Creatooooooooors!

Sup peeps, how are all of my favorite people feeling as we fall into spring?!

The trees are starting to sprout and flowers are starting to bloom, and I know I’m getting old because this spring I’m literally starting to look forward to yard work??? I gotta clean up that rose bush and aerate the backyard, and no that’s not a euphemism, you sicko!

Jokes and aging aside, the spring always feels like a reset for me. Lots of introspection, reflection, and future planning happen at this time of year, and I get the chance to look forward to new beginnings and evolutions in my life both in, and outside of work and content creation.

From the puppy coming in two weeks (no, I will not shut up), to CreatorPad evolutions, leaps taken in my creative career, and beyond, this spring points toward exciting new chapters to be explored.

But enough of my sappy diary session, let’s get into the meat of why you’re all here. The latest scoops on the stories Commanding, Shifting, and Creating this incredible creator space!

-Luke (yea, I have an IG now, have at it!)

A Mythical Scholarship by Rhett and Link 🎓️ 

Ok it’s not called the Mythical Scholarship, but that would be kinda sweet.

OG YouTubers, Rhett and Link, who both received engineering degrees from North Carolina State University, have launched a scholarship for third and fourth-year engineering students at the school. This scholarship, supported by their company Mythical, will be giving out a full-ride, two-year scholarship to eligible students. Let’s check out the details below:

• Who’s Up for the Ride: To be eligible for this scholarship, students must “show a commitment to innovation and creativity in engineering, sciences, arts, or entertainment.”

  • I love how fitting this is. Being that Rhett & Link are both creatives at their core as well as classically trained in engineering, it seems that they’re looking to support the students who are currently following in their footsteps. While the duo knows, like most creatives, that getting a degree is a solid fallback plan; creativity is not something that can shy away easily, if at all. Rhett and Link looking to support those creatives who are being pushed toward higher education seem to be exactly what they may have needed during their time at university. What a beautiful cycle of creators supporting creators! 🥹 

• Who Gets It: As of now, only one student will be chosen to receive the scholarship for their junior and senior year, but something tells me that number will grow after they take learnings from their first student who finishes the program.

  • While there’s only one spot for this scholarship, Rhett & Link being the engineers and creatives that they are means that they’ll likely take the first run as a learning experience before rolling this out to even more students. With MrBeast teaching a class at Harvard, Mark Rober giving a commencement speech at MIT, and beyond, it’s incredible to see these massively successful creators turn to those in university to instill the fact that it’s ok to explore your creative side.

• Ok, but Why?: Rhett and Link are looking to start this scholarship in the hopes of supporting students who embody "mythicality”, which is a self-described desire to learn, appreciate originality, and not take themselves too seriously.

  • Again, being that Rhett & Link are engineers with degrees, but had a creative itch that wouldn’t subside; the duo searching for a student who shares the same mentality gets me excited for what’s to come from this opportunity.

While only one student will be eligible for this scholarship as of right now, seeing Rhett & Link continue command the space and pave the way for a new generation of creatives gets me fired up. What do you think the outcome of this scholarship will look like?

The Return of Roy Purdy 🕺 

Even if you don’t remember or recognize the name, you’ll recognize his iconic videos that are peak 2010’s. I get nostalgic just looking at these dudes’ moves.

But Purdy isn’t coming back on the scene with bright clothes or music, he’s back with the same content he started his channel with over a decade ago. Skate edits.

I wanted to cover Purdy’s recent return because of the shift that he’s taking in his creative career by getting back to his roots after being in the viral spotlight for the last ten years.

While Purdy took a turn for music and dance moves accented by his iconic neon outfits, skateboarding was always a constant throughout his uploads.

Garnering tens of millions of views across all of his content consisting of music videos and dance moves accented by his iconic neon outfits, Purdy would constantly lace in skating to his repertoire as well. While his most recent video is his first upload in three years, it’s clear to see that Purdy is taking a bit of a different approach with his content by going back to his roots.

Although the future direction of the channel is unclear, watching a multi-talented creator get back to the content that they truly enjoy gets me fired up to create the content that I love too.

I think there’s something important for creators to take away from Purdy’s experience. While you can adhere to the algo and make content that breaks through the noise, you can also bring your own passions and ideas with you through the algo-pleasing content.

With skating being Purdy’s passion that stands out in his filmography (YouTubeography?), I’m curious to find if any of you readers lace your passions into your content. Let me know how you do this so I can share your tactics with the rest of our community!

The Turning of YouTube Tides feat. Demko💀

Everyone meet Demko!

I had the pleasure of chatting with Demko after finding his video, Everyone is quitting… So let me introduce myself.

Outside of a killer title, Demko’s edits, storytelling, and energy show that he’s planning to take the platform by storm. In this video, Demko transparently shares that this entire process of becoming a YouTuber is going to be a learning experience for him.

From video essays to gaming, vlogging, streaming and beyond, Demko has some big goals that I’m sure he’ll continue to achieve. With over 5k subs at 17 and the attitude of a go-getter and learner, I’m sure Demko will continue to hit his strides.

With Demko’s awesome energy, I took the opportunity to interview him on everything from his current content, his mindset on the creator space, his Discord community, his goals, and beyond. Let’s dive into the interview!

Q: Demko! Let’s start with the basics, tell us a bit about yourself, where are you from, how old are you, how did you get into creating on YouTube?

Watching all of the greats, it’s clear to see the effect that it had on young Demko. With the goal of entertaining thousands of audience members like those who came before him, Demko focusing on a particular goal while also having insight from his favorite creators is perfect fuel for the creator fire.

Q: You recently made a video about iconic YouTubers quitting, tell us why you think this is a good thing for other creators?

This attitude is exactly why I think Demko and his content have the legs to keep running on the platform. As I constantly cover creator news and sentiments from the space, this is the first time that I’ve heard about these OGs leaving being a good thing. But with Demko’s point of view and sentiment, I get excited for the content that is to come from creators like him. Just because people are ending their careers doesn’t mean yours is over too, it just means that a spot has opened up for you.

Q: Tell us a bit about your video Why YouTube is Finally Healing. Why is it healing? What is it healing from? Are you doing anything to add to the healing of the platform?

By paying close attention to trends and learnings from his content journey, Demko is setting himself up for continued success in the YouTube ecosystem. And why keep all of that insight to yourself? Well, Demko would never, and you can join his community to gain creator insights of your own!

Q: You have a pretty great community on Discord, why did you start that up and why is community important to you?

Amen to that sentiment, Demko! Rising tides raise all ships, so let’s bring each other up, together!

Q: What are your goals in 2024 for content creation?

From Demko’s content to his demeanor and willingness to help other creators and beyond, it’s not secret that he will continue to see success. Creators like Demko are always so exciting to discover, not only because of their awesome energy but also because the sentiment towards the space and those in it is so pure.

Definitely go check out Demko’s content and give him a sub and some love in the comments! Thank you again to Demko for the awesome interview! 😄 

Want to collab with Demko? He’s on CreatorPad, and you should be too! Create your page by clicking here, and start collaborating with other creators today! 

🗞️ In Other News

• MoistCr1TiKaL, aka Charlie, aka Penguinz0 popped up on my recommended in the strangest way. Not blasting a video game or giving us some news scoops, but instead, in a bbno$ music video? What am I gonna say, people? COLLABS WORK! I would love to hear how this one came about, but with just under 2M views in less than 24 hours (at the time of writing), it’s safe to say this collab is a success.

• Creator Rewards program is back on TikTok, and honestly this feels like a ditch effort to get more creators on their side before the ban hammer comes a knockin’. What do you readers think?

• YouTube is pumping the breaks on the AI-sphere by launching new tools to help creators call out their “synthetic” content. WOW, I love that YouTube is leading the pack with new terminology for AI content. Synthetic is a killer adjective, shoutout to their press writers hahaha.

🤔 What Are Your Thoughts?

Are we enjoying the longer-form interviews in the Create section?! This issue is my second deep dive interview with a creator on Cmd+Shift+Create, and I’ve personally been really enjoying getting back into the journalist/interviewer seat, but what do you readers think? Let me know by replying to this email with your thoughts! 😎 

🚀 Up Your Career as a Creator

Hope you enjoyed this week’s post. See you next week ✌️