Mana Talent Group, a firm established by Charlie ‘Moist Cr1TiKaL‘ White, Gina ‘Gibi ASMR‘ Klein, and Tyler ‘Jimmy Here‘ Collins, is part of a wave of creator-led talent agencies. Mana, which opened its doors earlier in 2022, celebrated its launch in a wholesome way. Across a two-day event called Manathon, the agency’s three owners went live to raise $108,000 for charity.
The recipient of that six-digit sum is The Brain and Behavior Research Foundation, which aims to find cures for mental health conditions by issuing scientific grants. Klein, in her trademark whisper, described the Foundation as “a place I’ve been donating to for a very long time.” She did not stay quiet when one of her supporters delivered a $1,500 donation near the start of her Manathon stream. Her scream may not be ASMR material, but it’s an accurate indicator of her excitement.
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Klein ultimately raised more than $50,000 through her Manathon stream, while White added another $40,000 and Collins supplied $8,500. Those three creators collectively reach about 31 million followers, and their charity streams combined to bring in 63,848 hours of watch time.
White, Klein, and Collins launched Mana alongside their own managers. One of those reps, Matt Phillips, serves as Mana’s CEO. “MANA’s origin story was to combine like-minded creator-owners so we could advocate for a larger field of content creators and help them focus on doing what they love,” Phillips said in a statement. “I’m thrilled that we’re in a position to take our reach a step further and support solutions for mental illness, an issue that is important to our company, our creators, and our audiences.”
Mana emerged in September out of a merger between two preexisting agencies. It is one of several new firms led by major streamers. Other companies in that category include Pokimane’s RTS and SypherPK’s Oni Studios.
Like those companies, Mana is looking to find partners by promising to look at online video from the creator’s point of view. “My genre is so strange; it’s really hard to have big companies know what it is and be able to explain it to brands,” one of Mana’s ASMR clients told Digiday. “I didn’t even consider emailing any other management company at first.”
Manathon is the company’s way of saying hello. Other holiday season fundraisers in the gaming community include Jacksepticeye’s Thankmas and DrLupo’s Build Against Cancer.
