TikTok creators not knowing they need to sign contracts, Gen Z talent enforcing personal connections with their managers, and young influencers treating business meetings like FaceTime calls. These scenarios represent exactly what Shannon Martin-Resnick encountered when signing TikTok talent back in 2019—and the experience transformed her entire approach to talent management.

Shannon, the newly appointed Vice President of Talent at Proud Management, brings this human-centered philosophy to a company specifically designed to serve content creators looking for genuine representation. 

“Proud is all about being the good humans of influencer marketing, and they genuinely mean it,” Shannon explains. “From day one, they have always been transparent about wanting everyone to be happy. We want everyone to feel like they have a place to grow, and we don’t want anyone to feel like they’re going to burn out.”

With ten years of industry experience spanning StyleHaul, Digital Brand Architects (DBA), and, most recently, Brat TV, Shannon has watched the creator economy change over time. Her love for influencers dates back to the days of early fashion beauty YouTubers before Instagram and TikTok took off. The most notable change in her approach, however, came from the creators themselves.

When Creators Became the Teachers

In 2019, while working at DBA, Shannon volunteered to spearhead their TikTok initiative. “I just fell in love with the platform. I was on it all the time, consuming content, following creators, and I just saw something there,” she says. 

This initiative made her the first manager at DBA to sign TikTok talent, beginning with Riley Hubatka in September of that year.

The timing proved fortuitous. “From September to February, I was spending all of my time educating brands on how to partner with TikTokers, talking to agencies, explaining my roster, encouraging everybody, being like, ‘This is something, I promise.’” 

When the pandemic hit months later, TikTok exploded in popularity, and Shannon’s roster grew quickly.

What made this experience transformative was the nature of the talent she was managing. “Many of my clients were young—16, 17-year-old TikTokers. This was their first take on the Internet. They didn’t even have Instagram; they were just on TikTok,” Shannon explains, adding that these young creators demanded a different type of management relationship.

“Signing these young talents and these video creators who didn’t understand the business side of this and had never been on social media before, they changed my whole perspective of this work,” she reveals. “Before, it was so buttoned up and polished, and my creators didn’t allow me to operate like that. They wanted to have personal relationships with me.”

Shannon notes that this shift from formal business relationships to personal connections yielded results. Her clients achieved milestones, including White House visits, interviews with senators and politicians, major brand deals, ambassadorships, and product lines. 

“These were things that I had dreamed about, but I think TikTok helped make it a reality,” she notes.

The Proud Difference: A Human-First Approach to Management

Shannon’s move to Proud Management reunited her with Michael Curtis, the company’s founder and also her mentor for the past 11 years since they first worked together during her early career. 

“I’m excited to be back in it,” Shannon says of returning to talent management. 

At Proud, her dual role encompasses managing her own roster of clients while overseeing the company’s team of managers and their clients. “One of my favorite parts about being at Brat was managing a team of employees and helping them grow and hit their personal and career goals. I’m really excited to be able to do that here with our managers.”

Shannon believes Proud’s selective approach to client representation distinguishes them in the talent field. “We’re definitely not signing anybody and everybody. We’re selective about who we take on. We want talent who are good people and who care and put out content that they’re proud of and that we’re proud of,” she explains.

For creators seeking representation, Shannon looks for specific qualities: “I’m always looking for a person that I resonate with personally. I like to be able to immediately know what they’re about just by looking at their page.” 

She values creators who build community and deeply engage with their audiences, noting, “The creators that have the longest careers are the ones that have a community behind them, who’ve seen them through everything.”

Improving Industry Interactions

Shannon’s immediate priorities in her new role include implementing more efficient processes for deal flow and making operations smoother for Proud’s managers. Her management style emphasizes the human element in an industry that can often feel mechanical.

“What I learned so much from being at Brat is just being human in your interactions. I think this job can get a little robotic and intense,” she observes. “There’s a human on the other end of your email, and they’re trying to get their job done just like you. You get so much further by being a positive, nice person who is easy to work with.”

Image: Shannon with Lisi Shops, Kenzie Yolles, and Carlie Cumpton

This human-centric approach applies to how she guides creators in their career decisions, particularly around brand partnerships. 

“Saying ‘No’ to the wrong deal is my favorite thing to do in this business,” Shannon states. “There’s a fine line between wanting to take a deal and knowing when it’s the right deal to take for your own personal brand, what you believe in, and your values.”

The Path to Sustainable Careers

According to Shannon, the creator economy has become saturated, presenting challenges for emerging talent. 

“We always said that there’s room for everybody on social media, but it definitely now feels like everybody’s doing it,” Shannon acknowledges, citing this as the reason she based her strategy for helping creators stand out on being true to themselves and consistent.

“There’s a lot of carbon copies right now on the Internet of people doing the same thing that maybe aren’t true to them, but it’s what’s working. And I think the creators that will have the longest careers are the creators that stay true to themselves and stay consistent,” she emphasizes.

Shannon’s success stories include taking former client Amelie Zilber to the White House to interview Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, a professional highlight she considers the pinnacle of her career thus far. 

“The journey of her career and me and her together, it’s something I’m so proud of,” she says, detailing how they strategically rebranded Zilber’s content over a year to showcase her political interests without losing her audience.

Product collaborations are another area where Shannon reveals her strategic approach has paid off. With Hubatka, she developed co-branded product lines of press-on nails (Olive & June) and clothing lines (Peppermayo). 

“Building those was so fun and rewarding because we had been working so hard to push Riley out in fashion and show her audience that she was someone you could come to for fashion advice,” she explains.

Vision for the Future

Shannon aims to increase Proud Management’s visibility in the industry. “My immediate goals are to get some new processes in place internally,” she says of her short-term objectives. 

“Long-term, my goal is to continue to  build out the team, helping us grow the number of managers, the number of clients, the type of deals we’re doing, and then again making sure the managers feel like they have space to grow here.”

For Shannon, joining Proud aligns with her professional ambitions and personal values. “Being able to work at a company whose main core value is positivity and making sure that everyone is okay is so important to me in this stage of my life,” she explains, noting how the company supports work-life balance and her potential plans to start a family.

Her perspective on the creator economy’s future reflects the same human-centered approach that defines her management style. 

“For the industry, there’s a new generation coming. They’re so savvy, and I’m excited to see what they do,” she says. “I can only hope that they can push positivity and maybe brighten up the comment sections a little bit.”

As Shannon settles into her role at Proud Management, her goals remain clear: “Continue pushing positive messaging, creating change, and empowering creators.”