Five creators our summer intern is currently watching

By Deborah Amofa-Akuoko

The rise of influencers and influencer marketing has skyrocketed over the past few years, and in 2026 it has become a key part of how brands connect with audiences. Influencers are no longer just a social media trend, with brands increasingly investing in creators to reach targeted and engaged communities across platforms such as TikTok and Instagram. Around a third of the UK online population now actively follows influencers for recommendations, showing just how influential creators have become in consumers’ everyday lives.

Brands place influencers as the face of their campaigns because they can offer something traditional advertising often struggles to achieve: trust, relatability and authenticity. This makes influencer marketing useful not only for building awareness, but also for encouraging people to discover and purchase products. With this impact, it’s a no-brainer that brands are continuing to increase their investment in this area of PR.

As someone who lives on TikTok and Instagram, I’m here to share some of my favourites

@MiaMcGrath

Mia is a lifestyle and intellectual influencer who gives advice on personal finance and takes viewers along her own financial journey to an audience of 700k+. She coined the concept Frugal Chic with a book release in the works. This is all about spending intentionally and building wealth without sacrificing taste. She’s worked with banks and financial platforms such as HMRC, Trading 212 and Barclays.

When I first started making better financial decisions, she was the first creator who made technical concepts easy to understand. I love that her content varies from day in the life vlogs to educational investing videos with transparent budgeting and spending.

@kacorporategirly

Kirstie-Ann is a PR Director at FTI Consulting who creates content about her journey mixed with career advice, day in the life vlogs, beauty and lifestyle alongside opinion pieces and financial education. She has collaborated with brands such as the Financial Times, Shark and Audible with an audience of 37k+.

As an aspiring PR professional, her content has been so informative and motivating on breaking into the industry. Her range of content allows viewers to experience many sides of her life and her witty personality creates an engaged fan base... me included!

@GraceBeverley

Grace is the founder and co-owner of 7 different brands including TALA, The Productivity Method, Shreddy and the Working Hard Podcast. She showcases her journey through social media sharing the highs and lows of being a business owner to an audience of 1.2m+. One of her most popular series was the countdown to the opening of her first TALA store, I love how raw her content is about the journey with her start-ups.

She also provides tips on how to be productive, mistakes to avoid when going into business and most recently her pregnancy journey and the build-up to maternity leave. She has interesting day in the life vlogs, opinion pieces and educational podcast episodes which I find very inspiring.

@NataniaHinds

Natania is a lifestyle, beauty and fashion influencer who has taken her audience of 270k+ on her journey from education to life post-graduation. She creates content around travel, testing new and viral products such as food and skincare and taking us along to different influencer events.

Her bubbly personality has landed her partnerships with brands such as ITV, Pepsi and Anua with high engagement across all her videos. Her videos are entertaining and funny whilst her reviews have both influenced and de-influenced me! I can see her becoming increasingly influential with many brands partnering with her.

@Melissaswardrobe

Melissa is the founder of perfume-infused laundry care brand ‘The Le Luxe’ and rapper Stormzy’s personal stylist. She creates luxury lifestyle content alongside sharing her hilarious personality through vlogs, product reviews and outfit of the days. She has secured major collaborations with brands such as Blank Street with the ‘Mel’s Maple Matcha’ and her M&S series ‘Mel Made Me Do It’.

Her influence has led to viewers selling out some of the products she recommends within minutes of uploading a video. Her infectious personality coupled with her inspirational lifestyle draws me to her content.

Key takeaway 

The main reason I enjoy these creators is because they strike the perfect balance between being relatable, educational and aspirational. They all do brand collaborations and organic content so authentically, and they’ve had me hooked on their content for months, and in some cases, even years.

As the stats and facts suggest at the beginning, influencer marketing has truly transformed the industry, and influencers have introduced me to new brands and products that have now become essentials in my life. It’s going to be exciting to see how the industry continues to evolve, and I wonder what heights it will reach in the coming years as social media continues to have such a huge impact on our everyday lives.