Understanding the Creator Economy: A Conversation with Teresa Au

For nearly 20 years, I’ve been passionate about enabling creativity and success in the future generation. So, I thought, what better way to keep us all informed on what matters to young and up-and-coming creators than by starting a spotlight Q&A to learn how we can support them as they pursue their future career goals and aspirations.

I’m thrilled to share a recent conversation I had with Teresa Au, Head of Community Advocacy & Customer Empathy at Adobe. Below Teresa shares knowledge she’s gained from her internal Adobe podcast, Humans of the Creator Economy, such as specific individuals’ passions, unique projects, and tips for young creators. Let’s dive in!

Q: In 2-3 sentences, can you describe your role on Adobe’s community team?

A: I was hired to drive customer empathy and community advocacy. I’ve been primarily focusing on the creator economy since I boomeranged back to Adobe last November. With the launch of Adobe Express, there was a massive opportunity to expand our customer base to non-traditional creatives. I saw us gaining loyalty and trust with those involved in the creator economy by connecting directly with and learning from individuals on a personal level. The voice of our customers is so valuable; we need to continuously listen to it.

Q: What is “Humans of the Creator Economy?” And what was your motivation behind starting the podcast?

A: Our North Star to enable Creativity For All means a lot to me personally. We are indeed capable of enabling and empowering anyone and everyone to create and express themselves whatever, whenever, and wherever… right now! I started the “Humans of the Creator Economy” podcast as part of my strategy to help executives, decision-makers, engineers, and product teams at Adobe to understand with our customer base better. I hoped to show what it’s like to ‘live in creators’ shoes’ by hearing directly from individuals vs reading reports and analyzing data. With the pandemic, customer visits and events limited our ability to engage with them on a regular basis. So I thought, why not bring the customer base directly to us?  My listeners have shared that hearing directly from these individuals about why, what, when, and how they create, the challenges they face on a daily basis, and the joys they find in creating has been super powerful.

Q: What are some key elements that differentiate these creators from others? Are there any interesting or unique projects you’ve learned about from creators you’ve spoken with?

A: There are a few similarities across all the creators I’ve spoken to, but they are all also very unique. Many of the guests are not fueled by content creation alone, they are also eager to share their journey with their community and fellow creators – lessons they’ve learned, things they wish someone told them before embarking on certain projects, how to negotiate and monetize, and more. In some cases, creators told me they look to engage with their social media audience for feedback and direct conversations for their content.

I am constantly in awe of these inspiring individuals who have set out for quite the adventure to do what they love. Many have quit jobs to pursue their creative dreams full-time. Some work full-time and devote all their free time to a side hustle. Money doesn’t seem to be the main driver for these individuals. They are driven by passions and the desire to help others – to make the world a better place. It may sound corny, but their genuine authenticity comes through all of our conversations. A few recent highlights include:

• Tejas Hullur is a devoted young digital creator and business entrepreneur who left college in Indiana, and moved to NYC to focus on creating and advising a new business venture for CATCH’N Ice Cream, a creator-founded company that raised $1.5M in early 2022. He’s been vlogging about his journey and lessons learned online to his 565K followers (and 7.6M Likes!) on TikTok and almost 3K subscribers on his YouTube Channel.
• Jerry Won and Justin Nguyen each have their own media companies and social presence, but teamed up to form Always Be Creating to share their own experiences as creators and observations on the industry. They noticed the industry lacked conversations on the business-side of being a creator.  Jerry and Justin have a regular LinkedIn Audio Event where they discuss opportunities for creators in the space and share practical tips or strategies to grow a creator business, particularly for creators of color. 
• Berna Anat is a first-gen Filipina-American producer, and author, who calls herself a “Financial Hype Woman”. After teaching herself to pay off over $50,000 debt, she's been traveling the world trying to make money less “male, pale, and stale” for young Black Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC) everywhere. Berna just finished her HarperCollins money book for young adults, launching in May 2023.
• Olivia Pedersen completed her MA in Sustainable Design and leveraged her thesis work to launch a new business, Sustaio, during the pandemic. Sustaio’s mission is to make climate-smart living easy and empowering  by providing a credit score for your carbon impact. Olivia shared she’s never been more driven and passionate about leading a company that helps people live their best and most sustainable lives.

Q: Do you have any tips for young creators looking to pursue new career paths based on the insights you’ve gathered?

A: Be authentic. Be bold. Be fearless. Don’t hesitate to try new things and new ways of working. Network! Seek advice! Reach out to people in and out of your network to learn how they’ve been successful. I’m seeing a huge movement of creators who are willing and want to share lessons learned and best practices with their community, especially  on social media.

Thanks for the fabulous insights, Teresa! If you’re interested in connecting with Teresa or learning more, please follow her on Twitter and LinkedIn.

I look forward to continuing to share Q&As with you on what increases creator engagement and success. My hope is that together we can learn a few new ways to help aid future creators with the proper knowledge and tools, so they can be prepared to enter the workforce.