How Influencer Alix Earle Cornered A Social Media Market And Made $5 Million In One Year

This spring, Earle, 22, both graduated from the University of Miami—and endowed her own scholarship to Miami's Patti and Allan Herbert Business School. The New Jersey native spent her early college days posting “Get Ready With Me” videos, where she applied makeup and talked about her social life. When she shared her struggles with acne, her TikTok channel took off. Earle’s real talk has attracted more than 8 million followers who rush to buy out any beauty product she features, a phenomenon known as the “Alix Earle Effect”. Her strong fan engagement has earned her wide-ranging brand deals including Benefit Cosmetics, L’Oreal, and WaWa. In September, she debuted her podcast “Hot Mess” with Alex Cooper’s (#12 Top Creator) Unwell Network.

Creators. Influencers. Streamers. Vloggers. Whatever you call them, these powerful social media personalities are calling the shots in entertainment and advertising.

This year, the 50 honorees on our second annual Forbes Top Creator list harnessed their combined 2.6 billion followers to haul in an estimated $700 million in earnings. That's up more than 20% from 2022's $570 million score. To rank the world's Top Creators, Forbes crunched data on the earnings, follower counts, engagement rates, and entrepreneurial activities of thousands of internet personalities with the help of the creator marketing firm, Influential.

The result: The fifty people tapping their massive fan bases to reshape the worlds of media, marketing, entertainment, and taste.

0:00 Introducing Alix Earle
0:12 What Is The Alix Earle Brand?
2:39 How Alix Built Her Brand On TikTok During The Pandemic
4:12 How College Prepped Alix For Her Creator Career
6:15 How Alix Plans Her Content
7:30 Monetizing The Alix Earle Brand (And Alix's Go-To Wawa Order)
8:31 How Alix Chooses Her Brand Partnerships
9:32 The Worst Brand Deal Alix Got Pitched
10:26 How Alix Built A Massive Fanbase
11:52 The Challenges Of Creator Fame
12:46 Next Steps For The Alix Earle Brand
13:57 Creating The Alix Earle Scholarship Fund
15:42 "Find Your Niche And Stick To It"
16:04 What Brands Need To Consider Before Partnering With A Creator
16:51 How To Serve The Audience While Growing The Business Of The Brand
17:25 Alix's Dream Collaborator
17:39 A Look Into Alix Earle's Upcoming Podcast Produced By Alex Cooper's Unwell Network

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