When Emeline Smith started posting on social media as a University of Miami student, brand deals began filling her inbox.
She quickly learned that not every offer was legitimate.
Smith had to learn how to read contracts, negotiate rates, file taxes and protect herself from scams on her own.
Facing those challenges became part of the mission behind Campus Creator Club, a community founded by UM students Noah Gaudet and Thomas Van Der Leegte to connect college creators with industry resources, opportunities and each other.
Within CCC, Smith is the community lead and host.
“I really wanted to be able to supply creators with those resources,” Smith said.
CCC started in March 2025 as an extension of the founders’ marketing company, DRFT Marketing, where Smith first joined as an intern.
The team created a GroupMe and recruited student creators through Instagram, connecting them with paid and gifted brand collaborations.
Within months, the GroupMe grew to nearly 1,000 members. By that summer, the team had built and launched its own mobile app to support the expanding community.
“It was honestly really rewarding,” Smith said. “I didn’t realize how quickly it would grow and how many people would be empowered and inspired by it.”
Smith credits that growth to the relationships CCC created among students at different schools.
“I really think community is the core of Campus Creator Club,” Smith said. “We have a lot of students that have been able to become friends with other people that are in universities across the country.”
As members joined CCC, the team saw firsthand the problems student creators were facing. Smith said one student reached out after someone impersonating a legitimate company put her in an uncomfortable situation.
CCC gives creators a layer of support that most lack when starting out in the industry by vetting brand opportunities before sharing them with members and prioritizing safety in monetary transactions.
The organization also exposes students to the financial realities of the industry. Payment can take more than 60 days after a creator completes a job, and available work can change with seasons and social media trends.
“It’s not the most reliable career,” Smith said. “I would always recommend creators to have it in addition to their life.”
Free products, events and money can also attract students to content creation, but Smith believes the value of an audience extends beyond those benefits.
“There is so much power in creating community and inspiring people around you,” Smith said.
CCC is now working to bring those resources back to the place where it started. The organization is seeking recognition from UM for a campus chapter.
The proposed chapter would operate similarly to a business fraternity, with guest speakers, networking and educational opportunities for students interested in content creation.
“Our goal is to be able to connect them with everything that they need to succeed and feel successful as a creator while they are in the University,” Smith said.
Smith said that posting publicly can feel intimidating for students who are not surrounded by others who take content creation seriously. She wants the chapter to give those students a community where they can share that interest and learn from peers pursuing similar goals.
She said having other creators around can make it easier for students to put themselves online and learn from people pursuing similar goals.
For Smith, those resources have become more important as content creation becomes a career path for college students.
“If it’s being called the influencer school,” Smith said, “then the University of Miami should embrace it and really supply the resources.”