Philadelphia has a creator shortage — when compared to cities like Los Angeles and New York, where creatives from all over the world flock in the hopes that they will “make it.”
A 2024 Fast Company article reported that over 40% of content creators reside in the largest metropolitan areas, with LA and NYC atop that list. Other cities commonly mentioned in reference to the Influencer Economy include San Francisco and Austin.
Despite being the nation’s sixth-largest city, Philadelphia is rarely on that list.
We do, however, have a few locals holding down the fort. Brandon Edelman, better known as Bran Flakezz to his 1.3 million followers, is a Philadelphia-based influencer who has been in the game for 4-plus years now. He has just recently experienced a surge of new followers after a video of him went viral explaining how much he makes as a Philly influencer — just over three-quarters of a million dollars a year.
Followers have asked many times if he thought moving to New York might increase his earning potential, but Edelman has taken to TikTok to defend Philadelphia time and time again. “For me it’s a quality or quantity thing,” he said. “I would have more opportunities in a city like New York or LA, but I would also have more competition because there’s more influencers there.”
Also, a lot of his biggest campaigns have been Philadelphia-focused. “When a company launches … a Northeast-focused campaign and they need to hit the Philadelphia territory, I’m always the person they are going to look for. Next year is a huge year for Philadelphia … We’re hosting [six] games of the FIFA World Cup!”
By staying based in the city, Edelman is able to achieve one of his goals — to support local businesses through his platform.
“What really drew me into helping small businesses is that both of my parents were Philadelphia small business owners. My dad owned a bodega in Kensington for 30 years … and my mom owned a children’s consignment shop in Montgomery County in Abington,” he said. “I’ve always wanted to help small businesses because that was my parent’s livelihood. It was my livelihood as a child.”
At a time when they face increasing costs (like the recent spike in egg prices that affected restaurants across the city), rising rents and the potential impacts of the Trump administration’s trade wars, small businesses can use all the support they can get.
Most recently, Edelman has been focusing his attention on a private driver company, Ride With Ease. He was first a customer, using the service to get from Philadelphia to his NYC-based influencer events. Edelman’s posting about this small business to his audience has helped the company’s owner and primary driver, Ralph Diluzio, to slowly but surely creep towards his GoFundMe goal of $30,000. The page has raised more than $6,000 at the time this article was posted.
@bran__flakezz this was insane but HEY NYC IM BACK! @ride_withease_owner #philly #nyc
♬ original sound – bran_flakezz
Edelman has provided assistance beyond social media promotion. He helped Diluzio to register Ride With Ease as an LLC in the state of Pennsylvania. “His goal is to get a sprinter van so he can start transporting 6, 10, 12 people at a time,” Edelman said. “When he drives me to New York, we often strategize on what our next focus will be … It’s definitely a mutual partnership.”
Edelman has also made it a point to support Black female-owned businesses throughout Philly by using his platform. In February, the content creator got word that Pure Green, a Black woman-owned green juicery in the city, was on the verge of closing its doors. He vlogged himself visiting the cafe, showcasing their food and their owner, Tierra Lynn, a former social worker. He shared her GoFundMe page and captured on camera his own $3,000 donation.
Within 24 hours, Lynn had reached her donation goal.
“That’s been the biggest impact. She needed $70,000 to keep her doors open and we got her to $100,000,” he said. “That was actually just posted on a billboard in Times Square.”
This has become a regular series, where Edelman shows off his favorite underrecognized spots around the city. “All of [these businesses] have come back to me and said, ‘Just you posting has gotten us so many customers. Even if people haven’t been able to donate, we’ve gotten more bookings, we’ve gotten more appointments.’ ”
So what could the city of Philadelphia do to better support and retain its creator ecosystem? Edelman has some thoughts.
“I would love if there was some kind of content studio where people could come and rent out rooms, like a studio space or a kitchen space, so if you have a cooking ad you could rent out the kitchen ad to make [it]…or a podcast studio!” he said. “It is surprising to me the lack of podcast studio spaces that are in Philadelphia. So I definitely think there could be better creation spaces … A creator hub could be amazing.”
Building these kinds of creative spaces would give Philly more of an edge and make it a more competitive playing field relative to New York and LA, which already have businesses popping up like Neue House, a private membership club for influencers with just locations — New York, Hollywood (Mid LA), and Venice Beach (West LA).
Even so, Edelman is drawn to remain in Philly.
“I definitely think, now as I’m growing, I’m obviously on the road a lot more, but having a home base in Philadelphia is something that has always been a non-negotiable for me,” he said. “It’s where I was raised, It’s where my family [is]. It’s such a key pillar of my content that it wouldn’t be authentic to move or relocate. Philadelphia will always be under the Bran Flakezz umbrella.”
Business first
Content creator and business owner Saeed Ferguson has a different approach to maintaining Philadelphia’s creative talent. While Edelman is a creator supporting small businesses through his platform, Ferguson is a business owner supporting creatives through the business.
Ferguson founded All Caps Studio, a creative agency and fashion line dedicated to harnessing and spotlighting Philadelphia talent, whether they be photographers, models or creative directors. His goal? To help creative Philadelphians benefit financially. “It was kind of an art project at first, just a way for us to let go of ideas,” he said. “And then it started to snowball into a brand.”
Let’s face it, money talks — and it’s crucial to retaining the city’s creative talent. Most natives don’t want to abandon their home city. They want to have enough creative opportunity to pay their rent while doing what they love.
Ferguson has observed this creative migration from the city. Some came to the city and eventually left. Others were people Ferguson knew since childhood, Philly born and raised, who also left.
“I think it’s too much like, ‘OK, I need to be more successful, like in 6-12 months, so I need to go to New York or LA because absolutely the things are happening [there]. And that’s very valid,” he said. “I’m born and raised here, so I wanted to support the creative scene here.”
Ferguson supports the creative scene he’s known since childhood in several ways. “By hiring the artists themselves is how we support the community here,” he said. “We’ve also done a lot of events in Philadelphia based around the community.”
In March, Ferguson’s studio partnered with other Philly-based companies to host a live event meant to foster creative connections in the city while also raising money to support these businesses. The partners came from many parts of the creative scene — from event spaces to magazine sponsors to DJs to tote bag designers to restaurants — so the one event supported multiple verticals. The event was hosted at a Black-owned hotel, Yowie, which drove brand awareness of the space to the 20,000-plus followers of Ferguson and his brand.
But not everything has to be a party. Ferguson builds community in Philly in more intimate settings, speaking to students at local schools and colleges. “I just talked to a bunch of students who were trying to get into collections and get into fashion and just give them … transparent advice,” he said. “And I’ve done that at Penn and hope to do it throughout the Philadelphia school district in the summer.”
Like Edelman, Ferguson has thought about Philadelphia’s duty to its creatives.
“I recently found out that it’s like 30 cents or 60 cents per person is … how much [the city] spends on the arts in general. And I think that could be like an interesting starting point. Maybe putting more emphasis on the arts and creativity and just what does that do to the city, what does that do to the youth, and what does that do to the culture of the city?” he said. “How do we add to a system in a way that makes sense for everyone involved? What are ways we can prove that it’s worth it to the city?”
Ferguson believes in belief, and in seeing things through until they come to life, right here.
“We started this thing in Philly, we haven’t left, we’ve continued to do it, and we’ve continued to do it at a level that other brands are that aren’t in Philly,” he said. “We can match the level of the brands that seemingly ‘had’ to exist somewhere else.”
While there are larger scenes in the influencer economy, Edelman and Ferguson show how thoughtful creators can use the available tools and strategies to thrive in and support the creative and economic diversity of their local communities.
Instead of watching a favorite business slowly die, a content creator like Edelman can make a 20-second TikTok that drives enough awareness to keep it alive. Instead of watching fellow creatives leave Philly for bigger markets, business owners like Ferguson can create businesses that prioritize local creatives, leading to a more close-knit, creative Philadelphia — one Instagram post at a time.
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You can find more of Edelman on his podcast Between us Girlies, which he co-hosts with his three best friends. If you’re interested in content creation, the journey to becoming a content creator, and the state of the creator economy, you’ll want to check it out.
Find Ferguson on his personal Instagram and TikTok as well as All Cap’s Youtube channel, which focuses on transparent, journal entry-inspired content. Also be on the lookout for his upcoming educational platform and new design studio, 2147M, both set for a summer launch.
