In this video, Cherie Liu, a content creator and Stanford student, shares her journey of transitioning from a casual social media user to a mentor at scale through her online presence. Inspired by a message from a follower and the discovery of childhood memories during the pandemic, she capitalized on the potential of platforms like TikTok to educate and engage a global audience by sharing authentic experiences from her professional and educational journey.

Cherie highlights the transformative power of social media in democratizing access to education and mentorship, surpassing traditional one-on-one models. Although initial ventures may face challenges like focusing on vanity metrics, the value ultimately lies in meaningful engagement with audiences. By sharing both successes and struggles, Cherie aims to redefine mentorship and encourage others to become creator mentors themselves, potentially guiding a diverse audience in tech, finance, and beyond.

Main takeaways from the video:

Please remember to turn on the CC button to view the subtitles.

Key Vocabularies and Common Phrases:

1. exposure [ɪkˈspoʊʒər] - (noun) - The state of being exposed to contact with something or gaining experience. - Synonyms: (contact, acquaintance, familiarity)

It's my first exposure to people who are getting an MBA.

2. pursue [pərˈsuː] - (verb) - To follow or engage in something with the objective of achieving it. - Synonyms: (chase, follow, seek)

Maybe I should have pursued creative writing then.

3. remix [ˈriːmɪks] - (verb) - To rearrange or modify content, particularly in a new way. - Synonyms: (rearrange, recast, modify)

With a few quick taps on the screen, I could remix my own videos and post them online.

4. applicable [ˈæplɪkəbl] - (adjective) - Relevant or appropriate to a particular situation. - Synonyms: (relevant, pertinent, appropriate)

I rated how applicable my college classes were to my role working in technology.

5. gatekeeped [ˈɡeɪtkiːpt] - (verb) - To control access to something, especially in a restrictive manner. - Synonyms: (restrict, control, limit)

I take traditionally gatekeeped industries like tech and venture capital and institutions like Stanford.

6. democratize [dɪˈmɒkrətaɪz] - (verb) - To make something accessible to everyone. - Synonyms: (make accessible, equalize, universalize)

I democratize this information so people can learn about it.

7. pursuit [pərˈsuːt] - (noun) - An effort to achieve a goal or follow a course of action. - Synonyms: (quest, chase, endeavor)

It felt like an endless pursuit.

8. quantitative [ˈkwɒntɪˌtætɪv] - (adjective) - Related to, measuring, or measured by the quantity of something. - Synonyms: (numerical, measurable, quantitative)

Yes, the quantitative numbers are impressive.

9. barometer [bəˈrɒmɪtər] - (noun) - An instrument or means for measuring changes or predicting developments. - Synonyms: (gauge, measure, benchmark)

It felt like the only barometer of success for me, and I chased it relentlessly.

10. leapfrog [ˈliːpfrɒɡ] - (verb) - To surpass or move ahead through indirect methods. - Synonyms: (surpass, outstrip, bypass)

I was able to leapfrog to my next internship at LinkedIn.

Looking for a mentor? Check social media. - Cherie Luo - TEDxStanford

Hi cherie. I don't know if you'll see this message, but I'm a girl from a small town in India. I didn't know anyone who has gotten an MBA from anywhere in the US before, and your Instagram has really helped me. It's my first exposure to people who are getting an MBA. Thank you for creating such content. I received this message from someone who I've never met before, and it's both inspired and motivated me.

Let me take you back to where it all began. It's June 2020, the height of the pandemic lockdown, and I'm sitting cross legged in my childhood bedroom. I'm surrounded by boxes and boxes of stuff around me, like my artwork from preschool, my elementary school Seashell collection, and my assignments from high school and college. My family is in the process of selling my childhood home, and I'm tasked with cleaning out all the memories, all the pieces of me that I had forgotten about.

I captured photos of the little treasures that I found, like this one poem from the third grade. Apple, Apple, you're so sweet but oh no, I dropped you on the street rolling down, down you go, you trip people as you roll where did you go? Rolling down, down, down until you stop by a cup maybe I should have pursued creative writing then.

I also found things like this linear algebra examined, sandwiched in between my computer science notes from college. I look back at this and I think, what the heck is this math that I once knew? I took photos of all these little memories and these pieces of me that I had forgotten about.

We were all dealing with 2020 in our own ways. For me, and maybe for you. I coped through scrolling a lot on TikTok. This fun new app was taking off, and I was hooked. But I soon found I wasn't just consuming content, I was also creating content. With a few quick taps on the screen, I could remix my own videos and post them online.

And yes, I did partake in the I'm a savage dance trend. And no, you cannot find that video of me online anymore because I've since removed it. And to no one's surprise, my dance videos didn't take off. It was when I took a TikTok trend and I applied it to my computer science class notes. That's when everything clicked for me.

You see, I took a TikTok trend, and I rated how applicable my college classes were to my role working in technology. For example, computer science theory. Fascinating subject, trust me. But it's a three out of ten because I never use these concepts in my role as a product manager, on the other hand, databases, an eight out of ten. It's something I use day to day working in technology.

This video, once I posted it, I saw the number of likes, views, and comments skyrocket. And as I was scrolling through the comments and that the questions that people had, I realized people wanted to engage. People had questions they were asking me. People wanted to learn more. Hey, I might be onto something here. And thus started my journey into teaching.

On TikTok, for example, I posted videos like day in a life of a product manager, tips on how to ace your next job interview. Sharing my life here at Stanford, interviewing my classmates to show the wide variety of paths that lead to business school, just to name a few. And here I am four years later as a social media influencer. It started from documenting the relics of my past lives and then posting about it on social media.

My name is Cherie Liu, and I'm currently a student here at Stanford's Graduate School of Business. I'm also a content creator and podcast host with over 250,000 followers and 60 million views across TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube. But I'm not here today to say whether you should be spending more or less time scrolling on these platforms.

But I've seen the ability to use social media for mentorship at scale to reach millions of people. The mentorship models that exist today are mainly one on one, helping people through individual coffee chats or Zoom calls. I've benefited from this form of traditional mentorship, but this type of mentorship doesn't scale. It doesn't reach the people that we can possibly reach around the world.

I've seen the hidden benefits of social media to reach people around the world, and you too, can be a creator mentor to millions. Today, I'll go over the three step roadmap on how to do it.

It was in college that I started to notice that there were knowledge gaps between my classmates and me. We attended the same institution and the same classes, but as I began to talk to them and realized that our backgrounds were vastly different, and this impacted how we envisioned our next career steps, their understanding of the professional world was much deeper and richer than mine was because of their access to that world through family or connections.

It was a world that I was desperate to learn more about and a world that I wanted to be a part of. For me, everything changed. My sophomore year. I joined an alumni mentorship program, and I was paired with Jane. She was in her forties, about this tall, and has a haircut that I can only describe as powerful. She wore blazers and took me to nice restaurants that I had only read about online. I was obsessed with her.

Jane opened up her world so I could see what could be for me. I love learning about her role and her job because it dared me to dream even bigger than what I had known before. I wanted to become just like Jane. And because of Jane's mentorship and guidance, I was able to land my sophomore internship at Morgan Stanley.

From there, I was able to leapfrog to my next internship at LinkedIn, which has then led to my tech career. But the reality is, I got lucky. Not everybody is able to have a Jane like I was someone in my corner showing me how to achieve my professional career ambitions.

Starting from that video I posted in 2020, I realized I can be a mentor. Not one on one, but at scale. To millions of people around the world, I could be their Jane. I take traditionally gatekeeped industries like tech and venture capital and institutions like Stanford, and I democratize this information so people can learn about it.

Through my social media. I share my life with them. I not just tell, but I show you what I'm going through, the challenges that I'm facing, the problems that I'm having, how I'm learning and growing. This is something that I feel so passionately about. It's what I'll be pursuing when I graduate Stanford in a few short months.

But I didn't always feel this way. Being a creator, mentor, and social media influencer is a really weird gig, and it's not something you can learn from a guidebook or an instruction manual. There have been things that challenged me along the way that have forced me to reconsider, if this whole path is even worth it.

I'm happy to say that the tips that I've learned along the way really helped me, and hopefully they will help you today. The first step into becoming a career mentor online is to beware of the dangers of vanity metrics. When I started building an online audience and growing my following, it felt like an endless pursuit.

Every morning and every evening, I would check the number of followers that I had. It felt like the only barometer of success for me, and I chased it relentlessly. 10,000, 50,000, 70,000. What's next? What's next? What's next? Can anyone else relate to this? And honestly, the feeling of achieving the next follower milestone, that satisfaction.

It comes and goes just as quickly as I'm speaking this sentence. And chasing the next metric made me feel so lonely and so icky it was when I started reading the comments and the direct messages from the people who watch my videos. That's when I felt truly grounded. Focusing on the people behind the numbers changed how I think about my content.

And for all of you who have sought validation in the wrong places, this is what I want you to think about. Yes, the quantitative numbers are impressive. But when my content reaches even a single person, like inspiring a young woman in India to the possibilities of her career, or helping someone gain the courage to pivot their major into stem, or just helping one person feel more represented and less lonely, that that makes all the difference.

And now is the time to start creating this content. Social media apps, historically known for entertainment and dance trends, are being used for education and learning. And I know that young people and students would greatly benefit from hearing from the information that we hold that you hold.

But how much of yourself should you disclose on social media? How much should you share? Even if it is for a higher purpose? The next step in the roadmap is to share both the peaks and valleys of our lives. The best mentors that I've had gave it to me straight. They told me about the best and worst parts of their jobs.

And in this way, we can redefine social media, not just posting about the glitz and the glam and the highlights, but the real challenges that we go through. Have you had mentors in your life who gave it to you straight? And as we're posting more of ourselves online, there is a real risk. I know you may be challenged along the way.

There may be people, like online haters, who throw all things from bad vibes all the way to racist and sexist comments. And even worse than that, there may be people in your inner circle, in your network, like family and friends, who just cast judgment on what you're trying to accomplish on social media. It got so bad at one point in 2021, I considered quitting.

And if you've ever received these hurtful comments before, you know it doesn't feel good. It was through a ton of experimentation that I realized that I need skin like a rhino to continue. But let me give you a little bit of an example of how I approached the hurtful comments. Let's take an example. Let's say a video has 300,000 views, 50 comments, and 30 haters. That's less than 1% of all viewers.

Yeah, I know. It's a necessary evil. It's a part of the gig. But when we share more of our authentic, lived experiences online, that's how we form deeper connections with people and through social media, that connection is further amplified. How can you open up the world for someone else?

And now is the time to get started. It really is. People are using social media to connect with others and also to teach others. Imagine a world where we have mentors in all industries. Tech, finance, law, VC, medicine, sports, data, science, marketing professionals in all industries, unlocking previously unknown information for people around the world.

And I know people would greatly benefit from learning from you. The next step into becoming a career mentor is to find the medium that works for you. Because what if posting on video or talking to your audience on camera is just not for you? I don't want this to stop you from getting started. You can find a medium that works for you, that you feel you can be consistent with over a long period of time.

It could be video, or it could also be audio or written form. And it doesn't have to be perfect. Trust me when I tell you, the first 30 videos that I created were absolutely terrible. I didn't know the right sounds, the right cuts, the right angles to use, but I kept going, I kept experimenting, and I kept posting online. Keep going. Because people can't wait to learn from you.

And it truly starts with you. For all of you sitting in this TED talk, listening or watching, I want you to take a second and think to yourself, what information do I have unique and privileged access to? And who would stand to benefit if I shared this information online? I'd like to think we've all mentored people in some way, shape or form in our lives before that Zoom call or that coffee chat you had last week with someone helping them out, can you take that information?

Can you distill it, write about it, and post it online so it reaches way more people? By keeping information between two individuals, we're not scaling our ability to make change at the same pace. We're not reaching people where they're at. So for all of you in the audience who feel the same mix of fear and excitement as we embark on this journey, know that you're not alone.

The time to start is now. And together we can create a future where everyone has a mentor, a future where anyone can be a mentor, and a future where everyone has a chance to succeed. Thank you.

Social Media, Mentorship, Education, Innovation, Technology, Inspiration, Tedx Talks