Forbes Top Creators Show

By ForbesBusiness Entrepreneurship Careers

Forbes Top Creators Show episodes

July 09 How Katie Fang Turned Her Viral Tears Into A Social Media Empire
How do you turn a silent GRWM video of yourself crying before a dreaded restaurant shift into a full-time, highly lucrative career?

Welcome to the Forbes Top Creator Show! This week, host Steven Bertoni records live from the Cannes Lions festival for a special two-for-one episode featuring Forbes Under 30 creator Katie Fang and Adobe’s Head of Social Media, Jared Carneson.

(Produced in partnership with Adobe.)

In this episode, Katie breaks down her explosive growth from 800 followers to 1 million in a single month and how she leveraged her relatable "get ready with me" content into massive, long-term brand deals. Together, Katie and Jared dissect the current state of the media landscape, diving into why Gen Z has ditched traditional news for 30-second TikTok clips and the rising necessity of "clip farming." Jared shares profound insights on why AI "generates a repository of the predictable," and explains Adobe's pivot from traditional ads to scripted workplace microdramas. Finally, Katie shares her strategy for maintaining long-term audience credibility, revealing exactly why she isn't afraid to say "no" and turn down massive brand paydays.

#KatieFang #Adobe #ForbesTopCreators #CreatorEconomy #SocialMediaMarketing

Check out the Forbes Top Creator List:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevenbertoni/2026/06/23/forbes-top-creators-2026/

00:00 Live from Cannes Lions
01:13 Katie Fang’s Viral Origin Story: Crying on TikTok
02:45 Jared Carneson: From Mommy Bloggers to Head of Social Media
04:15 Heart Over Tools: What Actually Makes Content Successful?
05:26 Katie’s Breakthrough Kit with Glow Recipe
06:44 AI Hype & The Gossip Goblin
08:39 What are Microdramas? The New Face of Entertainment
11:30 Why Gen Z Ditched TV News for TikTok
14:21 The #1 Mistake Brands Make with Creators
17:26 Inside Katie's Long-Term Deal with Pink
20:34 Dealing with the Hamster Wheel of Content Pressure
23:30 Katie’s Ultimate Secret to Staying Relatable
29:22 Traditional Media vs "Clip Farming"
36:02 Turning Down Massive Brand Deals (Katie Spills the Tea!)
38:20 Future Outlook: What to Expect at Cannes 2027
41:20 How Gen Z Students Actually Use AI at NYU

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44 min
July 07 Brooke Monk’s Viral Strategy: Posting Every Day For 6 Years
How do you go from finishing high school early to amassing 50 million followers and self-funding your own beauty brand using just an iPhone stuck to a window?

Welcome to the Forbes Top Creator Show! This week, host Steven Bertoni decodes the business of influence with master of short-form and long-form, Brooke Monk.

In this episode, Brooke breaks down her explosive growth, revealing her obsessive consistency of posting nearly every single day by 1:00 PM for six years straight. She explains how she analyzes audience data down to the caption length, her DIY setup with zero production crew, and how she confidently cold-pitches massive brands on LinkedIn. Brooke also shares the story behind self-funding her new eyelash company, Doting Beauty, and why true authenticity will always beat a strict brand script.

From moving out at 18 to running the London Marathon and speaking at Oxford, Brooke proves that treating content creation like a highly-optimized business pays massive dividends!

#BrookeMonk #ForbesTopCreators #CreatorEconomy #ContentCreator

00:00 Meet Brooke Monk
01:35 The Homeschool Hustle
04:17 The Viral Spark: Super Long Lashes and TikTok Fame
07:18 Moving Out at 18: Turning a Hobby Into a Career
09:54 The Blueprint: Posting Every Day by 1:00 PM
14:05 Algorithm Secrets: TikTok vs. YouTube Strategy
16:47 The Art of Cold-Pitching Brands on LinkedIn
23:00 Self-Funding Doting Beauty
27:33 Brooke Monk's Advice for Aspiring Creators
31:37 The One-Woman Studio: Why Brooke Still Shoots on an iPhone

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43 min
June 23 1.8 Billion Views A Month: Inside Dhar Mann’s Massive Creator Studio
How do you go from facing eviction at 30 years old to running a massive digital production studio that pulls in more daily views than the Game of Thrones finale?
Welcome back to the Forbes Top Creator Show! This week, host Steven Bertoni sits down with the ultimate storytelling mogul, Dhar Mann, for an inside look at a modern creator-led studio.
In this episode, Dhar opens up about his lowest point—completely starting over at age 30 after years of chasing paydays in industries he wasn't passionate about. He shares his early, agonizing struggles on social media where his videos couldn't even break 250 views, how he almost threw in the towel, and the exact moment where a last-minute napkin script unexpectedly unlocked 100 million views on Facebook.
Dhar breaks down how a strict lack of budget forced him to build a cheap classroom set, accidentally tapping into a massive, highly engaged global YouTube audience that skyrocketed his monthly views to 500 million within two years. Today, his 250-person team operates out of a staggering 125,000-square-foot studio space, pumping out five hours of scripted content every single week.
Discover the secrets behind their lightning-fast 21-day "script-to-screen" turnkey workflow and how they are currently bypassing traditional AdSense reliance. Dhar reveals how less than 20% of his studio's revenue now comes from YouTube, thanks to groundbreaking distribution deals like a dedicated streaming channel reaching 100 million global households on Samsung TV, and an explosive new partnership with Fox to produce 40 "vertical drama" films for the MyDrama app.
Finally, Dhar pulls back the curtain on how major brands are moving past transactional ad reads to co-create massive cultural moments. He details serving as the NFL's "Chief Kindness Officer" during a Super Bowl activation that generated over 1 billion impressions, orchestrating the world's largest creator bootcamp with Adobe, and why he is actively breaking traditional Hollywood norms by offering 401(k) matching and corporate equity to his actors and employees.
#DharMann #CreatorEconomy #Forbes #VerticalDramas #Hollywood #Entrepreneurs
00:00 Dhar Mann: Digital Storytelling Mogul
01:16 Billions of Views: The Shocking Scale of Dhar Mann Studios
03:18 Turning 30, Completely Broke, and Facing Eviction
07:55 The Napkin Script That Smashed 100 Million Views
12:19 Inside a 125,000-Square-Foot Content Factory
14:39 Scaling Beyond AdSense: Shifting Revenue Away From YouTube
16:43 Exploding the US Market: The $100B Phenomenon of Vertical Dramas
21:34 Partnering With Fox: 40 Films in 18 Months
25:02 Going From Script to Screen in 21 Days
31:48 How a Cheap Classroom Set Accidentally Unlocked YouTube
38:17 Becoming the NFL’s "Chief Kindness Officer" at the Super Bowl
42:06 Partnering with Adobe for the World's Largest Creator Bootcamp
44:45 Betting Big on the Creator Economy: Moving Into a Studio 3X the Size
46:00 Breaking the Hollywood Mold: Actor Equity & 401(k) Matching
47:33 The Ultimate Mindset Shift: Stop Worrying, What If It Works?

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55 min
June 12 Why A Former OnlyFans CEO Is Building The 'HBO Of Social Media'
From launching the first cannabis cafe in West Hollywood to running OnlyFans, Ami Gan is risking it all to build a brand-new 18+ social network!
Welcome back to the Forbes Top Creator Show! This week, host Steven Bertoni sits down with Ami Gan, the former CEO of OnlyFans and the visionary founder behind Vylit.
Ami shares her jaw-dropping professional evolution, detailing what it was really like taking the helm at OnlyFans, scaling a borderless empire to 4 million creators with staggering 50% profit margins, and managing it all from home.Her next disruptive venture, Vylit, has been dubbed the "HBO of social media." Ami breaks down how Vylit fills the massive white space between traditional, heavily censored apps and adult platforms, their strict content boundaries ("freeing the nipple, but not the rest"), their creator-first 80/20 revenue split, and how she raised $2.7 million to get it off the ground with a lean team of her closest friends.
Finally, Ami reveals how Vylit integrates human-trained generative AI tools to eliminate creator burnout without flooding the web with "artificial slop," tells the story behind their viral aerial banner stunt that caught the eye of Alix Earle during Miami's F1 weekend, and shares her ultimate advice for overcoming imposter syndrome by channeling "blind confidence."
#AmiGan #Vylit #OnlyFansCEO #CreatorEconomy #TechStartups #Forbes
00:00 The Business of Influence
01:43 From West Hollywood Cannabis Cafes to OnlyFans HQ
04:13 Joining Tech’s Biggest Disrupter During the Pandemic Boom
07:10 Stepping Up as CEO: Heavy-Duty Lessons in Platform Safety
09:32 Athleisure & Zoom Disguises: The Un-Glamorous Reality of a Tech CEO
14:25 Launching Vylit: The "HBO of Social Media" Explained
18:57 Vylit's 80/20 Creator Split & Human-Trained AI Tools
22:03 Capitalizing on the "Messy Middle" of 18+ Social Media
24:53 The Playbook for Raising $2.7M & Starting a New Network
29:33 Going Viral: The "Free the Nipple" F1 Miami Marketing Stunt
32:39 The Future of AI & Why Humans Will Always Win
40:02 The Cure for Imposter Syndrome: Channeling "Blind Confidence"

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44 min
May 29 How PlaqueBoyMax Became The First Streamer Nominated For A Grammy
How did PlaqueBoyMax go from making a 30-slide PowerPoint presentation to convince his parents to let him pursue streaming, to entertaining 50,000 live viewers a day and producing Grammy-nominated music?Welcome to the Forbes Top Creator Show! This week, host Steven Bertoni sits down with the multi-hyphenate creator, musician, and streamer, PlaqueBoyMax.
Max breaks down his "disruptive" approach to content, blending IRL streaming, comedy, and live music production in ways that haven't been done before. He opens up about the intense reality of entertaining thousands of live viewers, why live streaming creates a community connection that traditional YouTube videos simply cannot replicate, and the mental toll of managing a high-speed live chat for hours on end. Max also discusses how he manages his expanding business team, why he turned down a multi-million dollar gambling sponsorship to protect his younger audience, and how he organically incorporates top brands like Nike and Bose into his streams.
Finally, Max reveals the incredible story behind linking up with Fred again.. and Skepta to produce the track "Victory Lap"—a collaboration born on his stream that made history by earning a Grammy nomination for Best Dance/Electronic Record.

0:00 Meet PlaqueBoyMax
1:30 "Disruption": Blending Streaming, Music, and IRL Content
5:18 Rage Bait, Smashed Tables, and Live Stream Chaos
7:56 The Mental Toll & Psychology of Streaming
11:07 Why Live Streaming Creates Deeper Connections Than YouTube
15:41 The 30-Slide Presentation to Skip College
20:33 Managing the Creator Economy
25:07 Making Music Live on Stream with Top Artists
33:13 Unpacking the $30,000 IRL Streaming Backpack
36:42 Authentic Brand Deals & Turning Down Millions
43:31 Making History: A Grammy Nomination for "Victory Lap"

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50 min
May 27 How The Dogist Built A 12+ Million Follower Brand With Squeaky Toys And Knee Pads
How do you go from getting laid off from a brand strategy job in New York City to photographing 50,000 dogs, hitting the New York Times bestseller list, and doing a "panthoot" with Jane Goodall in Central Park?
Welcome to the Forbes Top Creator Show! This week, host Steven Bertoni sits down with Elias, the street photographer and creator better known as The Dogist.
In this episode, Elias breaks down his 13-year journey of putting on knee pads, carrying squeaky toys, and capturing the joy of dogs in a way no one else had. He shares how his project evolved from a "Sartorialist for dogs" concept into a massive, 7-million-follower media brand that brings joy and profound connection to the internet.
Beyond the photos, Elias talks about the power of writing his New York Times best-selling books, what it's like taking dogs into prisons with the Puppies Behind Bars program, and facilitating a heartwarming meeting between a terminally ill dog named Kygo and the actual DJ Kygo. Finally, Elias shares details on his new "Dogs on YouTube" show featuring celebrities like Bill Murray and Zooey Deschanel, and why fostering in-person community meetups is the future of his brand.

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31 min
May 15 The Satire Account Followed By Billionaires: How The Gstaad Guy Built a Luxury Empire
How does a digital creator transition from the Apple Pay growth team to designing a 25-unit, limited-edition Bentley SUV?
This week on the Forbes Top Creator Show, host Steven Bertoni sits down with the ultimate lifestyle disruptor: The Gstaad Guy. After a 30-second parody video for a friend’s mother went viral on WhatsApp, the creator walked away from a dream role at Apple to build a multimillion-dollar business centered on the archetypes of the ultra-high-net-worth (UHNW) individual.
In this episode, we explore the "reverse intention" of satire. By poking fun at the absurdities of the global elite, Gstaad Guy successfully inverted the traditional marketing funnel, accidentally causing sales for brands like Loro Piana to skyrocket. He shares the disciplined business logic behind his 20-hour production workflow for a single minute of content and reveals why the industry's obsession with "authenticity" is a failing strategy compared to the cultivation of true credibility.
The conversation dives deep into the shifting landscape of 2026 luxury consumption, contrasting the "snobbery" of old European wealth with the hype-driven spending of the American market. From the launch of his jewelry brand, Pubel, to the creation of the "Chalet on Wheels"—a Bentley Bentayga specced to mirror the elegance of a Swiss chalet, the Gstaad Guy explains how fiction and humor can be effective tools for capturing the attention of the world's most exclusive consumers.

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45 min
April 28 How Woody & Kleiny Discovered The 'Formula' For Going Viral
How do you go from juggling soccer balls on Britain's Got Talent to generating 10 billion views a year as a comedy duo?
Welcome to the Forbes Top Creator Show! This week, host Steven Bertoni sits down with Paul "Woody" Wood, one half of the legendary UK creator duo, Woody & Kleiny, recorded live from the World Government Summit in Dubai.
In this episode, Woody breaks down their 13-year journey from the early days of Instagram to building an audience of 50 million followers. He shares the brutal reality of their come-up—working day jobs and filming until 1 AM for five years before making a single penny. He also reveals why they turned down their first lucrative brand deals to strategically pivot away from sports content and into mainstream comedy.
Expect a masterclass in virality as Woody explains their "T.H.I.S. A.E." framework (Trends, Humor, Inspiration, Surprise, Adventure, Emotion) and how they use the "Disney Effect" to craft compelling narratives in short-form video. Finally, Woody gives a behind-the-scenes look at their content house, their high-volume production schedule, and their upcoming 140-lesson social media course.

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34 min
April 22 How A Stand-Up Comedian Became The Millennial Finance Expert | Mrs. Dow Jones
How do you go from stand-up comedy and nannying on the Upper East Side to becoming a millionaire "finfluencer" and author?
Welcome to the Forbes Top Creator Show! This week, host Steven Bertoni sits down with Haley Sacks, the financial expert and media mogul better known as Mrs. Dow Jones.
In this episode, Haley shares her hilarious origin story, including her pivot from a film and comedy background to pitching a "Finance is Cool" segment to CNBC. She opens up about the wakeup call she had while working for SNL creator Lorne Michaels, realizing she knew nothing about 401(k)s or health insurance, and how getting laid off pushed her to build her own brand.
Haley breaks down how she makes investing aspirational—turning a Roth IRA into the ultimate "flex" instead of a Birkin bag. She also dives into the business of being a "finfluencer," her strategy behind using a viral Blue Ivy moment to teach custodial IRAs, and the real reason her generation is facing "financial nihilism." Finally, Haley shares the inspiration behind her new book, Future Rich Person, her top three finance book recommendations, and the biggest financial mistake of her life.

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36 min
April 20 Why Claire Holt Left Hollywood For A Community Of 13 Million
How does a star of global hits like The Vampire Diaries and H2O: Just Add Water transition from playing iconic supernatural characters to becoming a full-time creator with a social media following built on vulnerability and authenticity?
On this episode of the Forbes Top Creator Show, host Steven Bertoni sits down with actress turned entrepreneur Claire Holt to deconstruct her "reverse trajectory": moving from the rigid schedules of traditional Hollywood to reclaiming autonomy as a powerhouse digital creator. Claire opens up about the terrifying but life-changing decision to stop hiding behind the characters she played and share her personal experiences online, and how a post with 40,000+ comments fundamentally shifted her relationship with her audience, transforming 13 million casual fans into a deeply connected community that acts as the primary engine for her business.
Beyond content creation, Claire reveals the mechanics behind her new fashion brand, Saint Sirène, co-founded with Madeline Simmer. She explains why she refused outside capital to solve the elusive "perfect white tee" problem, and how she manages a high-velocity schedule that often starts with a 3:30 AM run.
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0:19 From Australian Mermaid to Hollywood
3:19 The Power of Supernatural Fandoms
6:19 Using Twitter to Book Acting Gigs
11:43 Quitting Hollywood for Motherhood & Freedom
13:28 The Reality of Being Completely Exposed Online
22:49 The Post That Changed Everything
25:19 The 3:30 AM Routine & AI Scheduling
31:47 Crowdsourcing the Perfect White T-Shirt
38:38 Bootstrapping Saint Sirène
40:47 Why Creators Are the New Hollywood
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45 min

About Forbes Top Creators Show

From the publisher's feed

The Forbes Top Creators Show, hosted by Steve Bertoni, brings you unrivaled access behind the brands and businesses of the internet's most watched (and highest earning) creators. Each episode uncovers…