From Bar Meetups to Brand Deals: The Insider Story of Creator Economy NYC

I’ve been following Brett Dashevsky’s work for a while now — not just because Creator Economy NYC has taken off, but because it taps into something deeper I’ve been thinking a lot about: what does it really look like to build community offline in a space that’s obsessed with online scale? And how can we build businesses that prioritize both?

The story has all the scrappy beginnings you love to read about if you’re into how things start.

Brett was BCC’ing RSVPs en masse — going against every rule he knew as a marketer — just to get a few people to show up at a bar in New York. He was hauling beer around in an Uber to an event he wasn’t sure he’d even break even on. While he clearly understood the need for community, what wasn’t obvious was what it would become.

From the outside, though, it’s looked like a rocket ship since he went full-time.

This year alone, he’s landed brand deals with companies like Notion, LinkedIn, and Shopify (casual), spoken at conferences like Cannes and VidCon, and hosted Creator Economy NYC’s first full-day conference in partnership with Teachable. It’s clear he’s positioning himself as a real leader in the space, and what’s impressive to me is that he’s been able to all of this so far as a business of one. (I’m exhausted just hearing about his schedule!)

I wanted to speak to Brett to learn more about how he’s been able to grow the business — the pivots, systems, and decision-making that made it possible. The way he filters opportunities. The frameworks he’s using. The lessons other creators, founders, and community builders can take from what he’s built.

We spoke at length about the early days, the business model, what’s working behind the scenes, and what’s next. Our full conversation is below, lightly edited for clarity.

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A: So Creator Economy NYC, what it’s known as today, basically started in January of 2023 as just a simple bar meetup in the Lower East Side of New York City. And it brought together maybe like 20 people in the creator economy, some were on the operating side, some were content creators. And I really had no intention of turning it into what is now a thriving business.

The goal was just, I wanted to be a connector in the space and meet people.

And what better way to become that person — the one bringing people together — than to actually just start doing it?

I’ve always been a community builder. Like, throughout school, high school, college, I was always involved in either student government or social organization in some way. So it’s kind of just been in my DNA to lean into that.

At the time, I had entered the industry by way of a newsletter I started with my brother. It was called Healthcare Huddle. It grew pretty rapidly and was ultimately acquired by a company called Workweek, which is where I was working.

I was surrounded by amazing creators there, and of course I started getting the itch to create myself. I was literally coaching and mentoring creators every day, and I knew the formula. So I was like, I might as well do this myself. But again — no intention of turning it into a business.

In the early days of Creator Economy NYC, I just wanted to stick to a cadence. Do something once a month. Keep it scrappy. No big, grand ambitions — just bring people together.

If I could find a venue that was low-cost or no-cost, we were doing it there. If I could find a way to get some booze and snacks just to make the vibe a little better — great. For a while I was either breaking even or losing money, depending on if I could get someone to help sponsor or support. But I always kept a forward-thinking mindset, because the whole point wasn’t to make money. It was to grow my personal brand and network, which I knew would lead to future opportunities.

I’d always tell myself: this is an investment in what will come. And yeah, now I can say, okay — that paid off. You put $200 into an event to get some drinks and snacks, that’s a pretty low-cost thing to end up meeting someone or being talked about in rooms you’re not even in yet.

That was kind of the early DNA of it. I also stayed low-key on purpose. I was working at a media company with newsletters and community-focused products, so it felt competitive for me to be doing something similar in my own category, especially if it was something they were exploring.

I didn’t have a social presence for it. No newsletter. Nothing. I was literally BCC’ing people who RSVP’d to events. And it’s funny, coming from the newsletter world, we’re so anti-BCC, right? But I was like, mentally, this is just a small thing I’m doing. It’s not official.

Then when I got laid off from Workweek in November 2023, I had already been toying with the idea of launching a newsletter. And I was like all right. It’s go time.

I spent the first few weeks after getting laid off building the newsletter, consolidating all the RSVP data I had collected over the past year. And now, to this day, the newsletter is one of the most important and critical aspects of the business.

We’ve got upwards of 10,000 subscribers, 60% open rates, and I’ve sent it every single week for the past 81 weeks — 82 coming up this Friday.

So I hope that answers where things were in the beginning. It really just started out of my own desire to meet people and not overwhelm myself by thinking, “I’m building a business.” That mindset — not forcing it — is what I think has really enabled it to grow organically and become as strong a brand as it is today.

Absolutely. It’s a great point. What you’re saying, seeing what I’m doing now, you’d think, “Oh, it’s always been like that.” And I think that’s a trap a lot of creators fall into. I fell into it myself.

Because a lot of the creators we admire? They’re a hundred steps ahead. And you forget that at one point, they were in the exact same position you’re in. You can’t take things at face value and assume that what they’re doing now is what you should be doing too.

Like when we were building Healthcare Huddle, we were trying to follow what Morning Brew was doing almost to a tee. Because we wanted to build the “Morning Brew for healthcare.”

And in some ways, that was good. But in hindsight, it was like, damn — we were trying to replicate what Morning Brew was doing in year five, when we were in year one.

Eventually we had to zoom out and ask: what were they doing in their early days? Oh, they had an ambassador program. Okay, let’s start there. Let’s take the early steps, not the late ones.

And that’s the advice I’d give to creators and founders, especially in the early stage.

Don’t study someone five years in and try to copy what they’re doing now. Look at what they were doing when they were at your stage. Otherwise, it’ll just feel out of reach. It might even make you feel like you’re behind, when in reality, you’re right where you should be.

A: Yep. It’s a great question.

As I was hosting these events and they started getting more visibility, I started hearing a lot of noise from people — especially those not in the weeds of it — saying, “Oh, you gotta start charging tickets.” And sure, that’s one way you could go, right? Charge for attendance.

But the other option — and what I started realizing — is that these events are sponsorable. They’re activations, right? No different from someone sponsoring a newsletter to get in front of the right audience. Events are the same idea.

So I started playing around with that. In the beginning, I had no idea what I was doing. I’d tell a brand, “It’ll be $500,” and then realize — wait, shit, this is going to cost me $1,000 to pull off. I’m not even breaking even. And I’m the one putting in all the effort.

Eventually, you get to this uncomfortable place where you have to understand the real value you’re providing. And you have to be okay asking for it. Like, telling a brand, “This one’s going to be $5,000.” That felt wild to say out loud the first time. But then they’d come back and say, “Yeah, sounds good.” And I’m like — oh shit, okay. $5K. I can make $2K off this, or whatever it is after costs. It starts to shift your perspective.

My cofounder from another business I’m building was actually super helpful in pushing me here. He said, “You need options for brands — you need tiers.” High tier, mid-tier, low tier. So I leaned into that.

Throughout 2024, I really started dialing in the model. What’s the actual cost to throw a high-quality event with AV, bar service, logistics? Then I started organizing the data: how many RSVPs, who’s attending, what’s the open rate on the newsletter, what’s the demographic breakdown. I realized, oh wait— this is valuable.

So then I started testing price points. Throwing numbers out to brands to see where the appetite was, and making sure they didn’t just walk away thinking, “Why don’t we do this ourselves?”

The $20K event sponsorships didn’t just come out of nowhere. It was from showing up consistently, proving the value, and shouting from the rooftops about what we’re building.

A friend of mine, Danny Dasatnik, said something that really stuck with me:

“It’s not the person who does it first. It’s the person who does it loudest.”

And I was like — damn. That’s exactly it. You’ve gotta be loud about what you’re building. That’s what gets brands to lean in. That’s what gets bigger creators interested in collaborating. You want to be unmissable.

So yeah, the sponsorship model has really worked because it keeps the events free and high quality, it attracts the right people, and it lets me focus on one main business partner: the sponsor. And honestly? Doing B2B sales with brands is a lot more fruitful — and easier to manage — than trying to sell to 100 or 200 individual consumers.

A:For early creators pitching themselves, I would say this: you’ve gotta start with an exercise around value. What value are you actually providing to your audience and your community? And then — who’s in that audience and community? What brands want the attention and depth you have with those kinds of people?

For me, it actually took a while to realize, “Oh, I’m building a creator-first community.” Because for a long time, I thought I was building a community of operators, founders, investors, the B2B crowd. That was the world I came from, so I thought that had to be the play.

But then creators started showing up. And obviously, it’s in the name — Creator Economy NYC — so that started to stand out. And brands began reaching out wanting to get in front of creators. So I had to shift how I was thinking about it.

I started shaping the story: we’re building a community that helps creators connect and level up. So when I’d go pitch a brand, I had a compelling narrative — here’s what we’ve built, here’s the kind of depth we’ve cultivated.

But the story alone isn’t enough. You’ve gotta pair it with data.

So I’d bring in the numbers: we’re getting 500+ RSVPs per event, the newsletter has XYZ open rate, here are the demographics of the list. I know a lot of early creators might not have data like that yet, but use whatever you can — and build a cohesive story. It’s always more effective than just saying, “Hey, sponsor me — I have X number of followers.”

You’ve got to answer the so what?

You want the brand to see you as the most attractive place for them to spend their marketing dollars. And one thing I’ve learned is that brands want to spend money. They have a budget. Their job is literally to spend it. If they don’t, their boss asks why they didn’t use the budget.

So you want to be the clear, compelling place for them to put that spend, and it has to align with their goals.

And honestly, the more conversations you can have with people who actually hold the purse strings — the people leading creator marketing, brand partnerships, etc. — the more insight you’ll get into what matters to them and how you can better position yourself.

Also don’t be afraid to use what’s out there. There are tons of templates for media kits. And even AI, I’ve used it to help pressure-test pitches. Like, “Hey, I want to pitch Canva. Help me write a story that would make them excited to work with me.”

Whatever tools help you tell that story — use them.

A: It’s a great question. So right now — I’ve been completely solo. Every part of the business has just been me. And honestly, it’s been relatively manageable.

Now, there are definitely things I want to be doing that I haven’t had the bandwidth for, like leaning more into original content. I want to do more with video. I want to tighten up things at the events. But I haven’t always had someone in the role of event manager or producer, so I’ve just kind of made it work.

I did recently bring someone on to help run point on events, which is already a big unlock. I also want to do more speaking, but there’s only so much of me to go around and only so much time to do outreach.

The reason I’ve been able to stay solo this long is largely because of AI.

Like, real talk — I started Creator Economy NYC around the time ChatGPT first dropped, and it has been one of the most pivotal tools for growing this thing.

It’s my sounding board. It helps me generate newsletter ideas. It helps me rewrite emails — like, “Hey, make this warmer but still confident.” It’s helped me draft panel questions. It’s made me more efficient and taken a lot off my plate.

But now, I’m at the point where I know I need actual support.

And I think for early creators, that’s a key lesson: you don’t need a team or a manager right out of the gate. You might not even need a video editor. There’s a lot you can and should do yourself — at least in the early days — just to understand the systems, feel the challenges, and empathize with what it takes to build something.

Once you start getting traction and making some revenue, that’s when you can start thinking: okay, where can I invest?

For me, that next phase looks like: more event support, someone to help lead on content — scripting, producing shows for our channels — and possibly a manager to handle brand deals and speaking ops.

I’ve always been a little hesitant around management, especially in the creator space. But now I’m like okay, I’m three years into this. And there are things where the juice just isn’t worth the squeeze anymore. I could delegate that. I’d go further with the right support.

And yeah, I think one of the hardest parts of entrepreneurship is learning to delegate. It’s tough to give things up. But I’m trying to approach it with that abundance mindset — if I want this to scale, I can’t be the bottleneck.

A: This question is one I think about a lot.

So, first off, community is not your audience. That’s where I think a lot of people get it wrong. There’s a difference between audience and community. To me, audience is one-to-many. It’s me speaking out to a bunch of people.

Community is many-to-many. It’s when the people in your ecosystem are actually interacting with each other. They’re collaborating. They’re sharing. They have shared values and a shared vision, and they’re doing something with that, together.

And I think Creator Economy NYC really embodies that. You’ve got people who show up to the events consistently. They meet each other in real life. They follow up. They start collaborating. They’re launching stuff together. I hear about it all the time: “Oh, I met so-and-so at your event and now we’re doing XYZ together.” Or “I got a client from the person I sat next to.” That’s real community.

It’s kind of like a gym. You walk in and there are many-to-many interactions happening every day. You don’t always know exactly who you’ll run into, but there’s a shared purpose, and you belong there.

A brand starting a “community” is a totally different thing. That’s usually just them building an audience; they’re still speaking out to people. And sometimes, especially if it’s a brand or a talent manager, it can come off as transactional. Like, “Are you trying to help me, or are you trying to sell me something?”

What’s made Creator Economy NYC resonate, I think, is that the motive is clear: it’s to help people in the community connect, learn, and grow. That’s it. There’s no hidden agenda. And that creates trust. You feel it in the room.

The other thing I’ll say is this: community takes time. You can build an audience really fast. You can’t build community fast — at least not a real one.

It’s taken me three years to see the depth we have now. To have people message me saying they got a gig because of someone they met at an event. Or that they found a collaborator. Or that they just feel less alone.

And that depth? That’s also what attracts the brands. It’s not just “X number of people showed up.” It’s who showed up. And what happened after.

There are levels to community. And the real thing takes reps. It takes intention. It takes time.

A: Yep. I totally think it can be replicated.

But my one caution is: it’s going to come with time. Like, a lot of time. And I don’t think people fully realize how much that matters. It really takes a particular kind of person to do this. I’ve put blood, sweat, and tears into Creator Economy NYC over the past three years. And I don’t know a lot of people who’d be willing to have that kind of patience and dedication to building something like this.

That said, yeah — there’s definitely demand. I hear all the time from people who say, “I wish this existed in Chicago,” or LA or Austin or wherever. And could there eventually be a Creator Economy LA? Creator Economy Chicago? Absolutely.

But will the vibe be the same? No, and that’s actually okay. Every city has its own flavor, its own types of creators, its own energy. New York has this specific ambition and mutual respect — there’s a certain kind of person who chooses to live here. So of course, the community takes on some of that personality.

And what also makes New York special is that this started small. Really small. It grew gradually. People in the community have seen that growth. They’ve been part of it. So now it feels authentic, like they built it with me.

What I’d worry about is parachuting into another city and trying to recreate that energy with a huge event right out of the gate. It wouldn’t have the same grassroots feel. You’d be skipping the part where trust is built. That’s why I’m not rushing into it. I want to get the foundation solid here before expanding anywhere else.

That said, I do encourage people to start their own thing — and a lot already have. I’ve seen versions pop up in San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, Detroit. And the folks running those have DM’d me, asked for advice, or even just said thanks for the inspiration. I love that. Like, truly that’s been one of the coolest parts of all of this. Knowing we’ve unintentionally sparked a movement around building real creator communities.

And I think that’s because the creator journey is a lonely one.

Especially for the people in our community, a lot of them are part-time creators. They’ve got a full-time job and a creative side hustle. Or they’re trying to make a shift, but they don’t know how. And we’re trying to help with that.

Whether you want to go full-time, stay hybrid, launch something new, whatever your lane is — we want to give you the community, knowledge, and support to do it.

So yes, this model can exist in other cities. But will the vibe be as strong as Creator Economy NYC? Only time will tell.

And funny enough even London has reached out. Someone asked, “When are you coming to London?” So… maybe. We’ll see. We’re still early. The actual business side of Creator Economy NYC has only existed for a little over a year, even though I’ve been doing events for three.

So yeah, as we continue to build our foothold here in New York, I do think we’ll be in a position to spread the wealth — across the country, and maybe even globally.

A: It’s something I’ve been thinking a lot about.

I actually built a system for this — I call it my Focus Filter. I had to get really clear on my North Stars for Creator Economy NYC. So right now, there are four key areas I’m focused on:

Once I laid that out, I started evaluating everything through that lens. So I’ll say yes to something if:

And I’ll say no if:

The gut check I always come back to is:

Is this a “hell yes” or a “strategic yes”?

“Hell yes” means it lights me up. I’m pumped about it.

“Strategic yes” means maybe I’m not super excited right now, but it’s important for the long game. It creates leverage.

That mindset helps me stay focused, and honestly, same thing applies when I’m evaluating brand deals. If a brand opportunity comes up, I ask:

If it’s someone like Visa, Teachable, Shopify — that’s a yes. It’s a hell yes. But if it’s a smaller brand being really picky, or if it feels like a misalignment, I don’t need to force it.

I’d rather chase fewer, higher-value, longer-term partnerships than say yes to everything. Because if you say yes to everyone, it starts to dilute the brand. People wonder — who are you really working with? What do you actually believe in?

That’s why I’d rather go deep with a Teachable or a beehiiv. I believe in those companies, and I want to build long-term with them. That clarity gives me freedom to say no to the stuff that doesn’t serve the bigger picture.

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FYI, I’m open to pitches for upcoming features in Creator Diaries. If you’re building something interesting in the creator economy, I’d love to hear about it!