you don’t have to do that. But she kind of thought like, “This is who I have to be. This is how I have to do it.” That creates so much pressure. And yeah, writing just hits like, emotionally, it’s really hard, right? When we feel like we are procrastinating, when we have really low confidence in our writing and just feel really disappointed in ourselves because we’re like overly perfectionistic, can’t send stuff off, keep like, you know, refining sentences. It’s just really, really hard.
This is really why a community is so beautiful when we can all just open up about how hard it is and also give each other tips. Like, I just love when people, you know, share also what’s working for them. And like, down to little techniques. Like the other day, someone was sharing in the community about how they started having like their Friday afternoons as like a margin in their calendar. So, if they didn’t get, you know, to all the things they had done, if there was any derailing event, they still had like time on a Friday. A little hack like that, right?
That just like makes you more productive, makes you just honestly feel better about your work. Because we’re really tough on ourselves often. Like we’re really harsh and just, you know, having like a community that has this kind of spirit of being kind to yourself and working with your brain and not against it. Yeah, that’s really, really . . . that’s a really lovely place. Really supportive.
Jennifer: That sounds amazing. I’m curious about who should join your program because it sounds like it’s so supportive. It sounds like there’s community and accountability and training. So, I love all of that, but there’s probably some people who the program’s not right for. So, like, maybe who shouldn’t join and who should definitely join?
Anna: Yeah, that’s a good question. I mean, it is in terms of like career stage, it’s pretty open from PhD student up to professor. And we have all of those kind of career stages in the program. The biggest group is assistant professors, just so you know, like who you can expect to be in the program. And also the PhD students who are in there are often older. It’s really interesting. They’re often like second kind of career type students who maybe have, you know, chosen that path a little later in life. Just a little side note. It’s kind of interesting.
Jennifer: I think that makes so much sense because if I’m going back for like a PhD later on, I’m like, “I’m going to get all the support that I can to make the most of this time.” And joining a program like yours would make so much sense to me.
Anna: Yeah, they’re probably also busier most of the time because their parents or other stuff going on in their lives already.
Jennifer: Yeah, that’s what makes it easier to have time for like the life and the people that you care about because you already have these processes in place.
Anna: Yeah, yeah. So as to who shouldn’t join or who this wouldn’t be a good fit for, we don’t actually serve researchers in the humanities. So there’s this really science-based, social sciences included. And you know, physical sciences, life science, earth science, all the sciences we are super happy to have inside the program just because the general publication formula is super focused on just that type of research and really honestly quite focused on like original research papers, even though we have members who write review papers using it because honestly, the process isn’t very different. But we are like, just the examples, everything is from like original research papers. So just FYI.
Otherwise, I would say like we’re really super supportive and we don’t have like a lot of this like hustle culture, you know. This is all about, we don’t believe in like, having to wake up at 4am to have your whole three hour morning routine, including writing done, because a lot of us like have kids or have other kinds of commitments. So there is a lot of like kind of understanding that, you know, all of this has to work for real life. And not just for, I don’t know, people who have, yeah, men I guess who have a lot of support in the background traditionally, right? This is how research has been done. And yeah, even though we do have really lovely men in the program as well. So it’s not just women, but I guess this is kind of the approach that, yeah, we have in the community, in the academy.
Jennifer: I love that. So not hustle culture. More let’s learn these processes and have accountability together so that we can move towards this goal of publishing with kindness.
Anna: Yeah. It’s so funny, like this being kind. I mean, we often say like, “Be kind to yourself,” because sometimes we don’t achieve the goals we set, often we don’t achieve the goals we set ourselves, right? And what I always say is it’s a data point. Like, this was a really good data point this week, because just reflect on what happened. Oh, did your child get sick? Oh, there you go. So maybe you now need to have a process, what happens if my child gets sick? Because then, you can’t plan that, right? So you have to have, or it’s good to have in your kind of system, in your writing system, in your writing practice, that you account for that. Some kind of strategy, what you do when that happens. Or like, this took me a lot longer to complete, like, I thought I would get my introduction section done this week, but actually, I didn’t. Well, really good data point. Actually, maybe it takes you longer.
Look at how where you spend the time doing this section. This is really good to know for next time. Actually, maybe schedule one or two days more for this. So that’s kind of like the approach, the vibe that like is in there. So it’s not so, it’s not harsh.
Jennifer: Yeah, I like that vibe. That’s my kind of vibe.
Anna: Mine too. Yeah, mine too. And it really crystallized for me because I once was in a business coaching program where the vibe was really different. You probably remember me talking about this because I did tell you at the time, and it was so awful for me. And I really. . . but until then, it was really a bummer because I spent a lot of money on it.
Jennifer: And you’re like, “My community needs kindness and support for each other.
Anna: This was my big learning. Apparently, I needed to spend a lot of money to really have this like so, so clear that this is not for me. Like the bro-y culture is not for me. I need the kindness. Because otherwise, it doesn’t work. I don’t work like that if someone tells me I have to, I don’t know, have all these non-negotiables everyday.
Jennifer: Yeah, like change who you are.
Anna: Yeah, like you just have to do it. Like it’s just about the discipline. You know, I don’t think that works. I honestly don’t think it works in the long term. Like maybe you can force yourself for like a few months or years and then you’re burning out or something. Like, I just don’t see how this is a sensible approach.
Jennifer: No. And I remember at the time you mentioned that you felt burned out. Like you were being affected by the culture that you were experiencing. So creating a warm culture for people inside your program, the Researchers’ Writing Academy is wonderful. Everyone gets to benefit from your research.
Anna: Right? Yea!
Anna’s podcasting journey
Jennifer: So I want to chat a little bit about online presence because I mean, we met online, we mostly communicate online, but also like you have taken some actions this year in particular to have a stronger online presence through a new avenue, which is podcasting. I’m curious because when I started my podcast, it was like not very intentional. It was like, “Oh, I just better record this thing and like, it’s going to make it like a little more accessible than if it was just in writing.” And the podcast kind of evolved into a regular series after I had already decided to start it. Whereas you came in more with a plan, you had purpose, you had drive to do more episodes than I could imagine. And so what was it like to kind of get that spark of an idea that like, I want a podcast?
Anna: Yeah, I’ve had this, I mean, I had this desire for a long time. Many, many years. I always wanted to have a podcast.
Jennifer: Really?
Anna: Really because I listen to podcasts a lot. Like I’m really into them. And years ago, someone told me you would have such a good voice for podcasts. I was like, really? I don’t, because when you listen to your own voice, you’re like, “No, I don’t think so.” And I still don’t know whether this is really true, but I wanted to be more online. Like kind of, I wanted to have an online presence that wasn’t just social media.
Because honestly, I have such a weird relationship to social media, myself. It does like cognitively do something to my brain that isn’t always good, you know. Like hanging out there too much or getting sucked in, especially back on Twitter, now on Bluesky it’s a little bit like that too. There’s sometimes a lot of negativity. And I feel like people are too harsh, coming back to the being too harsh. I just can’t take it. Like, it’s not for me, but also just the fact that there’s just a lot going on there.
I wanted to be available to people somewhere else. And a podcast and I did actually simultaneously, like launch my podcast on YouTube as well. So it’s like a video podcast. That just made sense to me. Like, that just felt really aligned with what I like to consume, what I think my ideal clients like to consume. And where I also felt like I can like express myself, I guess, in a really good way. I mean, I do love writing, I do actually have a blog too. But it’s almost like when you have a blog, unless you’re like really, really good at SEO, which is a little hard in my niche, to be honest. Like nobody reads it, right? Unless you like amplify it through social media.
Jennifer: Actively sharing it. It’s its own marketing.
Anna: Yeah, yeah. So it’s still like social media connected. And I kind of wanted to have another avenue. Anyway, yeah. Talking also, I also like talking. So podcast made sense.
Jennifer: That’s amazing. When I started my podcast, it was kind of just like, you know, going on zoom and hitting record. What is your process like? Are there other people involved? What is the kind of behind the scenes for your podcast?
Anna: Yes, I have solo episodes. And I also have episodes with former clients or current clients actually, like members of the research as writing academy or alumni. And I also had one with one of my team members, our kind of client experience manager, Yvonne, where we talked about community. And I also had you on, right, as a guest expert. I think you’re the only guest expert actually we’ve had so far.
Jennifer: I feel so special. That’s amazing.
Anna: So yeah. The process for interviews, I would think of questions ahead of time. And we, for example, then chatted about the questions. This is also what I did with Yvonne. Just have a quick chat. I think both times it was written, like through Slack, just like, “Hey, does this make sense? Where do we want to go with this? Okay, maybe this should be a different discussion. Let’s focus on that.” And similar, actually, with the clients I interviewed. I would just send them a list of questions and be like,” Hey, you don’t need to prepare anything, but if you want to do” and then basically hop on and have a conversation and it’d be quite natural. And like this one where, you know, you don’t necessarily have to follow a script, you just go where it takes you.
For my solo episodes, it’s a little bit different where I do write an outline. And honestly, like, what surprised me was this took a lot of time. Even when I knew what I wanted to say, and maybe this is me being too perfect, too much of a perfectionist, because I would go back. So I’d write the outline, I would go back the next day or the day after I read it again and have more ideas. I’d be like, “No, no, this should be like this.” So, it took me a lot of time. But then also, I think the outlines got better and better and better. And then I was really, you know, proud of the episodes. I was like, “Yeah, I really expressed this, I think, in a good way.” Because what I did afterwards then is I took this transcript from that episode and turned those into a blog post.
Then with the blog post, I’m like, “Yeah, they’re really meaty. There’s so much in there.” Like, there’s so much longer than my other blog posts that were just blog posts without podcast episodes. So that was really interesting to me. Just like, you know, understanding I guess a little bit more about the process of writing or synthesizing ideas and concepts. And yeah, after the outline, I would record on my own, I would record the episodes with that outline like in front of me. So kind of a bullet point outline.
Jennifer: It sounds like your brain really likes the outlining process. And when you come back the second time, you have ideas to flush it out and tell the story even better. That’s really cool.
Anna: Yeah, it was honestly really fun writing those outlines. Because recording sometimes, especially in the beginning, was a little more stressful than I expected. It was shockingly stressful because I’m on video a lot. I thought it would be rather easy to record cause of my experience. And I think it would have been pretty easy if I just had done audio, but because I was also doing video, it felt a lot harder because it’s really hard to read an outline and look in the camera at the same time.
Jennifer: Oh yeah.
Anna: Like really, really hard. And I also couldn’t spend even more time like rehearsing the outline to the point where I didn’t need to look at it anymore. Like I didn’t feel like that made sense. And I was really struggling with that. And I was just like, being a little unhappy about it. Because when I talk, like when I’m like, I’m on a lot of calls, you know, inside the Academy, for example, or like interviews like this. And I find, for me it’s quite natural already to look at the camera. Like, I look at the camera a lot. But when I have an outline, you know, it’s like you do look at it. It was so hard. And actually, you helped me a lot with that.
Yeah, because I was sharing this, that I was really unhappy with my recordings because of, I wasn’t looking at the camera. And you said, “Well, look, so many people aren’t even recording video for that exact reason. And you’re putting something out that is less perfect than you hope will still be so useful to the people, to people watching it. Honestly, that doesn’t matter.” And then I was like, “Yeah, this is like perfectionism.” It was all right. I just wanted to have it perfect. And I had a different standard for myself. But I didn’t need to be there. Like I was just not there. And that was totally fine. It didn’t need to be quite as polished as I thought maybe it should be.
Jennifer: Yeah, and I think that we don’t give ourselves enough grace for like our first things, right? Like the first episodes, like the first launch of something new. Like, we want it to be really great because it’s new and because it represents us. But sometimes like, we’re just not there in terms of our own practice or our own skills, like something may need to build or improve for us to get to where we dream about being. And that’s okay. I really didn’t think, I didn’t have those negative feelings when I started my podcast, but so many of my clients and so many of the people that I’ve met along the way have talked about the first maybe five or six episodes being just such a struggle.
Looking at themselves on video, listening to themselves speak, doing the editing themselves. It brought up all of those feelings about like watching themselves and what it would be like for other people to watch them. But the truth is that like you are watching yourself and doing all of those things more than anyone else is. Like, if someone else is watching it, they may not even listen to or watch the entire thing. And if they are, maybe they’re doing something else, like cleaning up their room. You know, if it’s a podcast, it’s not something that people will always sit there and like stare at your face and look at everything you did that was wrong. That’s what we’re doing.
Anna: Yeah, yeah. Yeah. You’re so right.
Jennifer: For me, this year I have Sir Nic who does all of this kind of sound editing for me and he’s here in the virtual studio with us making sound levels all good. And then my husband Matthew does the video editing. So I don’t have to look at myself anymore or listen to myself. And it is so nice! It’s, oh my goodness, it’s such a relief for me to have those things off my plate. Do you have support on your team for podcast things or is it just the people who are working on, you know, the different kind of accountability coaching and things that are in the program?
Anna: Yeah, I did have support. So I outsource the editing, video and audio editing.
Jennifer: Love that.
Anna: I couldn’t have done it myself, honestly, like not so much. I mean, it takes a lot of time. I think people often underestimate just how much time this takes. And especially if you want the audio to be kind of good, you do want someone, an audio engineer I think. This was important to me to have like a decent microphone, decent audio. So I actually invested quite a lot in this space. I started recording in my former office. I’m not in there now anymore, but it had really high ceilings. So I put all these sound panels up, these like boards and I bought curtains that I now brought into this room as well to like reduce the echo. And that was just worth it to me. But yeah, I did have support. And then in-house, like on my team, my operations manager, she also helped me with the podcast. Like she would do a lot of like even reviewing episodes and suggesting maybe further edits. So I didn’t have to watch myself very much.
Jennifer: Oh, that’s great.
Anna: She would also take out little like clips from the episode that we then put on social media. Like as YouTube shorts, for example.
Jennifer: Yeah.
Anna: Yeah, so it was a really, really smooth process with a lot of support.
Jennifer: Yeah, getting support was something that I didn’t think my podcast deserved in the beginning, but now I feel like my listeners do. My listeners deserve that. If I can keep doing it for them, I’m going to. So I’m glad we got to chat about that because a lot of people are like, “Oh, I’m just going to go on Zoom and record.” And then maybe they’re surprised when the editing process is a lot longer. But also the first few episodes, if you’re starting something new like editing, like audio stuff, like even just being on video, it’s going to be hard. And it might not be as good as you want it to be at first, but it’s going to get better. It’s going to get better. Oh, before we… Oh, sorry. Go ahead.
Anna: No, no, no. I just said so true.
Social media for academics post-Elon
Jennifer: Well, I wanted to chat about the social media landscape and how things have been changing since Elon took over Twitter. I know you are on Bluesky now. I would love to hear a little bit about your experience of that platform.
Anna: Yeah, I’m on Bluesky now and I’m not on X or Twitter anymore. I mean, I do still have the account, but I don’t check it anymore. Some people are still finding me through there, though. That’s kind of interesting. I see it in my data, but I haven’t logged in in like months. Bluesky is very similar to Twitter, honestly, in the sense of the type of conversations that are happening there. But at least for me, there’s a lot less engagement than there was. And I’m actually wondering whether a lot of academics gave up on social media after Twitter went downhill, because there was this like really great academic community on Twitter through which I guess we met.
Jennifer: Yeah.
Anna: Back in the day. And I don’t see that happening on Bluesky. Bluesky does have a few other features, like additional features though that I really like. Like the way you can customize your feed a lot better. You can create those lists. So if you’re new to Bluesky, you can just like, there’s probably a list for researchers in your field.
“I struggle with writing a compelling story that is interesting outside of my field, yet doesn’t oversell my data.” ✍️
Jennifer: Yeah, like the starter packs and the different lists you could put together.
Anna: Exactly, starter packs. That’s what it’s called. Yeah. So you can just like hit follow all and you already have a feed full of people you want to have in your feed. And getting started is kind of really cool on Bluesky. I do think, I don’t know, something is different about the algorithm over there, but I’m not an expert. I don’t really know, but it feels like not as much things are like going viral per se.
Jennifer: Yeah.
Anna: Maybe a little more one to one.
Jennifer: Yeah. Oh, that’s really interesting. When I when I first joined Bluesky, which was much later than everyone else. It was really just last month. I found that it was very quiet. I connected with the people that were like the most talkative on Twitter. I hadn’t run Sky Follower Bridge or any of the tools to help me get connected yet because I wanted to see what the platform was like naturally. Like if someone was just signing up for the first time without having been on Twitter. And I was able to find people pretty easily. Like the people that I most often talked to or connected with, guests on The Social Academic, those kinds of things. But I wasn’t finding conversations. Like the people who I knew from social media weren’t talking all that much. They weren’t posting original content the way that they had on other platforms.
And when I did run Sky Follower Bridge and found all of the people from Threads, from X, etc. I realized that like so many people had accounts that they just hadn’t connected with people yet. Like they, you know, maybe started their account during the big X exodus and then they connected with 12 people because that’s who they found when they first got there. And when they didn’t find their community, it’s like maybe they stopped logging in. And I think that’s really normal for people. Like you’re going to look for the warmth in the conversations or just like the people talking and watching it, being able to see it without even participating in it. Like if you don’t see when you get there, it’s kind of like, “Well, why am I going to spend time in this space?” I had to do a lot more work than I expected in order to find the conversations. And I had to connect with a lot more people without knowing that they were going to follow me back. Like without that anticipation in order for me to feel connected. But once I did that, once I was following, like I follow like over a thousand people now, once I did that, it started to feel like old Twitter to me. Like the community and conversation. Yeah, there’s a lot of people who aren’t talking there, but I was just surprised how much effort it took to get to that feeling. More than other platforms for me.
Anna: Do you enjoy it now? Like the way you liked Twitter?
Jennifer: You know, I don’t think I really enjoy any one social media platform over another anymore. I feel like my relationship with creating content has changed a lot in that I found more ease and I found less pressure and I found like good processes that work for me. And because of that, I don’t spend a lot of time on social media. Like I’m not on there browsing for conversations the way that I think I did when I was on X. Like old Twitter, I liked spending time there and jumping into conversations. And now social media is more, I don’t intentionally put in my day as much anymore. That’s what it is. And I like that. I like how my relationship with social media has changed. But no, I haven’t gone back to how I engaged in old Twitter, I think. What about you?
Anna: That makes sense. Yeah, it’s similar for me, actually. I have to say I go through phases with it. So I do put out like content on several platforms like Threads, Bluesky and LinkedIn and then like YouTube as shorts. And I do go in and kind of check, does anyone comment? Like is anyone starting a conversation? I do this several times a week. But I don’t get sucked in as much anymore, if ever. Yeah, and I’m like super intentional about the time I spend there, I guess.
Jennifer: How are you intentional?
Anna: Well, I kind of set myself a timer as well.
Jennifer: Oh, like a literal timer.
Anna: So I don’t let myself like do more than, I don’t know, five minutes per platform.
Jennifer: Really?!
Anna: If there is like, of course, if there is comments, like actual, interesting conversations to join, I will, you know, override, but I’m really trying not to, not to get sucked in because it’s so easy for me. I don’t know. My brain is really-
Jennifer: That is really smart. I’ve never set a timer for that short amount of time. I’ll be like 30 minutes, you know, 30 minutes a day. Like if I’m going to have a timer maybe that’s what I would set it for. But five minutes is so much more specific, direct. That would wake my brain up. I should try something like that if I get sucked in again.
Anna: Yeah, I like it. I do like it. And because now I feel like the social media landscape for academics has changed in a way. They’re used to be, or for me they’re used to be just Twitter. I was basically just on Twitter and I didn’t really do anything on any other platform whereas now it’s a lot more spread out. And, I don’t know, there’s good and bad things about that. But now I feel like, “Okay, I need to spend time on LinkedIn. I need to spend on Blue Sky and on Threads.” So, you know, I just can’t spend like that much time anymore on just one platform. So it has to be kind of a bit more time efficient.
Jennifer: Okay, so you’re on Bluesky, Mastodon, YouTube, LinkedIn-
Anna: I’m not on Mastodon. Threads.
Jennifer: Not on Mastodon. Threads, LinkedIn and YouTube.
Where can people find your blog and your podcast? I want people to be able to get connected with you after this.
Anna: Thank you so much for that lovely conversation. And it was so fun finally being a guest on your show.
Jennifer: I’m so happy. Anna, I am so happy to have shared the Researchers’ Writing Academy with people because I really believe in your program. I believe in the process. And I know that you’re someone who goes in and updates things and improves them. And so I’ve always recommended the Researchers’ Writing Academy to professors. And I really encourage you if you’re listening to this to check it out.
Jennifer receives no monies or gift when you sign up for the Researchers’ Writing Academy or any of the other recommendations she shares on The Social Academic.
Dr Anna Clemens is an academic writing coach who specializes in scientific research papers. She runs the Researchers’ Writing Academy, an online course where she helps researchers to get published in high-ranking journals without lacking structure in the writing process.
Sign up for Anna’s free training on how to develop a structured writing process to get published in top-tier journals efficiently.
When’s the last time you updated your headshot, academics?
When people come to me about creating their personal academic website, few say, “I have photos ready to go.” Some professors have never taken professional photos. Many find that the photos you have of yourself feel a bit out dated. And that’s okay. What about you?
This is a special interview for The Social Academic. I’m opening up to share a bit of my personal life because I want to introduce you to these amazing professionals, Amanda Thorne, and Melissa McClure. They’re people I trusted with my professor clients because they’ve been a great support in how I show up online this year in photos.
Melissa McClure is a photographer in San Diego, California with 20+ years of experience. She was my wedding photographer when I got married last June at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. I was lucky to have her support with the camera, and felt especially confident because of the artistry skills of Amanda Thorne who did my hair and makeup.
Why am I sharing my wedding photographer and hair and makeup artist with you? Because that wasn’t the end of our journey together. It was the start. Since then we’ve done a personal branding photo shoot when I updated this website (and my personal website too). Melissa and Amanda teamed up for a photo shoot for my husband, Matthew’s website. And Melissa just did a brand shoot for my art history professor father-in-law, Bob. He’s about to launch a new YouTube channel.
Melissa McClure and Amanda Thorne join me to share their tips and expertise about how you show up visually online. We talk about makeup, hair, photos, and getting comfortable on camera.
In this interview
Meet Amanda Thorne and Melissa McClure
Jennifer van Alstyne: Hello and welcome to The Social Academic. I have a special episode for you today where we’re going to be talking a little bit about photography and makeup and what it means to show up visually online. So I have people from my wedding team here because we actually just did a branding photo shoot for my website redesign and it was so amazing. I knew I had to share these experts with you. So I want everyone to meet Amanda Thorne of Thorne Artistry and Melissa McClure.
Amanda Thorne: Hi!
Jennifer: We are so excited that you could both join us live today. Amanda, would you introduce yourself?
Amanda: Thank you so much for having me, Jennifer. And I love working with you and Melissa for your wedding and your branding shoot. My name’s Amanda Thorne. I’m originally from Ohio. I moved out here about 16 years ago now and I’ve had my company Thorne Artistry for 14 years now. So it’s been a while. I do hair makeup, wardrobe styling, and set styling.
Jennifer: Okay, so what does that mean? If I’m someone who has no idea what any of that is, what kinds of things do you actually help people with one-on-one if you’re just working with an individual?
Amanda Thorne
Amanda: So think about it like this. Your image, your branding, what you want to get across to people about yourself and also who you want to attract. That is the big key. And I talk to my clients beforehand about who their audience is in particular and how they want to convey themselves to attract just the right people. And I do that with myself and my own business too, and I’m sure Melissa does.
Jennifer: Melissa, you’ve been a photographer for a long time. Tell me a little bit about how you got started. Why do you enjoy this work?
Melissa McClure: Oh yeah. So I am about to hit my 20 years in business next month. So a little celebration for that. [Clapping] Amanda and I worked together for over a decade. I don’t even know if I can count the years. But-
Jennifer: I didn’t realize that! That’s a long time. Wow.
Amanda: Definitely. We’ve known each other a while. It’s been amazing.
Melissa: And I started my business kind of on a whim. A coworker was getting married and wedding photography kind of fell into my lap and I ran with it. It’s been a real blessing for me over the years. And I forgot your original question, Jennifer.
Jennifer: Oh, it was just kind of introduce yourself and let us know a little bit about who you are, who you like to work with too.
Melissa: Yeah, absolutely. So I love to focus on destination weddings. I’ve always been a traveler. That’s a big part of my identity. Pre-COVID, I was doing almost exclusively destination weddings. Things kind of changed since the pandemic, but I still do local and destination weddings. And I love to work with brides that are just, brides and grooms and all clients. I also do portraits and boudoir. But I love to work with clients that are very chill, very, they know what they want, but they trust. Trust is a big, big part of hiring a wedding vendor…
Jennifer: Ah, trust. I think trust is probably why I hesitated for so long to actually think about taking professional photos for The Academic Designer.
Trusting the process (and who you’re working with)
I’ve had The Social Academic blog and my business since 2018, but I’ve always taken selfies. And that’s always worked for me in the sense that I even told people, like, “If you don’t have time to get a professional photographer, take a selfie. It’ll work.” It’s better than nothing for now.
I didn’t have trust in myself, but I also wasn’t sure how to start trusting potential vendors when it came to taking photos for my business. And when it came to my wedding, it felt like something that I deserved. It felt like something that was kind of part of a typical process. And so it was an easy yes for me to work with you.
But at the same time, it wasn’t until I had that experience and found that the trust was so easy with us. Like, it came so naturally and I felt so comfortable working with both of you that I felt like I could trust myself in the process of actually doing the branding photo shoot. Yeah, it just was so meaningful to me.
I wanted to share you both with everyone here on The Social Academic. A lot of this audience is professors, graduate students, experts, some people who are starting their own businesses now, and people who really want to show up authentically like themselves, the way that people will see them in real life and to feel comfortable in the process of getting there. Because I don’t know, maybe you’re different from me. But like, I don’t know that I’ve ever really felt comfortable in front of the camera, even though people tell me that I look comfortable.
Amanda: You look really comfortable in front of the camera, by the way. I would never know if you hadn’t said that, that you got nervous, you look just like . . . and Melissa is really good about bringing that out of people too, which is amazing.
Melissa: Thank you, Amanda. That’s really sweet. And I want to shout out you too, because I think there’s something about getting glammed up. It’s something we don’t do for ourselves all the time. And having a professional come in and be like, this is how I see your eyes looking the best or I see your skin looking the best. Really gives you that boost of confidence. So that when you get to me as the photographer, you’re already feeling like riding high like, “Hey, I look good. So I think the combination of the two is the sweet spot.
Jennifer: Mmm.
Amanda: It’s really magical, honestly, like the collaboration involved. I think the first part is just establishing what feels like you. And you really struck a note with when you said being authentic to yourself. I’ve always been a huge believer in that. And I try to talk to my clients about that. I’m like, “There are no rules. You don’t have to like pretend to be this or that or whatever the expectation is in your head. You just have to be true to yourself and what you want to convey is your authentic self. You want to pull in those same authentic people. So why would you try to be someone else?” And I do my very best to like, get people to realize, like what it is that is truly them.
Melissa: I think people see themselves in you, too. They want to say like, “Oh, she can do this. I can do this too.” They want to feel seen and heard and you showing up and saying, “Hey, I’m going to do this for myself. You should do this for yourself.” It’s so much easier for people to see that.
Jennifer: Well, one of the reasons that I’m going to be recommending each of you to professor clients that I work with on strategic website plans in the future. It’s because of that personalized touch that I think that, I don’t know. I don’t know that it’s like all photographers and all makeup artists have probably different processes for starting to work with clients.
I felt like each of you really took time to get to know me, get to know the vision that I had and even asking questions to me that like I never would have thought of. I never would have come up with on my own. And I know that that’s something that professors who are listening to this appreciate because questions really help us get to the next step in our thinking, to the next step in what we want for ourselves.
And if you hadn’t asked me those questions, like I wouldn’t have gotten to the photo shoot part and we had like such a great plan.
What Jennifer’s branding photo shoot was like
Jennifer: So wait, what was that like? We set up a time in advance. So we all, we all had like the same day and Amanda, you actually came to my house.
I was able to get my makeup and hair done in the comfort of my own home where we were also doing the photo shoot, which Melissa came. And then we were all together. Is that right?
Melissa: Yeah, I think that was so cool because, I was photographing you in your office, which you are right now. And one of my favorite things was Amanda saw you were wearing this beautiful orange, I think it was a sweater.
And Amanda saw this little pop of orange in the back. She’s like, we have to have this in the back. So it was almost like she acted like a stylist while she was there, which I loved. And it’s just something I didn’t see that she saw. And, you know, having those two people that do artistic frames, working together and seeing things and helping and she was able to be there while I got to do my job photographing you and looking for the light.
Jennifer: Now, I know we all met via like wedding, right? I got married at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park last June. And it was amazing. It’s so beautiful!
Jennifer: So we met through weddings, but you also you both work with businesses, you work with individuals. Is that right?
Amanda: Definitely. I work with other small businesses. I work with people up and coming, just like getting their business started and also seasoned professionals that have been doing it a long time, but just feel like they want to refresh or, you know, some new life in their brand. So I think it’s very, very fun and very interesting just to get to know what each brand does. And as a fellow business owner, I feel like I can also relate in that way where I know what I would want for my own business and how I want to come across. So I think just having that camaraderie there is also very beneficial.
Melissa: Absolutely. I specifically work with creatives that are looking to up their presence on social media specifically. And I kind of handhold them through the process of showing up on social media authentically, like we were been talking about, but also really getting to spend more time doing what you love, which is usually creating. Creating your product, creating your art, and not having to spend all of your free time with marketing specifically.
Jennifer: Yeah, not having to spend all of your time. That’s interesting. You know, professors are so busy, right? Like they’re teaching classes and doing research and having all these administrative duties. And the thought of the booking process for working with professionals like yourselves, even that feels like, ooh, that’s a big commitment, right? But at the same time, it’s almost like once you take that step, then the rest of the process is facilitated with such ease. You both make it so easy and so intuitive. The next step is always ready.
I’m curious, what is the onboarding process like for you? Let’s say someone who’s listening to this is like, “Wait, I need some new photos for my academic website. I’m curious about booking.” Amanda, do you travel, like, are you open to traveling? I know Melissa is.
Amanda: Definitely. I always travel. I also have my own studio in La Jolla and I don’t share it with anyone else. So if anyone feels like they don’t even have a spot where they feel comfortable or like a nice open space, I’m always happy to offer my space too in La Jolla. It’s really pretty. You can go outside, you can be by the beach, you can have different options for shooting, but I definitely travel. So that’s part of what I do.
I like to make people feel comfortable in their own surroundings too. And I did love working in your office and like, you know, just seeing you in your element with your cats and it just, it added a whole other like, like you said, authenticity to the experience. So I thought that was really-
Jennifer: Yeah. I mean, this is what it’s like to work with me, you know. Like this is what you see. And so I really wanted that to be reflected. And you both did amazing at that. Melissa, you travel all over, like really all over, right? Like I know Amanda travels in California. Are you open to traveling? Are you both international traveling or just US?
Amanda: Everywhere, everywhere.
Melissa: I definitely am. I mostly travel for weddings, but I’m totally open for any sort of photography. Let’s put that out there. But yeah, I love to travel. I love to take my camera and meet new people all over the world. And it’s just so much fun.
Jennifer: Perfect. Okay. So this one, I think everyone should work with you, but obviously that’s not realistic. Not everyone is going to need or want a professional photographer and professional makeup for, and hair for when that photo shoot takes place. So I’m curious, like who are some people or what are some things that would clue people in if like you’re not the right fit? Like maybe you don’t need to work with me or you need to work with someone else.
Amanda: That’s an interesting one because I always feel like not just as a sales pitch, but like genuinely I feel it always helps to have another set of eyes. So if you don’t want to hire someone, maybe just like a trusted confidant. If you really don’t feel comfortable working with someone else, I would have like a very close friend that maybe has some style or could offer some really good tips for you. Just someone on your team that can be like what Melissa was saying earlier about during your shoot. Like I picked up on little things. That’s my job. Like details are a big thing for me. So I’ll notice every little thing in the room. And if I can offer up something with, you know, my background with wardrobe or set styling, I love doing that as just sort of like an extra perk of working with me.
But yeah, I mean, I think it’s always beneficial honestly to have someone else that really understands like how it’s going to photograph, what it looks like, not just you personally, but like the background.
If you really are maybe a control freak or like someone that just doesn’t like to work with others or you have a way you really like doing things your way, definitely get another set of eyes in the room at least and have people like pick up like, is your hair sticking out or is there like some crazy thing sitting on your shoulder that’s going to make you look like you have a growth coming out or something? Like those are really big things that can ruin your shoot.
Melissa: I’m going to take a little bit different spin on your question and let’s say somebody’s listening and they’re like, I would love to hire Melissa and Amanda. I just don’t know if I can afford to fly them both out. That sort of thing.
So maybe if you are looking for someone in your area for photography or makeup and hair, then obviously referrals are going to be your best bet, asking your network if you have any referrals. But I would also have a phone conversation at minimum, FaceTime, in person if you can just to make sure you feel comfortable because I think that feeling comfortable, if you don’t feel comfortable with the person, you’re not going to look comfortable in front of the camera.
So having an initial conversation, getting to know them at least over phone conversation, I know these days were all so busy. It’s hard to meet up in person, but I think that that’s important to get to know them and have that level of trust, going back to the word trust. Having that level of trust with them is really going to put you at ease when it comes to your photo shoot day.
Jennifer: Is that the typical process for each of you? It starts with a phone call or FaceTime or some kind of connection?
Melissa: Typically an email, an intro email like, “Hi, I’m interested in this,” and then I’ll share pricing and then we’ll set up a time. And then I like to ask for examples of what they’re looking for because for me, it can be more lifestyle, which is what we did more with you, Jennifer.
Or it can be more studio, very business, plain background. So I like to get an idea of what they’re looking for. I can do both. But starting a Pinterest board with shots that you like, or if you have a friend photo that you like, sending it that way. I think Amanda’s probably very similar with makeup styles as well. Yeah.
Amanda: I think we have the same-
Melissa: Little bit of the same process.
Amanda: Process, definitely.
Melissa: Yea!
Amanda: We’re both very visual people. So I’ll always ask for photos of what you’re specifically attracted to. But I won’t just ask for the photos. I’ll say, “What do you like about these photos?” And then my recommendation is usually find someone that kind of resembles you. It can be someone famous or not famous. Try not to get something that’s overly photoshopped, just like more of a natural picture and something that really kind of represents, if you like the colors or whatever it is. That’s so helpful for creative people.
Jennifer: I really like that. Our processes are quite similar. I always start with a Zoom call because I actually want to be able to talk with people and see their facial expressions. And really get to answer questions, but also look at screens sometimes at the same time because I’m visual too. I want to see what kind of website you actually like because oftentimes the way people describe things isn’t actually their preference. So being able to see things visually is really helpful for me as well. That’s really interesting.
Visual branding and photo shoots for all genders
Jennifer: Now, both of you work with all genders. Is that correct?
Amanda and Melissa: Correct.
Jennifer: My husband Matthew was really unsure if he should do the professional makeup. I think he was set on professional hair when it came to the wedding, but one thing that we ended up doing was a test. Like a test to see how he felt about the makeup, how it felt on his skin. He never wore makeup for anything before. And so it was really fascinating for my PhD husband to go and sit in this chair and experience really how comfortable it was and how personable it was.
The questions that you asked him while you were doing the makeup, while you were doing the hair helped get the look that he was hoping for. And maybe a look he hadn’t really thought of in advance specifically. You obviously had your conversations about those visual preferences, but even what happens in the moment can really impact us. And so I just loved watching that experience because I was also there for a test right before him and it was just so fun.
I wanted to mention that because if you are a professor who identifies as a man or a woman or are transgender, these are people who are excited to help you get the look that you want for yourself and get a look that’s lasting.
These photographs are so usable in different areas of my life. They’ve been used when I’ve been a podcast guest on another podcast. They’ve been used for articles and publications. They’re on my own website. They’re on my social media. And so I really like how intentional it helps to be with other people about ourselves when it comes to things that will end up in a lot of places. Thank you. Thank you! Thank you for making that experience so good for me.
Matthew Manly Pincus, PhD / Photography by Melissa McClure / Hair and Makeup by Amanda Thorne
Feeling safe and comfortable
Amanda: And thank you for trusting us. Honestly, I mean, that does mean a lot because a lot of people. I always tell my husband, I’m like, I’m actually kind of a therapist in the session sometimes too.
Jennifer: Yeah.
Amanda: And things can come up. Everyone has something with their appearance or something that someone may have said to them in their lifetime, and it still is there. You don’t know what’s going to bubble up.
Jennifer: Yeah.
Amanda: It’s great though because we can sort of like work through it together. And I like to be sort of like a safe space for people. And what you said earlier about Matthew coming in, I thought that was really great that you guys came together for the experience and that men understand that. There used to be a stigma, but I really don’t think that’s the case anymore with men getting hair and makeup. It’s so natural and so normal and anyone can come in and it’s great. Who doesn’t want to see yourself from a different perspective or enhancing what you already are is more like what it is.
Melissa: Yeah. Matthew looked very natural. You can’t pick out that he’s wearing makeup in the wedding photos or the branding photos.
Amanda: I never think it’s fair that women in photos have perfect flawless skin and makeup. And the guys, if they get a sunburn or if they have a pimple, it’s like-
Melissa: Too bad, too bad.
Amanda: They just don’t do anything, but it’s nice to have everyone looking flawless in your pictures.
Melissa: Regardless of gender, everybody wants to look really- It looks
Amanda: Yes,exactly. You hit the nail on the head.
Jennifer: His family was so cute. They were like, “You’re all coiffed.” It’s perfect.
Melissa: Coiffed, I love that. I love that. Oh my gosh.
Sifting through selfies (hundreds of them)
Jennifer: Now, when I think back on that process and I think about the day before the, not the wedding photo shoot, but the branding photo shoot that we did. I am someone… Okay, so I like makeup. I like taking selfies. I like taking photographs. I think I’m pretty good at taking photographs too. And so I actually had thousands of photographs that I had to upload from my phone onto my computer and it was because I was going on a trip. So I did this the day before our photo shoot. I uploaded probably 200 photos of myself into this one folder.
And I was like, “Wow, there’s so many photos of myself. Let me look through them and see if any are usable for my website because I’m going to be doing this redesign, but maybe I could fill things in when it comes to the photo shoot that we’re doing together.”
There was nothing. I mean, not that they were bad photos, but there was nothing that I was proud of and excited to share.
The feeling that I had when I got the photos back and I saw myself. I actually got the photos when I was traveling with some friends. And so we all looked at them together at the same time. It’s the only time I’ve ever done that. Like, looked at photos of myself with other people and they were excited for me, but they were excited because they could feel my personality and who I am through the photos and the makeup and the hair that we did together. It was such a collaborative project.
Tips for makeup and photography: lighting and color
Jennifer: We talked about people who maybe can’t afford to have you both out there, maybe can’t let go of some of their control preferences to let someone else in. And that’s okay. What are your suggestions for people who are going to do it themselves? Who are maybe, “I’ve never done makeup before. I’ve never even taken photographs before.” Do you have anywhere to start that you might recommend?
Melissa: Yeah, I’ll go first. With photography, it all comes down to lighting. Lighting is the most important thing. People think it’s backdrop or anything like that. It’s truly lighting. So if you are going to do a self-photoshoot, set up a selfie station, something like that, I would maybe invest in a little remote that can trigger your phone or use the timer feature. They just added a five second timer. So it’s no longer three and 10 seconds on the iPhone. You can also do five seconds, which is great. And find some good light, find a decently plain backdrop or whatever look you’re going for. Dress in a nice solid color and just experiment with how you look.
The lighting is really going to level up the professional look of the photo. Portrait mode is great on the iPhone. Unfortunately, I don’t know Android’s, I’m talking specifically iPhones, but they have something similar. Just to give you a little more of that depth of field blurred background feel, which also makes it a little more professional. So that would be my two tips. Find some really pretty lighting. Get right in front of a nice big window and practice your smiles and your posing.
Amanda: I also think another thing, I think those are great tips and also the lighting, like Melissa said, is key. But also I feel like really being prepared. So what we would have you do too, like we talked about the Pinterest boards. I’m big on that too. Like come up with a styling board of some sort where you’re kind of putting together a palette.
Start with colors that you like, that you gravitate toward. If you want it monochromatic, do that. If you want to do something colorful, what colors are we doing? Start really like looking at photos that resonate with you and put together a styling board, but condense it and make it. Yeah, you don’t want to be overwhelmed with a million things like, “Oh, I should try this or this.” Don’t do that. You’re just going to drive yourself crazy. Just condense it to a few of your favorites and sort of focus on that. Say, “Okay, I can go buy that sweater. I like that color. These are some colors for my makeup that would look really nice and compliment the background or what I’m wearing.” That sort of thing.
So kind of have an idea of what you’re doing and then be organized about it. If you want several looks, have that ready to go. And then if you’re doing hair and makeup switches, what are those going to be? Have little prompts about what you need to change into or what changes for hair and makeup you might make too. And think about your surroundings too. What does the set look like, “the set”? Your home, or what do you want in the photo? I love crystals, so for me, I would add some of my favorite crystals in the background, something like that. Something that’s personal.
Melissa: Also, when you are going into a photo shoot, whether you’re hiring us, whether you’re hiring someone else, doing it yourself, is knowing where the photos are going to go. So are they going to go on social media? Then most likely, you’ll want to take most of the image in vertical, straight up and down, because that is what social media likes. If it’s for your website, you may need more horizontal images. You may need a hero image for your website where you need to be a little more pulled back because it needs to be longer. Having an idea of exactly what you want so you can frame it in the way is going to make your job so much easier afterwards.
And one more tip. I truly feel that when we get photographed, a lot of times we’re very hard on ourselves, especially when we photograph ourselves. Sometimes you’re like, “Oh, I don’t know if I liked any of those.” Walk away from it for a little bit. Give it an hour, give it 24 hours, and then go back because we have very heightened emotion when we’re taking the photos and like, “Oh, I want this to be perfect. I look good. I don’t look good.” That sort of thing.
We kind of fight with ourselves. Sometimes just removing yourself from the photos for a little bit and then going back to them can be super helpful and just seeing them in a different way.
Working with your photographer on campus
Jennifer: That’s so helpful. Now, one thing to know if you’re a professor who’s wanting to do your photo shoot on campus, and I just know this from working university in the university events office when I was in school, is that oftentimes you may need permission to bring a professional photographer or stylist on campus if the photos are going to be used “commercially.” That is often not the case when you are a student of the school or a faculty of the school or you work there. Or maybe even if you’re an alumni, they may have a special form or process for you to fill out. It is good to check in because part of my job when I was doing that was to make sure that photographers who were on campus that didn’t have that slip did go and file things with the office.
This is mostly for the campus, like to protect things. It’s like a liability concern. They do occasionally need insurance for some situations, often not photography, but I just wanted to make that clear.
If you’re planning to do photos on campus, it’s good to ask or clear it with your supervisor or with whatever office is in charge of photography on campus, just to be sure.
Campus photographers are typically not available for outside photo shoots. If you’re looking for someone local, maybe you can’t bring Amanda and Melissa in, especially if they’re flying maybe across the country or to another country. Just know university photographers often are so busy, they just don’t typically have time to work on your project.
Your campus photographer or media office may have local recommendations though, so it’s worth asking. Just maybe don’t expect them to be able to drop things. Unfortunately, they’re typically really booked up with many different offices on campus needing their support. And, universities don’t usually have makeup and hair artists / stylists. So definitely reach out to Amanda no matter what. And, it’s good to ask for recommendations.
Questions to ask your photographer or makeup artist
Robert L. Pincus, PhD / Photography by Melissa McClure
Jennifer: I’m curious. Both of you mentioned that kind of introductory call. Are there questions you should be sure to ask a professional if you’re thinking about working with you?
Melissa: Yeah, for me, it’s what the packages look like.
Do you get the digital images?
Am I allowed to use these for commercial, for my website, and for potentially making money off of them?
Because there are some tricky copyrights with photography. So just be very clear on, “Hey, I want to use these for my business. This is a branding photo shoot,” and then see where they lie.
Make sure you’re not just paying for the shoot, you’re paying for the images as well all in one.
Also, what the timing looks like. Photographers will know the best time for lighting, and if you go to them and be like, “I have to shoot at noon,” a photographer might be like, “Let’s rework this a little bit.” So deferring to them for lighting and even location. If you want on campus, that’s one thing. But if you want an off-campus location, asking referrals for your photographer is totally, totally . . . we love it.
Amanda: I think some of the big things to maybe consider if you are hiring a stylist are, if the stylist will stay on set with you for the duration of the shoot. Because, like you said, if you’re doing it yourself, you get hyperaware maybe, and you’re focused too much on every little thing. But to have the stylist like I did with you Jennifer, where I can be there as your person in the background, like, “Oh, hang on. We got to move your hair over a little bit,” or, “Nope, nope, nope. We got to move something here or change this.” I can be that person, so you don’t have to be the one worrying about it. Just find out if that service is available, and if they will stay for the duration of the shoot.
Also, keep in mind maybe what kind of products they’re using. Sometimes it’s important for people to have clean products. I try to use cleaner brands. I think that’s important. I wouldn’t want to use anything on someone’s skin that I wouldn’t use on my own, so I would ask about that and what they use, especially if you have allergies that you’re concerned about or anything like that.
Then just basically some ideas about what they can offer in terms of helping you come up with your look.
Melissa: Knowing what you’re going to wear when you’re going into the shoot, because that’ll help us also with location and colors. Amanda, I know that’ll help with makeup tones and everything like that. I love when clients send me ideas for what to wear, and I could be like, “This one is going to photograph really well.”
For some reason, neon colors are popular and neon colors do not photograph well.” I will tell people that. Stay away from the hot thing.
Jennifer wore this gorgeous orange sweater. I brought it up again, but it just popped with her skin tone and everything. It was the perfect, perfect color. If you’re on the fence about what to wear, ask the professionals.
Jennifer: Amanda, when you mentioned – as a stylist, that was something that I actually kind of wish I had chosen for my wedding. When it came to the branding photo shoot, I remember at the time really feeling like it was a splurge. This is something that I’m gifting to myself because I actually think that this team is so great that I can see our synergy working together even better day of.
Now, when it came to the day of, I really was so glad that I had invested in that because I felt more comfortable. It was almost like having an extra—not that Melissa and I have obviously done photographs together and it’s fine, but having another person there helped me feel more comfortable. It actually helped me feel like, “Oh, I can’t let someone else think about these things that maybe I would want to think about. I would probably be looking around the room. Should I move anything? Should I spot anything?” My brain got to relax. My brain got to kind of let go and let Melissa take these amazing photos. She knew where she was going in the office, so it let my brain focus on just being myself.
It was interesting that having more people in the room was better for me because I’m really introverted. I’m a super introverted person who mostly connects with people virtually. It was fascinating that that made it more comfortable for me. I’m so glad that you were both there.
Melissa: We have that rapport. We have that chemistry already because we have worked together a few times now. I think it’s great. Just having a team to support you is going to maybe have the best results.
Amanda: If it’s someone that is an introvert, they could always do a preview. With weddings, we do what’s called a bridal preview where you come in, you try out your look, you see how it feels, you see if you want to tweak anything. If it’s translating from, say, the photo to your own features, that’s a big deal. That’s totally an option too, just to try it out first and see. Then also that makes you have the chance to build rapport with the artist, with the stylist, especially if I’m going to be on set with you. That’s the time we can get to know each other. Then that day, it’s more cas [casual].
Jennifer: Just for everyone who’s listening, trial is typically a paid experience. I just want to mention, even though it’s called a trial, it doesn’t mean that you’re trying out the service. It means that you’re trying things out to see how it feels on your face, to see how your hair is reacting to it. You’re trying it together.
Oh, this is such a good conversation. Is there anything else you want to chat about or add before you wrap up?
Investing in yourself and being authentic online
Melissa: I think that people, I think you mentioned this earlier, Jennifer, but I think people struggle with the, “Is this worth it? Am I worth it? Investing in yourself?” I really think it is. Pictures really convey a message to your audience. Your branding is very, very important and you want to show up as your authentic self. Spending that little bit of extra money is really going to help you level up your website, your social media, that sort of thing. Selfies are great. Self-photos are good too. A mixture of both I think is where the sweet spot is.
Amanda: I completely agree with you and I also wanted to point out, I’ve seen a lot of branding right now with AI and it just strikes me as too slick. I guess it is the word slick and just not authentic, which I guess if you don’t care about that portion of it, you just want a really polished, flawless picture. That’s fine. But if you really do want to connect, I don’t think AI is where it’s at for authentically connecting.
Jennifer: Yeah, and I don’t think that AI is even there yet.
Amanda: Just my thought, it seems like something’s off almost. If I see it, I can’t connect with it. If I see someone and it’s just . . . I don’t get a sense of who they are.
Jennifer: You can tell, you can tell when it’s an AI photo
Amanda: Definitely.
Melissa: I think it’s an easy out and I think easy outs are always not going to be ultimately the long-term option.
Jennifer: Yeah, and I feel like this audience, academics, they are not easy way out people. They have stayed in school doing their research, doing their teaching for so long in order to create oftentimes quite slow changes that make big impact. That is something that you can do for yourself too. That is something that you can do with this gift to yourself.
The way that I think about it is you don’t even need to be on social media or have a website for this kind of service to really benefit you as an academic. There are news articles that your university or your college might want to write about you. There are local appearances in the news or maybe in an academic society organization where they might not need to share your photo, where they might want to have options for what to share. Maybe that kind of stoic traditional headshot that you took for your campus photographer isn’t going to cut it for that use because it doesn’t feel like you. It doesn’t feel like this purpose. You have options and these two amazing people are my favorite options for you. They’re who I’m going to be recommending to my professor clients from now on.
Amanda: Thank you. And don’t forget guys, this is a tax write-off too. [Laughing]
Jennifer: That is so true.
Melissa: That’s the best advice. That’s the best advice I’ve heard.
Amanda: I do my pictures too and I’m like, “I can just write it off. It’s fine.”
Jennifer: Yes, this is helping your career.
Amanda: And I also wanted to point out, so during the shoot, I was the person that was doing behind the scenes content too. So that’s another element that you’re, it’s kind of like a bonus. It’s like if you have a stylist that loves social media like I do, I’m always video, videotaping everything. I like doing reels. So I love sharing that with my clients too. Like, “Oh, I got these behind the scenes footage” or for the photographers too. I’m like,” I got you in action. Here you go.”
Jennifer: So fun.
Amanda: It’s social content for everybody, which everybody needs.
Jennifer: There are so many ways that we can create more authenticity for ourselves, whether it’s through behind the scenes content or even people who have never worn makeup, never had their hair professionally done can still feel more like themselves by working through this together. And so I really appreciate you both coming on the show and sharing your expertise because you are humans that I care about. And I know can help so many people.
Melissa: Thank you Jennifer.
Amanda: Thank you Jennifer, and I just wanted to point out you don’t have to wear a ton of makeup or do something crazy with your hair. It’s just a little bit of an elevation. So if you are a natural person, we can keep it natural. It doesn’t have to be like another level. But it’s just, I kind of feel like I have an eye for how much you need for it to show up properly in photos and what Melissa needs to capture your features, your best features. That’s what I’m there for, to pick up the best parts about you and kind of show the world.
Jennifer: Thank you so much for coming on The Social Academic and for everyone listening. I’m going to have their contact information in the description below so you can get in touch if you’re interested in working with these amazing people.
Amanda Thorne is the owner of Thorne Artistry, an award-winning, inclusive, creative styling company based in San Diego, California, but available worldwide! Thorne Artistry not only offers hair & makeup for weddings, but all special events including family, branding sessions, and editorial shoots.
Thorne Artistry specializes in, and is known for, soft or natural glam that elevates your beauty, while making sure it still looks & feels like you. Thorne Artistry is also known for a focus on clean beauty, and the best products available.
Thorne Artistry’s work has been published nationally & internationally in Rolling Stone, Vogue India, Martha Stewart Weddings, US Weekly, and People magazine. Locally, you can see Amanda’s work grace the covers of Exquisite Weddings, Pacific, and San Diego Style magazine. You may also see her work appear on The Bachelor, Summer House, or other Bravo favorites.
Thorne Artistry has worked with multiple celebrity clients, and appears regularly in well-known wedding publications like Martha Stewart Weddings, Style Me Pretty, The Knot, Magnolia Rouge and many more. Thorne Artistry has consistently won WeddingWire and The Knot Couples’ Choice Awards, was voted Best Hair and Makeup by the San Diego A-List Awards and voted by her peers for Best Hair & Makeup by California Wedding Day magazine.
Born in Ohio, Amanda has always had the travel bug, has visited over 23 countries, and has lived in Australia, Seattle, San Francisco, & currently resides in the La Jolla neighborhood of San Diego. Her styling career started while studying at the University of Dayton where she produced TV commercials. Amanda is also a former radio DJ, and was the host of Alt949’s Big Sonic Chill.
When Amanda’s not creating beauty, she can be found outdoors with her husband and two kiddos going on lots of road trips, hiking, listening to good music, finding new coffee spots, fun thrift markets, or reading biographies, or a good psychological thriller! Reach out to chat more & reserve your upcoming date.
Melissa McClure | Melissa McClure Creative
Melissa McClure is a wedding and personal branding photographer with 20+ years of experience. She lives in San Diego, California. Melissa is a also a ‘social media goddess’ and coach who helps women entrepreneurs step out of their comfort zone and own their power online.
Melissa McClure is redesigning her photography website. I’ll update this page when her new website is live for you! In the meantime, get in touch through her coaching website.
Want to work with Melissa or Amanda? Yay! I accept no monies or gift when you move forward with them. I share them each with you because they’ve helped me with their expertise and artistry. I trust them to help you too. Thank you!
Do you need an online presence yesterday? You may be wondering how can I improve my online presence as a professor, researcher, or scientist quick.
“I have a big talk coming up, it would be great tohave my website up by then.”
“My tenure review packet is due next month. Any chance we could have the website up?”
“The book comes out in X month, my publisher needs my bio soon.”
“It would be great to have this done before our grant proposal is submitted.”
You may want to be intentional about your online presence if you need it for a
Conference, talk, or event
Book
Job search
Funding application or annual review
Award
Application
Press release
Board meeting
I’m not always able to help academics who come to me with a short turnaround. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t ways for you to have a stronger online presence now. You have agency in how you show up online.
What should I do 1st?
Google yourself. What’s can people find about you and your research now? What makes up your digital footprint?
Gather what they need from you. We’re you asked for specific materials such as your bio, headshot, or social media handle? If yes, these may be items to consider improving. This is more for an event, media appearance, or announcement.
Here’s advice for writing your LinkedIn headline specifically.
Need new photos of you? It’s okay to ask for support. For instance, can your university provide a professional photographer for the event? If not, can they recommend someone local? You can seek approval for use of funds towards that or other things for your online presence. If you’re doing a media appearance or event, it’s okay to ask your host if there will be photos or video.
You can also ask a friend or family member to take photos of you. While selfie are a good option, a phone-camera savvy friend is ideal.
I did my 1st professional photo shoot this year. It was much more comfortable than I expected because I had a great team there to help me. You can hear all about it in an upcoming interview for The Social Academic with the photographer and makeup artist I’ll be recommending to my clients. I can’t wait to share our conversation with you. I’ll update this article when that interview goes live, so bookmark it if you’d find it useful.
If you have access to make updates yourself, your faculty profile is a great way to improve your online presence. For most academics, it can be a slow process to request an update be made. If you’re unsure how to make changes to your faculty profile, now is a great time to ask.
If you need your website today,Owlstown is a great option for you.
If you don’t want a website, but you still want something for people to view online, consider a Google Doc, Word Doc view only, PDF or other media with a public share link. If you need something more visual, consider a Canva presentation.
Need a social media graphic? Canva is my favorite option. I’ve helps professors around the world feel comfortable using Canva for their social media. I even went to Cava Create last year in Los Angeles. This year’s event is coming up on April 10.
Social media graphic ideas:
Introduce yourself
Share your research
Meet your team
Share a paper or publication
Talk or event info
Invite people to your course (okay this one isn’t as timely, but still a fun idea, I had to share it with you)
You don’t need to work with me to have a stronger online presence now. Find resources on The Social Academic blog (try searching by category). There are interviews you may find helpful on the podcast and on YouTube. You’ve got this! ✨
Work with me on your online presence
You don’t have to do it alone. I’m Jennifer van Alstyne. I help individual professors, research labs and groups communicate who you are and what you care about online. You can have your website designed for you. You can have set-up of their LinkedIn profile done for you. You don’t have to write your own bio (unless you want to). It’s okay to get support for your digital presence as a faculty or researcher.
Professors with a tight turnaround typically book a private 1-on-1 consultation with me on Zoom. That way we can work together in real time to make a difference for your online presence. Academics like having an expert to ask their questions. Most save significant time with ideas that just won’t work for their goals and needs. I’m happy to help you on a private consultation too.
But if your schedule is a bit more flexible, let’s meet on a no pressure Zoom call about working together so we can customize a service that fit your lifestyle, needs, and goals. Find a time on this online calendar.
While I can’t promise I’m able to work with you when it comes to a quick turnaround, I promise to help you in the right direction (even when it isn’t working with me).
Jennifer van Alstyne and Dr. Sheena Howard designed this live interactive virtual event for professors and researchers like you. Especially if you’ve ever felt like, “I don’t need to do this for me, but I should do this for my book” when it comes to your online presence. Or, if you worry about self-promotion but know your writing / research can help more people if you’re open to sharing it.
Join Dr. Sheena C. Howard and Jennifer van Alstyne for a90-minute virtual event to help academics and researchers amplify your work, attract media opportunities, and share your book in meaningful ways.
We hope you can join us on April 12, 2025 for Promoting Your Book Online for Academics. You’re invited! 💌
What: 1.5 hour interactive workshop When: April 12, 2025 at 11:30am Pacific Time / 2:30pm Eastern Time Where: Live on Zoom (there will be a replay) With: Jennifer van Alstyne and Dr. Sheena Howard
A workshop for academics who have a book or research project you should be sharing with the world ✨
April 12, 2025 on Zoom at 11:30am Pacific Time / 2:30pm Eastern Time. Sign up.
About the workshop
Promoting Your Book Online for Academics is on April 12, 2025 at 2pm Eastern / 11:30am Pacific Time. It will be recorded for when you can’t make it live.
You should sign up if you’re open to
Sharing your book (or your research project)
Opportunities for your book to be featured in media (but aren’t sure where to start)
Helping more people with the writing / research you already do
Aim to attract funding
Want to build partnerships or collaborations for your equity focused work
At the end of this workshop you’ll know what’s effective use of your time for media and online presence.
What’s included?
Our live interactive workshop is on April 12, 2025 on Zoom (1.5 hours)
Replay of the event (video and audio only if you prefer to listen)
Worksheet to help you take action and Resources guide to keep
A private scheduling link for your follow up consultation with Jennifer
What inspired this event
Hi, I’m Jennifer van Alstyne (@HigherEdPR). I’ve been working 1-on-1 with professors on their online presence since 2018. When I look back on the transformations my clients have gone through, there’s often an emotional journey, not just the capacity-building work we do for your online presence. Most of my clients are authors. The professor writers I work with want their words to reach the right people, but felt unsure about how to go about that online.
Your book deserves to reach the people you wrote it for. When I ask professors who haven’t promoted their book, “do you hope more readers find this book?” The answer is often “Yes,” even if the book is older. Even when the book didn’t sell as well as you may have hoped. Even when your book is out of print there are things you can do to have agency in sharing it online.
In 2021, Dr. Sheena Howard and I teamed up for an intimate live event that helped academics around the world. We’ve been wanting to do another one since. But we wanted something that was really going to help you. For years, authors have opened up to each of us about what stopped them from sharing their book for years. When we were brainstorming who we want to help most with this Promoting Your Book Online for Academics event, these are some of the stories that came up:
I thought I’d have more support in marketing my book from the press…but it seems to be mostly on me.
My publisher asked me to build up my social media presence for my new book…I’m not really a social media person.
My books in the past didn’t do well…I’m worried my new book won’t do well either.
I shared my book once. But I haven’t share it again since on socials.
I am unsure if it is too early (or too late) to promote my book.
If I want to promote my book, when should I be reaching out to media? Before the book launches? After the book launches? I don’t know where to start.
I don’t think anyone will care about my book.
I want to go on podcasts to talk about my book, but I haven’t done anything toward that, no.
Dr. Sheena C. Howard (@drsheenahoward), a Professor of Communication. She helps professors get media coverage and visibility through Power Your Research (without the expense of a publicist). She’s been featured in ABC, PBS, BBC, NPR, NBC, The LA Times, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and more for her research on representation, identity, and social justice. Her book, Black Comics: Politics of Race and Representation won an Eisner Award. The Encyclopedia of Black Comics, which profiles over 100 Black people in the comics industry. Her book, Why Wakanda Matters, was a clue on Jeopardy.
She’s a writer without limits. I’ve recommended Sheena to some of my clients because she’s someone who helps people move past the limits we sometimes set for ourselves as writers. The worries or beliefs that sometimes hold us back. She’s worked closely with writers and creatives to build their capacity, to have agency in your media presence so you can make an impact when it matters. You want visibility that makes a difference for you. That invites readers. That can attract opportunities when they’re aligned with with what you want for yourself and the world.
This event is for you even when you want to do it yourself for your online presence. You won’t have to work with us after the workshop ends. This live event is about implementable strategies, and finding focus for what makes sense for sharing your book or research project.
FAQs for Promoting Your Book Online for Academics
Frequently asked questions you may be wondering about.
Where is the workshop?
This is a live virtual interactive event on Zoom on April 12, 2025 at 11:30am Pacific Time / 2:30pm Eastern Time.
What if I can’t make it live?
At our last event, some people knew they wouldn’t be able to attend live when they signed up. A couple people also couldn’t make it live unexpectedly. If you’re unable to join us live on April 12, 2025, you’ll have everything you need.
Jennifer will email you the event replay when it’s finished processing. You’ll get a copy of the take home worksheet to help you take action and the resources guide. That email will also have your private scheduling link for a follow up meeting with Jennifer if you’d find space to chat about your online presence supportive.
Outside of the United States? We had people register from around the world last time. If you run into an issue checking out, Jennifer is happy to create an invoice for you through Wise. Email [email protected]
This event is non-refundable. If something comes up and you’re unable to join us live on April 12, 2025, you’ll have everything you need.
Jennifer will email you the event replay when it’s finished processing. You’ll get a copy of the take home worksheet to help you take action and the resources guide. That email will also have your private scheduling link for a follow up meeting with Jennifer if you’d find space to chat about your online presence supportive.
Can I use professional development funds or research funds to pay for this event?
Yes. If a custom invoice would be helpful for you, please reach out to [email protected]
I’m interested in working with Jennifer and Sheena privately. Is this event still for me?
Jennifer and Sheena team up for online presence VIP Days. And some of our clients have worked with us separately depending on your goals.
While I’m happy to see how we can work together, this is not a sales event. At our last event, people found having a bit of private space after the event was helpful. So we wanted to be sure you get that private follow up consultation too. If you’re interested in working with us, please do sign up for that Zoom call. We can save time to chat about what may be helpful for you.
This workshop isn’t in my budget…I still want a stronger online presence for my book / research.
Yay, I’m glad you found this page because I want that for you. You deserve a stronger online presence if that’s something you want for yourself. Best wishes for your online presence, you’ve got this! There are free resources here on The Social Academic blog to help you have a stronger online presence for your book and your research. You can search by category to find what’s helpful for you. You might start resources related to Authors and Books.
I don’t think this event is right for me, can I share it with a friend?
Yes! I’d love that. If this event isn’t right for you, but you think it may be helpful for your friend or colleague, please share it with them. We appreciate you!
Questions about this event? Please don’t hesitate to reach out. I’m happy to answer your question, hesitation, or concern.
This article isn’t about which is better for you: faculty profile or LinkedIn profile. It would be great for your online presence if you had both. Hi, I’m Jennifer van Alstyne. I help Higher Education faculty, researchers, and scientists with their digital presence for academics.
I just got off a call with an Associate Professor client. We worked on both his LinkedIn profile and faculty profile together (which just went live, yay!). This professor is really an in-person networker. When we 1st met he said, “people know me,” but if you searched online? At the time there wasn’t a comprehensive academic profile or online presence that could help people know who he is now.
Are you “not really a social media person” too? I’ve written about how I still recommend having a filled out LinkedIn profile if you’re an academic who “doesn’t want to be on social media.” It’s okay to not post on social media. It’s okay to lurk. It’s okay to like or repost without sharing original posts yourself. There are many ways to be on social media as an academic. And what feels right for you now may change in the future too. While I love personal academic websites as a long-term solution for professors, researchers, and scientists, having a website isn’t right for everyone.
However you choose to have an online presence (if that’s a goal for you at all) is fine. There isn’t a one size fits all solution for academics and researchers online.
As an academic who wants to have a stronger online presence, it’s a best practice to update your faculty profile and your LinkedIn profile at least 1/year.
Faculty Profile
A few years ago I asked a professor client to reach out to his college to ask if they had specific guidelines for their faculty profiles. We were redoing his academic bio. His done for you bio writing package included a new faculty profile. When we got on our call to chat about it, he started laughing, because when the college replied to him, they’d sent back his own faculty profile as “a great example.” 🤣
You can have a “great example” of a faculty profile, and still feel like it doesn’t reflect who you are and what you value as an academic now.
We grinned because the profile we envisioned for him was such an improvement. I say that not to disregard or belittle the work he’d done on his own faculty profile. Like most professors, he’d only ever written his own bios. But the time we created to talk through who he is, his story, and the change he’s working to create in the world? It made such an impact for the words we ultimately chose to share.
Your faculty profile is the 1st place for many of your students, colleagues, and people in your field will go to learn more about you. Some faculty profiles are robust with space for things like your bio, teaching, research, awards, and university media mentions. Others are streamlined with the details people most need like your job title and department and recent publications. Most professors I’ve chatted with express a lack of enthusiasm for their faculty profile, “it’s there, but it isn’t exciting.” And that’s fine, your professor or researcher profile on your university’s website doesn’t have to be enhanced unless you want it to be.
Problems faculty have run into updating their faculty profiles
I really like the mix of having both your faculty profile and your LinkedIn profile because professors who come to me with help for their online presence have occasionally reached out in distress:
“No one knew who to ask. I don’t think any of my colleagues have updated their faculty profile in years.”
“The person in our department who knew how to update the faculty profiles left, no one’s been able to update their profile in over a year.”
“My university moved all our faculty profiles to an intranet…that was my whole online presence.”
“They said they’re updating the faculty profile system. There won’t be an option to update my faculty profile for months.”
“The IT people said no emails on faculty profiles, so they’re gone. How are people supposed to get in touch with me?”
That last one had me on high alert. When I ask professors, “How do people usually get in touch with you?” They typically say something like, “People look up my faculty profile, my emails right there.”
Some universities have removed email addresses from faculty profiles in hopes of limiting phishing emails. A few have eliminated faculty profiles altogether. I get that there are IT limitations and protection needs that sometimes force these decisions. But I also deeply mourn the loss of connection that happened to each of those faculty members overnight. What things were lost? What connection?
It’s the same way I feel about adjunct professors, lecturers, and staff who make such an impact on campus, but often aren’t given space on their university website beyond their listed name.
You deserve a space online if you want one.
You can choose to have a stronger online presence if you want one.
You have agency in how you show up online.
Updating your faculty profile
The most frequent audience for your faculty profile is your students, colleagues, and people at your university. But those aren’t the only people who may visit your faculty profile. These are steps you can take to improve your faculty or researcher profile on your university’s website.
When you Google your name, does your faculty profile show up? Tip: Use a private or incognito browser mode for results not personalized to you.
Visit your faculty profile. What types of information are available? Does anything feel like it’s missing?
Make list of what needs to be updated. For instance, are the keywords for your research out of date? Do your recent publications appear there, or is that section a few years old? What about your bio? Does it still reflect who you are now? Many professors have only filled out a portion of their faculty profile, leaving unused sections blank. This is a good opportunity to improve your online presence by thinking about which section may be helpful at add in. What might help your students or other researchers in your field long-term? You don’t have to do the work to make these changes now. Making a list of the updates you want will help you prioritize your time later.
Find out who to contact about implementing your updates. You might do this before actually writing the updates in case you get word that “the system is changing” or “we’ll have a new format for faculty profiles soon.” I don’t want to you to makeover your faculty profile and then not be able to implement those changes. If you have the ability to make changes to your faculty profile yourself, skip this step.
Add a time to your calendar to gather materials, writing, or any update you want to have on your faculty profile. Block more time on your calendar than you anticipate just in case.
Good luck with updating your faculty profile! If you can only focus on 1 thing to improve, choose your academic bio. Your bio is a living document that can adapt to fit your needs. I had a great conversation with Dr. Echo Rivera where I share my top tips for your academic bio. I hope you find it helpful.
Don’t want to write your own academic bio?
There are many ways to have a stronger online presence as a professor or researcher. You don’t need to work with me to be more intentional about how you show up online as an academic. Not sure where you should start? Join my free online presence course to help you know where to focus your time and energy.
I’m happy to help you if you want a done for you academic bio too. It’s hard to be introspective about yourself. It may feel “uncomfortable” or like it’s time “too focused on me.” It’s okay if your brain wants to focus on other things instead of writing a new bio for yourself. That’s okay!
When we work together on done for you bio writing, you’ll get general use bios at different word lengths so you always have something ready to go. It also includes a custom bio like your new faculty profile done for you so you have a document ready to send to the person who implements changes at your university. If you want a “template” easy for you to update and adapt to their academic life for years to come, let’s chat about working together.
LinkedIn Profile
I like LinkedIn profiles for academics because they have many more capabilities than your faculty profile. You’re not job searching. You may be wondering, “does LinkedIn still make sense for me?” Let’s find out.
LinkedIn is great for faculty and researchers to…
Which of these benefits of having a LinkedIn presence as an academic stand out to you?
help people get in touch with you
show up in internet search results with a profile you control
share who they are and what they care about (in more engaging format than your CV)
connect with people in your research / teaching field
connect with your alma maters
be in network with your past affiliations
reconnect with former colleagues
find the people you’re looking for (LinkedIn has advanced search features)
connect with people across research fields and disciplines
connect with people in other regions around the world
invite deeper engagement with your research
help your research find an audience that cares
connect with editors and people in publishing
reach people who your research helps most
engage with the public
reach policymakers and practitioners
meet potential collaborators and partners
meet with potential community partners
meet potential corporate partners
attract potential research funders
be open to media requests and engagement
invite aligned opportunities for yourself and your students
help your students have a larger network
share a short recommendation for your student
connect with your alumni and former mentees with ease
reshare posts your audience may find useful
have conversations that invite people to participate (like in the comments of a post)
have conversations privately, via messages or groups
share media related to your Experiences and Education
show a bit more of your story than faculty profiles typically allow
start a newsletter
publish articles
Whoa, that list got longer than I expected. That was just a short brainstorm session too.
Did 1 or more of those feel like a good reason for you to be more intentional about your LinkedIn presence as an academic?
P.S. If you’re finding this article helpful, save it to your bookmarks for later. Please share it as a resource if you think a friend or colleague would find it helpful.
Here are 3 ways to get your LinkedIn profile if you want to do-it-yourself
In workshops for grad students and faculty, I’ve recommended blocking your calendar, to set time aside in your agenda for your LinkedIn profile. I’m someone who likes deep focused work, so that big chunk of time is often the best way for me to focus. How about you?
Here are 3 other possibilities to explore when it comes to fitting your LinkedIn profile into your academic life:
Do it section-by-section. When I 1st release my LinkedIn Profile for Professors and Researchers course, it was a challenge. Each week a new lesson was released helping you update just 1 section of your LinkedIn profile. Breaking your LinkedIn profile into smaller chunks let’s to create transformation for your online presence in a schedule that works for your life. Don’t feel like you need to change everything all at once. Any small change or improvement you make can help people better connect with your online presence as an academic.
Set a time to co-work on your LinkedIn profile. Are you someone that likes co-working? Get some friends, colleagues, or even your students together for a LinkedIn co-working session. You can each update your profiles, and even organize a quick review of each other’s at the end to check for typos. This can be virtual or in person, whatever you prefer.
Create intentional space for your lab, department, or school. Even though this is more work, you may have better motivation or more positive feelings about the time you take for your LinkedIn profile if you’re helping other people. You don’t need me to come in for a workshop at your university to create a professional development opportunity for LinkedIn you can all benefit from.
It’s okay if none of these work for you. If you’re someone who’s been wanting to do it yourself and you just haven’t? It’s okay to get support. Each of my professor clients who’ve chosen a done for you LinkedIn profile had the capability to do it themselves. Some even took my LinkedIn Profile course and found “I just can’t make the time,” and “I just want it done for me.” You can have a stronger online presence through LinkedIn, and we can totally work together on this.
For those of you wanting to DIY your LinkedIn profile as an academic, I hope these tips for your LinkedIn profile help you:
Don’t have the time for your LinkedIn profile?
Need to prioritize other things in your academic life? I totally understand. First, it’s totally okay if LinkedIn isn’t a goal for you right now. You don’t need a stronger online presence unless you want one.
Find free resources to help you on The Social Academic blog, podcast, and YouTube channel. You’ve got this (whenever you’re ready)! 🌟
My professor clients can do their own LinkedIn profile, for sure. They just don’t have the time. They’re not job searching. They want a stronger online presence. They’re busy academics who want to feel better connected with people in their field and reach people their research/teaching/leadership supports. They need to focus on their academic priorities and their personal ones, like their family.
You don’t have to do it yourself if you don’t want to. I’ll build your academic LinkedIn profile for you on your VIP Day. We’ll have a planning meeting to talk about your CV, review your existing profile, and chat about your goals. Then, on your VIP Day your LinkedIn profile will be fully done-for-you. After, we’ll meet on Zoom for your Review and Training Meeting, make any needed changes in real time. We’ll build your capacity and practice using LinkedIn for your specific needs. What works for one professor may not be a good fit for you, so we’ll talk about solutions personalized for your life/goals.
Who do I typically work with on the LinkedIn VIP Days service? You may want a done-for-you profile if you just don’t have the time to do it yourself (or you don’t want to). My LinkedIn profile clients have been
Mid career academics
Senior academics
Higher Ed administrators
Principal Investigators (PIs)
Early career researchers, we may create a greater impact for your academic life by partnering on done for you bio writing instead. Not that I wouldn’t be happy to do your LinkedIn profile for you. Just know that you don’t need to work with me for a great LinkedIn profile. I promise you can do this yourself if you want to.
If you’re like, “actually I don’t got this.” Or, “I know I’m not gonna do this on my own.” That’s okay. I’m Jennifer van Alstyne. I’ve been helping professors feel confident when showing up online since 2018 through personal websites and social media. I’m here to help you too.
Let’s chat on a no pressure Zoom call about your LinkedIn VIP Day for a done-for-you profile. Or, a 1 hour LinkedIn consultation with me. Schedule a time on my online calendar.
Ideas for Your Online Presence Before, During, and After Your Talk or Presentation
The best time to share about your upcoming talk or presentation is before it happens. Some people find that their most engaged post on social media is announcing that you’ve submitted your abstract to speak (or your publication). People are excited by the possibility and what you care about. Telling your story of your upcoming speaking engagement is a great way to do that.
Sharing on social media can start early, but I don’t want you to think it’s the only way to help your online presence and the people coming to your talk. You’re going to explore many ideas today, but you don’t have to try all of them. I hope that there’s at least one idea that resonates with you and you’d feel comfortable trying it yourself.
Before your speaking engagement
When you submit an abstract for or are invited to speak
Add your website URL and social media handle to your bio. This will help people find you before, during, and after your presentation.
I’ve just submitted an abstract to speak at…
Announce that you’ve submitted – If you’ve been invited to speak, a good time to share on social media is when you’ve agreed or committed to that engagement. It’s great to add your social media handle and a link to your personal academic website if you have one, along with your bio. You might add that information to your CV.
Connect with people before you go
Once your talk is confirmed, you can add it to your website and you might take time to connect with your fellow panelists or event organizers before the event.
Conference Hashtag
If there is one, you can check out the conference hashtag and make plans with people who will also be at the event that you want to see, especially if you live in different cities or countries.
Business cards
If you have a business card, add your social media handle and website there is a good idea.
Share your talk on social media
When you’re sharing your talk on social media, people need more information than you expect. They need to know what your talk is about, when your talk is to know if they can attend, what the event is, and any link where they can learn more information. This is something you can share on any social media platform or across all your platforms.
Some professors hesitate to share their upcoming talk on Facebook where they may have a more personal audience, but these people are excited by what you care about when it comes to your research and how you choose to spend your energy. You might include , on all social media posts, any definition or story that helps people better understand why this talk or research matters to you.
Tag people or organizations that are related to your talk or event.
The conference hashtag can be added to your post about your talk but you can also add a hashtag that relates to the topic of what you are presenting on.
You can share the post about your talk before, during or after the event.
Create a graphic or infographic
If you create a graphic or share an image to go with your talk, a great resource is Writing image Descriptions on Accessible Social – which helps you create social media posts accessible for people with disabilities.
These are ideas are for your online presence and networking while a conference or event is happening.
Check out the conference hashtag, again
If you checked out the event hashtag, you might find that people weren’t using it. Once the event starts, you can start using the conference hashtag and check it out! See if there is a conversation you want to be part of, or an event you want to check out.
Be open about your online presence
The best thing you can do for your online presence while at an in person event, is to be open that you have a website or that you’re on social media.
Help people find and connect with you
You can make this easier for people by making a QR code that helps people go to your website, have this info on a business card, create a hand out with information or resource about your talk (that includes people need to your online presence) , or use an end slide in your presentation to help people connect with you after the event is over.
Resources to take home and share
When you create a resource like a handout or links /slides to share, that can go on your personal academic website. They can also be shared on social media using that conference hashtag to help people find this resource that you’ve already taken the time to gather.
Will this be recorded?
Ask if there is going to be a recording. Sometimes, there isn’t an official recording but you can ask if you can record yourself.
Stay connected once you’re gone
Connect with people you meet or you like and admire on social media, while at the conference. Helps others be more likely to learn about you.
It’s okay if you don’t do any of that too
I have never had time for any of that at conferences, personally. In person events can be overwhelming for me as an introvert. Because of that, I don’t have the brain capacity to remember things like take a photo, much less record some videos.
Anything I just talked about – some of those things can be prepped in advance others you don’t have to do live (you can do afterward)
Next are ideas you can do after your presentation or talk is over.
After your talk is over
Record your talk
Whether there was a recording of your talk or not, you could always record your talk and slides using zoom, then post the video to your website or social media. There are options to share the full version of your talk, if you like to. You can just share the title slide, or full text version of the talk, or even the full slides.
Connect with people when you’re back at home
If you didn’t connect with people during the event, sometimes connecting AFTER the event is easier. You can look at the conference hashtag. Look through the business cards you collected. See the conference program and look at the bios to see who is on social media.
Create and/or share resources
If you didn’t have resources to share at your talk, if there are things you want people to know after the fact, you can create a graphic or handout that is shareable on social media or a page on your website.
Celebrate other people
While you can post about your own talk, you can also post about your panel and thank the conference and event organizers. If you want to participate in the conference community but not want to talk about your own talk, you can celebrate others instead. It’s a great opportunity for PIs to celebrate their lab members or grad students who are at the event. There are so many ways to celebrate people instead of yourself, if that feels comfortable or more exciting for you.
These don’t have to be professional shots. A messy desk shot or photo of you working on your slides or going over your notes on the plane. Something that feels quick or easy to you.
Take pictures during the event
Snap a photo of things you see, people you meet, friends you catch up with. Ask someone to take photos of you while you’re speaking or pose at the conference.
You could record a video of your talk
This can be before, during, or after the event.
You can record a video about your talk
Record a short video introducing your talk and the main takeaways. This video is especially for people who couldn’t be there live for your presentation.
Record some b-roll
If you like video, record b-roll video. Take a sip of coffee, getting ready to speak, short travel clips, video of fellow panelists or friends. These might be put into a longer video or Instagram reel.
But these might feel like too much – so even though they are fun ideas, don’t be stressed if you do none of them.
If you’re writing a book and you want people to read it, watch this. Dr. Jane Jones invited me to talk about how to share your book on social media for academic authors.
Who is your reader? Who’s interested in reading your monograph, edited collection, or academic book? How do you get a bigger audience for your book as an academic? You deserve a stronger online presence for your book. Let’s talk about finding your book’s audience on social media.
