Introduction
Every year, the annual lists of top creators are released, and while we love to see creators getting recognized and appreciated - we don’t love that these lists always seem to over-emphasize creators who are entertainers, streamers, or have contributed to a significant trend in the past year.
What about the creators who are teaching us things?
What about the creators who are driving impact for audiences?
What about the creators who are sharing their knowledge?
We consider these people "knowledge creators". Where is the list that recognizes them?
Last year, we were inspired by this post by creator economy executive Monica Khan, and we decided that if we couldn’t find the list - we’d make it ourselves.
This year, we're back with our 2nd annual list.
Below, we've highlighted a few notes below about how we put this list together.
Enjoy, and thank you to all the creators out there who are sharing their knowledge with us!
Caveats & Criteria
Sourcing
We based the pool of candidates on our own knowledge and research, as well as input from some other creator economy experts. That being said, the internet is wide and there are likely dozens of worthy candidates we might have missed. We'll keep doing this each year to recognize as many creators as we can.
Criteria
After creating a larger list, we whittled it down to the top 25 based on their overall impact, cultural relevance, uniqueness of their viewpoint, effectiveness of their monetization, and scale of the business(es) they've built.
Size Limit
To make sure this list had minimal overlap with the more generalized lists out there, we made the decision to cap the inclusion of "mega-creators" by leaving only a few spots for creators with more than 10M combined followers across platforms.
Non-Ranked
The are the top 25 knowledge creators of 2025 based on our assessment, but we haven't ranked them among each other. The list is presented alphabetically, so there is no "winner"...or maybe we're all winners because we get to enjoy their content <3
Adrian Per treats social media posts as art, bringing a decade-plus background as a director and multidisciplinary creative to storytelling-driven video content. His cinematic, emotional short-form work stands out in a sea of trend chasers because he teaches creators to build belief in themselves rather than chase algorithms. Throughout 2024, podcast interviews highlighted his 365-day posting experiment and rapid growth to over 500,000 Instagram followers as a case study in consistency. His directing work, including the viral Lil Nas X "Montero" album promo short, anchors his credibility as a professional filmmaker. Through his company Lumpia Watermelon and brand partnerships, Per shows that high-quality, meaningful content functions as both marketing and an implicit curriculum for aspiring creators.
Bill Nye
Who would ever have thought we’d be here, celebrating Bill Nye as a creator in 2025? Bill continues making science memorable for younger audiences through TV, live events, and digital media after decades as a science educator. His playful but rigorous demonstrations teach physics, climate, and critical thinking in ways that stick. Recent work includes series like "The End Is Nye," which uses disaster scenarios to teach science concepts, keeping him relevant in climate and science media conversations. He remains a trusted voice for making complex scientific concepts feel accessible and urgent, particularly around environmental issues that demand public understanding and action. Bill Nye the Science Guy: not just for millennials anymore!
Well that escalated quickly. The last 18 months must have been a whirlwind for Catherine Goetze, a creator who demystifies artificial intelligence by blending philosophical questions about human purpose and phone addiction with accessible explanations of how Silicon Valley actually thinks about AI. Her social presence provides straightforward, empathetic education on AI and tech culture, with an insider perspective that makes abstract debates feel grounded and human. In 2025, Cat has continued her massive growth on social, launched several mission-aligned brand partnerships, thrown massive “no phone” IRL parties, and sold tens of thousands of her Bluetooth enabled land lines via her new brand, Physical Phones.
The Luo sisters have the conversations young ambitious women actually want to hear about the messy intersection of power, money, growth, and sometimes even love. Since launching in mid 2024, the Tiger Sisters podcast has shot to Top Business Podcast status on Spotify by refusing to separate career strategy from personal reality. They'll dissect Harvard versus Stanford MBAs one episode, then dive into financial red flags in relationships the next, all with the energy of late night sister talk mixed with boardroom smarts. Their 2025 content on billionaire playbooks and how partners affect wealth building treats their audience like the strategic thinkers they are. With Sisters Matcha and a growing content to commerce empire, they're building something bigger than podcasting.
Codie Sanchez
If you’re into entrepreneurship, it is hard to imagine your algorithm does not prominently feature Codie Sanchez. Codie left the world of Wall Street and private equity to build an investment and advisory company that challenges everything we've been taught about wealth. Through her content and Contrarian Thinking, Codie teaches people to buy boring businesses that actually make money. Laundromats. Car washes. Vending machines. Real Main Street businesses generating real cash flow. If one thing stands out about Codie, it is that she walks the talk. Uses media to find deal flow. Uses deals to fund more media. Through Contrarian Thinking and her Big Deal Podcast, she's building a nation of owners who understand that corporate jobs won't make you wealthy. Ownership will. Her frameworks translate finance, M&A, and private equity into accessible playbooks for first-time buyers and advisory for scaling operators. Most people won't bet on themselves. For those who will, Codie shows them how.
Colin Rocker shares tools and strategies for career growth, especially for the unique workplace challenges faced by first-gen professionals, building @careercolin to over 420,000 followers. 2025 was a huge year for Colin, as he landed on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list and founded For The Firsts, NYC's fastest-growing networking meetup series for ambitious young professionals. As a former executive coach who negotiated over $4.7 million in total compensation for clients, he brings real operational experience to his content - and gatekeeps absolutely none of it. He's become a top 1% LinkedIn creator worldwide by translating his public speaking experience (United Nations, Goldman Sachs, NYU Stern) into practical career frameworks that actually help people navigate the workplace.
Dami Lee
Dami Lee is a licensed architect and founder of Nollistudio who has cracked the code on making architectural concepts engaging and accessible to over a million YouTube subscribers. She challenges the conventional architectural wisdom that "work should speak for itself" by actively communicating the value and impact of design on daily life, pop culture, and society. In 2022, she founded Nollistudio (also Nollimedia), a unique fusion of architecture, research, and video production that allows her to produce high-quality content independently and consult on major projects like AAA video games. Her Streamy Award nomination for outstanding writing reflects her skill at transforming dense, technical architectural information into clear, entertaining narratives. She's pioneering a new approach to architectural communication and inspiring a generation of professionals to explore alternative career paths by building influence through digital storytelling, and candidly, her YouTube channel is one of the better rabbit holes you can fall into on the internet.
Derek Muller turns complex science into edge-of-your-seat investigative storytelling. His YouTube channel Veritasium has grown to almost 20 million subscribers and 4 billion views by refusing to dumb down physics, chemistry, or environmental science. His 2025 exposé "How One Company Secretly Poisoned the Planet" revealed his own PFAS blood contamination while building a corporate investigation that amplified public awareness of "forever chemicals." The video's debut coincided with major EPA policy moves, proving that great science education can actually shift policy. Now backed by a team of nearly 20 and investment from Electrify Video Partners, Muller shows what's possible when you trust your audience's intelligence.
Dr. Jennifer Ashton
Dr. Jen is what happens when trust, influence, and expertise (double-board certified, thank you very much) converge. After moving on from Good Morning America in late 2024, Jen grew her Ajenda weekly newsletter to over 180,000 engaged subscribers, then did something smarter than launching another content platform. At 55, she embarked on a six-month fitness program with trainer Korey Rowe that visibly changed her body and energy. Her social followers were captivated. Rather than just documenting the journey, launched the Wellness Experiment, a program combining her medical and nutritional expertise with Korey's fitness methodology. Over 8,000 participants joined in the first 90 days and experienced transformative results, proving that people trust Jen not just for her credentials, but for her willingness to share her real wellness journey and ability to impact people’s lives for the better.
Dr. Jessica Knurick
Dr. Jessica Knurick tackles misinformation about food safety and public health measures head-on, and she's doing it without brand deals or sponsored content clouding her message. As a public health expert, she monetizes solely through Substack, putting her money where her mouth is about sharing information for public benefit rather than profit. Her Instagram, TikTok and Substack content cuts through the noise of wellness influencers and fear-mongering headlines with evidence-based explanations of what actually matters for food safety and public health. In an era where health misinformation spreads faster than facts, Knurick represents a rare breed of expert willing to prioritize public education over lucrative partnerships or self-benefit. Her commitment to independent, subscriber-supported content proves that rigorous science communication can build an audience without compromising integrity.
Dr. Joel Bervell
Joel Bervell, a Ghanaian-American physician and health equity advocate, has built a massive following by highlighting racial biases in medicine and dismantling health misinformation on TikTok and Instagram. His content educates audiences on systemic inequities in healthcare that medical schools often gloss over or ignore entirely. In collaboration with YouTube Health, Bervell co-created and hosts "The Doctor Is In," an animated series designed to introduce children to medical careers while encouraging diverse representation in healthcare professions. The show addresses a critical pipeline problem by helping kids from underrepresented backgrounds see themselves in white coats. His work fills a gap that traditional medical education leaves wide open, using social platforms to teach both patients and future physicians about the biases that shape healthcare outcomes.
Dr. Shadé Zahrai
Shadé Zahrai blends research, best practices, and moral foundations into actionable strategies that help people supercharge their success. As co-founder and director of Influenceo Global with her husband Faysal, she's trained leaders and teams from spirited startups to Fortune 500 companies, invigorating cultures and fueling performance. Her courses have reached over 7 million learners, and her educational videos have racked up more than 300 million views and 2025 saw her release her first book, Big Trust. She's a global peak performance educator with a knack for making complex leadership psychology feel simple and achievable. Her mission centers on helping as many people as possible confidently take charge of their life and career with ease and simplicity, translating dense behavioral science into frameworks that actually work in real workplaces.
Emma Grede
Emma Grede, and her media brand and podcast Aspire, have become a must-listen for thousands - Emma hosts smart, insightful conversations about building businesses that are equal parts inviting and insightful. Her credibility comes from actually doing the work as founding partner and chief product officer of Skims, she oversees product strategy for a company that redefined modern shapewear. She has also co-founded Safely with a mission "to rid American homes of harsh toxins," and her portfolio includes equity stakes and executive roles across multiple brands. On Aspire, Grede translates her behind-the-scenes experience into practical wisdom about what it actually takes to build scalable, celebrity-powered consumer companies, offering the kind of operational insights you can't get from surface-level business content - and does it with warmth, humor, and insight that has made her a top podcast in no time at all.
Hank Green
Can you have a comeback if you never really left? If there was a YouTube Mount Rushmore, it’s hard to imagine Hank not being on it. One half of the Vlogbrothers, co-creator of Crash Course and SciShow, Hank has spent a decade plus turning YouTube into a pseudo-curriculum used by classrooms worldwide. He teaches science, history, and more through structured videos that make learning feel less like homework and more like curiosity-driven exploration. But beyond everything Hank has already accomplished, 2025 still somehow felt like a growth year with the launch of a productivity app, Focus Friend, delivering the commencement address at MIT, hosting another new YouTube show, and co-leading the annual "Project for Awesome" charity drive. Hank is, to put it mildly, AN ABSOLUTE TREASURE.
Jefferson Fisher
Jefferson Fisher teaches people "how to argue like a lawyer" through short videos often recorded in his parked truck, offering practical advice on communication and conflict resolution that helps people argue less and talk more. As a trial lawyer turned content creator and podcast host, he translates courtroom advocacy techniques into everyday scripts for navigating difficult conversations. His debut book The Next Conversation: Argue Less, Talk More, launched in March, became a New York Times bestseller by offering a framework with actionable strategies and phrases to handle tough dialogues with confidence and clarity. Fisher has built a remarkably engaged and enthusiastic following by making conflict resolution feel less like therapy-speak and more like learnable skills, proving that the tools lawyers use to persuade juries work just as well in conference rooms…and living rooms.
Maggie Sellers brings women into early-stage consumer investing through her Hot Smart Rich brand, which reframes being hot, smart, and rich as compatible ambitions, not mutually exclusive descriptors. She teaches angel investing, venture capital, and career power using community, content, and investing education rooted in her behind-the-scenes deal experience from record labels and celebrity-brand ventures. Her interview-oriented podcast has rocketed up the charts this year, and highlighted her role in notable celebrity consumer deals and emerging investing trends. HSR has crystallized as both a lifestyle and investing community that speaks directly to women in male-dominated finance spaces. She encourages "delusional confidence" as a prerequisite for breaking into venture and angel investing, and judging from the recent 7-figure investment into her brand, you’d be delulu not to bet big on Maggie.
Marina Mogilko combines practical career, tech and creator-business advice with her own immigrant-founder story through her multiple channels like Linguamarina and Silicon Valley Girl. The walking embodiment of a multi-hyphenate, Marina teaches language learning, immigration strategies, and creator entrepreneurship, giving her audience actionable frameworks for navigating complex systems. Her content bridges the gap between aspirational creator advice and the practical realities of building a career and a business in a new country. She speaks directly to the challenges immigrants face while building businesses and online platforms, making her a trusted voice for creators navigating similar paths. And did we mention she does it all while ALSO being an engaged mother? But what we really appreciate is that she doesn’t pretend it is easy - she shares the challenges and struggles along the way just as much as the wins.
Mychal Threets
Mychal Threets radiates "unhinged library joy," and the world is better for it. This tattooed librarian turned media personality has taken his message of belonging to over one million followers across TikTok, Instagram, PBS, and PBS Kids, making libraries feel like the safest, most welcoming spaces on earth. His September 2025 appointment as the new host of Reading Rainbow caps off an incredible rise. Viewers compare him to Mister Rogers and LeVar Burton for his gentle, affirming approach to literacy and mental health. Threets bridges traditional public institutions and creator culture without losing an ounce of authenticity, and his personal brand (the hair, the tattoos, the Arthur's library card ink) is pure joy.
Rowan Cheung
Rowan Cheung helps professionals track AI developments without deep research through "The Rundown," a daily newsletter that summarizes AI news and product launches in fast, digestible updates. The Rundown has become the gold standard in the AI community, reflecting significant influence on how mainstream users understand AI developments. Rowan fills a critical gap for people who need to stay current on AI but don't have time to follow every announcement, paper, or product launch. His ability to distill complex AI trends into actionable insights makes him essential reading (and his podcast essential listening) for anyone navigating the rapidly changing AI landscape. Beyond just media properties, 2025 also saw the launch of The Rundown University, the go-to space on the web for ongoing, of-the-moment, and practical AI education.
Steven Bartlett
Steven Bartlett makes vulnerability and curiosity feel like superpowers through "The Diary of a CEO." By turning his private diary entries into public lessons on business, relationships, and creativity, he's created a podcast that feels like therapy for high performers while also consistently being one of the top ranked pods in terms of views and listens. The high profile guest roster helps, but what really sets Bartlett apart is his willingness to probe emotional terrain other business podcasters avoid. He proves that genuine introspection and strategic brilliance beat hustle culture and hype every single time. Beyond just the media he is creating, Steven continues to invest in the space, whether via companies like Stan or putting his money behind individual creators, Steven wants to build the Disney of the creator economy.
Tayla Cannon
Only a few years into creating content, Tayla Cannon has experienced incredible traction. She is building Rebuildr, a physical therapy software platform that received $1.1 million in investment from Slow Ventures Creator Fund in 2025. This investment signals something important about where creator businesses are headed beyond content and courses into legitimate software companies solving real problems. Rebuildr addresses a critical gap in physical therapy practice management, and the Slow Ventures backing validates Cannon's approach to building creator-founded companies that scale beyond personal brands. Her work demonstrates that creators with domain expertise can build venture-backable businesses, not just audiences. Tayla is representative of a new wave of founder-creators who are using their platforms to launch companies that attract institutional capital.
Tiffany Aliche, known as "The Budgetnista," is one of our favorite personal financial educators (not to mention also being the author of the New York Times bestseller "Get Good with Money"). Through her GGWM Movement, Tiffany has helped over two million women save, manage, and pay off hundreds of millions of dollars. A former teacher for ten years with a Master's degree in Education, she was instrumental in getting The Budgetnista Law (A1414) passed in January 2019, making financial education mandatory for middle school students in New Jersey. She's also the first Black woman to grace the cover of Money Magazine solo, an NAACP nominee, and co-host of a Webby Award winning podcast. Her work emphasizes that financial health is about building the life you actually want, speaking directly to communities historically excluded from traditional financial education - and in 2025, she took her message even further, featuring on Good Morning America and launching a series on PBS.
Tommy Geoco
Tommy Geoco identifies as an "internet enjoyer" who highlights "dope people doing dope shit" while pushing back hard against cynicism in the design industry. In 2025, he tore up his existing content playbook and started self-financing This Is Taste, a documentary series where he follows and profiles creative teams. The move represents a bold bet on long-form storytelling in an era dominated by short-form content, and he's funding it himself rather than waiting for brand sponsors or platform support. His work celebrates craft and creativity without the ironic detachment that plagues much of design discourse online. By profiling creative teams doing exceptional work, Geoco is building an archive of what taste actually looks like in practice, not just in theory. His willingness to invest his own resources into ambitious documentary work shows serious conviction about what design content can be.
Vivian Tu translates Wall Street jargon into conversational, culturally fluent financial advice as "Your Rich BFF." With Wall Street and BuzzFeed experience under her belt, she teaches personal finance (saving, investing, credit, everyday money decisions) through short-form video and podcasts that feel like texting with your smartest friend. By December 2024, she'd grown to around 8 million followers across platforms, with Instagram as her largest audience. Her expansion beyond TikTok virality into books like "Rich AF" and long-form formats deepens her role as a financial educator for Gen Z and millennials. Vivian has continued to professionalize and scale her presence into a recognizable brand that bridges meme culture and serious financial literacy, and in 2025 was named the First Chief of Financial Empowerment of SoFi.
Xyla Foxlin
If you like planes and going fast, and you don’t know Xyla Foxlin, you should probably head over to YouTube right now - we’ll see you back here in a couple of hours. Xyla explores engineering, aerospace, and hands-on making through highly produced build videos that combine technical rigor with whimsical, aesthetic projects. She broadens who feels "invited" into engineering by making complex builds feel accessible and fun rather than gatekept by jargon and intimidation. Xyla’s content proves that engineering education doesn't have to choose between being technically accurate and being beautiful to watch, and is helping to build a new generation of makers who see engineering as creative expression.
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© 2025 Rare Days
Designed and developed by Rare Days
© 2025 Rare Days