The #CSUSocial team has grown 🙌 Couldn’t be happier to introduce Teddi Tostanoski, our new Senior Social and Digital Media Strategist. Let’s get to know Teddi a little better.

Tell us a little bit about your professional experience in social and digital media

I never intentionally meant to make a career out of social media, but it makes sense that I’m now in this space. Here’s why:

Before my career really started, I’ve always been a creative person. From an early age, I always had a camera nearby. I created videos of my sister’s soccer tournaments or family trips, and spent hours teaching myself Photoshop for the fun of it. In college, I got double degrees in photography and marketing, fueling both my creative and strategic brain. I worked in the student center creating designs for campus, in the photo lab I was learning the technical side of photography, and in the classroom I was being introduced to this emerging thing called digital marketing. Combined, this all helped me land an internship across the country at Canon, in their consumer electronic marketing division.

That summer, I was assigned to create the initial proposal for Canon to get an Instagram account. This seems almost silly now as the account has 3.5 million followers and the platform was built for photographers, but at the time the company was faced with the rising threat of the smartphone camera and was hesitant about anything even tangentially associated. So, I did my research, and I built my presentation. Then two things happened. The first is that my manager, the director of consumer electronic marketing, identified meaningful insights in my foundational research, allowing her to make a case to executive leadership as to why getting an Instagram account was a promising idea. Then I sat in meetings with senior leadership and representatives from Instagram as a wide-eyed 22-year-old intern watching the work I put together get discussed, analyzed and eventually accepted. A few months after my internship, the company launched the account.

I tell this story, because my career in social media didn’t start with just creating content. It started with supporting a strategic decision based on relevant data. The content followed, and so did my career.

After Canon, I worked in consumer electronics for a few more years at Ricoh Imaging, managing a massive and engaged following of Pentax camera enthusiasts. Then I did social media analytics for a start-up, and freelance social media and marketing for several architecture firms, small artists, chiropractors, and even a winery. I then built the social media strategy for Catholic Charities of Central Colorado, something that was incredibly needed to communicate with the at-risk populations in Colorado Springs. After that, I found myself across the country at UC Berkeley handling strategy and content for units like recreational sports, undergraduate admissions, orientation, housing and dining. At this point in my career, I started asking questions like, “how do we customize our content for our diverse student audiences?” And I ended up finding my answers embedded in a comprehensive Student Affairs and Administration certificate and a graduate degree in Organization and Leadership.

After UC Berkeley, I transitioned to UC Davis’ Strategic Communications team, where I was part of the incredible team managing the flagship accounts while running all the undergraduate admissions social media campaigns. At Davis, I spent a great deal of effort and time implementing what I had been learning in school, focusing specifically on how to make social media content inclusive and accessible as possible for all of UC Davis’ audiences. The community and support at UC Davis allowed me to hone my skills in the social media space, and that’s something I will forever be grateful for.

And now I’m here, supporting the outstanding social media work CSU has always been up to.

Why did you choose to come to CSU Social?

Working in the higher education social media space there are a few key players everyone knows about, and CSU Social has always been one of those MVPs. The team has always had a positive reputation, even from across the country–so joining this group of talented people has been a dream of mine for a long time! And no, the others did not ask me to say all this.

There are a few other important reasons I said yes to CSU. The second, is that I’ve been focused on inclusive leadership communication for some time as that was my graduate thesis topic. The opportunity to build a comprehensive social and digital media strategy and communicate on behalf of President Parsons was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up. So, I’m excited to continue my journey by communicating at the executive level.

Finally, Colorado is home. I grew up in Colorado Springs and that’s where my family lives. Moving back home to be closer with my community was always the goal, and this position provided me with that opportunity.

What is your role on the team?

My official title is Senior Social and Digital Media Strategist…which I can’t seem to ever get right. What’s not in my title, is that I’m President Parsons’ social media strategist–meaning I’m tasked with not just her everyday social media content (I encourage you to follow her on Instagram), but her overall social and digital media strategy.

What are you most looking forward to working on as a member of the team?

Honestly, the potential. A lot of social media professionals have been fighting for a seat at the table, and in the past, me included. The power of social media is incredible. It’s intertwined with everyone’s everyday lives. It impacts how we interact with the real world, how we form opinions and make decisions. And the people managing accounts, creating content, and listening to online communities have a front row seat to the world’s most pressing matters in real-time.

Here at CSU, I have seats at tables that I only dreamt of being in previous roles. Social media is not an afterthought to a plan or decision here—it’s integrated into everything. Specifically with President Parsons, social media is a valuable tool in her presidency, and that alone allows for endless opportunity to build something impactful. So, I’m excited for the potential to use social media to make a meaningful difference at this institution.

What’s your favorite aspect of working in the social space?

This is a tough question for me, because I have a secret. I don’t actually like working in social media all that much…but that’s what makes me good at what I do. I’ve experienced the ugly sides of this work and industry, including the mental health impact social media has on society. People use social media for all sorts of nefarious purposes and the consequences of all of us constantly scrolling on our phones and checking our posts’ stats is proven to be unhealthy. Within the higher education space, social media can be especially harmful to younger student populations. If I could get rid of social media altogether, I would.

But with all that said, my favorite part of working in social media is building and implementing strategies that minimize the negative effects of the social media behemoth. I’ve worked hard to do things that help progress more positive experiences and narratives for the communities I’m responsible for. I’m continually educating myself on how to do all my work inclusively and supporting others around me to do the same. I also do all this because hearing back from my communities that my decisions created a positive environment or moment for them is always worth it.

If you could use only one social media platform personally, what would it be and why?

It would probably be Instagram, because that’s where my photo archive lives and where I can talk to my friends…but please don’t tell TikTok about this betrayal.

What performing artist is in heavy rotation in your current playlists?

Ha, there are so many. But let’s go with all the artists on a playlist called Feel goods that my best friend curates. He lives in Washington, so I don’t get to see him much anymore. As corny as this sounds, I love getting surprised with new songs that he adds, because I’m experiencing all his latest music finds (and his moods) along with him. Some artists on the playlist include Mt. Joy, Wingtip, LEON, Noah Kahan, Emily Zeck, Jessie Ware, and Roses and Revolutions.

What’s something interesting about you that most people don’t know?  

I feel like I just shared a lot, but one of my go-to fun facts about myself is that I don’t eat gummy bears or Teddy Grahams because of my name. (And if you were wondering if Teddi is my real name, it is.) Gummy worms and graham crackers are fair game though.