When Emma Topp started her freshman year at Virginia Tech in 2018, she never imagined that posting her “A Week In My Life” videos on YouTube would help launch her career. But, it turns out, she was ahead of her time. “I was the first person at Tech to have a dorm tour [on YouTube],” Topp tells Her Campus. “It was cool to be … the first student vlogger.”
Topp majored in neuroscience, but it was outside the classroom where she really found her niche: sharing glimpses of her life on camera — filming thrifting hauls, college vlogs, and travel diaries from her adventures as a college student. “It was fun to document my life and share it with people who were looking to be prospective students at Tech,” Topp says. “They could see what dorms looked like, what life looked like on campus.”
That openness to sharing her world soon led her to expanding her world. The summer after her freshman year, Semester at Sea, a study abroad program that lets students take classes while traveling the world by cruise ship, reached out to her. “They said, ‘We’re looking for somebody to vlog our semester,’” Topp says. At first, she was skeptical. “I thought it was a scam email,” she says. But that trip — which turned out to be very real — brought her deeper into the realm of travel content and sparked her interest for documenting new places.
After returning from Semester at Sea, Topp continued creating travel videos and working as a contracted content creator for brands, including EF Ultimate Break, a company that creates group trips for young adults. A few years later, that EF partnership turned into a full-time opportunity. But this wasn’t part of some big master plan — it was part luck, part persistence.
“When I graduated from Tech, I was really set on moving to London,” Topp says. “I was applying to the most random jobs and just wanted a visa.” When she saw an EF job opening in London, she reached out to her contacts at Ultimate Break. “They said, ‘We don’t know anything about that role, but are you looking for work?’ I told them, ‘I guess.’”
That text exchange turned into an interview from the floor of an airport. Before the trip had even ended, she’d gotten an offer. “I was in a bar in Munich when they asked if I wanted to move to Boston and work for them.”
Now, as a social producer for EF Ultimate Break, no two days look the same for Topp. “Day to day is always different, which I think is ideal for my personality,” Topp says. “Morning is usually maintenance — I’m on the brand accounts, responding to things, sending things in, and having team meetings.” Her role mixes creativity and structure, from planning shoots to pitching new content ideas. “We’re not just copying trends — nobody cares [about that] anymore. We have to think about things uniquely and make it inherently our own.”
When she’s not in the office, she’s on the road. “I’ve been traveling a ton,” she says. “It’s planning everything we’re going to film, creating the shot list, and deciding what content to produce after. I also help with the influencer side, finding people who fit certain trips and brands to partner with.”
Some of her favorite moments have come from being thrown into unexpected situations. “One of the most formative trips for me was my first work trip; I was sent to Egypt — it was a dream destination,” she says. “My coworker leading the trip broke both her feet on the first day, turned to me, and said, ‘You’re in charge.’ I was 23, leading influencers around Egypt. It was insane, but it was one of the most rewarding experiences.”
Another standout moment was when she went to Thailand to create content inspired by The White Lotus Season 3. “We were the first travel outlet to cover anything White Lotus-themed on location,” she says. “It was such a rewarding trip. You’re making these calls, trusting your instincts, and then seeing it work out. It’s such a confidence boost.”
Topp’s work has made her one of the most recognizable faces at EF, but she hasn’t lost her personal voice. “When I started working here, I wanted to make sure that whatever I capture, I can use for both the brand and my personal accounts,” she says. “My audience knows EF super well, and the EF audience knows my face. It’s been a great balance.”
For students who dream of turning their love for travel and content creation into a career, Topp’s advice is simple. “Talk to cool people,” she says. “That could be LinkedIn, real life, professors, or social media. Just make friends or be friendly. I only have this job because I felt normal enough to reach out to people I’d worked with.” Her other tip? Build that portfolio you’ve been putting off, even if it feels small. “Anybody can say they’re going into social media, but having a portfolio speaks so loudly,” she says. “You’re fluent in an aspect a lot of people aren’t, which is such a valuable asset.”