Meet Hallie Stern | Digital Strategist & Founder

We had the good fortune of connecting with Hallie Stern and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Hallie, what’s something about your industry that outsiders are probably unaware of?
People, algorithms, and trends change daily and so does the digital threat landscape. I’m lucky to have such a varied background because it helps me paint a bigger picture in both the technical and cognitive disinformation space. That said, I have to be prepared both to set up a technical capability, and get creative with messaging and counter messaging within different variations of that technical capability. There’s no magic button. It’s different every time.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I was incredibly lucky to fall into what I do. I spent my teens and twenties working in entertainment and had my heart set on becoming a TV producer.. and a Broadway Star, and maybe a pop dinner too (hah!) I trained all over the world and then when it came down to it, a lot of content I was cast in, creating, and collaborating on was online. I guess I kind of came up as Entertainment started to transition to “new media.” From there, I got pretty good at short form story creation and political satire. I could even mess with different algorithms to increase my metrics! …. Then 2016 happened and I began getting hired to create digital content for other people. By the end of 2017, most of my income came from my social media contracts and in 2018, I started supporting myself with them completely. I spent 2018-2019 traveling the world as a digital nomad learning about digital entrepreneurship in developing countries in Africa and SE Asia, and then volunteered at a refugee camp in Greece, which changed my entire perspective on information sharing and digital influence. That is, how story’s sway people to take offline action, impacts their movement, and even causes harm to various populations. It was a big wake up call…. I continued to travel through Sept of 2019, starting graduate school for my M.S. in Global Security, Conflict, and Cybercrime at NYU’s Center for Global Affairs, 3 days after returning to the country. I was a semester and a half into the program when the pandemic hit, and was working as a research fellow at the Global Disinformation Index, followed by a couple of others in the space, landing a job in DC in my final semester, with a company that eventually became a client. Somehow, I’ve turned my passion for creative story telling, my love of global affairs, and my weird knowledge of algorithms into an all encompassing career!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Honestly, I’m a skier and LOVE Keystone and Breckinridge. If it were snowy, I’d drag them out with me to the resorts! We’d spend day 1 exploring the town, followed by hot chocolate and/or wine by a fire. Next day we’d hit the slopes. If we’re not too tired, we’d go out and look at ice sculptures or have dinner with some live music, then go home and hot tub! Rince and repeat. A little bit of ice skating, something weird and random thrown in, more slopes, a hike, idk. There’s just so much to see and explore!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I get to work with some incredibly talented researchers, academics, and data scientists at Limbik, an AI company that helps mitigate disinformation risk. It’s such an honor to collaborate with their team!

Website: Madmirror.media

Instagram: @madmirrormedia

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/halliejstern