Meta’s ‘Creators of Tomorrow’ include emerging stars like QCP, Drew Afualo

Meta‘s second-annual Creator Week begins on November 1, and the social giant is kicking off its seven-day celebration with an announcement. The company formerly known as Facebook has unveiled the inaugural class for its Creators of Tomorrow initiative, which highlights “emerging talent inspiring a new movement of creativity and connection.”

The Creators of Tomorrow list includes 25 tastemakers split across five categories. The Redefining Community group includes creators in niche categories, like “your favorite wellness girl” Elyse Fox. One honoree in the self-explanatory #NoFilter Empowerment category is Drew Afualo, also known as “Baba Yaga for misogynists.” The Italian-American chef known as QCP will headline the On The Rise group (as long as he beats his felony rap). Dancer Smac McCreanor is a Creator of Tomorrow who is demonstrating Creative Excellence. Finally, the Future Ready category recognizes innovators like Paige Piskin, who is known for her use of filters.

You may have noticed that a lot of these influencers are more known for their videos on TikTok than their work on Instagram, but the Creators of Tomorrow list includes individuals with big and small followings who operate in all corners of the internet. A good example is Armiel Chandler, who self-identifies as a “filmmaker/freelance video editor/social media enthusiastic.”

The links between the Creators of Tomorrow and TikTok go beyond a few follower counts. Meta’s new initiative looks a lot like TikTok’s Discover List

, which arrived last year to fete a collection of Icons, Innovators, Foodies, Changemakers, and Originators. A new edition of the Discover List is due out soon.

By naming Creators of Tomorrow, Meta is bringing more cohesion to its communities. It is celebrating people who are moving the needle on Facebook and Instagram while reminding the rest of us that those platforms offer multiple means of revenue generation.

“Our goal is to support all creators by building a great place for them to tell their stories, grow their audience, and get paid for their work,” reads a blog post introducing the Creators of Tomorrow. “That’s why we’ve invested in creators like no other social media company has, giving them a home base to create engaging content through a variety of formats. We’re also building a suite of monetization tools to help them earn a living.”

Those monetization tools will take center stage at Creator Week, which will include in-person, invite-only events in Los Angeles, Bali, São Paulo, London, and Delhi. Snippets of those gatherings will be posted online via Instagram’s official @creators account and the Meta for Creators hub on Facebook.