Authenticity: Why When Students Speak Up, People Pay Attention
20+ years in Marketing, startup founder, ex-Google.
From U14 Arsenal Academy to Viral Storytelling: The Power of Authentic Student Voices
TL;DR: Key Takeaways
- Viral Authenticity: Student-athlete Maisie (Arsenal U14) garnered over 100k views by sharing her unfiltered daily routine—proving that honesty connects more than polish.
- Intentional Dedication: This wasn't accidental; it was the direct result of Maisie's commitment during our Sophia365 Personal Branding sessions, where she put in the work to own her narrative.
- Confidence > Metrics: The real win isn't the view count, but the growing confidence of students to speak up and share their reality without fear.
- Beyond Scripts: We are teaching young people to tell their stories without being performative, preparing them for a future where personal brand matters.
When Maisie posted, people paid attention
Maisie plays football at the U14 Arsenal Academy and studies at Sophia.
Last weekend, as part of a challenge for our Sophia365 Marketing sessions, she shared a short video on Instagram.
It was simple, just a glimpse into her day. Training, studying, and the travel in between — the real life of a girl balancing her studies with elite sports training.
A few hours later, the numbers came in:
Over 100k views and more than 6,000 reactions by the time we checked this morning.
But these numbers alone are just vanity metrics, so they weren't the most interesting part. The messages were what mattered, as people were reacting to the sheer honesty of it.
It felt familiar because it was.
And no, this wasn’t an accident
The video looked effortless, but the confidence behind it wasn’t. That part had been built inside our Sophia365 programme, week after week.
As the marketing resident here at Sophia, I’ve had the privilege of working with our incredible Sophia365 team in weekly sessions with Maisie and our other athletes. And we’ve been focusing on exactly this: authentic storytelling.
Just last week at our hybrid day at Sophia’s HQ, our team launched a personal branding workshop. We looked at athletes like Lando Norris and Cole Palmer as both world-class stars and storytellers who use their platforms to share their true personalities and causes.
This is authenticity. And authenticity is the essence of everything young athletes need to build a connection with their audience.
Maisie’s post proved that point perfectly.
The ordinary reality is exactly why it connected
Most content with young people feels filtered through adult expectations. This didn’t, and viewers felt that immediately. And when something feels unfiltered, people trust it without needing to be convinced.
The confidence to speak up
After the post gained traction, Maisie’s mom sent us a message. She runs the account. And she said something that stayed with me.
Before Sophia, Maisie wouldn’t have felt confident enough to post something like that.
It wasn’t because she lacked the ability before; she lacked the confidence.
That safety has been quietly growing all term. From COBIS and LAMDA competitions, where students practice using their voice out loud, to the daily reality of a school that takes their sport seriously.
Defining the future
We see a lot of young people encouraged to "post, post, post," but very few are taught how to tell their story without being performative or relying on rigid scripts.
Maisie didn’t follow a content formula. She told the truth she had that day. And that kind of honesty builds credibility without trying to.
This is mission accomplished for us.
We aren’t just interested in turning students into content creators, but helping them feel steady enough to own their story while they’re still figuring it out.
Maisie’s post is just one example of what happens when a young person feels secure enough to speak in her own voice. People recognise it, and they stay with it because it feels real.
