The Updated Creator Economy
🚦Coming soon: my take as a creator, product manager, and investor
What I’m doing
Hello world 👋 The creator economy is here and it’s here to stay. Through my own creator journey I’ve found my “why” — where my passion meets my purpose — and I’m publishing my thoughts on this evolving space. Specifically, I’ll be researching and writing about the opportunities that lie ahead for those who create content and those who build tools to enable more opportunities for creators. I began experimenting with video creation during the shutdown of March 2020. Since then, I’ve uploaded more than 400 videos and grown my community to 100K+ followers on TikTok, many of whom I interact with daily through DMs and comments.
Who I am as a creator
My name is Cherie and I’ve been immersed in the creator economy for the last 2 years. I publish short form career-related content to demystify product management and to help more women break into the technology industry (TikTok: @cherie.brooke). I’ve felt the rush of excitement of going viral when my videos hit millions of views. I’ve felt the lows of when a video I poured hours into completely flops. I’ve experienced the positive side of being a creator: connecting with brilliant creatives, partnering with brands I’ve admired for years, and being paid for something I’m genuinely excited to do. On the flip side, I’ve also seen the harsh reality of becoming a public creator: confronting racism, sexism and cruel trolls on the internet, being ghosted by brand deals after weeks of negotiations, and deeply feeling the ebbs and flows of creator burnout.
Who I am as a professional
My background is in technology and I’ve found that I’m in my flow state when I’m connecting, collaborating, and working with others. I majored in computer science in undergrad and was president of Women in Computer Science at Columbia University. I’m passionate about celebrating and supporting women, especially in industries where we are largely underrepresented (fun fact: 70% of my TikTok audience are women💁♀️🙋♀️). In college I spent summers working as both a software engineer and product manager. For the last 5 years, I worked as a product manager at LinkedIn, building growth and social learning products for hundreds of millions of people. As I start this creator economy series, I’m currently at Bain Capital Ventures as an investing associate. I create content, I build tech products, and now I’m seeing how experts evaluate startups.
What’s coming next
I see the creator economy from a few different vantage points and I’m excited to share my take as a creator, product builder, and now investor. In the next few weeks I’m publishing pieces on these topics below (this list is not finalized). Let me know if one stands out or if there are topics I should include while I build (write?) in public.
Topics for my next articles
- Segmentation of creator types and the unique aspects of how they work
- Top pain points from creators I’ve spoken with over the last few months
- Traits that make creator economy companies most successful (hint: founders should be creators themselves)
- How certain technologies could be applied to solve creator pain points
Finally, I’m scouting for potential investments for Bain Capital Ventures and my inbox is open at cluo@baincapital.com — let’s chat if you’re a creator, founder, or interested in contributing and learning about the creator economy.
Looking forward to seeing you soon,
Cherie
Let’s connect on my social channels
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@cherie.brooke
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cherie-luo
Twitter: https://twitter.com/cherie_luo
My NFT Collection: https://opensea.io/collection/stayhydrated
