Sugar is Sweet, but I'm Not

Hey honeys and hustlers,

Who have been your favorite creators on the rise in 2024? I made a list of 8 creators who have been making waves in the creator space, plus some honorable mentions. My criteria isn’t an exact science, but I looked for people who were

• bridging the gap between traditional and digital media

• building upon a career they started in a traditional role by expanding their personal brand

• creating products or expanding their brand beyond a social media audience (i.e. starting an email list, hosting an event, etc.)

• leveraging social media to make a real-world impact

You can check out this post if you missed the first four creators on the list. Today I’ll be featuring the second half of the list. Let’s see who made the final four! (It feels like I’m the host of a game show, this is fun.) I’m a little late sending this, I’ve been enjoying the downtime with my family.

1) Mel Mitchell (aka The Baddest Mitch)

I first followed Mel because of her comedy skits but stayed for the clips from her live comedy stand-up sets. As a newly minted WNBA groupie myself, it was nice to see her jump head-first into the women’s basketball social content vertical. Through those videos, and her new brand as The Basketball Doll, she got invited to the WNBA All-Star game. She also had her first comedy special taping this year and sold out her birthday show (we’re the same age, which is wild). There are a lot of criticisms about short-form comedy video creators, and skepticism about whether they can deliver in long-form comedy stand-up sets or acting roles. I have a feeling that we’re about to find out in 2025, and I’m rooting for her continued success. Her versatile foundation is set, so it’s only up from here.

2) Dan Runcie (Founder of Trapital)

Dan Runcie is the founder of Trapital, which many may know as the podcast that dissects the business of music. Trapital has already surpassed 1 million downloads , so it’s not a small show by a long shot. Many music execs and music artists have made an appearance on the show. His newsletter has 32,000 subscribers and is foundational to his media empire; his writing has definitely inspired me along my writing journey. Following the footsteps of Earn Your Leisure, Dan hosted the first-ever Trapital Summit this year. Dan strikes me as an introverted researcher, and to my knowledge, he hasn’t done a whole lot of in-person engagement with his listeners. With Issa Rae on the lineup, it was easy to see why he stepped outside of his comfort zone and curated an experience for music business enthusiasts. It’s cool to see him running a really lean media company and growing strategically and incrementally year over year.

3) Janae Sims (aka Auntie Nae)

Gen Z creators are notorious for intrinsically understanding TikTok but are not always as adept at making the leap from short-form to sustainable creativity. Janae Sims made the transition so smooth it was almost unrecognizable. One minute she’s dancing on TikTok, the next, she’s dancing at the WNBA draft. I think many people assume that the pathway from short-form to long-form content is creating things that you exclusively own. But she’s done a lot of partnerships with the WNBA, SLAM, Chime, Peloton, and more while still not straying from her original audience. The WNBA is fairly new to collaborating with creators, and she’s benefitting from being early in the space (not to mention being good friends with current players and sports journalists). I think the 5-minute video interview-style content is here to stay, and I’m excited to see what a seasonal series could look like for her. More importantly, I’m interested to see what the production will be like and where that show will land – under her name or a brand’s name?

4) Mychal Threets (the Librarian)

There are increasingly too few creators who start with only the joy of what they’re sharing, and I was so glad to see Mychal bring library joy to us all through his love of books. For whatever reason, the bad side of Twitter found him early on in his creator journey and said some of the nastiest things imaginable to one of the kindest humans to ever make short-form videos. But I’m glad that negativity didn’t win. His love of books and libraries bought him space in so many hearts. He earned a trip to the White House, graced the cover of a magazine, and got his face on a library card. He’s been an advocate for mental health, a women’s sports groupie, educated people on all the things available at public libraries, and has encouraged people to start reading again (the biggest feat by far). He’s no longer working at a public library and is starting a podcast in 2025. I can’t wait to see where his curiosity and creativity take him.

Honorable Mention

Angenay (not to be confused with me, Angela)

What’s better than waking up to a fresh serving of whoop *ss? Knowing that Angenay would maybe go easier on unsuspecting guys at her local gym if they weren’t so misogynistic. Her posting consistency is unreal. I think she posts a short form video to Twitter daily, if not every other day. This year, she branched out from doing her standard videos at the local gym and tried a few different formats. For reference, she grew to 50K subscribers on YouTube with just one video format and hasn’t posted on her channel in almost 8 months. I’m not sure how she monetizes her content, but I would love to see her expand into street ball tournaments and youth basketball camps for girls. Sometimes, monetization of content means drastically changing your workflow or relationship to creating. In her case, I’d love to see her stick to what she knows, loves, and does best, and simply work around that to create partnerships with brands and events to monetize her videos.

I won’t be sending an article on Thursday, so I hope you all enjoy the holidays!

Please Hustle Responsibly,

🤙🏾✨

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