Strangers Connect Through Their Insecurities

In a vulnerable exercise, strangers are confronted with the realities of their inner critic and find comfort in each other.

BuzzFeed produces fast-paced and broadly appealing content that caters to a wide audience, often in a tone that’s fun and lighthearted. In contrast, raw and vulnerable content was considered too “niche” and held low potential for reach. In an effort to close the content gap, BuzzFeed sought to test vulnerability-led videos that could scale, moving beyond light entertainment towards authentic and representative connection. 

I conceptualized and led the project, identifying that the format should prioritize unveiling the shared humanity between strangers and facilitated through a social experiment. I oversaw the sensitive casting process with acute intention to include diverse perspectives, directed the talent on set, and served as the lead editor to protect the emotional integrity of the participants' stories 

Achievements include:

✦ Reaching 3M+ views, 112K+ likes, and 4.9K comments on YouTube

✦ Received positive audience consensus, describing the piece as “healing” and “painfully relatable”

✦ Demonstrated that vulnerability-first storytelling could drive meaningful engagement at scale