Tomlinson signed a nonexclusive agreement with Ms. Tomlinson needed to do was a sign a contract. Jacob told her she owned an ad agency and could get her a deal with a kombucha brand. “Ari DMed me on Twitter and was like, ‘I’m seeing this image of you going around a lot, have you made any money?’” Ms. Jacob one of the top creator managers, and the company was working with some of the most notable influencers on TikTok, including Addison Easterling and Charli and Dixie D’Amelio. By January of this year, Business Insider had named Influences and Ms. The company’s website names brands like Disney, Coca-Cola and Johnson & Johnson among its clients. More recently, a class of boutique firms has emerged to guide the careers of TikTok’s young stars.Īriadna Jacob founded Influences in 2018, the same year TikTok merged with Musical.ly.
Many formed in step with the influencer economy in the 2010s, signing talent from YouTube and Instagram. There are several established management companies that work with influencers across the social media landscape. Multinational companies now enlist them for campaigns, major Hollywood talent agencies have signed them, and managers are looking to cultivate them. Over the past year, dozens of TikTok stars have had the rare experience of becoming household names - at least in some rooms of the household - overnight. Some have found it many more have learned that getting discovered isn’t so easy.
For decades, young and creative people have come to Los Angeles with visions of fame, fortune and fulfillment.