For most student-athletes, the work happens behind the scenes. Early-morning lifts, long days of classes, hours on the court, and weekends spent traveling to competitions are rarely seen by anyone outside the team. For George Mason women's tennis senior Cenan Liu, sharing that experience has become part of her story.

Through a growing social media presence, the Markham, Ontario, Canada native has built an audience by documenting the realities of Division I athletics—from practice sessions and match weekends to "What I Eat in a Day" videos and the challenges of balancing college, tennis, and content creation. What started as a creative hobby has evolved into a platform that connects with thousands of aspiring student-athletes while opening doors to opportunities with brands such as LEGO Canada and Audible.

Liu's interest in content creation began during her freshman year of high school after seeing another creator receive free tennis shoes through social media.

"I figured if she could do it, I could too," Liu said. From there, she began building what she described as "a very engaged tennis community," posting about her training and life in the sport.

While tennis was the foundation of her content, the COVID-19 pandemic helped shape her platform's direction. With so much of everyday life moving online, Liu began experimenting with fashion and tech content before finding another style that caught her attention.

"The pandemic further solidified my passion for content creation because during a time when everybody was online, it was hard to feel connected to my peers and fellow creators," Liu said. Eventually, she fell in love with watching "What I Eat in a Day" videos, which led to creating her own in college.

During that time, Liu found inspiration in creators who shared their experiences as college athletes.

"I really resonated with college athletes, specifically Kaila Novak, who shared her D1 life at UCLA as a soccer player," Liu said. Watching Novak's content ultimately inspired her to create the same type of videos she had enjoyed watching herself.

Watching creators document their daily lives helped Liu realize that some of the most compelling content wasn't centered on results or accomplishments, but on the experiences that came with being a student-athlete. Tennis naturally became the foundation of her content.

"Whether I want it to or not, tennis is a huge part of my life and always will be," she said.

For Liu, that also means creating the kind of college content she once looked for herself, whether it centers around recruiting, college food, or tournament experiences. During George Mason's busy spring season, her audience comes along for the travel, training and competition through vlogs and behind-the-scenes content.

"I love being able to show them what college tennis actually looks like beyond the highlights they see online," Liu said.

Off the court, content creation also gives the business major with a double concentration in marketing and business analytics an outlet for another side of herself. While practices, lifts, and classes make up much of her schedule, creating videos allows her to be more hands-on and creative.

"Content creation is the best way for me to funnel my creative ideas into videos that hopefully resonate with my audience," she said.

That creativity opened doors she never expected, including commercial shoots with major brands. One opportunity came when a casting producer discovered Liu through YouTube Shorts and reached out about an Audible commercial.

"They flew me out to LA, and I stayed there for two days before taking a red-eye flight to land back in Washington at 7:00 a.m. to compete in a tournament the same day!"

Another opportunity brought Liu back to where her own tennis career began.

"They needed a tennis player in Toronto for a video shoot," Liu said. "It was an insane full-circle experience because the commercial was filmed at my childhood tennis club. Getting to go back after so many years brought back so many memories of when I was a junior player, and I had no idea the next time I was back, I'd be filming a LEGO commercial."

Despite the growing opportunities, Liu's content remains grounded in the experiences that first connected her with her audience.

"Being a college athlete is a major part of my identity, and a lot of my content revolves around sharing the realities of student-athlete life," Liu said. "Whether that's balancing classes and practices, traveling for matches, managing a busy schedule, or navigating the highs and lows that come with competing at a high level."

Beyond documenting her own experiences, Liu sees her platform as a way to help others better understand what college athletics is really like. "I also think it's interesting for students at other schools to get a glimpse into what life at George Mason is really like, both academically and athletically," Liu said. "At the same time, a large portion of my audience consists of high school students who are interested in playing college sports, so I love being able to show them what college tennis actually looks like beyond the highlights they see online."

Whether it's team travel, practice days, match weekends, or balancing athletics with academics, Liu hopes sharing her content "gives people a more realistic understanding of the student-athlete experience while helping them feel inspired and connected to the journey."

For those hoping to build a platform of their own, Liu points to two things that have guided her own approach: consistency and authenticity.

"The most important piece of advice that you've probably heard a bajillion times is to be consistent with your posting," she said.

Just as important is making sure that the person viewers see online reflects who she is away from the camera.

"Authenticity is also really important, and that's something that I try to really focus on because it's something that I believe you can genuinely feel through the screen, whether somebody is genuine or not."

As she continues competing for the Patriots and growing her platform, Liu remains focused on telling stories that resonate with people. By sharing the realities of student-athlete life, she has created more than content; she has built a community.