By Vivian DiSalvo (Class of 2026)
“How Kit Connor, Rachel Zegler Created Romeo and Juliet for Gen Z With Pull-Ups and a Kiss.” This is the headline that took over the internet in mid-October after going viral on TikTok. The author of the article, Claire Dodson, is associate director of culture at Teen Vogue — and a 2015 UT graduate.
“Our audience loved Kit’s Heartstopper cover with Joe Locke for Teen Vogue last year, and are also interested in Rachel, who is so outspoken about her beliefs,” she says, “So that combination was really exciting to me. When it started doing really well, it was very validating for me.”
Her most recent viral article talks about Broadway’s newest debut, Romeo and Juliet, starring two famed actors: Rachel Zegler, known for her role as Lucy Gray Baird in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, and Kit Conner, known for his role as Nick Nelson in the hit TV series Heartstopper. The idea of interviewing such talented individuals would be daunting to most of us, but it’s an everyday thing for Dodson.
“I’ve always been someone who idolized celebrities,” she says. “Over the years I actually have gotten less starstruck because I’ve been able to just see them as actual people, which I think is really healthy. Most of them do not want to be on some wild pedestal above everyone else.”
Dodson grew up in Knoxville, so attending UT was a no-brainer for her. As a student, she made use of every resource available to immerse herself in journalism. She wrote for the Daily Beacon and says her favorite memory is dreaming about a future life in New York with fellow Daily Beacon writers.
“We would just sit on the roof and think about who we want to become,” says Dodson. “I was dreaming about New York at that time, so that’s fun to think about now.”
In addition, Dodson spent some time with the Wesley Foundation, a Christian community on campus. Aside from that, she was fully dedicated to journalism, doing freelance work and various jobs wherever she could.
She serves as a role model and an inspiration to all journalism students here at UT. Her talent and ambition, in combination with UT’s wide variety of resources and opportunities, have propelled her career toward success.
