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Side Bar is my ultimate passion project. It combines all of my interests, skills, and hobbies into one cohesive idea. From video production to critical journalistic research, Side Bar has been one of the utmost demanding and yet rewarding experiences.
This daunting idea to build a digital media platform focused on providing clean and nuanced world affairs breakdowns to general audiences has been in the chamber for quite a while. Actually, I started a "prototype" during the start of Biden's presidency in 2021 while I was in high school.
Here's me being honest though: I only decided to pursue this project because this past year (my first year at Stanford) hadn't gone how I'd hoped it would have gone. By the end of my first year, I couldn't look at myself and be proud of the person I was (for both personal and "professional" reasons). I stopped pushing myself out of my comfort zone and I realized that I know a lot less than I thought I knew. My GPA took a hit and I wasn't able to secure an internship for the summer. Lots of things didn't go according to plan.
I hate how LinkedIn-y this sounds, but Side Bar, in a way, has granted me a new lease on life. To me it means much more than sharing the education I've been privileged enough to enjoy. It's my assertion of reclamation- that despite all my failures and hurdles, I still have freewill and can change my future. Yeah, it's going to take courage I might not have right now and man, is it going to take all my time, but- I know it'll be worth it in the end.
My role:
Founder and Editor-in-Chief
Location:
Instagram, Tik Tok, YouTube
Timeline:
June, 2025 - Present
Challenges
The Social Media Problem
If you knew me personally in high school, you'll know about my crusade against Instagram and social media as a whole. It was a back and forth, swearing off it and deleting the app.... only to come back two weeks later and continue the habit of doomscrolling. I luckily never got into TikTok. Eventually, I did win, permanently deleting my account for 2/3ish years now. Or so I thought. Coming back to Instagram was certainly a challenge as I had to pick up the UI again and understand some new features, but more importantly I was apprehensive about my temptations to previous habits.
Where'd All The Time Go
Originally, I had known this was going to be a time intensive project, but I didn't know just how crazy it would be. I mean I'm talking camera work, editting, color correction (which I'm still learning), audio correction, infographic design, researching, script-writing, organizing sources, and somehow managing to fit all this content in under two minutes. By the way you're talking to a bit of a perfectionist. Thus, my challenge: How can I streamline my workflow AND speed up my output without sacrificing quality?
What I'm learning
Still learning
Check back later :)
Have a project in mind?
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