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In Today’s Newsletter:
  • The Pheloung twins on starting their own brand

  • Micky Gordon shares her post-grad plans  

  • YouTube says it contributed over $60B to the U.S. GDP

Courtesy of Brigette and Danielle Pheloung

Creators Brigette and Danielle Pheloung break down the business of Phe Phe

CANNES, France — Danielle Pheloung says she’s fine if people call Phe Phe, the fashion and lifestyle brand she runs with her identical twin sister Brigette, “just another influencer brand.”

The twins “look up to” creator-led brands like Parke, Dairy Boy and Daily Drills as inspiration, Danielle said in an interview during the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity last month. Aware of the high expectations for and scrutiny on creators-turned-founders, the sisters are embracing the skeptics and finding their identity as co-founders.

“Our community is very excited, and almost feels like it's their baby in a way, because they love us,” said Brigette, known by her handle Acquired Style. Even criticism of their brand has led to people finding their products. “I found a message from a girl who said, ‘Oh I found your video from a girl saying there was a hole in her shirt, and I went to your website and bought 10 things,’” Danielle said.

The twins are navigating an increasingly common transition in the creator economy: moving from promoting other companies' products to selling their own. Since Phe Phe launched last fall, the twins have folded the brand into their personal content — including a viral bachelorette party that generated an estimated $1.7 million in earned media value for a beauty-brand sponsor — while facing the scrutiny that has followed a wave of influencer-led startups. …

The Takeover: How creators flexed their power this week.
Creator Q+A: Micky Gordon

Photo by Helene Esteves/The Washington Post

Micky Gordon, named last week to the 2026 TIME100 Creators list, built a loyal following of more than 1.2 million TikTok followers through her comedic videos and relatable storytelling and humor. As a recent college graduate, she balanced classes with growing an audience online, and won a Webby award for her role on InStyle’s “The Intern” series, in which she plays one of the company’s content obsessed Gen-Z interns. Weeks after her graduation, I spoke with Gordon in Cannes, where she was part of TikTok’s cohort of creators, about what comes next.

This interview has been edited and condensed.

Dylan Wells: How are you thinking about your various revenue streams and diversification with different platforms and different types of content? 

Micky Gordon: I'm excited to take it to other platforms and I love posting TikToks. I always say I could literally become the president tomorrow and I would still post TikToks. I will always post TikToks because I love — I think it's the easiest, quickest way to connect with people. So I love posting my videos and I always will. I now have opportunities to do acting, which I'm really excited about, and stuff like that. So yeah, I think I think it'll be fun to expand.

The Platforms

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This newsletter is published by Washington Post Creator, a division outside The Washington Post’s newsroom that is focused on the creator economy and content partnerships with independent creators. Learn more about Washington Post Creator.

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