The Creator Spotlight Podcast Ep. 95: He quit NBC to make YouTube videos ft. Fernando Hurtado
Jan 27, 2026
Fernando Hurtado, former NBC/Telemundo journalist turned creator behind In the Hyphen, left corporate media to build a YouTube channel on U.S. Latino culture. He shares stories about rapid monetization, losing early brand deals, building a launch buffer, time-boxed production to avoid burnout, and mixing reporting with creator-led journalism and short-form funnels.
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Plan Sponsorship Logistics Early
- Budget time for sponsorship work: approvals, ad-read edits, and back-and-forth take significant time before publish.
- Build that process into your schedule so sponsorships don't derail creative deadlines.
Fast Monetization, Fast Mistakes
- Fernando's first viral video hit 100k views quickly and pushed him to YouTube monetization in five days.
- He got five inbound brand offers but lost them by pricing too high.
Sell Packages, Not Single Spots
- Do outbound outreach and create a clear sales deck to win predictable sponsorships.
- Sell multi-video packages (e.g., three videos) to increase sponsor ROI and simplify production.