'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,/9j/2wBDAAYEBQYFBAYGBQYHBwYIChAKCgkJChQODwwQFxQYGBcUFhYaHSUfGhsjHBYWICwgIyYnKSopGR8tMC0oMCUoKSj/2wBDAQcHBwoIChMKChMoGhYaKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCj/wAARCAAHAAoDASIAAhEBAxEB/8QAFgABAQEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMF/8QAJBAAAAYBAQkAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAECAwQRBQYSExUxQVVhcdL/xAAVAQEBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAEBv/EABkRAAMAAwAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABEQIDEv/aAAwDAQACEQMRAD8AzMdqCXFecYfxUZ5ndWalKK9q+h1fLwKcdT2eMftZfIAGvXjaT/biR//Z'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Internet celebrity Alix Earle has garnered prominence on TikTok and Instagram in the past few years, with millions of followers on both platforms. Her fame has also translated into massive financial gains, per Vickie Segar.
According to a recently published The New York Times report, Segar revealed that Alix Earle, who has previously worked with her firm, earns $450K per Instagram story. Vickie was recently at UNC speaking to the students when she said,
“Let’s talk about the money in the creator economy. Does anybody follow Alix Earle?”
Per the NYT report, Vickie Segar asked the students to guess Alix Earle’s earnings for promoting brands via Instagram Stories. As some from the crowd predicted the figures of $70K or $100K, the influencer firm head replied,
“$450,000 per Instagram Story.”
Vickie Segar is an alumnus of UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School. She founded Village Marketing, an influencer agency, in 2013, which was acquired by WPP, a British advertising company, in 2022. According to her LinkedIn profile, Segar currently serves as the founder and CEO of the influencer marketing firm.
According to The One Club, Villager Marketing is well-known for its work primarily “on digitally native brands like Amazon, Rent the Runway, Harry's, Boll & Branch, and others.” Besides the influencer-centric firm, Vickie also co-founded Article 41, a talent management agency aimed at training and managing student-athletes.
Segar is also a part of the board of advisors and circle of advisors at The Rams Club and US Soccer Federation, respectively. At the same time, she was a partner at The Newcastle Network for three years.
Alix Earle’s acne struggles and GRWN videos earned her huge success on TikTok
According to Vickie Segar, the internet celebrity earns six figures from each promotional Instagram Story. The Hot Mess podcast host’s fortunes in the creator economy are attributed to the fame she received through her initial work on TikTok. The 24-year-old social media star started her TikTok journey in 2020, and within the next two years, her following grew by millions.
Alix, a University of Miami freshman then, centered her content around her makeup routines and daily life. She told Rolling Stone in a 2023 interview about why she avoided following the trend of posting viral dance clips.
“I tried a lot of the TikTok dances. I quickly learned that wasn’t for me.”
Alix Earle noted that the platform helped her produce better content.
“TikTok came around, obviously you’re seeing a bunch of people do their makeup, and I was exposed to a lot more products and techniques. So TikTok has definitely evolved my game.”
In 2022, Alix was affected by acne, but she used the platform to talk about it. Earle’s candid approach to her cystic acne struggles and GRWM (Get Ready With Me) videos were the key reasons behind her virality. She opened up about that phase and how it helped her grow on TikTok in a conversation with Howard Stern on his show in 2023.
“I started on TikTok my freshman year of college. I'm a senior now, this past summer. I've been on TikTok all four years and when I started out, I had no idea and I was trying to be picture perfect and I thought that was the way to go. [...] iIt honestly was the summer when I was at probably, like, my lowest point. I was dealing with a bunch of acne.”
She added,
“I started posting about my acne and I was, like, well I guess, like, ‘This is so bad if I post this and I can help someone feel better about this,’ and then people were like, ‘oh like she's cool.’”
Alix Earle proclaimed that followers started increasing once she started posting about her acne problems, seemingly due to relatability. The content creator-influencer confessed that she tried doing the opposite for three years, and the moment she stopped “trying to be a hot, pretty, picture-perfect girl,” her TikTok career took off.
Alix Earle told Stern she was supposed to do a brand video when she was hit with acne. Initially, the internet celebrity was skeptical about posting the video and feared receiving mean remarks but instead got positive comments for being genuine.
Over the years, Alix Earle has emerged as one of the most popular TikTok celebs, with over 7.4 million subscribers on the platform. Her Instagram handle also has more than 4.2M followers.
Reply
