Hi, this is Amanda Perelli and welcome back to Insider
In this week's edition:
Lori Loughlin's daughter Olivia Jade is rebuilding her influencer business
How a podcasting duo built one of Patreon's highest-earning memberships
Inside the launch of an influencer talent-management firm
How much money a college TikTok star earns from brand deals
And more including creator economy startup news and the wild gifts influencers have received from fans.
Send tips to aperelli@insider.com or DM me on Twitter at @arperelli.
How Lori Loughlin's daughter Olivia Jade is rebuilding her influencer business after the college-admissions scandal
Olivia Jade Giannulli's influencer comeback is in full swing.
In recent months, she has begun to regularly post on social
Her rebound comes two years after her parents, Lori Loughlin and Mossimo Giannulli, were first indicted on charges of conspiracy and fraud related to the infamous college-admissions scandal.
When the headlines broke in 2019, Olivia Jade was already an established influencer with over one million followers on
But as the scandal grew, her influencer career was derailed as brands like Sephora and Amazon dropped her.
Sydney Bradley broke down how Olivia Jade is rebuilding her influencer business:
Her influencer comeback began in earnest in December 2020, when she spoke publicly about the scandal for the first time on an episode of "Red Table Talk."
Olivia Jade has shared links to products using affiliate links from the platform RewardStyle.
Recently, she has posted sponsored content with the brands Revice Denim and White Fox Boutique (she said she was donating an unspecified amount of money from this partnership).
While Olivia Jade's influencer business is rebounding, she has yet to work with brands as prominent as Sephora and Amazon again.
Check out the full story inside Olivia Jade's influencer comeback, here.
A podcasting duo explains how they built one of Patreon's highest-earning memberships
Podcast hosts Patrick Hinds and Gillian Pensavalle's Patreon has over 44,000 paying members.
It's one of the top 10 earners on the platform, Patreon said.
I wrote about how they earn money and how they got started on Patreon:
Hinds and Pensavalle promote the Patreon membership within their ad-supported episodes, which are available for free on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
They offer a variety of exclusive ad-free content on Patreon, including videos, chats, and livestreams for paying members.
Their membership has four tiers, ranging for $5 to $20 per month.
"Podcasting is just exploding right now and we are seeing that on our platform," said Julian Gutman, Patreon's chief product officer.
Check out the full story on how to use Patreon to make money from podcasting, here.
How a digital marketer launched a management firm focused on diverse talent and signed 20 influencers in her first year
Annelise Campbell quit her job as a marketer to build an agency focused on diversity and inclusion.
Campbell launched CFG, an influencer-marketing and talent-management firm, at the end of 2019.
CFG now represents 30 influencers and Campbell describes the management firm as "deliberately diverse, intentionally inclusive."
Sydney wrote about how Campbell launched the business:
Campbell manages her clients' invoicing, content schedules, and makes sure that they are on track to meet their revenue goals
Early on, she hired a freelance lawyer to review the contracts.
Last year, Campbell reached out to agencies and asked how her influencers could help them create content while production facilities were closed during the pandemic.
CFG's roster is made up of creators of color many of whom are "micro" influencers, a category of influencers who typically have under 100,000 followers.
Read more about launching a talent management firm, here.
A TikTok creator who posts tips on how to apply to college breaks down how he has grown his account to 880,000 followers and is making thousands of dollars from brand deals
Gohar Khan set up his
He now has more than 880,000 followers, and has earned around $3,500 from brand deals.
Khan has worked with brands such as the study-tools company Quizlet and the scholarship program Rise.
Molly Innes wrote about how he works with brands and how TikTok has boosted his consulting business:
He charges $500 for a single promotional video on TikTok.
TikTok has also helped promote his college-student consulting startup, which employs about a dozen student consultants.
"Every day I get a lot of DMs on Instagram and a ton of emails from different companies trying to sponsor me," Khan said. "The last thing I want is to advertise something to my viewers that I don't truly believe in."
Read more about his creator business as a college influencer, here.
More creator industry coverage from Insider:
How a New York retailer uses a Snapchat-meets-QVC livestreaming app to make $1,000 in 4 hours (Jennifer Ortakales Dawkins)
Mark Cuban explains how NFTs could provide new revenue streams for small businesses and creators (Dominick Reuter and Emily Canal)
A day in the life of a 28-year-old ad agency staffer who gets paid to spend up to 40 hours a week playing video games (Molly Innes)
Fake thongs, spicy peppers, and antique dolls: Influencers reveal the wild gifts they've received from fans and brands (Dan Whateley)
Creator economy startup of the week:
Maven, an online-course platform for creators, raised $20 million in a Series A round led by Andreessen Horowitz.
The company hosts classes and workshops from influencer industry experts like Atelier Ventures' Li Jin and entrepreneur and Instagram influencer Louise Thompson.
Enrollees pay a flat fee to take courses at the same time as other students. The company said four courses on its platform have earned more than $100,000 since it launched three months ago.
Every week, Insider gives a rundown of news on hires, promotions, and other creator company announcements. This week includes updates at Loaded, Jellysmack, and Facebook.
Read the full rundown of creator industry moves, here.
Platform updates:
Instagram will host a week of virtual programs from June 8 to 10, called Creator Week. The event is designed to help creators build their careers and connect them with their peers.
Starting June 1, YouTube may place ads and earn money off videos that are not in its partnership program outside of the US.
Pinterest launched a video feature called "Idea Pins," which allows creators to record and edit videos, and offers tools like voiceover recording, background music, and transitions.
TikTok's top trending hashtag of the week:
TikTok is where trends often start in 2021. Every week we highlight a trending hashtag on TikTok, according to data provided by Kyra IQ.
This week's top hashtag: #buildabish
The percentage uptick for the last 7 days: 1,635%.
This trend is centered around TikTok star Bella Poarch's new song, "Build a Bitch." Poarch has 68 million followers on TikTok, and she is known for her viral lip-syncing video to the song "M to the B," which has 604 million views.
This week from Insider's digital culture team:
Inside the rise of Colleen Ballinger, the 'Miranda Sings' performer and YouTube vlogger who was criticized for using AAVE
Colleen Ballinger has been a top YouTuber for the last decade.
Videos from her "Miranda Sings" channel and her own personal channels have earned billions of views.
Insider reporters Rachel E. Greenspan and Moises Mendez II wrote about Ballinger's rise to fame.
Recently, she has garnered backlash online for using AAVE, or African-American Vernacular English, when she joked about "Gen-Z slang."
Read more about Ballinger's rise to fame online, here.
More on digital culture:
An esports player has been suspended from professional play for 6 months following sexual-abuse allegations.
JoJo Siwa endorsed a petition to rename Reagan National Airport in her honor instead of the former president's.
TikTok catapulted a song from the Nickelodeon cartoon "The Backyardigans" to the top of a Spotify chart.
Here's what else we're reading:
Brands and influencers are calling for credit to be given to the Black skin-care experts (Liz Flora, from Glossy)
Travel influencers used to have the dream job. Where will they go next? (Angela Lashbrook, from Refinery29)
Facebook launches "Live Shopping Fridays" for beauty and fashion brands (Adriana Lee, from WWD)
Do you feel like you're friends with the celebrities or influencers you follow online? (Nicole Daniels, from NYT Opinion)