Graham James believes the traditional talent management model is broken. After years of watching large talent agencies prioritize profits over people, he founded Upside Down Talent with a clear mission: put creators first, and the business will follow.

A Human-First Approach to Management

The Toronto-based agency’s philosophy emerged from Graham’s growing frustration with how traditional talent management treated creators as revenue streams rather than people. 

“Corporate America is typically revenue-focused, and many goals, projections, and quotas must be met,” Graham explains. “I felt like that was getting in the way of being encouraged to develop empowering and meaningful relationships with talent.” 

After cycling through several agencies and finding the same profit-first culture, Graham made a decisive move. “Instead of trying to find it, I’m going just to build it,” he recalls. “I talked to the talent I’d been representing for three or four years and said, ‘Do you trust me enough to take this leap?’ That’s where the name Upside Down came from, taking the traditional entertainment industry and flipping it upside down. Focusing more on the core values of empathy, authenticity, and purpose. “

Starting with just two people managing 15 creators, Upside Down spent six months refining their approach. “In January 2024, we decided to build a simple website and start seeing if people were interested in working with a smaller agency…at the time, we didn’t expect much,” Graham says. “We’re now closing out the year with over 60 creators and a full-time team of six. So it’s gone very well, to say the least, and I think the missing gap has been filled.”

Building Dream Teams

Upside Down distinguishes itself through its team-building approach rather than trying to serve every creator’s needs. 

“I’ve been in companies that promise the world, but I don’t think that one agent or manager can make every single thing available in the creator space happen,” Graham explains. “Especially because new developments are emerging in this industry every month.”

The agency focuses on assembling the right mix of professionals to support each creator’s unique needs. “We don’t want to gatekeep our talent. We want to ensure they’re being prioritized and treated like a business,” Graham points out. “And in the same way that businesses have the right players on the team for them to thrive, we are making that our mission here. Our tagline is simple: we build great teams. And we really do.”

Addressing Creator Challenges

Irregular income poses one of the industry’s biggest challenges, according to Graham. “Late payments and (in)consistency of income is a huge issue many of our creators, especially those doing this full time, struggle with,” he explains. “In the coming years, I hope there will be talks about influencers becoming SAG members and a unionized industry that could eventually have more stability.”

Beyond inconsistent payment cycles, Graham also notes creators face unique psychological pressures, such as burnout, as social media continues to dominate daily life. “It’s important to have that support system from people who have worked in the industry for long enough to know, but also from people who have been creators themselves and can speak to what it feels like to exist online today,” he says.

The agency carefully selects creators who align with their values and approach. “We are focused on people who want to make a positive impact, not cardboard cutout influencers,” Graham explains. “Our creators all have a very similar energy to them. They’re very focused on adding value to the world using their platforms to build community and connect with people on a one-to-one level.”

From a business perspective, Graham highlights how Upside Down’s support helps creators focus on their core strengths. “The heavy lifting alone that we’re able to alleviate from email management, contracting negotiations, payment management, and invoicing is well worth the financial investment of having a team,” he notes.

The Shift in Brand Partnerships

As social media platforms mature, Graham believes brand partnerships have transformed significantly: “Brands are looking for more partnerships, and creators rising to the top are those who are more raw, organic, and able to tell stories.”

He encourages creators to approach brand integrations through natural storytelling. “We talk to our creators all of the time about the ability to storytell with brand in mind, to be aware of the brands that are showing up in your day-to-day life, and how to tell stories that naturally fit,” Graham explains. “Without giving away too much, just include what your life looks like.”

This represents a fundamental change in how brands view influencer marketing. “Gone are the days of the Kylie Jenner influence,” Graham notes. “Brands want to see what their product looks like in real life with real people.”

He stresses the importance of distinguishing between different types of creator partnerships. “If your goal is to be more conversion-heavy, we have creators who are phenomenal at converting products and have a strong audience that loves to take their word for it and buy products… [But] other creators are amazing video creators and editors and can produce exceptional content you should use for your paid media efforts,” Graham explains.

The founder cites a successful case study with the Dutch brand Suitsupply as an example of how genuine brand relationships can lead to bigger opportunities. 

“We have a fashion creator who has sworn by them organically for a year or two before ever working with them on a paid project,” he shares. “We talked to the brand beforehand and presented 15 organic pieces of content and like-to-know-it data, showing a shockingly large amount of sales generated through his links and hundreds of products moved from all his different accounts. We then got on a call with their team and  dreamed up a collaboration where we flew him from Vancouver to Los Angeles  to go in-store and do a whole out-of-the-box campaign.” 

“This is the attention economy,” Graham says. “As much as I think metrics need to be considered, brands need to be very aware of the difference in what a creator can provide and the value, especially with the vertical video age. We view creators as one-person production houses that can create stand-out content that is usually better and more affordable than large video production companies.”

A Creative Team for Creatives

Upside Down Talent’s success stems from a team that understands the creative process firsthand. “We’re a group of creatives. We all geek out on the creator economy. We all have gifts in different ways,” Graham says. 

“Sebastian [Olzanski] came from a music career in the past, which he decided to leave. Sarah [Gomes] is a dancer at heart and spends two evenings of her week teaching dance. Cameron [Bunn] has done acting and music as well. Kripa [John] is an extremely talented videographer and a photographer.”

This diverse creative background helps the team connect with their clients on a deeper level. “The creative elements that exist on our team are really what is helping us relate to creatives but also to keep this human-first approach on the forefront of everything,” Graham explains. “As much as it’s been my vision coming to life, we would not be here today without this secret weapon of a team. .”

Standing: Kripa John, Graham James, Sebastian Olzanski; Sitting: Sarah Gomes, Cameron Bunn

A Shift in Agency-Brand Dynamics

Graham identifies two significant trends emerging in the creator economy. Although contradictory, he thinks they’ll both happen “simultaneously.” 

First, he anticipates a shift in agency-brand dynamics. “I think as we see a creative-focused strategy, like letting young Gen Z, even millennial creatives, have more of a say in what happens at these big companies. We’ll see a huge shift away from this big conglomerate style agency brand relationships with extremely specific creative briefs,” Graham says.

Simultaneously, he expects more sophisticated content production. “I think there will also be a shift towards more cinematic content, going hand in hand with how we see commercials on TV and almost like Super Bowl ads,” he explains. “A new generation of exceptional creatives can produce eye-catching and professional-grade video content for your brands. Fresh takes on the classic advertising styles we have become accustomed to seeing across digital media. .”

For Graham and Upside Down, these changes signal new possibilities. “One thing that we always say is that this entire industry is in its infancy, and we are just getting started. There’s only so much more coming down the pipeline,” he concludes. “So it’s exciting to see how it will shift and evolve in the coming years.”