Meet the Campuswire Team: Sanna Sharp
Get to know Campuswire’s favorite former scientist and rave store employee!
She’s worked at rave stores, bug labs, and feminist media outlets– now Sanna Sharp is part of Campuswire’s Growth & Engagement team. The Slovenian strategist sat down with the Campuswire Summer Growth team to discuss her Juul collection, supernatural-themed podcast, and why messing up a demo can (sometimes) be considered a victory.
Hey! Can you introduce yourself for us?
Sure! I’m Sanna. I’m 23 years old and from San Francisco, California. I’m on the Growth & Engagement team here at Campuswire, although my background is actually in science.
I did Pre-Med at American University, in D.C., and my focus was within epidemiology– so, disease control. I worked for several years in the entomology labs of the Smithsonian Institution and the NIH, doing bug research on literal bugs.
What were you doing before you were at Campuswire?
Before Campuswire, I was working for an artist at a gallery out in Brooklyn. Before that, I was actually at a female-oriented media group– a feminist documentary film platform, basically. We made short format docs about female pioneers across a number of industries. I miss that job– well, it was actually a year-long fellowship. It was a really great start to my career here in NYC, I got to meet so many talented and exceptional women in tech, entertainment, everything. The company was called MAKERS.
How long have you lived in New York, and what do you think about it?
I’ve been in New York for almost two years and I absolutely love it. I feel like there are very few places that have so much life. I really, really, really like that people in New York are all here intentionally. They’ve chosen to come to this massive, famous, historic city– which is really cool, because it gives the city a lot of energy.
What do you do outside of work?
I have a lot of different interests and hobbies across a wide variety of areas. I have a podcast with one of my friends. I spend a lot of time watercoloring. I like to read in Tompkins Square Park. And I love to dance at Paul’s Baby Grand.
What’s your podcast about?
The podcast is called Looking for Supernatural Occurrences and Haunted Places Quest, and yes, the title is intentionally obtuse. As you might imagine, it’s about looking-slash-questing for supernatural occurrences, and also haunted places.
We interview people about their experiences and, weirdly, we have actual people who listen to us– even though we put zero effort into it whatsoever. We’ll get 600, 700 streams an episode. The best episode we did last season was about haunted paintings and haunted statues. I reported on the actual, legitimate haunting that inspired the Netflix film ‘The Velvet Buzzsaw’.
What was your favorite subject in middle school or high school?
I think my entire middle school experience has been concealed from my memory, fortunately. I cringe at who I was back then, so I don’t know about middle school. [laughs]
But, in high school– I went to a really alternative high school that didn’t have actual subjects. It was a performing arts high school in San Francisco that you had to audition to get into, and we didn’t really have “real” classes, per se. My calculus teacher my senior year didn’t actually know calculus, but he was a magician, so that was pretty cool.
What was your audition to get in?
I did film and photography, so I actually didn’t have to audition. I just submitted a portfolio of work.
If you were an ice cream flavor, what would you be?
I think I would be something avant garde, and, I don’t know– maybe seasonal? Like, holiday flavored. Maybe goat cheese and cranberry, something Autumn-esque or wintery. Cheerful, limited edition, and unpalatable to the masses.
Do you have a favorite ice cream shop in New York?
To be honest, I’m a fro-yo girl.
How many cups of coffee do you drink a day?
Far too many.
What is your favorite place in the world?
I’d have to say Slovenia. That’s where my family is from. We have a house there and go twice a year to visit family.
What’s the longest you’ve gone without sleep, and why?
Hmmm… I’m going to say it was probably while studying for my biostatistics final during my junior year of college.
If you were an animal, what would you be?
That’s a hard question. I would like to be an arctic fox, because they’re really dope and a little predatory but also, like, sly and smart and pretty, and they can survive really crazy conditions.
But I’m a Californian and could NOT survive really crazy conditions — I can barely survive New York winters — so more realistically, probably an otter. I like that they hold hands when they sleep.
What is your pet peeve?
When you’re having a conversation — or trying to — and the person you’re speaking with doesn’t ask you any questions about yourself, and instead just monologues about their day or their life or whatever. I hate having one-sided conversations. I will always go deeper and deeper, so if the other person can’t see beyond themselves, I basically just end up interviewing them.
If you could only watch one movie for the rest of your life, what would it be?
It would have to be really, really long, and multi-faceted if it was the only movie I’d ever see again. Otherwise– I really like the movie “Me, Earl, and the Dying Girl”. If you haven’t seen that, I recommend it. It’s quite funny and quite sad. I watched it on an airplane and cried for like thirty minutes; an air hostess came over to see if I was okay and I was like “yeah I’m fine, just a mess.”
What was your first-ever job?
Back when I lived in SF and went to my performing arts high school, I worked at this rave store on Haight Street called Piedmont Boutique. I worked there for five years– all of the years I was in high school, and then again when I came home from college for breaks during my first two years of living in D.C. I have an alarming number of sparkling tutus at my parents’ place back home.
When did you first start at Campuswire?
About three weeks ago. [at time of recording– now 12 weeks]
What are some of your day-to-day responsibilities?
Right now, I’m doing a lot of work managing our remote interns. I also manage content creation and PR for Campuswire. I’ve been doing graphic design, email outreach to professors and members of media, and we’ve also been to a conference. It’s a pretty wide assortment of different responsibilities, but it’s been great so far.
Of all those different responsibilities, what has been the biggest challenge so far?
Really understanding how to give a great Campuswire demo. It’s been trial by fire learning how to show professors around everything we’ve built, but I’m learning quickly!
And what has been your favorite part of the job so far?
Probably the first professor conference I went to (ASEE in Tampa), just because it was such a learning experience. I definitely did not get the demos perfectly down by the end of it, but it was a really good way for me to get over being scared of messing up– because believe me, I messed up a lot. But you shake it off and then every few demos, you’re like, “well– that went slightly better”.
What are you most excited for going forward?
Doing content, doing video work, and working on more podcasts. Our content strategy is specifically something that I’m excited about.
Do you have a specific memory as a student where you wished you had a tool like Campuswire available?
I lived really far off of AU’s campus when I was in college, so I took as many classes late at night or online as I could. I had an Adolescence Psychology class during my first semester of junior year where I always forgot to post on the discussion board. It was such an easy class, and I turned in the homework assignments and got As on all of the tests, but I ended up getting a B in the class just because I forgot to post on the discussion board throughout the semester. That was really stupid. If I’d had Campuswire at that point, I would have better understood and engaged with the discussion board, and I probably would have done better in the class.
That’s it for us– thanks, Sanna!
Thank you! It’s been fun– even though I lived out my pet peeve by not asking you any questions, eek. ●
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.
