People First is stepping into its next chapter 🎊 The company is now owned by the people who know it best.
Hey from Ryan, Val, and Nicole,
That’s right, the three of us have worked side by side for years, delivering impactful campaigns, experimenting with new formats, and building one of the strongest creator communities in social impact.
And now we’re welcoming more than just new leadership, but an entirely new set of guiding principles:
1. Scaling Our Community
We are doubling down on what made People First special from the start. In 2026 we will scale our industry leading creator database, already more than twenty thousand strong, with more intention around community building.
In the past, People First excelled in creating standalone partnerships and one-off agreements between creators and clients; whereas now we’ve rethought this approach to meet the needs of the social impact space.
Growing our community begins with strengthening our relationships and deepening our engagement. That’s why Val and her team are committed to meeting people where they are. Whether we’re hosting in-person creator meetups, nurturing real-life relationships, or showing up on the platforms where creators actually work—from Substacks and newsletters to podcasts and virtual webinars—our goal is to build a community rooted in genuine collaboration across the entire ecosystem.
2. Adapting Our Model
Clients today need more than a standard influencer campaign. They need strategy, creativity, and flexibility, as well as support in moments where speed and nuance matter. This year we are expanding our offerings to support longer and more complex creator engagements, and we are bringing creators directly to our clients. From expanding our creator panel format as a tool for organizations to gathering rapid insight to virtual creator briefings that help introduce organizations to the right creators at the right moment. This will allow Nicole to cultivate partnerships that work more closely with campaign teams running their recruitment in house, providing creative and organizing support.
A major milestone arrives in Q1 with the launch of our Creator Studio, a rapid response UGC engine designed to turn around high quality creator content in days instead of weeks. Stay tuned for more on this very soon!
3. Shaping the Future of Digital Organizing
We are constantly building new technology to streamline both the creator and client experience. We will launch a new subscription based tool that gives brands and organizations access to our proprietary database of more than twenty thousand social impact creators as well as our broader universe of more than two million creators. Think of it as a Seamless.AI for mission driven creator discovery, built for teams who need precision, scale, and values alignment.
Even more exciting, is our new AI agentic app designed specifically for small businesses and organizations that want to work with creators end-to-end but lack the budget for an expensive creator CRM or a full agency engagement. With an estimated 70% of organizations not currently having the capacity to run creator programs, our new AI agent is built to change that. This product will provide smaller teams the ability to launch, manage, and evaluate creator partnerships with the same sophistication as large brands.
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Our next chapter is about building the company we have always wanted to run, one grounded in technology, creativity, social progress, and a more expansive view of who we serve. The new site, new tools, and new offerings are just the start. More to come in January. 🚀
Have a great holiday season and New Year and let’s talk soon,
Ryan, Partner & CEO
Val, Partner & VP, Influencer
Nicole, Partner & VP, Growth
If you haven’t already, check out peoplefirst.cc (and our rebrand!) for more information or to schedule a call.
PS: Thank you to our longtime partners at Bushwick Digital — Chase, Aman, Jessica, and Marcela — for leading our new website design and development. Give it a look. Thank you, Bushwick!