Katherine Zaino, GSB ’27, is a first-year student from Glastonbury, Conn., studying marketing. She is one of the founders of GirlyMag, an upcoming magazine on girlhood she is starting with friends. She is also a TikToker, having accumulated a following of over 520,000 on the app.
Zaino explained that her social media success came to her by accident. She started off spam posting about her favorite musical artists, Taylor Swift, One Direction and Olivia Rodrigo, on what she believed to be a private account only available to her friends. That is until the day one of such videos received 15,000 views, leading Zaino to discover her videos were public. This didn’t deter her from posting content as she would have for her friends. Eventually, 15,000 views turned into 500,000 and her following began to consistently grow.
As her account grew, Zaino fell more in love with what she was doing and the connections she was able to form. Zaino stated that,at this point, her goal is to create a positive space on her social media platform and continue to create connections and bonds. “My main thing that I love about social media in general is being able to connect with people with similar interests to me,” Zaino commented.
She explained that she has met so many people because of her social media account. It is generally easy to talk to these people because of the shared interests they know they have because of the account. Zaino explained that she met one of her best friends after he came up to her at orientation to say he recognized her from TikTok. However, school isn’t the only instance when social media has provided Zaino the opportunity to connect with people.
“One of my favorite things ever is going to events,” Zaino exclaimed. She mentioned that since gaining a social media following, she has been able to attend and take part in numerous things that otherwise would be unavailable, such as working with brands she loves like Princess Polly and American Eagle, and attending the “The Summer I Turned Pretty” season two premiere.
However, working with these major brands and attending events does keep Zaino busy. “It’s really difficult,” she stated when asked how she balances both. “Fordham [University], especially Gabelli, is so much work. I’m currently taking six classes and it is a lot, but I just try to keep up with both things and balance them out.” Zaino explains that she keeps her studies especially interesting and comprehensible by applying information learned in class to her social media and vice versa.
Zaino explains that despite how busy she is balancing her schoolwork and content creation, her education is a priority and it was important to her that she pursues higher education despite working in social media already. In addition to studying at Fordham, Zaino and two of her close friends are looking to start a club on campus.
The club revolves around the idea for a magazine called GirlyMag which focuses on the experiences of girls and women, especially women in academics and business. The group has already made an Instagram account (@girlymagg) which they will use when the club gets going. Zaino explained that they will pursue creating a website for the magazine regardless of whether or not they gain club status, but the goal is to be able to provide the community of the club on campus.
Zaino stated that the idea for the club sparked organically between her and friends during a conversation they had over brunch. She explained that they were discussing experiences they had in classes or activities and how they affected them. “We’re talking about how sometimes we feel dumb, like how people perceive us in our groups as dumb because we’re girls.” Zaino is unsure if they will create a print component of their magazine for campus if they become a club, stating that they are focusing on the online component, but she would love to make a physical magazine.
The magazine will include stories and experiences, recommendations, upcoming female shows, reviews and more relating to the experience of girlhood. Zaino states that she has never been able to take part in non-academic writing like this and is excited to learn and develop her voice through the magazine. She explains that her goal for the magazine is to create a community: “I really hope that we can just create a safe space to share their stories and also a fun space for people to go to and feel comfort.” Zaino explained that they want people of all gender identification to be a part of the conversations covered and share different perspectives.
Zaino can be found on numerous platforms, such as Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. To follow the development of GirlyMag, you can follow the magazine’s Instagram (@girlymagg).
