Sharing musings on the creator economy | Managing creators and helping them scale | Built and sold a newsletter

Brett Dashevsky is a founder, creator, and industry leading voice building at the intersection of tech, creators & culture.

He is the co-founder of Siftsy, the social insights platform analyzing comment sections to uncover the signals that drive culture and commerce. Brands and agencies use Siftsy to understand real audience sentiment, spot emerging trends, and make smarter decisions around campaigns, product direction, and business strategy.

Brett is also the founder of Creator Economy NYC, the country's fastest-growing media and events brand rooted in New York’s creative energy. What began as a small IRL gathering has evolved into a leading hub for creators, marketers, and platforms - hosting panels, mixers, curated dinners, and industry conversations that shape the future of the creator economy.

Previously, Brett served as Head of Content Creators at Kickstarter, where he partnered with top creators and teams to develop high-impact launches and guide them through the crowdfunding process. Before that, he built and sold a creator-led media brand, later leading content and monetization efforts across several creator-driven properties at the acquiring company.

A creator and marketer himself, Brett blends experience, insight, and execution - bringing both practical understanding and strategic clarity to every project he builds.

He regularly speaks at industry events and conferences, including Cannes Lions, SXSW, VidCon, Social Media Week, Observe Summit, and more, where he leads conversations on creator marketing, social insights, and the future of online storytelling.

For inquiries: brett@creatoreconomynyc.com

Brett Dashevsky

Headed to my second conference of the year already 😅

Off to Vegas for Creator Economy Live West, where I’ll be emceeing for the second year in a row!

Feels like every conference decided to happen within the same two-week window, which begs the question: are there any left for the rest of the year?

Also - Siftsy 💬 will have a booth!

We’ve got some genuinely solid hats to hand out. You won’t be able to miss us.

If you’ll be there, excited to connect and catch up on all things comments, communities and creators - come say hey.

See you in Vegas ✌️

(ps - i have a few free tickets to hand out. shoot me a DM if you're available to attend this week!)

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The January event train continues. This time, on home turf. 🗽

Year four of Creator Economy NYC has officially kicked off.

Which I still can’t quite believe I’m typing.

After hosting hundreds of events over the years, one thing that continues to inspire me is seeing how other people bring ideas, conversations, and learning into a room. 

One format I’ve always loved is Lectures on Tap by Felecia Freely - a series where professors step into bars and teach a topic over beers instead of in a classroom.

Typically, our events include a panel or fireside chat. Which are always awesome.

But to kick off year 4, I said f*ck it, let's try something new.

Three mini-talks. Three creators. Three areas they’re deeply passionate about.

Featuring: 

👉 Me: diving into F*ck It, Create It: the mindset of actually starting the thing you keep talking yourself out 

👉 AJ Eckstein 🧩 - on documenting your work and building in public to create momentum and trust

👉 Gabrielle Judge - on turning content creation into a thriving, sustainable business (beyond virality)

This one’s made possible by our amazing partners: Teachable, Adobe Express, The Wishly Group and Siftsy.

Top creators, marketers, and founders, all in the same room.

📍 Jan 28
🕡 6:30pm
📍 NYC

If you want to be part of it, RSVP: https://luma.com/64pwh155

NYC is the capital of the creator economy, and I’m beyond stoked to keep this train moving, and make this year bigger than ever.

If you can create it here, you can create it anywhere.

TikTok lost all of its cultural rizz.  

And here’s the reason why: 

TikTok Shop.

Scroll your feed and you’ll see it:

Entertainment got replaced by product links.

Creators and brands are incentivized towards selling, not creativity.

TikTok stopped competing for culture… and started competing with Amazon.

And now Instagram is becoming the cultural powerhouse.

TikTok is a commerce engine with a side of content.

Great for sales. Terrible for culture.

And that’s the real shift nobody wants to say out loud.

Daniel Murray

Founder @ The Marketing Millennials | Head of Media Strategy @ Workweek | Angel Investor Focused on Marketing/Sales Software | Former D1 Athlete

Hi! I’m Daniel. I’m the creator of The Marketing Millennials and the founder of Authority, a B2B LinkedIn growth agency that creates and distributes content to turn attention into authority for your business.

 
I’m a former D1 athlete. GO BEARCATS. I live in the Miami, FL with my badass wife, Ari, who is arguably a way better marketer than I am. You can say we are a marketing power couple. 

I’ve spent most of my marketing career focused on Marketing Operations (at companies like SnackNation, Oracle, ChowNow, ServiceTitan, and Clearbit). BUT, I have a love for all types of marketing because to be great at Marketing Ops - you need to be well versed in all of marketing. I started The Marketing Millennials as a way to meet other marketers - and I can officially say mission accomplished.

Content Creator

Just launched my marketing newsletter with workweek. Subscribe here: https://bit.ly/3OvHkWs

Just ship it. 

That perfect campaign you’ve been tweaking for 3 weeks?

Ship it.
That newsletter you keep “polishing”?

Hit send.

That social post that’s “almost ready”?

Post it NOW.

Here’s the truth about marketing in 2026:

SPEED beats perfection.

Every. Single. Time.

While you’re perfecting V47 of your email, your competitor shipped V1 and is already learning what works.

The market rewards action.

Not perfection.

Image credit: @datachaz on x

Founder - The Marketing Millennials | Founder @ Authority - Turn attention into authority on LinkedIn | Former D1 Athlete

“So what does a marketer actually DO?”

Everything. The answer is everything.

I’ve seen marketing job descriptions that list 47 different responsibilities.

Social media, email, ads, SEO, content, design, events, analytics, copywriting, video editing, community management, partnerships, and oh yeah can you also help with sales enablement?

It’s gotten RIDICULOUS.

Companies hire 1 marketer and expect them to be a full agency.

New marketers don’t know any better. They think this is normal. They say yes to everything. They burn out in 18 months.

If you’re hiring a marketer, get specific about what you actually need.

If you’re a new marketer, ask in the interview: “Which of these 47 things are you REALLY prioritizing in the first 90 days?”

Marketing is not 1 job. It’s 15 jobs wearing a trench coat.

And if you’re currently that one person doing it all? You’re not failing. The job description is just broken.

This is why every detail and touchpoint matters in marketing.

H/t: Don McMillan

This is TOO accurate.

“Should we run paid ads?”

IT DEPENDS.

“How many emails should I send?”

IT DEPENDS.

“Is LinkedIn or Instagram better?”

IT DEPENDS.

“Should we use video or static creative?”

IT DEPENDS.

Marketers LOVE saying “it depends” because… it actually DOES depend.

On your audience.

On your budget.

On your goals.

On your industry.

On your product.

On your competition.

But here’s the thing:

“It depends” is the RIGHT answer.

Anyone giving you a one-size-fits-all marketing strategy is either lying or selling you something.

Marketing isn’t about copying what worked for someone else.

It’s about figuring out what works for YOUR business.

And yeah… that depends.

You can’t automate what you don’t understand.

I’ve always believed this: You need to do something MANUALLY before you use automation or AI.

Because if you don’t know how it works…

You can’t tell when it’s broken.

You’re just blindly trusting the output.

This is why humans aren’t going anywhere.

If you’re GOOD at your job…

You have TASTE.

You know what good looks like.

You can spot when the AI missed the mark.

You can fix what’s broken.

You can make it BETTER.

AI is a tool.

Not a replacement for expertise.
Learn the fundamentals FIRST.

THEN let AI make you faster.

Being TOO good at your job will backfire on you.

I learned this the hard way.

Early in my career, I was CRUSHING deadlines.

Week-long projects done in 3 days.

Revisions requested at 4pm in their inbox by 6pm.

I thought I was being impressive.

Turns out, I was just training everyone around me that “Daniel delivers in 48 hours” was the new normal.

Fast became the expectation.

And when I couldn’t maintain that pace (because I’m human), people got frustrated. With ME.

That’s when my boss pulled me aside:
“You teach people how to treat you.”

OUCH.

But he was right.

By always saying yes and delivering at lightning speed, I’d set an unsustainable standard. I built my own trap.

- Underpromise and overdeliver isn’t just something people say. It’s actually how you survive long-term without burning out.
- Boundaries aren’t rude. They’re necessary.
- Your emergency isn’t always my emergency.

And a sustainable pace will ALWAYS beat heroic sprints.

The best performers don’t just do great work. 

They do great work at a pace they can maintain for years, not weeks.

Stop training people to expect miracles.

Start training them to expect excellence within reasonable timelines.

Your future self will thank you.

Having employees with strong personal brands in your company is an opportunity. 

Not a threat.

But most companies treat it like a threat.

They panic when employees start posting on LinkedIn. They worry about them getting poached. They think they’ll take clients with them when they leave.

So they discourage it. Or worse, they create “approval processes” for social media that kill any momentum.

Here’s the thing:

If you’re worried about an employee with a strong personal brand, you hired the wrong person.

Good employees with personal brands make your company better.

They attract talent. People want to work at companies where they can grow their reputation.

They bring inbound leads. Someone follows your employee, sees where they work, reaches out.

They build trust faster than your company account ever will. People buy from people, not logos.

They make your brand feel more human. Real faces and voices beat corporate speak every time.

Smart companies don’t just allow personal brands. They encourage them.

They give their team content to share. They celebrate when they post. They understand that rising tides lift all boats.

Stop being scared of your employees building in public.

Start building a company culture where personal brands make everyone stronger.

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The Battle

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Daniel Murray

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Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Brett Dashevsky's LinkedIn Performance

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