Monica Khan set up the digital division at Strand Entertainment, a Hollywood talent management company, in January with a specific challenge to solve: creators need operational support beyond brand deals to scale their businesses effectively. 

As Partner and Head of Digital, Monica bridges Hollywood and digital talent representation at a time when creators increasingly function as media companies but lack the infrastructure to grow beyond content production.

“They were realizing on their own that their traditional talent could benefit from digital expertise. And they are also excited about bringing additional opportunities that digital talent is not used to getting,” Monica explains. “Brand partnerships are absolutely a big part of it, but we’re here to really disrupt that reputation a lot of digital talent managers have had where it’s just about the brands and they don’t do anything else.”

Monica’s perspective stems from 15 years of working across major creator platforms. Before joining Strand Entertainment, she spent six years at YouTube as a Strategic Partner Manager supporting creators like Veritasium and Dude Perfect, followed by roles at Facebook (Meta) developing monetization tools for communities, and at Spotter as EVP of Creator Experience.

“Given the knowledge and the network that I’ve amassed over the years, what are the things that I could help you with? Is it expanding to a podcast? Is it this new monetization model that no one knows about? Do you want to start a newsletter? Let’s figure that out.”

At Strand Entertainment, this translates to specific service offerings tailored to each creator’s growth stage. For example, with her client Marina Mogilko, Monica provides strategic guidance that extends well beyond securing brand partnerships. “The way she has built a team around her brand, the fact that she brought me on to support her—she is always open to those kinds of things. That’s the mindset and being willing to invest,” Monica explains, pointing to Mogilko as an example of a creator who understands the value of building operational support.

This approach directly addresses what Monica identifies as the primary barrier to creator growth: “Creators become so scared and unwilling to trust others, and then you end up capping yourself,” she observes.

The Pricing Problem: Improving Creator-Brand Relationships

Since launching Strand’s digital division, Monica has identified a specific market inefficiency that creates financial instability for creators: the prevalence of one-off brand partnerships with inconsistent pricing.

“I just didn’t realize how brands are still so one-off oriented,” she reveals. “And it’s also related to how pricing is so all over the place.” Through her work with creators, Monica regularly encounters brands proposing test partnerships at discounted rates without guaranteeing longer-term collaboration. “I hear from brands in those one-off conversations like, ‘Hey, you know, we see this as a test, so maybe you can do a little discount for the test.’ The point is we want to discount for the longer term.”

Monica’s approach at Strand directly challenges this model by pursuing multi-content deals that provide more stable income for creators. “Why would the creator discount the first piece when there’s no guarantee of what will happen afterward? That is the value of the creator,” she emphasizes.

This focus on restructuring brand partnerships stems from Monica’s broader observation about creator revenue instability: “When I talk to some of these creators who have become successful in TikTok and Instagram, they tell me most of our money is coming from brand deals. And I’m like, ‘Okay, the problem with brand deals, as you know, it’s not predictable and it goes up and down, and it’s a real hustle.’”

Monica’s experience at a long-standing fundraising platform, where she’s currently building their creator program as an advisor, further informs this approach. “I’m trying to stand up a tiered creator program, including ambassador partnerships. Ambassador partnerships are for creators who have met or exceeded target performance goals and, as a result, can be longer term,” she explains.

The Bay Area Connection: Building Industry Infrastructure

Monica’s vision for creator support extends beyond individual management to community infrastructure. In October 2024, she co-founded the Bay Area Creator Economy (BACE) to tackle a geographical disconnect she identified in the industry.

“When you take a step back and zoom out, the most creator economy jobs are here. Most creator economy funding is not only doled out by the Bay, it’s received in the Bay,” Monica explains. “The platforms are based here. Many of the executives working at the platforms are based here. There are plenty of creators here.”

Despite this concentration of creator economy resources, Monica observed that industry professionals were constantly traveling to cities like Los Angeles and New York for networking and events. “We’re all flying to L.A. and New York all the time. Why are we not just gathering here in San Francisco?” she recalls thinking.

BACE has quickly grown, with recent events attracting 200+ attendees—primarily founders, CEOs, and creators—and 70% immediately RSVPing for subsequent gatherings. The organization’s biweekly newsletter helps community members feel connected between in-person events.

This community-building work directly complements Monica’s talent management strategy by creating opportunities for her clients as well as the larger creator community to connect with potential partners, investors, and collaborators. “Many of us are working from home. We don’t have that same water cooler or micro-kitchen spot to connect,” Monica notes. “I’m going to the event to connect and reconnect IRL. Not everyone will send timely replies to my LinkedIn DMs, but I know if I see them at the event, they’ll say hello to me.”

For Monica, BACE isn’t just about networking—it’s about creating information exchange vital to creator success. “So many people posted about it on LinkedIn and said things like, ‘I went to the Bay Area Creator Economy event. I met these people. Thank you so much. This was amazing.’”

The Creator as CEO: Changing Mindsets

At the heart of Monica’s management is a key mindset shift she actively promotes among creators: seeing themselves as business leaders rather than merely content producers.

“These creators who are not thinking of themselves as the studio executives that they are, they can be studio executives,” Monica asserts, adding that this perspective differs from her early career when the creator path wasn’t established. She recalls conversations from her time at IGN Entertainment: “I saw these creatives, these gamers that were very young and some of them in college asking me, ‘Should they get a job after college or pursue content creation?’”

Monica observes that the biggest factor separating successful creators from those who stagnate is their willingness to invest in business infrastructure. “It’s the creators who are willing to bet on themselves. It’s the creators who are willing to invest in their content, in whatever business they want to make,” she explains.

Through Strand Entertainment, Monica helps creators overcome their hesitancy to build teams. She notes that creators often struggle with hiring: “Hiring as a creator has been a very difficult job. They go through lots of editors. They go through people who ghost them all the time.”

Monica’s management model addresses this challenge directly by providing experienced operational support without requiring creators to build full teams immediately. “If creators brought in someone like me and other qualified, experienced people to delegate major responsibilities to while still prioritizing what they’re great at, they could go to the next level in a huge way,” she explains.

For many creators, Monica’s guidance on revenue diversification represents their first exposure to a complete business strategy. “Why are you not investing in your long form? Why aren’t you actually building a team around that to make it sustainable? Because not only are you going to get more brand opportunities, you’re going to generate steady income through AdSense,” she tells creators who’ve relied solely on brand partnerships.

Connecting Entertainment Worlds

Monica’s position at Strand Entertainment—bridging traditional and digital talent—reflects her vision for where the creator economy is heading: greater connection with traditional entertainment models.

“I am excited to see how linear and traditional modes of entertainment evolve, how streaming platforms are going to evolve in how they produce or acquire content, and how creator-led production companies will have a bigger role,” Monica says. She points to creators like Steven Bartlett with “Diary of the CEO,” whose media companies are developing independent production capabilities traditionally associated with established studios.

“I think about the way studios work with celebrities, actors, and actresses. How does that mirror what we’re about to see in the creator economy?” Monica explains. “These creators are showing up for viewers and their communities more intentionally and regularly than actors and actresses who appear in movies and TV shows less frequently for audiences where they don’t necessarily have built-in influence. What does that mean in terms of leverage? What does that mean for content development?”

For creator economy professionals working in this field, Monica offers a simple but strong mantra that guides her own career decisions: “Just do it. This attitude has only benefited me in the entrepreneurial world. Only benefited me,” she concludes.