Windsor Western links brands to thousands of college-aged creators at Her Campus Media

When Windsor Western teamed up with two fellow students at Harvard University to launch Her Campus in 2009, she envisioned establishing a media outlet for college-aged women—one of the first of its kind. Fifteen years later, the online magazine has expanded into a full-fledged media company that connects advertisers to a coveted audience of 18- to 24-year-old female consumers through a growing range of publications and a sprawling network of content creators. See all of Ad Age’s 40 Under 40 honorees here Today, Her Campus Media reaches an audience of over 8.4 million students spanning over 2,200 college campuses, largely through its network of 63,000 content creators. The company—which the 36-year-old Western refers to as “part media company, part marketing agency”—has executed media and creative campaigns, as well as orchestrated campus ambassador programs and product sampling strategies for dozens of brands, including CeraVe, Microsoft, Kate Spade, Clinique and Ulta Beauty. For instance, Western and her team recently helped Microsoft promote its AI chatbot, Copilot, with a social and digital marketing push educating college-aged women about “the birds, the bees and the bots,” and teaching them how to “practice safe AI.” View this post on Instagram A post shared by Her Campus Media (@hercampusmedia) Western and Her Campus Media also partnered with CeraVe to launch the brand’s “Future Nurses” scholarship program and its “CeraVersity” brand ambassador program, which brings together skin care-loving college students to create short-form video content for the brand. “You have to be continuously speaking to the next generation,” Western said. “You cannot sit back on your laurels, even if you think, ‘Young people know me, they love me.’ New brands are entering the space all the time, and new brands are always taking over social media.” If you could have dinner with one person, alive or dead, who would it be and why? Dolly Parton. She is just such an icon. She has lived her life and built her career under no model that previously existed. She knows who she is, and she is not afraid to go out there and be that person. What are the top two social media sites you use on a regular basis? Instagram and LinkedIn. I’m on TikTok to trend watch, but I’m not the one trying to figure out trends on TikTok—we have our Gen Z community to do that. What’s currently on your bedside reading list? So, I listen to all my books on Audible. Right now, I’m trying to do a work-related book, a personal development book and a fun book. I just finished “The Anxious Generation” by Jonathan Haidt, which was my work-related book, and I’m reading “Democracy in Retrograde” by Sami Sage and Emily Amick, which is for learning more about everything going on with our democracy and our government. And then I also just read “It Ends with Us” by Colleen Hoover. What was the last show you binge-watched? I actually don’t really watch TV. We have family Friday nights where I watch movies with my two little girls—they’re seven and nine. I think the last movie I watched was a kids’ movie—the new “Descendants” movie, “The Rise of Red.” It’s big with third-graders. At what age do you hope to retire? I do not hope to retire. I love what I do, I love my job, and my hope is that I will always have a job that I love as much as I love this one. I get to be the kind of mom I want, the kind of sister and friend that I want, but also to do cool stuff in my career and hustle. See all of Ad Age’s 40 Under 40 honorees here

Windsor Western links brands to thousands of college-aged creators at Her Campus Media

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