It’s been another destabilizing year across the board. But the creator economy has surprisingly held strong—despite a looming recession, increasing pressure from lawmakers to ban TikTok in the U.S., and Elon Musk being Elon Musk at Twitter. The creator economy is currently valued at $16.4 billion, a 19% increase from 2021. So will that energy carry over into 2023? To get a better understanding of where the creator economy is heading next year, I interviewed Stephanie Smith, head of talent strategy at UTA IQ; Zehra Naqvi, senior investment associate at Republic; and Madison Long, cofounder and CEO of Clutch.