The Creator Spotlight Podcast
Creator Spotlight
Recent Episodes
This week on Creator Spotlight we’re joined by Tomo Chien, the founder and editor of ‘Morning, Trojan’, a newsletter aimed at engaging USC students with local news. He highlights the competitive landscape of student publications, the importance of original reporting, and the strategies used to grow the audience.
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Earn with Google AdSense: https://goo.gle/earnwithadsense
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Tomo Chien
Francis Zierer
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Timestamps
00:00 Introducing Tomo Chien
01:08 Disrupting the local media scene
05:10 The freedom to be controversial
08:57 The one change that brought 10k subscribers
14:30 Finding the stories people want to read
20:02 How long does aggregating content take?
25:02 Tomo’s high school news project
28:55 Why he’s shutting down the newsletter
32:22 Future plans after the newsletter
37:28 Defining creator journalism
Lia Haberman is a social media strategist, creator economy expert and writer behind one of the industries leading newsletters, ICYMI (In Case You Missed It.) Lia breaks down why most creators only last 3–4 years, how to spot real platform trends, where creators should focus in 2026, and how to build a business that survives algorithm shifts.
Read the newsletter: https://www.creatorspotlight.com/profiles
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Lia Haberman
Francis Zierer
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Timestamps
00:00 Introducing Lia Haberman
01:20 The 3 year shelf life of a creator
08:45 Knowing which platforms to invest in
16:21 7 signs of a good platform feature
25:52 The most valuable platforms for creators
34:35 Defining the 7 formats of content
39:24 Why are marketers spending on Instagram?
41:25 Keeping content free vs paid
47:03 Social media trends of 2025
54:27 How to grow online in 2026
This week on Creator Spotlight we’re joined by the co-founder and CEO of beehiiv, Tyler Denk. Following beehiiv’s highly anticipated winter release event, Tyler and Francis discuss the company’s approach to becoming the operating system of the “content economy”.
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Catch up on beehiiv’s Winter Release Event
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Tyler Denk
Francis Zierer
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Timestamps
00:00:00 Introducing Tyler Denk
00:01:45 The next step in the content economy
00:07:20 Scaling past the education gap
00:12:40 Becoming the tool, not the brand
00:16:52 Lowering the barrier to entry for creators
00:21:25 What is the “content economy?”
00:26:29 Building a world class ad network
00:33:48 Growing a newsletter to 120k subscribers
00:46:46 Finding the gap in the content economy infrastructure
00:57:29 Building features for every type of user
01:01:53 Knowing your customer
Nastja Mohren is a content creator, designer, and sewing educator who’s built a community of more than half a million followers across platforms — all around her love of making things by hand. In this episode, she talks with Francis about turning creativity into a business, balancing authenticity with brand deals, and how she built a sustainable creator by diversifying her revenue into seven different streams.
Read the newsletter: https://www.creatorspotlight.com/profiles
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Earn with Google AdSense: https://goo.gle/earnwithadsense
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Follow Nastja
Francis Zierer
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Timstamps
00:00:00 Introducing Nastja Mohren
00:01:37 Going full-time on YouTube
00:06:08 The 7 revenue streams
00:12:14 The art of integrating brand deals
00:22:49 Which platform is most valuable?
00:24:30 The value of a blog in 2025
00:32:27 Why choose Google AdSense?
00:37:31 Building packages for advertisers
00:40:57 Crafting a specific audience
00:52:00 The 80/20 principle of video production
01:00:08 Collaborating with the creator community