The Tufts student body boasts young adults who are fluent in several languages, have effortlessly aced exam after exam in high school and excel in the arts, music or athletics. But how many students can say that they own and operate their own Web companies - or that they began working on them when they were just 12 years old?
Senior Robin Liss, the founder, president and editor-in-chief of www.camcorderinfo.com and the founder-slash-president of www.digitalcamerainfo.com, certainly can.
"When I was 12, I was a big nerd," Liss said. "I really liked playing with my mom's VHS camera."
Liss also really enjoyed stop motion animation, or "claymation," movies, referring to films made in the style of "The Nightmare Before Christmas," "James and the Giant Peach," and "Chicken Run." What she was most interested in, however, was making Web pages.
After teaching herself HTML in middle school and then formulating her first Web site, Liss found out that "people actually read it [her Web site] - so one thing led to another."
In high school, Liss realized that she could make movies and decided to combine her filmmaking and web-designing abilities. Shortly after she entered Tufts, she began to employ people, finding staff through Craigslist and other connections.
Both of Liss's sites provide the latest reviews, articles and news about camcorders and digital cameras. Camcorderinfo.com hosts 12,000 visitors per day and has an even larger number of subscribers to its message board.
Likewise, digitalcamerainfo.com, though still "more of a growing market," is aimed at consumers who are interested in purchasing a digital camera but are unsure of which one is best for their taste. Through the use of a "standard 44-point analysis," digitalcamerainfo.com reviews a wide range of digital cameras on the basis of "image quality, handling, portability, control, ease of use and other key areas," Liss said. It also helps prospective owners figure out which camera is the best value for their budget.
Liss' camera review publishing business currently employs a team of 10 whose office is headquartered in Davis Square. There is also in office in New York.
In addition to being the chief operator of these sites, Liss has also amassed a number of television appearances and print media releases. She has been featured as a "Gadget Guru" on CNN. As such, she reviewed not only digital cameras and camcorders, but also the latest in high-definition television and portable gaming consoles such as the XBOX 360. Both USA Today and the Boston Globe have highlighted Liss's success as a young internet entrepreneur.
She has also made an appearance on CNN's "Reliable Sources" with Howard Kurtz, discussing ethics and technology review.
Liss, a Political Science major and Entrepreneurial Leadership minor, has also garnered success in more than just the business field.
As a freshman, she took a semester off from Tufts to work as a finance intern for Mass. Senator John Kerry. She then accepted a Deputy Press Secretary position for the then-presidential candidate's primary campaign in New Hampshire.
Liss has also interned at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government for a program specializing in Women and Public Policy, where emphasis was placed on training women to run for office. Now a senior, she is currently at work on an honors thesis focused on interest groups and city government alongside Political Science Professors Jeffrey Berry and Kent Portney.
After graduation, Liss plans to stay in Boston and work for a few years before eventually returning to continue her education in graduate school.
When asked how she balances her responsibilities as an Internet entrepreneur alongside her academic pursuits and college life, Liss said that she simply "separates fun and work."
A member of the sorority Chi Omega, she said the organization has "kept [her] sane. I know it sounds weird, being a sorority and all, but I really attribute Chi O to giving me an outlet for fun. They're all very supportive of what I do."
Liss often uses her marketing skills with Chi Omega and is a member of some committees, though she holds no formal position.
Like a true businesswoman, Liss is also "totally addicted" to her Blackberry, which endlessly buzzes to inform her of her next engagement.
But entrepreneurial and academic success aside, she underscores the fact that she is still, indeed, a college student.
"I try to fly under the radar about it. I want to be known as Robin, not 'that kid with a Web site,'" she said.
