From First Post to Full Time

Content creators on social media make money in a variety of ways. Brand-direct deals, which are generally product or brand endorsements, are the largest sources of income for creators who are trying to generate income. Online, this looks like a person promoting a product or event. The person doing the promoting is called a content creator-a term sometimes used interchangeably with "influencer."

According to Sprout Social, a social media management platform that helps businesses manage their social media presence, 61% of consumers trust recommendations from creators more than they trust brand advertising. On social media, creators offer authenticity, relatability, and niche-area expertise. These characteristics are tenants of the success of Hirsch, Rao, Motta, Beato, and Levanti. Research from Sprout Social also indicates that over half of marketers feel that influencers play a significant role in boosting audience engagement, fostering credibility, and driving revenue growth.

Content creation comes in many forms: podcasts, blogs, and social media channels, as well as Substack and Patreon channels. To be clear, not all of it is about making money. IC's assistant professor of exercise science and athletic training, Tim Reynolds '12, DPT '14, has a wildly popular TikTok channel of mini anatomy and physiology quizzes. Reynolds has leaned into his Gen Z students' rampant use of social media to help them learn-with the quizzes he records acting as primers for upcoming in-class quizzes and tests. It just so happens that other people on the internet-more than 1 million on TikTok and another 479,000 on Instagram-are learning from his quizzes, too. In another example, IC associate professor of media arts, sciences, and studies Peter Johanns has gained the attention of 1.6 million followers on TikTok, 275,000 subscribers on YouTube, and over 100,000 followers on Instagram with what he calls his "sad and pathetic" Dad persona. To Johanns, his satirical videos provide jokes that he and his audience are both in on. He does it to entertain-nothing more, nothing less.

As social media consumers, we expect the influencers we follow to do what they say they will do-and we love to know them. Motta makes sure he replies to every direct message he gets and has text conversations in the comments of his YouTube videos. He talks about how cool it is to meet these friends in person when he's live streaming at comic conventions. Rao has no problem when a fan strikes up a conversation while she's shopping in Target. Hirsch hosts live events to connect with her fans. The audience engagement builds on the trust.

All of these influencers of IC have capitalized on the hyper-customization offered by the creator economy. They are authentic, smart, and loyal to their audiences-and they love what they do. What more can you ask?

Photos of Amanda Hirsch '10 (from left to right) - Amanda with superstar Kristen Stewart on set of her popular podcast, Not Skinny But Not Fat, Amanda on her IC graduation day, and Amanda in the early days of her podcast.

Photos of Amanda Hirsch '10 (from left to right) - Amanda with superstar Kristen Stewart on set of her popular podcast, Not Skinny But Not Fat, Amanda on her IC graduation day, and Amanda in the early days of her podcast.

When Amanda Hirsch was an integrated marketing communications (IMC) major in the Roy H. Park School of Communications in the early 2000s, her idea of someone who "made it" was David Borneaz '91 as Angel from Buffy the Vampire Slayer fame. Now, as a wildly popular influencer, Hirsch has become a north star among rising students herself. IC finance and journalism double major Elle Wilcox '26 has followed Hirsch on Instagram since long before she came to South Hill. Wilcox interviewed her for this story.

Hirsch's primarily audio-based podcast, Not Skinny But Not Fat , has had over 14 million downloads, and she also has 914,000 followers on Instagram and 42,900 subscribers on YouTube. Hirsch described herself as "a podcast host who has an Instagram account." The content of that podcast is celebrity interviews with A-list stars such as Kim Kardashian, Lena Dunham, Ryan Reynolds, and Kristen Stewart.

Hirsch was drawn to Ithaca's IMC major because it had a little bit of everything-as evidenced by the major's current name: advertising, public relations, and marketing communications. Hirsch's willingness to work hard and believe in herself was clear, even as a student. She had internships in New York City every summer and graduated magna cum laude . She got into copywriting in Ad Lab, which helped her come up with the catchy one-line memes of the early days of Not Skinny But Not Fat . But when she shifted to pop culture and entertainment, she got her break. In 2007, while looking for work in New York City, Hirsch started making videos of her reactions to TV shows. She would post videos of herself with commentary about shows that had already aired. She had a built-in audience: other people who had also watched those shows. At the time, not many others were doing show or movie reactions, so it was a wide-open space. As her audience grew, Hirsch gained the attention of the Bravo television network, which started inviting her to their events and tapings.

Fast-forward to the present and Hirsch is coming up on 10 years of growing her online presence. What's next? She is enjoying being a new mother and just presented her first in-person show to a sold-out audience at Manhattan's Gramercy Theatre. Influencers' live shows offer an opportunity to connect with their followers, in real time. Hirsch's direction is a constant evolution, balancing what her audience responds to with her partners' interests during casual conversation about the more real aspects of everyday life-whether she's talking to Kelly Rippa about plastic surgery, Lena Dunham about why she left New York City, or Kristen Stewart about doing pushups in her movie trailer. Hirsch intends to go with it and grow with it, wherever it may take her.

Her advice for anyone going into content creation? "You cannot fake it. It has to come from a place you are passionate about. If you have a passion and you want to put it out there, especially if it's something no one else does, then do it."

Photos of Taylor Rao '15 (top to bottom) - post from Two Buttons Deep instagram page, on stage at her sold out live show, on the streets of New York shortly after graduating from IC.

When Taylor Rao started our Zoom interview for ICView from her kitchen, she said that her new baby boy might make an appearance if he woke from his nap. This kind of real-life transparency and approachability is the hallmark of Rao's successful online personality.

Rao is co-owner of Two Buttons Deep, a multimedia company with a network of brands. The content of her channels is the lifestyle and culture of the capital region of New York State, where Rao is from and lives. The brand network's presence spans Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and TikTok, with over 500,000 followers getting 6 million unique impressions a month and an impressive 5% monthly growth.

For Rao, this is a long game. Her company has been very intentionally created. Just after graduating, Rao took her newly minted IMC degree and made a beeline for New York City, landing herself a full-time job in the merchandizing department at the Macy's Corporation. She soon realized corporate America wasn't for her and returned home to New York's capital region, working several jobs, including at an ad agency and a bridal store, while starting and growing Two Buttons Deep.

In 2019, she started her second channel called theButtonista, which is more female and lifestyle focused, with Rao being front and center on that content. Her followers have grown with Rao since she was in her early 20s-from selling out booze cruises to meet her followers and buying houses to becoming a mom-there is a relatability that works. From her perspective, "We are just the most average people living our lives in upstate New York." She has a podcast, The Buttonista Show, and recently sold out a 300-person live show.

By 2021, Rao began working for Two Buttons Deep exclusively. She credits her business's success to the savvy to recognize space in the market: "There weren't a lot of people doing social media content creation in upstate New York. Quickly, we were outperforming broadcast media and corporations because we could be cheeky and real."

She and her business partner also own what they call "around" accounts-Around Albany, Around Saratoga , etc. -where the two would post interesting content about a location.

In 2024, Rao moved the business to its own office space and hired a full-time employee to produce the "around" accounts. Her partners are businesses and brands that want to be known to her loyal and growing audience demographic of local 25- to 44-year-olds.

Rao's sights are set on expanding the "around" accounts to other cities that have a need in the market and ultimately to be bought by a larger entity.

Her advice for those aspiring content creators? "It's a long game. You have to let go of the fear of putting something out there that's not going to go viral overnight. Have consistency even when you are doing it as a side hustle or hobby. Once you grow a following, they expect you to show up in some way, every day."

Photos of Danny Motta '21 (from left to right) - Danny Motta on his YouTube page, staging for filming in the early days of Danny's content production, Danny being his trademark silly self.

Photos of Danny Motta '21 (from left to right) - Danny Motta on his YouTube page, staging for filming in the early days of Danny's content production, Danny being his trademark silly self.

Danny Motta hasn't had a "real" job since graduating. His last job was at Ithaca Bakery while he was a student at IC.

Growing up, Motta had a voracious love of anime. He wanted to talk about it and react to it and watch it with friends, but his friends weren't as into it. That interest eventually led Motta to create his own community of anime fans-one that now has millions of members.

For the last four years, Motta has been making what he called "silly YouTube videos, reacting to different cartoons and pop culture shows." His YouTube channel has 1.3 million subscribers, and his Instagram has 493,000 followers. With his TikTok carrying a whopping 2.3 million followers, he is so popular that one of his followers created a Danny Motta fan page that is "a collection of interesting moments of Danny Motta."

Motta is clearly a member of Gen Z. He has wanted to be a YouTuber and make films since he was 13. He started his college career at Sacred Heart University, studying English. But after a year, he decided it was time to make his dream a reality: He researched the best film schools in the country and saw that IC was on the top of the lists. He applied, was accepted, and transferred to IC as a cinema and photography major. Jason Harrington, associate professor of media arts, sciences, and studies, was his most influential professor. Motta said, "He was so encouraging of creativity and just having fun with what you are doing." Under that direction, Motta's creativity soared. "Ithaca allows for a lot of freedom, and the film culture is very strong," Motta said. "Just having access to the Park Portable Equipment Center (PPECS) encourages you to shoot stuff on your own. Then you find a friend group and you are constantly working on each other's stuff."

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Motta had already recorded several sketch comedy videos. TikTok was becoming wildly popular, so he decided to upload one of his videos to the platform and-it went viral. Motta didn't expect that to happen, but he leaned into what he learned in his Introduction to Animation class, which he said was to "always just do the thing," so he kept doing it and uploaded more. By the time he graduated from IC, Motta had enough of a following of dedicated subscribers and followers to keep it going.

His advice for aspiring content creators? "You just have to do it. Anyone can be successful at it. A lot of people get stopped at the idea phase. The barrier to entry is just a phone.

Pictures of Rick Beato '84 (from top to bottom): Rick in 1987 while at IC, his trademark shot from the Everything Music studio, Rick's interview with Aerosmith's Joe Perry and Brad Whitford.

As I talked to Rick Beato, he was in his car pulling into Grammy Award winner and country star Brad Paisley's driveway. Beato is sought out by stars such as Paisley, Sting, Jerry Cantrell, and Brian May to be interviewed on his YouTube channel, Everything Music. "Everything I learned at IC, I use in my career all the time," he said. From the time he was a student on South Hill to when he stopped teaching in 1992, Beato said he learned everything he knows about music.

Beato attended IC as an undergraduate. And, after earning a graduate degree at the New England Conservatory of Music, he returned to IC's campus and taught guitar, from 1990 to 1992, before launching into sound engineering and producing for rock and country stars.

What started his YouTube fame? Beato recorded a video of his then-eight-year-old son demonstrating his "oddly perfect pitch" and posted it for a friend on Facebook. It got millions of views. About six months later, a friend suggested he start recording his guitar lessons for YouTube. At the time, he was a music producer working with rock bands and country artists-something he had been doing full time since 1999. He listened to his friend, and at night, after his recording sessions, he would make videos. He posted almost every day, getting about 100 views per video. After two months, a video got 5,000 views, which brought him 5,000 subscribers. Within a year, he had 100,000 subscribers, and then the videos grew exponentially. Six months later he hit 200,000 subscribers, and three months after that, he had 300,000. Like Motta, he was just using his cell phone camera, recognizing opportunity, and seizing it.

Beato has been doing this full time for nine years now, and his content offers commentary on music like his series, What Makes This Song Great? He teaches guitar lessons and interviews the most creative and well-known musicians in the industry. His YouTube channel has 5.9 million subscribers, with another 1.3 million followers on Instagram. Asked what led to his success, Beato reflected the same thing we heard from others: He makes videos on the things he's interested in and guesses there are other people who are interested in those things as well. He doesn't consider himself an influencer. He considers himself a YouTuber who makes content about teaching music and making music commentary.

His advice? "You have to have a lot of knowledge to be successful and be a great storyteller."

Photos of Louis Levanti (left to right): Louis at Taughannock Falls during his undergrad, on the red carpet for the Sonic The Hedgehog 3 premiere, teaching a master class, and on the red carpet at the Bravo Fan Fest.

Photos of Louis Levanti (left to right): Louis at Taughannock Falls during his undergrad, on the red carpet for the Sonic The Hedgehog 3 premiere, teaching a master class, and on the red carpet at the Bravo Fan Fest.

Louis Levanti loves everything related to pop culture. He is a red-carpet host, pop-culture aficionado, and entertainment correspondent. He is your brutally honest internet best friend.

While he was a television-radio major at IC, Levanti took advantage of internships. As a production intern at Live! with Kelly and Ryan, he realized what he likes (social media and pitching content ideas to the digital team) and doesn't like (lighting, switch control, and tech). While interning at Good Morning America and later in his first job out of college at Viacom (now Paramount), he realized he wanted to be the talent. He started creating TikTok videos, and teams around the office noticed him gaining traction with those videos, so they asked him to appear as talent for MTV's 2019 TikTok coverage of the Europe Music Awards .

In 2020, while the entertainment industry was slow due to the pandemic, Levanti created more TikTok videos-one of which was a celebrity roast that got over 5 million views overnight. That was, as he puts it, the "match in the fire." He has now amassed 282,000 followers on Instagram, 2.4 million on TikTok, and over 980,000 on YouTube.

Levanti has developed the reputation of being the trusted source for anything that is happening in pop culture and achieved this status by posting content across platforms. You can hear the lessons of Levanti's IMC minor when he talks about his content pillars: pop culture, games with his boyfriend, and celebrity interviews.

His formula of authenticity plus his business acumen has brought partnerships with global names. He was sent by US Airlines to cover World Pride and Mardi Gras in Australia. The Barbie Movie partnered with Levanti to talk about the premiere from the red carpet on his channels while he was at the world premiere in Los Angeles with the cast. He also attended Coachella as an influencer in partnership with Absolut Vodka, Coca-Cola, and Takis in back-to-back years.

These pillars diversify his output, making him appealing to the brands he works with. He employs two managers and a coordinator and is excited to expand his platforms and brand further. He is also considering hiring a publicist. His advice? "It's authenticity that gets you the farthest-and you have to get past what people think of you. Once you are comfortable showing up for yourself, you will have success."

When Levanti was a student and first auditioned for ICTV's Entertainment 16/E 16 show-the student-run station's pop-culture program at the time-he recalled being so nervous that his legs shook. Now, he interviews celebrities like Kesha for Spotify and Lindsey Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis for the Freakier Friday movie premiere. Because he was able to do it on the small screen at IC, he said he knew he could do it in much bigger capacities. Like Motta, he learned not to take the work too seriously and has still managed to be part of the cultural moments he has loved his whole life.

The Creator Economy is waiting for you. Your individual story, your voice, your smarts and interests are available to be pursued and developed at IC. Apply Now.