FEBRUARY 15, 2022

View in Browser

Welcome to The Tilt, a twice-weekly newsletter for content entrepreneurs. Each edition is packed with the latest news, strategies, and tactics, plus inspiring creator stories and exclusive education, all to help you create, grow, and monetize better.

​

In this issue:

• Full Tilt: Ignored to Billboard​
• Content Entrepreneur Spotlight: Mental Health Talk on Twitch​
• ​Refer This Newsletter to Another Creator (and Earn $TILT Coin)​

​

​

We Need Your Help!

​
Do you have less than seven minutes for our annual creator economy survey? Plus, you can enter for a chance to win a pair of Airpod Pros or a $250 Amazon gift card. Start Survey​

​

​

Last fall, a series of hate raids that blasted Black and LGBTQ+ streamers with racist and bigoted comments didn’t surprise creators in those communities. Neither were they shocked when a leak of Twitch data revealed only three women and just one of color are among the platform’s top 100 earners.

“When the Twitch leak happened and we commented on the fact that there was a lot of white males who were the highest earners and that wasn’t surprising, the toxicity comes,” says Jay-Ann Lopez, the founder of Black Girl Gamers. “They try and find our platform. We’ve had emails with the n-word. It’s still there. There’s a lot of shifting to be done, but it’s happening slowly, but surely.”

Black Girl Gamers is a thriving community of Black streamers who identify as women that now boasts more than 36K followers on Twitch and 54K on Twitter.

Creator to community builder: Jay-Ann, who is based in the United Kingdom, was a creator before founding Black Girl Gamers. In 2014, she co-founded Curlture. The platform, which includes over 45K followers on Instagram, empowers Black women to embrace their natural hair and beauty.

But Jay-Ann’s always been a gamer. Her uncle bought her her first console — a Super Nintendo — when she was 6 or 7. Later, she started a variety gaming channel on Twitch and made videos for YouTube, but her goal has never been to be a solo content creator. “That’s not my bag,” Jay-Ann says. “I like building things. And, for me, the main thing was how big of a change can I make. By creating a community-powered organization, I can have the biggest impact.”

Her experience building Curlture gave her the knowledge to launch Black Girl Gamers in 2015. “I didn’t have many people to play with,” she says. “Some of the experiences with racism and sexism had just pushed me in this little corner of gaming. I didn’t want to just exist there by myself. I thought there must be other Black women.”

She connected with a few on Twitter, created the group, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Standing tall in Times Square: Today, Black Girl Gamers is a vibrant community of more than 8K Black women from around the world. The focus is on cultivating an online safe space and platform for Black women and advocating for diversity and inclusion in games and the gaming community.

The Twitch stream features gameplay, game-side chats, conversations, and other programs. Within its Discord community, gamers take part in movie nights and talk about beauty, cooking, and other interests, forging close bonds over time.

“From the beginning, I always had the phrase ‘ignored to billboard,’” Jay-Ann says. “At the beginning, we were ignored or not really taken seriously. And last year, our members and myself were on a billboard in New York [as part of a Twitch Black History Month campaign]. It’s literally been from ignored to billboard.”

– Sarah Lindenfeld Hall

​Read all about the evolution of Black Girl Gamers and Jay-Ann’s advice.

​

​

Entrepreneur: Marie Shanley

Biz: Mxiety

Tilt: Mental health

Primary Channels: Twitch (7.9K), website​

Other Channels: Twitter (9.6K), Instagram (1.1K), LinkedIn​

Rev Streams: Twitch subs, partnerships deals

Our Favorite Actionable Advice:

• Get boundary reinforcements: Establish your boundaries for each platform and activity to avoid creator burnout. Get someone else, such as a moderator, to help you follow them.
• Get a hobby: When you turn your hobby, such as Twitch streaming, into a business, find another hobby, so you have something to do outside of work.
• Listen, but don’t always do: Take in all of the advice you can. Be open-minded, but also do not take it at face value. Instead, sift through it for you and your circumstances.

– Sarah Lindenfeld Hall

​Read all about Marie Shanley and Mxiety.

Know a content creator who’s going full tilt? DM us. Or email tilt@thetilt.com.

​

​

Caught on … Twitter​

“There are so many little pulls on our attention that it’s a good practice to declutter.”

– Odilia Rivera Santos

​

​

​

• ​Your Content Brand Is Critical. Here's Why. (Content Inc.)
• ​Do Platforms Need Editorial Oversight? (This Old Marketing)
• ​10 Tips for Customizing Your Marketing Strategy (Small Business Trends)
• ​Founders of Hiring App Share Best Career Advice (CNBC)
• ​Pick a Lawyer for Your Startup (Lexology)

​

​

Your team for this issue: Joe Pulizzi, Ann Gynn, Laura Kozak, Marc Maxhimer, and Dave Anthony, with an assist from Angelina Kaminski, Sarah Lindenfeld Hall, and Don Borger.

​

​

​

​