Jaclyn Johnson and Nadya Okamoto at the Cherub dinner, May 21, 2026, Photo Credit: @shanjarnoux

Photo Credit: @shanjarnoux

"Five or six years ago, the idea of creators sitting front row at Fashion Week was laughable," says Jaclyn Johnson, founder of Create & Cultivate and cofounder of Cherub. "Now creators are the front row."

The observation captures a broader shift taking place across business and culture.

For years, creators monetized through sponsorships, affiliate links and brand deals. Today, a new movement is underway: creators are becoming angel investors, advisors, operators, and strategic partners. They are joining cap tables, helping source deals and increasingly being viewed as business assets rather than simply marketing or distribution channels.

Last month, Cherub — a platform connecting founders with investors and helping creators access startup deal flow — offered one of the clearest examples yet when it named founder, investor and creator Nadya Okamoto its Chief Creator Officer.

While Chief Creative Officer has long been an established C-suite role, Chief Creator Officer reflects a new reality in business.

To better understand what the appointment reveals about the future of the creator economy, I spoke with Jaclyn Johnson, Nadya Okamoto, Maggie Sellers Reum, Hannah Bronfman, Les Alfred, and Muna Ikedionwu.

According to Jaclyn Johnson, founder of Create & Cultivate and cofounder of Cherub, the shift has been years in the making.

"I launched my blog in 2006, which feels like 1,000 years ago at this point," says Johnson. “What's interesting is that the business world has finally started taking creators seriously.”

Platforms like ShopMy helped accelerate that evolution by transforming affiliate marketing into a legitimate business model and teaching creators to think beyond one-time campaigns.

Last summer, ShopMy made headlines when creator and entrepreneur Sofia Richie Grainge joined as an investor. She joins a growing group of creator-investors backing the platform, including angel investors like Coco Schiffer and Serena Kerrigan.

The move reflects a broader shift: creators are no longer simply using platforms and promoting brands — they're increasingly taking ownership stakes in the businesses they help grow.

"The first era of the creator economy was paid posts," continues Johnson. "The second era was creators launching brands. The third era — the one we’re in now — is creators saying, 'Maybe I don't need to start a brand. Maybe I just want ownership in the upside.'"

Muna Ikedionwu, startup consultant, strategic advisor and creator of I Have Thoughts..., believes that value is becoming easier to measure.

"Treating influence as a form of capital helps quantify its impact on a business's bottom line," she says. "Social-first influence translates to more efficient distribution, audience trust and real-time first-party customer data."

That idea sits at the heart of Okamoto's new role.

"To me, it means being the bridge between the creator world and the startup world," says Okamoto, cofounder and board member of August, and content creator. "Helping creators understand they have far more to offer than a paid post, and helping startups understand how strategic creators can be as potential investors."

The shift isn't simply about giving creators another revenue stream. It's about bringing them into the business earlier.

"I’ve gotten to know so many founders who have raised capital, only to spend it on creators to build awareness," she says. "Having creators invest directly makes them more invested in the success of the business, and encourages more direct support on their platforms."

"It means I’m not just interested in monetizing the posts that I make," adds Okamoto. "I’m interested in building ownership. The paid post has a shelf life; equity in a company you believe in compounds."

Les Alfred, creator and host of the She’s So Lucky podcast, believes creators are beginning to think differently about what they're building.

"I think we're all realizing that influencing for influencing's sake isn't sustainable," she says. "While getting your audience to buy a product you recommend is great, ultimately you're building other people's businesses more than your own."

"By becoming a founder, operator or investor, creators are able to take the influence they've built and turn it into something that doesn't rely on chasing brand deals."

Today’s most successful creators aren't waiting for opportunities. They're creating them.

"The idea that creators are just waiting for a TikTok to go viral or for a sponsorship to land feels very 2018," says Hannah Bronfman, on-camera personality, influencer, angel investor, and author. “Today's creators are building strategically, optimizing their platforms, and creating opportunities for themselves.”

"Strong community engagement can now translate into seven-figure revenue streams through products, services and owned businesses," she says.

Historically, startups raised money and then hired creators.

Increasingly, they’re inviting creators onto the cap table.

In May, beauty brand 4AM announced a $4 million seed round that included a mix of founders, operators and influential industry voices, reflecting a growing recognition that influence can function as more than a marketing channel: it can become a strategic asset.

"People assume angel investing is only about financial return, but it's also about social capital and access," says Johnson. "For me, investing in female founders gave me access to industries, relationships and information I never would've had otherwise. I get updates from founders. I learn how companies grow. I see what's working behind the scenes. It becomes an education in itself."

"We're not talking about writing $500,000 checks," she says. "Most angel investing starts much smaller. You only need one winner."

"Angel investing has become more social and mainstream," adds Johnson. "Ten years ago, people didn't even know how to access that world. Now creators openly identify as angel investors in their bios, and people like Maggie Sellers Reum have built entire platforms around it."

Maggie Sellers Reum, founder of Hot Smart Rich and an active angel investor, believes influence has become an entirely new form of capital.

"We are watching creators evolve from personalities into investors and equity owners for the first time in a way that is real and measurable," she says. "The traditional gatekeepers of wealth and capital no longer hold the same power they once did."

"I have been saying for almost five years that the math is not mathing," she says. "Women control 85% of consumer spending yet receive 2% of venture dollars."

"Influence, built the right way, is now a seat at the table that nobody can take away."

Johnson sees evidence of the shift everywhere.

"Every single investor told her, 'Get a creator involved in the business, and then I'll invest,'" Johnson says.

For Okamoto, that's where the real opportunity lies.

"I definitely think it depends on the creator, their niche and their influence," she says. "But when it's the right creator paired with the right brand, it can be essential. A creator can simply write a check and then have skin in the game for the company to scale. That's definitely strategic."

The distinction is subtle but significant. A paid partnership is transactional. Ownership creates alignment. When creators have skin in the game, they’re no longer simply promoting a company — they're invested in helping it succeed.

"I don't think creators are the new gatekeepers," says Johnson. "I think they're the new necessity."

"People still underestimate the power and reach of creators," says Johnson. "At the Cherub dinner in NYC last month, I added up everyone's audiences in the room and realized that if everyone posted, roughly 12 million people would see it. There were only about 25 people there. To get that kind of reach, you'd have to be on the Today Show six times."

Yet follower count alone is no longer the primary metric.

"The real value is trust and conversion," says Johnson. "A creator with 150,000 followers and extremely high engagement can be far more valuable than someone with millions of passive followers."

For Ikedionwu, the shift reflects a broader transfer of cultural power.

"Traditional media uses a top-down approach," Ikedionwu adds. “Creators have flipped this entire power dynamic on its head. It’s now a bottom-up system where the audience determines cultural relevance. The creators who can translate their distinct point of view into multiple proprietary verticals will win.”

If the first era of the creator economy was about attention, and the second was about launching brands, the third appears to be about ownership. "Angel" no longer belongs exclusively to the runway. Increasingly, it belongs on the cap table.