Welcome back to From the Gold Room, our biweekly dispatch sharing the signals, conversations, and ideas shaping the creator economy.

This week’s issue feels especially meaningful to us.

This Sunday we’re bringing Creator Gold Live to SXSW, a gathering we’ve been quietly building for months alongside partners who believed in the vision from the beginning.

Putting something like this together reminds us why Creator Gold exists in the first place. To bring the right mix of creators, founders, platforms, and operators into the same room and create the kind of conversations that don’t usually happen on stage or on social media.

We’re incredibly grateful to everyone helping make this possible, from our partners at TikTok and Later, to the speakers and creators joining the conversation, to the community that continues to show up and support what we’re building.

In this issue, we’re sharing a preview of Creator Gold Live, along with a few signals we’re watching across the industry right now and a handful of recommendations for anyone heading to Austin this week.

If you’ll be at SXSW, we hope to see you there.

💛
France & Monica
Creator Gold, Co-Founders

This Sunday Creator Gold goes to Austin, Texas.

On March 15, we’re bringing Creator Gold Live to SXSW for a high-signal afternoon exploring the future of the creator economy.

Creators.
Platforms.
Brands.
Media leaders.

All in one room.

Presented in partnership with TikTok and Later, the event will bring together the people building the infrastructure, culture, and businesses powering the next phase of the creator economy.

And the timing couldn’t be more relevant.

The creator economy is no longer an emerging category.

It’s core media infrastructure.

Creators aren’t just making content.
They’re building companies.
Running studios.
Launching brands.
And increasingly shaping how entertainment itself works.

Creator Gold Live is designed to explore exactly that shift.

The programming for Creator Gold Live reflects the structural changes happening across media, technology, and culture.

Each session focuses on a different piece of the evolving creator ecosystem.

The boundaries between Hollywood, creators, and brands are dissolving.

Creators are launching shows, brands are producing entertainment, and distribution is increasingly creator-driven.

This conversation explores how storytelling, partnerships, and production are evolving as creators become central players in modern entertainment.

Behind today’s top creators are production environments that increasingly resemble modern media companies.

This session dives into the tools, AI workflows, and operational systems powering high-output creator businesses — and what infrastructure will define the next decade of digital media.

The most successful creators today aren’t just building audiences.

They’re building enterprises.

This conversation explores how creators evolve from individual content producers into founders, operators, and owners of scalable businesses.

Presented by TikTok, this session explores how creators find their niche, build momentum on the platform, and turn audience connection into recognition and rewards.

Because on TikTok, culture doesn’t just spread.

It accelerates.

The era of passive audiences is over.

Today’s most powerful creators don’t just reach people, they build ecosystems where audiences participate, collaborate, and shape the culture itself.

This conversation explores how creators turn followers into movements and how brands must rethink engagement in a participation-driven internet.

We’re also excited to welcome Scott Sutton, CEO of Later, for a fireside conversation with creator Jon Youshaei.

Jon has done what almost no one else has: spent years inside YouTube and Instagram helping shape the creator ecosystem, then stepped out to build his own creator business — reaching hundreds of millions of views, collaborating with creators like MrBeast, and producing the Amazon Prime Video docuseries The Making of Beast Games.

In this conversation, Scott and Jon will unpack what it actually takes to build a creator business today — from platform insight and brand partnerships to production, distribution, and the shift toward creators operating as modern media companies.

Two partners supporting Creator Gold Live represent two essential layers of the creator ecosystem.

TikTok continues to shape how culture moves across the internet, helping creators discover audiences, define niches, and launch careers at unprecedented speed.

At Creator Gold Live, the TikTok creator team will be on the ground throughout the afternoon. Creators attending the event will be able to meet the team in person, connect around growth opportunities on the platform, and learn more about TikTok’s creator and monetization programs.

If you’re interested in being contacted by TikTok about creator opportunities, you can also share your information with their team here.

Later sits on the infrastructure side of the creator economy, building tools that help creators and brands operate and scale their businesses across platforms.

Together, they represent the distribution layer and the business layer of modern creator media.

Both are essential to what comes next.

Creator Gold Live will feature creators, founders, media leaders, and platform operators shaping the next phase of the creator economy.

Speakers include:

AJ Eckstein (Creator Match)
Breonna Stephens (@thewatchedlist)
Diana Williams (Kinetic Energy Entertainment)
Dylan Huey (REACH)
Goldie Chan (Warm Robots)
Greg Seward (TikTok)
Hudson Matter (NextWave Media)
Jim Louderback (Inside the Creator Economy / former CEO of VidCon)
Jon Youshaei (Youshaei Studios)
Joshua Cohen (Tubefilter)
Kati Morton, LMFT (Happyable, Inc.)
Max Reisinger (Creator Camp)
Morgan Young (Hyphenate Media)
My Nguyen (MyHealthyDish)
Patrick Walker
Rishi Jethi (Illumeably Media)
RJ Larese (Sixteenth / Whalar Group)
Scott Sutton (Later)
Sundas Khalid (Tech & AI Creator)
Timothy Martin (@timbosliceoflife12)
Uptin Saiidi (UP10Media)
Valeska Pederson Hintz (Perkins Coie)

We’re also excited to have Grace Ling and Morgan Young joining us serving as Creator Gold correspondents for the event. They’ll be speaking with some of our creators, founders, and guests and capturing a few on-the-ground interviews throughout the afternoon.

And a few surprise guests along the way.

Creator Gold Live will take place Sunday, March 15 during SXSW, gathering creators, founders, brands, platforms, and investors for an afternoon of conversation and connection.

The event will be hosted at a beautiful boutique property near SXSW’s busiest corridors, designed for both programming and meaningful networking throughout the day.

Attendance is limited and RSVP-only, with location details shared upon approval.

If you’ll be in Austin, we’d love to see you there.

RSVP →
https://luma.com/euktoi6u

The moves, moments, and momentum to know

YouTube juggernaut Dude Perfect appointed its first Chief Content Officer as the group expands beyond its 62M-subscriber channel into live events, publishing, merchandise, and a potential theme-park-style entertainment ecosystem. The move follows a $100M investment and reflects the team’s ambition to build a Disney-like media flywheel around the brand. (Business Insider)

Why it matters: Top creators are evolving into full-scale media companies, not just channels.

A new Wall Street Journal profile highlights the executives and managers quietly shaping the $250B influencer economy. Agencies like UTA are now managing creator careers much like Hollywood talent — helping influencers launch product lines, negotiate multi-million-dollar partnerships, and expand into film, TV, and publishing. (The Wall Street Journal)

Why it matters: Behind the scenes, a new layer of creator-economy infrastructure is forming around talent, strategy, and business building.

Rachel Kisela, a former lead editor for MrBeast, launched EditHers, a community connecting female video editors with creators and addressing the gender gap in creator production roles. The network already includes hundreds of editors and creators sharing job opportunities, rates, and professional resources. (Business Insider)

Why it matters: As creator businesses scale, the conversation is expanding beyond creators themselves to the workforce powering the creator economy.

Forbes has opened nominations for its annual Top Creators list, which ranks the most influential digital creators across platforms. The list now evaluates creators not just by audience size but by revenue, business ventures, and cultural influence. (Forbes)

Why it matters: The narrative continues to shift from influencer to entrepreneur.

Industry reports suggest the creator economy is continuing to grow in value, but competition is increasing as more creators enter the space. The result is a more mature ecosystem where building a sustainable creator business requires stronger infrastructure, monetization strategies, and differentiated content. (Tubefilter)

Why it matters: The creator economy is entering its professionalization phase.putting the deal’s value in question.

Carefully chosen content moving the creator world forward, plus a few Austin discoveries for anyone heading to SXSW this weekend.

▶️ WATCH
My first science video in 3 Years (Physics Girl)
After a devastating battle with long COVID, science creator Dianna Cowern (Physics Girl) returns with her first video in three years. It’s a deeply moving comeback and a powerful reminder of the bond creators build with their audiences over time.

WATCH → https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3m3AMRlYfc

📖 READ
YouTube is in its studio era (Timothy Shey)
A sharp analysis of how YouTube is evolving from solo creators into full-scale creator studios. The piece explores the rise of teams, infrastructure, and studio-style production models shaping the next phase of the creator economy.

READ → https://creatorama.substack.com/p/youtube-is-in-its-studio-era?r=b665i&utm_medium=ios&triedRedirect=true&_src_ref=linkedin.com

🍽 EAT
Terry Black’s Barbecue
If you ask Austin locals where to take someone for classic barbecue, Terry Black’s is almost always on the list. Expect Central Texas brisket smoked over post oak, giant beef ribs, and long communal tables filled with founders, creators, and SXSW crowds. The line can stretch outside, but it moves fast and the brisket is worth it. Creator Matt James recently featured the spot in a YouTube video showing why it’s become a must-stop for visitors.

EAT →1003 Barton Springs Rd, Austin, TX 78704 (Zilker)

Creator Gold is a curated creator community and experience series founded by France Tantiado and Monica Khan in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Born from the momentum of Bay Area Creator Economy (BACE), Creator Gold creates elevated spaces where creators, founders, brands, and platform leaders connect with intention turning conversation into collaboration.

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