Social Media at the International Spy Museum
Creating social content that invites audiences to engage critically with the world around them.
Content Design & Video Production-
Graphic design, motion graphics, photography/videography, creative direction
-
Emily Coletta, Creative Director
Ariel Samuel, Social Media Specialist (2023-2024)
Joshua Troemel, Social Media Specialist (2025-present)
-
Content design, motion graphics, photography, video production & editing
-
Illustrator, Photoshop, After Effects, Premiere, Descript, Adobe Express, Canon 5D Mark IV, Asana, Frame.io
Brief
For the International Spy Museum, social media presents an opportunity to go beyond the walls of the physical exhibits and create learning experiences that shed light on the shadow world of espionage and intelligence, educating and challenging each of us to engage critically with the complex world around us.
As a member of the Marketing & Communications department, I partner with the Media team regularly to create content, motion graphics, and video content that engages, educates, and promotes the Museum.
Short-Form Video
Training & Creative DirectionSPY launched its short-form video strategy for social media in early 2024. With my background in video editing, I trained teammates on using applications like Adobe Premiere Pro to create professional work and adhere to brand standards. We utilized tools like Frame.io, Descript, and Asana to promote collaboration, keep things organized and make high-quality output sustainable.
Since introducing short-form content, Instagram followers are up 121% and impressions are up 235%.
(As of early 2025)
“I came to SPY with no video experience and Emily collaborated with me to build our short-form video strategy from the ground up. Her eye for design consistently elevates our content, whether she’s crafting eye-catching graphics or providing expert feedback on video edits. She took the time to walk me through video editing basics, share design principles, and provide constructive feedback that helped me develop confidence in creating content.”
— Ariel Samuel, Social Media Specialist (2023–2024)Video Creation
In addition to training and mentorship, I also directly contribute to the creation of videos, from filming to editing.
Sometimes I’m even featured!
The third week in April is “National Coin Week” (apparently!) to celebrate the hobby of coin collecting. Having recently design a special challenge coin for the Museum’s podcast, SpyCast, I collaborated with our social media specialist to document the process and show off the coin design.
Content Design
Heritage Months
Revealing untold espionage stories is what the Spy Museum is all about, and we strive to tell diverse stories all year round. Celebrating heritage months allows us to shine some special attention on groups not often highlighted in the intelligence community.
Women’s History Month
Black History Month
Pop-Culture Moments
Getting on social media trends not only creates a great entry point for our audience, but it makes educational content more fun and approachable.
This Barbie!
Museum Programming
From in-person workshops to podcast productions, the Spy Museum has a lot of community and educational programming to share.
SpyCast
SpyCast Soundbites (Meta Ad, 2024)
This piece garnered 197k impressions and streams were up 6% in the month they were released.
SpyCast 2023 Special - Spy Chiefs
Parade of Trabants, 2024
Photography
I coordinate with talented photographer’s for many of the Spy Museum’s events, but when that nonprofit budget needs to stretch further, I step up and fill in the gap.
I am capable of executing across event, portrait, and artifact/product photography.
Intelligence Historian Conference, 2024
Influencer Event, 2025
Museum Docent Tours, 2024
Birds Aren't Real, 2023
Branded Templates
To empower our social team while maintaining brand standards, I’ve set up templates for recurring needs in Adobe Express so they would be easily accessible and editable for our team.
Adobe Libraries
Utilizing Adobe Cloud Libraries, I set up brand-approved assets with easy access across Adobe apps. Logos, colors, font treatments, and more are available for the team’s use natively within their editing app of choice.
To make my colleagues’ lives easier, I developed overlays that designate the “safe zone” for different social media platforms, so things like captions and labels always fall in the right place - no more getting covered up by the native UI! Freebie alert: Download a copy of the 2025 Reels guide here.