Influence Weekly

Join us as we dive deeper into the latest trends, insights, and stories from the world of influencer marketing and the creator economy. Our podcast brings you exclusive interviews with industry leaders, in-depth analysis of key topics, and a behind-the-scenes look at the stories that matter most to our community.

Influence Weekly is a business podcast hosted by Unknown Host, with 87 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Unknown Host hosts Influence Weekly, a business show with 87 episodes published.

Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.

• 

  Episode #35

  Tinashe Chaponda (Sosani) - Stop Making the Creator the Hero: A Talent Agency Founder's Hype Check

  Aug 13, 202651 minS1

  Follower count isn't dead. Brands are just using their biggest names wrong. Everyone in the creator economy has decided mega-influencers and celebrities are washed up — that follower count doesn't matter anymore. Tinashe Chaponda, founder of Sosani, says that's exactly backwards. In this episode, he breaks down why big names still move the needle, and why the real problem is brands don't know how to work with them. Tinashe pulls back the curtain on how top talent agencies actually negotiate celebrity rates, why "whitelisting" content is the difference between an organic post and a real sales driver, and why the industry's obsession with long-term creator partnerships might be doing more harm than good. In this episode: Why celebrities and mega-creators are catching up to (and sometimes beating) digital-native influencers The real difference between top-of-funnel and bottom-of-funnel creators — and why brands mix them up How to negotiate a celebrity rate down from $300K to $100K The difference between renting a post and buying into a creator's business Behind-the-scenes: how Sosani landed David Beckham, Alicia Keys, and Stephen A. Smith for a campaign without paying talent fees Why Tinashe thinks the industry needs to stop making the creator the hero — and start talking honestly about the brand's role Timestamps: 00:00 – Intro: Is follower count really dead? 01:19 – Why celebrities are catching up to digital creators 04:59 – What changed Tinashe's mind on celebrity partnerships 08:23 – Top-of-funnel vs. bottom-of-funnel creators 12:40 – What brands should do differently with celebrities vs. everyday creators 20:26 – Buying a post vs. buying into a creator's business 23:14 – How Sosani got Beckham, Alicia Keys, and Stephen A. Smith for free 45:09 – What Tinashe wants the industry to stop doing Tinashe Chaponda is the founder of Sosani, a talent management and marketing agency working with celebrities, athletes, and creators on brand partnerships. The Big Three by Influence Weekly: 3 Biggest Stories. 1 Essential Conversation.

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  Episode #34

  Creator Economy News: Google Tracks Creators, Lowe's Goes Creator-Built & More (Aug 2026)

  Aug 12, 202613 minS1

  In this August episode, hosts Ceci Carloni and Nii Ahene break down three stories that signal how seriously the broader economy—from tech platforms to universities to major retailers—is now taking the creator economy as infrastructure: Google Gives Creators Search Data for the First Time : Google launched Platform Properties inside Search Console, letting creators see how their social posts perform in Google Search and Discover—no website required. It's the third creator-focused tool Google has shipped this year, and Nii reads it as a strategic move: Google knows it can't be a text-only search engine in an AI world where consumers are going straight to YouTube for answers. The real opportunity isn't just knowing what you rank for today—it's using that data to build content franchises around commercially valuable search terms before other creators catch on. Arizona State Launches a Bachelor's Degree in Content Creation : ASU's Cronkite School of Journalism is offering a full four-year degree in content creation this fall, covering video and podcast production, audience analytics, and personal branding—with a graduation requirement to actually grow a following. The internet made fun of it immediately. Nii's take cuts through the noise: this isn't about minting the next Mr. Beast. It's the creator economy's USC film school moment. The degree is for the editors, the talent managers, the analytics leads, and the short-form specialists that every creator organization needs but has no systematic pipeline to hire from. Lowe's Opens Product Co-Creation to 30,000 Creators : Lowe's Creator Into the Blue program invites creators to pitch product ideas directly to design, sourcing, and merchandising teams—with a real shot at getting on shelves. Applications open September 1, and ideas will be scored on virality potential and impulse-buy price point. Nii sees the promise but wants proof: 30,000 applicants and a contest format feels more like a sweepstakes than a genuine commitment to creator partnership. The model he actually finds compelling is Jordan Howlett's Chief Creator Officer role at Blenders—one creator in the room during executive sessions, shaping product and marketing decisions from the inside. From Google nudging creators toward search-driven content strategies to a university formalizing the creator economy's support workforce to a retailer testing whether co-creation can work at scale—this episode covers the infrastructure moments that matter heading into Q4. The Big Three by Influence Weekly: 3 Biggest Stories. 1 Essential Conversation.

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  Episode #33

  Kaleigh Moore (Context Window): AI Search Is in Its Billboard Phase

  Jul 15, 202630 minS1

  Kaleigh Moore is an independent B2B content strategist and LinkedIn creator who helps SaaS companies improve their visibility in AI-generated answers. She publishes the newsletter Context Window, tracks the intersection of creator economy and AI search, and coined the Source Signal Stack framework to diagnose why brands rank in traditional search but still get ignored by LLMs. Ceci chats with Kaleigh Moore, writer and B2B creator strategist, to hear her perspective on three critical issues: why LLMs treat brand-owned content like a press release and why independent creator voices on LinkedIn, Reddit, and YouTube now carry more citation weight than company blogs or newsletters, how brands should structure long-term B2B creator partnerships to build AI search authority rather than running one-off campaigns that signal a cash grab to both audiences and algorithms, and why AI citation tracking is still in its billboard phase and what benchmarks brands should set now before measurement tools catch up. Tune in for a practitioner's framework on building B2B creator programs designed for AI search visibility. The Big Three by Influence Weekly: 3 Biggest Stories. 1 Essential Conversation.

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  Episode #32

  July 2026 Creator Economy News Recap - CAA's $250M Creator Bet, Ruggable's Data-Driven Playbook & Forbes' Billion-Dollar Creator List

  Jul 7, 202614 minS1

  In this July episode, hosts Ceci Carloni and Nii Ahene break down three stories that capture the creator economy's maturation—from institutional capital entering the space to brands cracking creator performance marketing to Forbes confirming the industry has officially crossed the billion-dollar threshold: 💰 CAA Bets $250M on Creator-Led Media : Creative Artists Agency and Integrated Media Company launched Compound Creative Holdings, a $250 million holding company built to buy, operate, and grow creator-led media businesses—separate from CAA's existing talent representation business covering 300+ creators. This isn't about representing creators; it's about owning their companies. Nii's honest take: the thesis is sound, but the question is whether there are enough scaled creator businesses to justify the investment size, and whether Compound operates more like private equity underwriting cash flows or growth equity helping smaller creator businesses build real product and media distribution revenue. 🛒 Ruggable Turns ShopMy Into a $3M Revenue Machine : Ruggable's CMO Lauren Sherman replaced spreadsheets and DMs with ShopMy, put half a million dollars behind creators, and generated $3 million in revenue in the first month. The secret: treating creator marketing like performance marketing—deploy broadly, let the data surface who's working, then build deeper relationships with the outliers. Food creator Dan Pelosi kept showing up in the data, which led to a full co-branded collection. Nii's read: this is creator marketing 101 in 2026, and the same volume-first strategy is what's working on TikTok Shop too. 🏆 Forbes' Top 50 Creators Cross $1 Billion for the First Time : For the first time in five years of rankings, the top 50 creators collectively earned over $1 billion—up 20% from last year. Mr. Beast leads at $300M, followed by Dhar Mann at $65M and Steven Bartlett at $52M. But the bigger story is what Forbes opens with: the creator economy is no longer trying to break into show business—it is show business. Backrooms and Obsession both beat Hollywood blockbusters at the box office on fractions of their budgets. Nii's biggest misses from the list: Mel Robbins, Joe Rogan, and IShowSpeed—a reminder that any ranking reflects whose lens you're looking through. From institutional capital placing its biggest bet yet on creator businesses to a brand proving performance marketing works with creators at scale to Forbes confirming creators have officially crossed into mainstream entertainment—this episode maps where the money, the data, and the cultural moment are all pointing at the same time. The Big Three by Influence Weekly: 3 Biggest Stories. 1 Essential Conversation.

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  Episode #32

  Leah Chaney (CYLNDR Studios): Every Revision Is a Tax on Creative

  Jun 15, 202620 minS1

  CYLNDR Studios is a Los Angeles-based creative and production studio that operates at the intersection of strategy, design, filmmaking, and influencer marketing. The company serves brands looking to move beyond transactional creator partnerships by embedding creators into the creative process from the brief stage, treating influencer work as a craft discipline rather than a content assembly line. Ceci chats with Leah Chaney, Director of Influencer at CYLNDR Studios, to hear her perspective on three critical issues: why brands lose their most valuable creative asset the moment a brief passes through legal, brand, and accounts teams before a creator ever sees it, what it actually means to embed a creator at the briefing stage versus claiming early involvement while handing them a finished TV campaign to amplify, and why the industry's obsession with scale and output volume is producing stock content that audiences scroll past without sharing. Tune in for a practitioner's case for treating creator work as authorship, not distribution. The Big Three by Influence Weekly: 3 Biggest Stories. 1 Essential Conversation.

  ListenShow Notes

Recent guests on Influence Weekly. Study who booked and why before you pitch.

Based on semantic analysis of episode topics and host coverage, this show is a strong guest fit for executives in:

Industry fit is computed by PitchCentric using vector embeddings of the show's episode catalog.