040. Lucy Moon. The Influencer Economy. Dealing With Scrutiny.

Youtuber and content creator Lucy Moon has been creating content online – and being paid for it – since long before many of us had even heard of the word ‘influencer’, and so this episode is a real insider’s account of an industry and lifestyle that commands a great deal of cultural fascination, and is also largely dominated by women. We covered alot on this episode – what it’s like participating in ‘the economy of the self’, and the pressure that comes with having your professional and financial success contingent on being ‘liked’; the gender bias in the scrutiny that many influencers experience and how Lucy deals with other people’s negative perceptions of her job, as well as why some of those criticisms tend to arise, and the ethical considerations that underpin Lucy’s partnership choices. And of course we talked about privilege – in this case class and race privilege – and the role that that plays within the influencer economy. How it determines who is and isn’t able to monetise their lives, and how much they get paid to do so. Find Lucy on Twitter (@iamnotlucymoon) and Instagram (@iamlucymoon)   We Need To Talk About Money is published by 4th Estate and available to buy now in hardback, eBook and audio, with signed copies available from Waterstones.com. Waterstones: https://www.waterstones.com/book/we-need-to-talk-about-money/otegha-uwagba/9780008489304 Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/We-Need-Talk-About-Money/dp/0008350388 Hive: https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/Otegha-Uwagba/We-Need-to-Talk-About-Money/24127150 Bookshop.org: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/we-need-to-talk-about-money/9780008489304 Audible (including an exclusive 1hr Q&A with my editor Michelle Kane): https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/We-Need-to-Talk-About-Money-Audiobook/0008350418 Produced by Chris Sharp and Naomi Mantin