Meet the Campuswire Team: Brian Smith
Get to know Campuswire’s resident Lil Uzi-stan & Head of Growth.
AColumbia graduate and very briefly a teacher, Brian is now the fearless leader of the Campuswire Growth & Engagement team. He sat down with us to discuss his home state of Florida, his hatred of J. Cole, and why he’s excited to watch Campuswire continue to grow.
What were you doing before Campuswire?
I studied Creative Writing and Political Science at Columbia. Right after I graduated — class of ‘17! — I spent about three months teaching. Then I was self-employed, doing some freelance writing. I joined Campuswire after a few months of working freelance.
How long have you lived in New York?
As a real adult? For two years. If you count being a college student, then six. I love New York. Well– there are weeks that I love New York, and weeks where I hate New York. It’s up and down, but there’s nowhere else I’d rather live.
What do you do outside of work?
I like to read and write as much as I can — I love short fiction, so that’s what I’m usually reading. I play basketball when I have time, either in a men’s league or just pick-up.
In one sentence, how do you defend Florida?
[laughs]
Have you been to Florida?
Yes. I’ve been to Boca, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Disney every year growing up…
So you’ve been to some of the good parts– but you haven’t been to Tampa.
Our cities are beautiful. The food is great. Florida gets a bad rap – it’s just like the rest of the country. A little wackier, maybe. You’ll see something new every day if you spend time in Tampa or anywhere in Florida. I’d defend it by saying that Florida keeps you on your toes. It’s always exciting– but my favorite parts are Tampa, Miami, and the Keys.
What was your favorite subject in middle school?
Definitely English, both middle school and high school. I had great teachers, they always encouraged me to write. That’s why I love to read, that’s why I wanted to study writing. Whichever subject you have the best teachers in, that’s what leads you towards that subject. I always loved to read, and I had incredible English teachers, so it was always going to be my favorite subject.
Have you read any great books recently?
I’m going to shout-out my all-time favorite professor who just released a book last month: Kathleen Alcott, America was Hard to Find. I’ve been on a poetry kick recently, stuff like Neruda and re-reading Prelude to Bruise by Saed Jones. But my favorite book of all time is Fate & Furies by Lauren Groff. Writers like to pick unknown books as their favorites, but this was a huge hit for a reason — everyone should read that.
“I had great teachers, they always encouraged me to write. That is probably what inspired me to go into Creative Writing. Whichever subject you have the best teachers in, that’s what leads you towards that subject.”
If you were an ice cream flavor what would you be?
I’d say cookies and cream. It’s reliable. You can depend on it.
How about if you were an animal?
I would be… a buffalo. They get to hang out in some of the most beautiful places in the country. But they’re also powerful.
Do you collect anything?
I have way too many shoes– I’m not a sneakerhead, I don’t buy every new pair of Nikes or anything like that, but I’m always looking for a new pair of shoes.
Where is your favorite place in the world– other than Florida?
My grandparents’ place in North Carolina. They have a home in the Highlands, just outside of Asheville.
What’s the longest you’ve gone without sleep and why?
Not that long, actually. Probably 24 hours?
The summer after my freshman year of college, I was working on a fishing boat in Alaska. A very close friend of my family owned a fleet of fishing boats, and he talked me into joining him up north for the summer. I should never have listened to him– can’t trust him anymore.
[laughs]
We had one 24 hour shift, and I went to sleep immediately afterwards. But overall, it was a great experience. Alaska is really beautiful. it stays light from 6am to 10pm. And It was great to hang out in the middle of the water, just looking at the scenery. The job itself was the hardest work I’ve ever done, and learned so much. But I’m not working on a fishing boat again.
What’s your pet peeve?
People who have terrible taste in music. Specifically those who like J. Cole, and who don’t appreciate the greats: Lil Uzi Vert and Future.
If you could only watch one movie for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Probably Oh Brother, Where Art Thou, directed by the Coen Brothers. It stars George Clooney. It’s funny enough, kind of heartwarming, and it puts me in a good mood whenever I see it.
How many cups of coffee do you drink a day?
I’ve been trying to cut it down to two. It’s been more recently, because our interns have been keeping me busy.
What was your first job, and when did you start at Campuswire?
The first thing I ever got paid to do was mow my front and back yards. One summer, back when I was in high school, I worked in a law firm as a clerk. That would be my first real job.
I started at Campuswire in May of 2018. I had previously — and very briefly — worked as a teacher, and I wanted to stay in education. But I also wanted to do something a little more creative, I wanted to build something. I was a recent grad, so I saw the vision for the company right away. There is a need for tools like Campuswire.
“I saw the vision for the company right away.”
How challenging were your first few months here?
Very challenging, because we were starting from scratch. There was no template to work with.
Everything we did was an experiment, and a lot of the experiments failed. So the first few weeks were tough. That was kind of the point, though, to try a bunch of things, test a bunch of hypotheses, and learn as quickly as possible.
When you reach out to fifty professors and none respond, it can be disheartening. Still, you throw out whatever approach you’d used, start over, and find something that works.
It’s been great to be the one who is responsible for everything. It was a fun challenge to know that if we didn’t grow, it didn’t fall on anyone else. If we failed, it was on me. If we grew, it’d be because I did my job well enough, and because the team has built an outstanding product. I‘m lucky to have that much responsibility and trust from the team.
Is any aspect of your role challenging you currently?
The biggest challenge is learning to manage people. Everyone on the team is talented, so it’s tough to keep people challenged and motivated at all times while feeling out what their strengths are and which jobs I should handle myself. I’m learning more every week.
What are your day-to-day responsibilities at Campuswire?
My job is to make sure that Campuswire continues to grow. I help professors learn about Campuswire, teach them the tool’s features, and show them how to use Campuswire to become better teachers. I manage our interns who do those same things on a slightly smaller scale.
I also do all of the company’s marketing: I build the brand voice, make great content, and — unfortunately for everyone — act as the face of the company.
What’s your favorite part of your job?
My favorite part of my job is starting big challenges from scratch seemingly every week. When I started here there was no content, no social media– it was just three engineers. It’s been nice getting to start from scratch with growth, establishing what people get to know about Campuswire.
What’s something you didn’t expect about the job?
Three weeks after I first started at Campuswire, we had our first ever group of interns. There were six of them and one of me.
I didn’t expect to have to teach people how to work at Campuswire when I didn’t even know how to do that yet myself. I also didn’t expect to have the chance to travel to so many campuses to meet with professors right away, but that’s been a ton of fun.
Was there ever a time where your college student-self could have used Campuswire?
I would have loved to have Campuswire in my writing workshops. I used to have to send my stories around to everyone so that they could read them before picking them apart in class. If I’d had Campuswire then, I could have shared any specific passages I was nervous about on my class feed and received feedback from my classmates before they had the chance to rip apart my work.
“If I’d had Campuswire [as a creative writing student], I could have shared any specific passages I was nervous about on my class feed and received feedback from my classmates before they had the chance to rip apart my work.”
What are you most excited about for the future of the company?
I’m most excited for the team to grow. Starting on Monday, we’ll have 12–13 people in the office. It was just four people for the first…. six months, maybe? So it’s super exciting to see it grow. Everyone we’ve brought on the team has been really good, and I’m excited to get to know everyone and to keep growing as a company.
Finally– what has been the most impactful moment of your time at Campuswire?
The first couple of times that we had applications for internships or full-time roles from people who had used Campuswire in their classes. That was really cool to see; it made me feel like we were making an impact. To know that I’d introduced their professor to Campuswire, that their professor had done a good job introducing them to it, and that they wanted to be a part of this project– that was exciting to see. ●
Campuswire is a course communication system built with the specific needs of professors and students in mind. Get to know the rest of our team through our Meet the Campuswire Team series, or by sending us a message on campuswire.com.
