Mashable 101: The creators shaping the internet in 2026
By
Crystal Bell
Digital Culture Editor
Crystal Bell is the Culture Editor at Mashable. She oversees the site's coverage of the creator economy, digital spaces, and internet trends, focusing on how young people engage with others and themselves online. She is particularly interested in how social media platforms shape our online and offline identities.
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Credit: Ian Moore/Mashable/Brendan Wixted
Some creators go viral for a moment. Taryn Delanie Smith built an account that people keep coming back to.
Best known for Denise, the "heaven receptionist" who greets the newly dead with a mix of warmth and humor, Smith has created one of the most distinct characters on the internet right now. Across TikTok and Instagram, where she's amassed nearly 3 million followers, the series has taken on a life of its own. Each video adds a new layer to Denise's world, turning a simple premise into something expansive and unexpectedly comforting.
Denise isn't played for big laughs. The humor is subtle, built on timing, repetition, and the gentle absurdity of the setting. But underneath the comedy is something heavier. As Mashable previously reported, Smith's work "pairs grief with a dose of playfulness," creating a space where loss, humor, and curiosity can coexist.
That balance reflects how Smith approaches comedy more broadly. "Sometimes comedy is the only way to talk about something really hard," she told Mashable last year. Her videos often feel like emotional translations, turning big, unwieldy feelings into something viewers can sit with.
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Over the past year, that momentum has translated beyond short-form video. Smith is set to release her first book, Welcome to the Afterlife: A No-Nonsense Tour for Those in Mourning or the Merely Curious with Denise, Heaven's Receptionist, on Oct. 20, 2026. Featuring illustrations by Maria Krasinski, the project expands Denise's world into a longer-form grief guide, taking the tone that made the character resonate and bringing the series to a new format.
Off camera, Smith’s life adds another layer to her appeal. She splits her time between New York and her home upstate, where she lives with her husband, her Great Dane, and a growing family of chickens. That grounded, off-grid reality sits in quiet contrast to the surreal afterlife she's created online.
Yet, in both worlds, Smith is doing the same thing: making the unfamiliar feel warm and lived-in.
From YouTubers and TikTok stars to streamers and podcasters, Mashable talks to creators about how they built their platforms, the gear they swear by, and the trends they see coming next. Read more of our creator coverage or see more of this year’s Mashable 101 to discover the internet's most exciting voices.
Crystal Bell is the Culture Editor at Mashable. She oversees the site's coverage of the creator economy, digital spaces, and internet trends, focusing on how young people engage with others and themselves online. She is particularly interested in how social media platforms shape our online and offline identities.
She was formerly the entertainment director at MTV News, where she helped the brand expand its coverage of extremely online fan culture and K-pop across its platforms. You can find her work in Teen Vogue, PAPER, NYLON, ELLE, Glamour, NME, W, The FADER, and elsewhere on the internet.
She's exceptionally fluent in fandom and will gladly make you a K-pop playlist and/or provide anime recommendations upon request. Crystal lives in New York City with her two black cats, Howl and Sophie.
