On a February afternoon at the University of North Carolina, a group of seven students on the diving team sat barefoot on the floor of the college’s muggy natatorium. They were staring expectantly at a petite blond woman in a black sweater perched on a concrete block.
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Vickie Segar was there, with the blessing of the university’s athletic department, to pitch them on turning their TikTok and Instagram accounts into cash cows.
“Let’s talk about the money in the creator economy,” said Ms. Segar, after explaining that she was a graduate of the university who had run a top influencer marketing agency for a dozen years. “Does anybody follow Alix Earle?”
The students said yes, amid several chuckles, because asking a college student that question in 2025 is like asking if a millennial has ever heard of Beyoncé.
How much money, she continued, did they think that Ms. Earle, a TikTok megastar who rose to fame with confessional-style videos about beauty and college life, makes for promoting a brand across several posts on Instagram Stories? “$100,000?” one student guessed. “$70,000,” another tossed out.