Amanda Shendruk is an award-winning visual journalist who's spent 15 years making charts for the Washington Post, Quartz and The Guardian, and now writes the data newsletter Not Ship. Francis asks her to teach him the craft, how she decides what to label, and why she still doesn't trust AI with a chart.

Read the newsletter: https://www.creatorspotlight.com/profiles 

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open.video lets you host your videos on your own domain, under your own brand — so you control the channel, the data, and the direct connection to your viewers. Try it out at https://open.video 

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Amanda Shendruk

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Timestamps 

00:00 Introducing Amanda Shendruk

01:52 Making your graphics legible at a glance

10:18 Universal rules of data visualization

18:10 Finding trustworthy data sources

27:08 Tools for research and data viz

32:24 Good and bad data visualization

37:48 The real world effect of good data journalism

39:55 Starting a newsletter

47:16 The future of Not Ship

Imran Mumtaz is a former Amazon engineer who quit in 2022 and now creates content as Imran the Finance Engineer, with 1.7 million followers built almost entirely on short form. He and Francis get into how long it took to replace his $250,000 salary, his current revenue mix, the tactics that make financial content hold attention, and why he refuses to post every day.

Read the newsletter: https://www.creatorspotlight.com/profiles 

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open.video lets you host your videos on your own domain, under your own brand — so you control the channel, the data, and the direct connection to your viewers. Try it out at https://open.video 

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Imran Mumtaz

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Timestamps

00:00 Introducing Imran The Finance Engineer

01:24 Long form vs short form content creation

07:19 Four revenue streams that make $250k

13:43 The short form video strategy to get millions of followers

19:03 Starting a second channel

26:20 Competition and collaboration in the creator economy

30:05 Making educational content entertaining

34:58 Diversifying revenue streams: course and newsletter

38:52 Advice for starting out as a creator

42:09 Avoiding burnout as a creator

48:19 The future of Imran's business

Zach Williamson runs Culture Crave, Latest in Space and a network of pop culture accounts with millions of followers across X, Bluesky and Instagram, selling attention to movie studios and agencies through CPM deals and bespoke campaigns. In this episode he breaks down how studio brand deals are actually priced and pitched, the economics of the clipping industry, why he's now building a website and newsletter off the back of his socials, and what it really costs to run the business.

Read the newsletter: https://www.creatorspotlight.com/profiles 

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open.video lets you host your videos on your own domain, under your own brand — so you control the channel, the data, and the direct connection to your viewers. Try it out at https://open.video 

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Culture Crave 

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Timestamps 

00:00 Introducing Zach Williamson of Culture Crave

01:00 Growing a social media page to 1M+ followers

03:23 Running a culture and media account that gets clicks

11:01 Diversifying revenue streams beyond CPM deals

15:55 The difference between build on Twitter vs X

23:35 Inside the clipping ecosystem

34:41 The cost running a viral social media page

42:53 Competitive pages and differing styles

52:30 Why a podcast is not worth it

56:24 What's the current meta?

Gigi Robinson is a brand deal expert and consultant who runs Host of Influence, a professional development platform for creators who want to build real businesses. Gigi is on track to double her annual revenue of $200,000 to $400,000 in 2026.She breaks down how she prices brand deals, why usage rights and paid boosting became her biggest revenue lever, and what every creators first hires should be.

Read the newsletter

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open.video lets you host your videos on your own domain, under your own brand — so you control the channel, the data, and the direct connection to your viewers. Try it out at https://open.video 

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Gigi Robinson

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Timestamps

00:00 Introducing Gigi Robinson

01:11 Doubling yearly revenue to $400k

04:56 Working with the biggest brands online

08:25 How usage rights can make you more money

14:36 Packaging yourself to attract brands

19:17 How to land speaking gigs

27:49 Helping others make a living through content

36:40 Building a team as a creator

42:55 Big bets for the future

Dan Oshinsky is the founder of Inbox Collective, an email consultancy he launched in 2019 after building newsletter programs at BuzzFeed and The New Yorker. In this episode, he explains how AI is about to reshape the inbox, traces the eras of the newsletter industry from traffic driver to standalone product, and breaks down what's changing in newsletter growth, monetization, and reader loyalty.

Read the newsletter

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open.video lets you host your videos on your own domain, under your own brand — so you control the channel, the data, and the direct connection to your viewers. Try it out at https://open.video 

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Dan Oshinsky

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Timestamps

00:00 Introducing Dan Oshinsky

00:45 How AI is changing the inbox

08:05 Standing out amongst millions of newsletters

11:24 Entering a new chapter of email

15:30 The demographics are changing

21:38 The toughest part of growing a newsletter

35:55 Monetization in 2026

41:55 Building the world's best newsletter information resource

57:15 Overrated and underrated newsletter trends and metrics

In this episode of Creator Spotlight Francis is joined by three of the founders of Center Consoles Only, a media business built around the boating industry. After ten years of building a strong, trustworthy reputation in the space, they have received a $2.5M investment from Slow Ventures. In this episode we hear the story of how a $7,000 Instagram page purchase became a multi-million dollar brand, how creating content creates opportunities, and what a $2.5M investment means for the future of building an industry defining platform and brand.

Read the newsletter

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open.video lets you host your videos on your own domain, under your own brand — so you control the channel, the data, and the direct connection to your viewers. Try it out at https://open.video 

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Center Consoles Only

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Timestamps 

00:00 Introducing Center Consoles Only

06:15 Betting on the vision

09:35 Refining the content

15:53 Creating content creates opportunities

23:57 Building a business

34:31 The $2.5M investment

43:45 The vision

Seamus Hughes is the terrorism scholar and two-time Pulitzer-winning New York Times contributor behind Court Watch, an independent newsletter that mines the federal court system's 94 districts for stories no one else is covering. Francis talks with him about building a fiercely loyal 10,000-subscriber audience without ads or partisanship, the tactics he uses to find stories inside a deliberately broken records system, and why he trains 1,000+ of his own competitors every year.

Read the newsletter: https://www.creatorspotlight.com/profiles 

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open.video lets you host your videos on your own domain, under your own brand — so you control the channel, the data, and the direct connection to your viewers. Try it out at https://open.video

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Seamus Hughes

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Timestamps

00:00 Introducing Seamus Hughes

00:52 Intentionally making less money

06:55 The creator ecosystem falls apart without him

11:00 Growth to 10k subscribers

13:57 Over 500 paying subscribers

16:20 Why this costs $100k to run

31:06 Finding stories within the outdated legal system

38:49 The value of a collective or community

43:02 Why he only sleeps 4 hours a night

45:47 Why he doesn't sell ads

Jenn Lueke is a short form content creator, author and newsletter publisher that focuses on providing actionable and attainable healthy recipes, meal plans, and more to her followers. In this episode Jenn reveals how she grew her audience to 3M total followers and built a seven figure business from five key revenue sources.

Read the newsletter: https://www.creatorspotlight.com/profiles 

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open.video lets you host your videos on your own domain, under your own brand — so you control the channel, the data, and the direct connection to your viewers. Try it out at https://open.video 

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Jenn Lueke 

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Timestamps

00:00 Introducing Jenn Lueke (JennEatsGood)

00:42 The journey to 3M followers

07:20 5 revenue streams that make $1M+ business

11:22 Brand deals are changing

15:31 $670k a year with paid subscriptions

21:49 Building a team as a content creator

30:26 The reality of publishing a cookbook

39:16 Building a content calendar and maintaining structure

45:58 How a professional background helps being a creator

49:50 Gaining experience working for a creator

53:01 The value of finding your community

Kyle Poyar is the founder and writer of the newsletter Growth Unhinged, which has over 85,000 subscribers. He’s been running the newsletter for nearly 5 years, full time for 1.5 years, and is on track to break $1.5 million this year as a solopreneur.

Read the newsletter

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open.video lets you host your videos on your own domain, under your own brand — so you control the channel, the data, and the direct connection to your viewers. Try it out at https://open.video 

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Kyle Poyar 

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Timestamps

00:00 Introducing Kyle Poyar

00:47 Making $100k with the his first brand deal

07:45 The 5 revenue streams that make $1.5M

17:30 Making $125k through subscription

22:44 Summiting the LinkedIn cringe mountain

27:51 6 steps to creating great LinkedIn content

39:12 Growing a newsletter to 85k+ subscribers

43:35 The challenges and rewards of solopreneurship

AJ Eckstein is the founder of Creator Match, an agency building creator programs for the world's biggest tech brands and matching brands with B2B creators. In this episode he lays out the full process of a creator brand campaign, how to get a brand deal while getting paid the most for it, and how to build a reputation that brands come back for.

Read the newsletter 

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open.video lets you host your videos on your own domain, under your own brand — so you control the channel, the data, and the direct connection to your viewers. Try it out at https://open.video 

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AJ Eckstein 

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Timestamps

00:00 Introducing AJ Eckstein

00:48 Paying out $10M to creators

05:14 How to get a brand deal in 2026

10:25 What are brands looking for in creators?

17:57 The full process of a creator brand campaign

22:57 Which creators get paid the most?

31:44 Why outbound reach is so important

34:12 From demand to brand — building a reputation