Making a living as a creator shouldn’t be some elusive thing. And what’s the best way to learn how creators are making it work? To go behind-the-scenes. These interview issues are like having coffee with your favorite creators. If we haven’t met before, I’m Amanda Smith. I write about solopreneurship and the creator economy.
Hey there, Creator! Thanks for tuning in, and welcome if you're new to this corner of the internet.
The last few interviews covered a lot of ground. A luxury photographer who shot Fenty Beauty campaigns before opening his own content agency. A comms consultant who turned down VC money and hit six figures in three months. A former Pinterest exec who built a Substack that media people now depend on. The guy behind the events series that's basically the HQ of the NYC creator scene. And the trainer who's been doing this since before "fitness influencer" was even a job title.
Five reads. If any of these slipped past you, this is your nudge to go back.
Shane Anderson shot campaigns like Rihanna's Fenty Beauty before starting his own luxury content marketing studio, a—son. His thesis: celebrity brands and personal brands run on the same logic, so he built his agency the same way he'd build a client's world. 30% of his income now comes straight from founder-led posts on LinkedIn.
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Monique Kelley hit $100K in her first three months of consulting, working part-time, and said no when the VCs came calling. Now she's a top 2% LinkedIn creator working with Fortune 50 biopharma companies, all built on relationships from a 23-year comms career. Her whole business model is knowing exactly who she's earned trust with.
Meredith Klein left her Pinterest comms job and turned 20 years of media relationships into Meredith in the Media, a Substack with 5,000 subscribers, 70,000 monthly views, and 300 paying readers at $9 a month. She replaced her corporate salary in under a year by covering the media industry the way she used to pitch it.
Brett Dashevsky started Creator Economy NYC with one monthly bar meetup and no business plan. Four years later it's a six-person operation running brand-sponsored events across the city. When he got laid off in 2023, a connection made at his own events led straight to his next job at Kickstarter.
Lauren Kleban built LEKFIT into a fitness brand with A-list clients like Kate Beckinsale, back when streaming workouts wasn't even a category yet. She outsourced her Instagram once her following grew, then took it back when engagement dipped. Nearly 150,000 followers later, her lesson is that her audience follows her as much as they follow the workouts.
Which of these paths would you actually take?
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