Creator Elevation Camp

 By DaniMarie 1️⃣ Start with Your Lived Experience What have you lived through that others need to hear about? Your upbringing, your culture, your challenges, and your wins—these are the seeds of your niche. Don’t be afraid to draw from your community, your history, or your unique perspective. 2️⃣ Focus on What You Can’t Stop Talking About If you’re constantly breaking down hair care routines, debating sports, or teaching about generational wealth—pay attention. That’s your natural passion showing up. Build your content around that thing you could talk about for hours without getting bored. 3️⃣ Find the Overlap Between Your Story & Your Audience’s Pain Points Your audience doesn’t just want to hear your story—they want to see how it connects to their struggles. Are you helping them navigate corporate spaces? Build businesses? Heal from trauma? Think about how your passion solves a problem, fills a gap, or empowers your community. 4️⃣ Test It—Then Commit You don’t hav...

By DaniMarie We live in a time where people pay to binge-watch strangers talk, cry, grow, create, and rebuild in real time — and it’s beautiful. But let’s be honest: creating episodic content behind a paywall isn’t just about uploading a video and slapping a price on it. It’s about intention, structure, and trust. Whether you’re on Fanbase+, Patreon, Substack, or some other platform — if you want to keep people subscribed (not just curious), you need a plan. Let’s talk about how to do it — sustainably, smartly, and in a way that builds a loyal community instead of a passive audience. 🧩 Episode 1 Starts Before Episode 1 Here’s the thing: your first episode doesn’t start when the camera turns on — it starts when people hear about the series . You need a concept with a hook — something clear, bingeable, and personal. Think: “The Breakup Recovery Diaries” , “Creator Burnout Rehab” , “Soft Hustle Season” , or “How I’m Building My Dream Life from Scratch.” Your audience isn’t ju...

 By Dani Marie Let’s just go ahead and say it: Fanbase is a Black-owned app. Yes, a real one — not “Black-run,” not “diverse leadership,” not “Black content-friendly.” No. Black. Owned. And it should be an unstoppable movement. So why does it feel like the culture is there… but the traction? Not so much. If you scroll through Fanbase long enough, you’ll see it: dope creators, niche conversations, beautiful digital Blackness in every shade and shape. You’ll also notice something else — the energy is there, but the numbers ain’t numberin’. And now the data is confirming what many of us have felt in our gut: 78.9% of Fanbase users are African American. 60% are male. 39% are female. Nearly 40% are ages 35–44. And over 44% are self-employed. Those stats aren’t just interesting — they’re instructive. They tell a bigger story about why Fanbase may be hitting a wall. And I gotta ask: Are we — the culture — actually the app’s Achilles’ heel? Let me unpack this. Let’s Tal...

By Dani Marie Yesterday on Fanbase, I found myself sitting in a space that should’ve felt familiar—Black voices, Black stories, and what we’d call a “culturally relevant” conversation. A beautiful Black woman led the room—shoutout to the lawyer holding it down—and the topic? The ongoing saga surrounding Sean “Diddy” Combs. Now before we get into it, let’s address the elephant, the room, and the entire zoo: Why are we, as Black people, so deeply mesmerized by celebrity news? Why do we let it distract us, divide us, and at times… derail us? This blog is less about Diddy himself and more about what he represents to us, and how the entire spectacle reflects something much deeper. Because what I witnessed wasn’t just a conversation about allegations. It was static. Emotional static. Room-shaking static. A battle of energies and trauma responses dressed up as debate. The Celebrity Distraction Complex Let’s start with the obvious: Celebrity news has become our new form of worship and wa...

By DaniMarie It took me stepping away to realize it. Ten weeks. Ten private episodes. A whole lot of processing and pivoting. And somewhere between week five and me losing track of time, I understood: this app—this platform—Fanbase? It’s not just another place to post. It’s a fixer-upper. Let me explain. I recently wrote about the psychology of social audio and the emotional ecosystem creators navigate every time they open an app like Fanbase. There’s a certain kind of loneliness in building something that doesn’t quite have its audience yet. A strange mix of hope, exhaustion, and faith. That blog was the catalyst for what came next. This one. Because when I look at Fanbase, I don’t just see a social platform. I see a metaphor. I see a house with good bones—in a neighborhood still being mapped. You Don’t Buy a Fixer-Upper for Instant Gratification You buy it because you see potential. Because you have a vision. Because you’re willing to do the hard work now in hopes that later,...

By DaniMarie It’s been nearly a year since I first jumped head-first into the social audio streets of Fanbase—wide-eyed, voice-ready, and full of fire. Back then, I was charged up. I came in hot, pitching new ideas, building community, and making room for voices I knew deserved amplification. It felt like the early days of any movement: electric, promising, urgent. But somewhere along the way, the electricity turned into static. This isn’t a sob story or a sub. This is a social experiment. One where the platform is the lab, the users are the subjects, and the psychology of how people show up in spaces—especially Black-led ones—is what I’ve been quietly studying. The Fanbase Field Study: 5 Types of Users If I had to categorize the humans of Fanbase, I’d say they fall into five primary groups: The Firestarters : They come in excited, loaded with ideas, ready to build. But quickly learn the app is already directed by a visionary founder—and there’s limited room for additional shaping. ...