Our Mission
Bottom Up Media is an independent journalism organization that produces and incubates creator journalism. Our mission is to help newsrooms, journalists, and experts reach the next generation of audiences who increasingly get their news on social media but often distrust traditional outlets. We do this by helping them create social-first video storytelling, build authentic personal brands, and engage audiences in ways that generate trust, grow their platforms, and strengthen the connection between journalism and the communities it serves.
Our Story
Bottom Up Media began as a college news outlet at Boston College in 2020, originally known as The Unfortunate Truth. It was one of the first student creator-led journalism outlets, with a team of eight student journalists producing stories across multiple platforms. With funding and support from the institution, the outlet produced several seasons of a multimedia podcast, investigative reporting, and social media journalism during a time marked by rising misinformation, discrimination, and the early growth of the creator economy. However, the outlet shut down in 2023 after losing its funding.
In August 2025, founder Rahim Jessani re-launched Bottom Up Media as an official company in Florida and by March 2026, the organization expanded into a social media and consulting agency supporting multiple creator-journalism projects, including a newsletter, podcast, and creator-led newsrooms. Today, Bottom Up Media is a boutique organization that works with newsrooms and nonprofits interested in joining the trillion-dollar creator economy and building deeper relationships with their audiences through our unique bootstraps approach. At the same time, it continues to produce it’s own creator journalism with initiatives like Bottom Up Boston, Expert Opinions Podcast, and The Facts & Fortnite Live
What is “Bottom Up?”
The Bottom Up approach is a marketing term designed to allow small businesses and startups to seek out customers directly and meet their needs. At Bottom Up Media, we transform this concept for news, information, and journalism to reframe how reporting is done. We emphasize writing and producing with audiences rather than for them, creating journalism that is informed by the communities it serves.
At the same time, “Bottom Up” reflects a societal hierarchy. Our initiative focuses on the most vulnerable communities, the powerless, and the places where legacy news and information systems have often failed to include them in their storytelling. This value is rooted in our history as a student publication, but it also reflects a broader belief: one of the core reasons trust in journalism is declining is because too many communities have been left out of the process. Rebuilding that trust means bringing those communities back into the center of how journalism is produced.
Guiding Principles
Rebuild trust in journalism
Advocate for a free press
Highlight the value of local news
Connect journalism and the creator economy
Empower members of the community
Meet our founder, Rahim Jessani
Rahim Jessani is the founder of Bottom Up Media and creator journalist. He has worked at the intersection of journalism and the creator economy since its early rise in 2020, when he launched one of the first student creator-led journalism outlets at Boston College, serving as editor in chief of a team of eight student reporters.
As he built the outlet, Jessani also began consulting for newsrooms, nonprofits, and small businesses looking to understand how to better connect journalism with the creator economy. His work has included collaborations with organizations such as The GroundTruth Project (now known as Report Local), Gridiron Girls, the Malala Fund, and Get Real News.
Over the past five years, Jessani has worked with more than fifty newsrooms, small businesses, nonprofits, colleges, and community organizations. His work focuses on creator journalism, social media and bottom-up audience engagement strategies, and helping newsrooms reach new audiences while bringing vulnerable communities into the information ecosystem.
Jessani also teaches content creation and creator journalism with schools and organizations including Boston College and the University of Central Florida.
His reporting focuses on sports journalism, where he connects important issues and sports through memes, skits, and hard news. Originally from Orlando, Florida, he now lives in Quincy, Massachusetts, with additional bases in Washington, D.C., Chicago, and Miami. Jessani is an avid Los Angeles Lakers and Green Bay Packers fan, and in his free time he enjoys playing Fortnite and basketball.
