Hello hello! I hope everyone’s Wednesday is doom-free and full of whimsey. If you need more whimsey, this list will do the trick, as it’s unintentionally full of handmade worlds, analog art, and stunning visuals.
Before we get into the new batch of creators, I wanted to share a new service I’m offering that has been one of my favorite projects to date. If you’re currently looking for in-house video creators for your company, I urge you not to skip this intro.
I recently wrapped a talent search project for the Studio at People Inc., but not for influencers. They hired me to help find an in-house full-time creator position for their team after traditional recruiting pipelines kept missing the mark.
This is a massive opportunity in social media and content as the demand for original video content only grows. I see these positions pop up every day on LinkedIn and on job boards, companies seeking in-house video content creators that are social natives, can concept, shoot, edit, produce, understand daily internet culture, be on camera, and somehow also feel original and fresh. These people absolutely exist, but most modern HR software and hiring systems aren’t built to identify them.
Today’s best creators that are also fit (and willing) to be part of a full-time team often don’t have extensive resumes. Their brilliance and talent lies in the years of content they’ve produced themselves, without the constraints of a brief. It’s in their taste, instincts, pacing, and natural storytelling. These qualities are hard to quantify and you need someone with a deep understanding of creators and online culture to spot it.
So we collaborated on their requirements and what they were looking for in the ideal candidate, and I went down the rabbit hole.
I curated a short list of 15 creators, complete with research notes, social links, creative strengths, content themes, and contact info organized into a custom Airtable database for their team. Not only did one of those creators end up getting hired, they were able to utilize all 15 as part of their roster for potential talent down the line.
I’ll let the testimonial from Amy Rio, the Executive Producer of Social for the Studio at People Inc., tell the rest of the story:
“Working with Hannah/MIS Agency made such a huge difference in the process to hire an in house content creator. Based on the quality of creators she pulls for this newsletter I wondered if she might be able to help me find someone who fit the needs I had for this role and she over-delivered. I ultimately hired one of her finds for my team and every day I am more thankful for Hannah's support in being able to find the person I couldn't even fully find the words for. Hiring in house creators is such a new job that traditional HR teams and recruiters don't yet have the knowledge of what skills these roles require, when so much of it is subjective. It's similar to finding the right director for any given video campaign, there's often an ‘X factor’ required and Hannah knows what to look for."
The person they ended up hiring had been applying for jobs for over a year with no luck. Extremely talented powerhouse of a creative, just invisible to the systems designed to find this specific kind of talent. A story we all know too well, especially in this moment in time. It was really fulfilling for me to get the email from Amy that they hired someone and were ecstatic with the results.
If your company is looking for an in-house creator, social producer, editor, or social creative strategist and you’re struggling to find the right person, I’d love to help.
Email me at hannah@misagency.com as I have a few spots open for the summer for these types of projects.
Now on to the list.
The list follows this format, numbered in no particular order: Handle Linked to example post | Category or short description | My two cents
@aaronyooz | Stop Motion/Video | Delightfully unsettling. Aaron is making mind-bending stop motion videos of himself gallivanting about the 1080x1920 space on our feeds. This one linked has 15M+ views. It must take hours and hours of video editing to create these, a human feat I relish in 2026. I want to see a luxury fashion house hire him for an ad spot. Marc Jacobs current direction seems to fit the bill. He recently did a post to promote a clown show and it has over 10M views.
@krutikdoodles | Illustration | Krutik takes ordinary moments captured on video, and overlays vibrant works of art with a mix of digital and analog techniques. He was recently featured on Instagram’s official @design page so I imagine he is on his way to blowing up. His work would be so incredible in tandem with your next product video shoot. I could see it working for an action sports or outdoor brand, but really could be lovely with so many different types of brands and moments, breathing life into motion.
@thedeadhandprogramme | Art (that moves) | I love this artist so much. The hand drawn details, the slightly gothic world-building, feels perfect for a fall collaboration for a brand. He’s currently fighting AI allegations, because of course he is. He’s posting his “proof of reality” (coined by Rachel Karten last year) BTS which shows his time-intensive craft behind his work.
@lexiilandry | Comedy | Lexi will definitely have over 100k followers by the end of the year, if not sooner. She does hilarious interpretive dances of her fiance’s work zoom calls. A welcome comedic reprieve from our collective corporate doom. An energy drink sponsored a video but it fell flat in my opinion. I want a brand to bring her to their office to dance while they have a meeting teasing a new launch for social content.
@soundsofalarie | Music | Alanna and Arielle, aka ALARIE, are two sisters with some absolute pipes! I was served this little ad lib a bit ago when @jacobjeffries kombucha ditty was blowing up and they’ve been on my list since. Obviously there are copyright considerations here, but I think having them ad lib an original little ditty about your product could be a great place to start.
@tecfase | Multimedia Artist | A multimedia artist, Tec is based in Brazil and Argentina, but I’m really drawn to his larger than life “floor” murals. Imagine an experiential stunt, a retail opening, a teaser to a product launch, with one of his murals welcoming guests, getting shared on social, promoting the BTS of creating something like this.
@jhuanhuan_wang | Illustrator | Mesmerizing animation that I could see being the star of your next campaign or short episodic content. The aesthetic is dreamy, surreal, and captivating, the kind of content you watch on loop. Reminds me of some of the artists brands like ffern co, and Burberry are hiring, but this may be more fitting for a brand like Acne Studios.
@champ_magnetique | Graphic Design/Animation | Very drawn to the color palette of this illustrator, creating dreamy feminine landscapes, eye-catching visuals, typography, and large format art. I believe they are based in Europe, but no reason this couldn’t be a remote collaboration especially for graphic design or video for your next social activation.
@paperlene | Paper Flowers | Very niche, but stunning craftsmanship and unique social/BTS visuals. Not to mention ffern again, but this would be an ideal artist to commission for a perfume launch. Imagine she can create paper flowers relating to your next scent. Lavender, jasmine, etc. I could also see her creating a retail installation. So realistic looking without the limited shelf life of real flowers. A window display that makes you double take.
@reindeerspriritstudio | Stop Motion | Loved to see #bloomscrolling in their captions, a nice reprieve from the doom and gloom we typically encounter. I really love this style using natural elements like flower petals and leaves to create stop motion content. I could see this being a very natural fit for a fragrance brand, an outdoor brand, something for Earth Day next year. Creating delicious visuals with nature is a more unique take on stop motion that I’ve seen and could be a stand out collab on your brand’s feed.
Another incredible human feat being documented on the internet in real time that I wanted to include. @YouRowKelsey is the first and youngest American woman to row solo from California to Hawaii. She is currently on day 7 and gaining about 100k new followers every time I check out her page. I don’t think it’s the same as @sailing_with_phoenix where she can get brand packages…but hey brands have done crazier things with their budgets. I’m more just stoked for Kelsey and excited to follow along.
Until next time.
Disclaimers:
PAY CREATORS FAIRLY. Never expect free work, we don’t live in a ‘product for post’ world anymore.
I’m aware of my internet bubble, but I aim to dive outside of it to attempt to plug all different types of creators and walks of life.
I am a 34 year old woman living in the US so most of these recs will definitely fall in the gen z/millennial demographic in the US, but not always.
My creator recs will mostly be on TikTok, Instagram and sometimes YouTube, but there may be other platforms featured.
These are my personal opinions. I am in no way paid, associated or sponsored by anyone in this list including their agencies, unless I explicitly say so.
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