When Ronit Cohn left her executive position at Interscope Records in 2011 to manage YouTube creators, her entertainment industry colleagues thought she’d lost her mind. The entertainment executive who led award-winning work with some of the biggest names in the business was abandoning a ‘fancy’ traditional entertainment career to represent people making videos in their bedrooms.

“Everyone in the entertainment business thought I was crazy,” Ronit recalls, speaking ahead of her panel appearance at VidCon 2025 in Anaheim on June 19-21, 2025. “Managing creators was a very new thing back then.”

Fourteen years later, with the creator economy valued at over $250 billion and her Cohn Talent Group representing some of the industry’s biggest names, that “crazy” decision looks prescient. But Ronit’s journey from music executive to creator economy professional reveals deeper insights about building sustainable digital businesses—and why most creators flame out after just two years.

The Fandom Factor: What Traditional Entertainment Missed

Working with global superstars at Interscope, Ronit had a front-row seat to traditional celebrity culture. She negotiated brand partnerships and endorsement deals worth millions of dollars. But something was missing: genuine connection.

“The instant feedback with the fans and the comments, as well as the community and the conversations that were happening around the content, went so much deeper than what I saw with traditional celebrity talent,” she explains. 

Where major label artists had distant admirers, YouTube creators had communities.

This observation became the foundation of her management philosophy. While other managers focused on view counts and subscriber numbers—metrics that had no established valuation in 2011—Ronit zeroed in on engagement. “CMOs thought I was nuts for suggesting they PAY to put their products in YouTube videos,” she recalls in jest.

But she persisted, believing in the value of “intense and very intimate relationships” between creators and their audiences.

The Two-Year Cliff: Why Creator Careers Crash

Perhaps the most sobering revelation from Ronit’s experience is what she calls the “shelf life” problem. Once creators hit their peak—when brands start calling and money flows freely—they typically have just two to three years before plateauing.

“I know many creators who became multimillionaires and were at the top of their game and didn’t understand the importance of building a brand or building a community,” Ronit warns. “One day they wake up and then it hits, but at that point it’s already kind of too late.”

The solution, she argues, isn’t more content or chasing trends. It’s the not-so-glam work of brand building that most creators skip. Her agency’s comprehensive approach covers eight pillars: personal brand strategy, career guidance, content strategy, multi-platform growth, fan engagement, business development, brand partnerships, and strategic partnerships.

“Without a brand, then what are you? You’re just making videos,” she states bluntly. “And guess what? Everyone makes videos.”

The Karen Moment: How Pop Culture Fuels Viral Success

Ronit’s strategic mind never stops working. She admits to jotting down ideas “first thing when I wake up or if I’m going for a walk or at night when I’m trying to go to sleep.” This constant ideation paid off during the pandemic when she spotted an opportunity for one of her special effects makeup artist clients.

“There was a lot of talk of Karens,” she recalls. After creating mood boards and researching the cultural phenomenon, she suggested her client transform into the archetypal ‘Karen’. The result: 50 million views, merchandising opportunities, and a Part Two that capitalized on a moment “where there were a lot of people, a lot of controversy over masks and vaccines, finding a commonality that people could unite around.”

It’s this blend of cultural awareness and strategic thinking that separates sustainable creator businesses from flash-in-the-pan viral moments.

The Fear Factor: Why Creators Won’t Scale

At VidCon, Ronit will share insights based on her years of experience in a panel on “Creator CEO: How to Build a Team.” 

Ronit sees the biggest obstacle to creator success as the fear of becoming a CEO. Most successful creators are in their twenties, have never worked in traditional office settings, and often lack formal management training. The result? Paralysis when it’s time to hire and scale.

“One thing that I encounter is a fear of failure among creators and a hesitation to make those hires,” she explains. Many resort to hiring friends, avoiding tough decisions, and especially dreading the prospect of firing underperformers. “I think that’s a big one—they don’t want to be the bad guy.”

Her advice echoes Silicon Valley wisdom but with creator economy context: hire strategically, fire quickly, and recognize that building a team requires skills that “you don’t acquire overnight.”

Mental Health: The Hidden Crisis

Behind the glamorous brand deals and millions of followers lies a mental health crisis that Ronit addresses head-on. Several of her clients have taken breaks lasting up to a year, sometimes walking away from freshly negotiated ambassador deals with major brands.

“Your health and your well-being come first,” she tells clients upfront. When creators feel overwhelmed by the success she helps generate, she gives them explicit permission to prioritize their mental health over contractual obligations. Remarkably, brands have been supportive—even when creators back out of six-figure deals at the last minute.

“This is your life, it’s not about how many deals we can cram in right now or how fast or how many views that we can do,” she counsels. “We want longevity.”

The Brand-Creator Divide: A Relationship in Need of Repair

Despite progress, Ronit sees missed opportunities in brand-creator relationships. Too often, partnerships focus solely on brand KPIs rather than mutual benefit. She envisions a future where brands invest in creators’ passion projects—funding documentaries or professional production for content that serves the goals of both parties.

“Anytime a brand shows that they’re immersing themselves in the creator’s community, the fans really applaud it and embrace it,” she notes, contrasting this with the “uninspiring” traditional mix of event appearances and content deliverables.

Yet progress remains fragile. Each time a creator controversy damages a brand, “every individual setback that occurs then takes the whole industry back a few steps because then the brands would not be willing to take the same risk again if it backfired before.”

The Platform Paradox: Why Newer Isn’t Better

While big business and big tech push the next big platform, Ronit advocates patience. Her contrarian view: established creators should focus on nurturing existing audiences rather than chasing every new app.

“You don’t need to be the early adopter for something new,” she advises, noting how many platforms “crash and burn” while Meta, TikTok, and YouTube maintain dominance. “It’s an opportunity cost, but it’s a distraction and it can be a waste of our very limited resources to experiment.”

The 14-Year Lesson

After more than a decade in the creator economy, Ronit has distilled her experience into a simple truth: “Everything changes. Everything is in motion. Everything is fluid. You have to constantly reinvent yourself.”

But what drives her isn’t the business mechanics—it’s the impact. She lights up recounting stories of creators who’ve “changed someone’s life or inspired someone to go in a certain path.” In some cases, she’s heard from fans that creators have literally saved lives.

For an executive who gave up the glamour of working with global superstars to champion bedroom YouTubers, perhaps that’s the ultimate validation. The “crazy” career move that confounded the entertainment establishment didn’t just predict the future—it helped create it.

As the creator economy further develops into an established industry, pioneers like Ronit will continue to write the playbook for sustainable digital careers. Her message to creators is clear: build a brand, nurture your community, prioritize your health, and prepare for constant change.

The alternative? Joining the graveyard of creators who peaked, plateaued, and disappeared—all within Ronit’s two-to-three-year window. In an industry obsessed with overnight success, Ronit’s focusing on something rarer: careers and businesses that last.

Ronit Cohn will speak at VidCon Anaheim on the panel “Creator CEO: How to Build a Team” June 19-21 at the Anaheim Convention Center.