Which creators are profiled on Cool People Stories?

Cool People Stories profiles 20 creators, including Lucy Blakiston, KP, Abhishek Chaudhary, Simon Sinek, Andrew Tattersall, Mia McGrath, Caroline Zook, Carson Scott, and 12 more. Each one has a full profile covering their story, what they have shipped, and links to their own sites.

What counts as a creator on Cool People Stories?

Someone whose main output is the work itself: writing, illustration, video, film, photography, a newsletter. They built a following by making things in public rather than by talking about making things.

How are people chosen for Cool People Stories?

There is no submission form and no sponsorship. Everyone is picked because they were interesting enough to write about, and the profiles are researched and verified before they go up.

Collection

Creators worth knowing

Writers, illustrators, filmmakers and newsletter people who built an audience by making things.

Audience is the lazy word for it. What these people did was make something over and over in public, long before anyone was watching, and hold the taste steady enough that the watching eventually started.

The output varies wildly here — pixels, prose, film, posters, a daily email. The habit underneath it does not.

The creators

20 profiled so far, newest first.

Lucy Blakiston The pen pal who built a newsroom Lucy Blakiston writes to millions of people like they are her only reader, and spent years making sure none of them knew her face New Zealand
KP The Build In Public guy, professionally KP built an audience by narrating his own work, then made a career out of doing it for everyone else Atlanta
Abhishek Chaudhary Product designer and illustrator, Chaudhary Ki Diary Abhishek Chaudhary makes software look obvious in Berlin, then goes home and makes Bollywood look strange Berlin
Simon Sinek Anthropologist by training, optimist by trade Simon Sinek got filed under business guru, but he was trained to study humans as a species
Andrew Tattersall Software engineer and creator, building The Polymath App Andrew Tattersall has 476,000 followers on the scroll, and he is building an app to cure it Manchester
Mia McGrath Creator and author of Frugal Chic Mia McGrath sold luxury fashion for a living, then trademarked a way to want it without going broke United Kingdom
Caroline Zook Artist and co-founder, Wandering Aimfully Caroline Zook built the rare creative business that didn't eat the creative Silver Coast, Portugal
Carson Scott Creative strategist, Orange Tree Studio Carson Scott makes people obsessed with products that have no business being interesting
Catherine Goetze Creator of CatGPT, founder of Physical Phones Catherine Goetze teaches a million people to use AI, then sells them a landline to put the phone down LA, SF, NY
Colleen Yu Filmmaker and creator, Film With Colleen Colleen Yu films her grandmother's ICU room and a brand campaign with the same care New York City
Danielle Baskin Artist and parallel founder of 23 businesses Danielle Baskin has started 23 real businesses and refuses to shut any of them down San Francisco
Francesco D'Alessio Founder, Tool Finder Francesco D'Alessio watched a decade of productivity apps so you only have to download one United Kingdom
Jordan Rogers Sports marketing consultant and keynote speaker Jordan Rogers went from a jail cell to Nike, and he posts the mugshot himself
Kat Espinosa Designer and founder, Moonfrank Kat Espinosa took her design taste out of the client-services grinder and gave it a name of its own Manila
Lois van Baarle Digital artist, Loish Lois van Baarle drew on the internet until three million people showed up to watch The Netherlands
Nadieh Bremer Data visualization artist, Visual Cinnamon Nadieh Bremer went from mapping stars to making data look like something you'd hang on a wall The Netherlands
Sally Huang Product designer and founder, Saltee Sally Huang started in art, detoured through software, and came back holding a vending machine New York City
Steph Smith Creator, Internet Pipes Steph Smith got great at finding internet gold, then sold everyone else the shovel map Remote
Yasmin Saira Founder, Theory of Khaos Yasmin Saira thinks your brand is failing because it is trying too hard to be liked
Tom Orbach Unconventional marketer, viral experiment machine Tom Orbach put a Cringe Level slider on LinkedIn narcissism and sold the joke before most people finished their launch thread New York

Common questions

Which creators are profiled on Cool People Stories?: Cool People Stories profiles 20 creators, including Lucy Blakiston, KP, Abhishek Chaudhary, Simon Sinek, Andrew Tattersall, Mia McGrath, Caroline Zook, Carson Scott, and 12 more. Each one has a full profile covering their story, what they have shipped, and links to their own sites.
What counts as a creator on Cool People Stories?: Someone whose main output is the work itself: writing, illustration, video, film, photography, a newsletter. They built a following by making things in public rather than by talking about making things.
How are people chosen for Cool People Stories?: There is no submission form and no sponsorship. Everyone is picked because they were interesting enough to write about, and the profiles are researched and verified before they go up.

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