Who Manages The Magic?

Meet the managers pushing today's content creators to stardom and keeping them there. They're brokering deals, styling, even offering creative input

- Karishma Kuenzang

It's the age of the content creator. But behind the Reels, it is also the age of the artist manager..

It used to be that only those in show business had managers. Now, cyclists, cartoonists, even make-up artists have them. Podcasters and venture capitalists pay for their services. That's because fame, even a moderate level, is suddenly within reach but needs a bit of help.

Rohit Raj, 29, started out managing comedian Bhuvan Bam when they were both 22. He is now CEO and co-founder of BB Ki Vines Productions and CEO of BB Ki Vines. This is the age of younger managers learning things hands-on as they experience them with creators, Raj says.

Piyush Agrawal, 24, co-founder of Create, manages creators such as Monkey Magic, Unfiltered by Samdish, Raunak Ramteke, Suraj Devraj and Vir Saini. With short-form content coming in, the shelf life of fame itself is decreasing, he says. The point is to stay consistent at a much faster pace, which can't be done solo. See how it's done.

The secret ingredient

Kavneet Sahni, Clients: Chefs Saransh Goila, Garima Arora

MOST OF SAHNI'S CLIENTS' LEADS COME VIA SOCIAL MEDIA, WHICH HELPS HER PAIR THEM WITH THE RIGHT BRANDS

Kavneet Sahni, 42, believes it's the manager's job to help the talent think beyond their existing expertise. The CEO and founder of Culinary Communications has been doing this since 2013.

Sahni has specialised her services and only works with chefs. In the past, she managed Vikas Khanna, Ranveer Brar and Sarah Todd. Managing a talent not only involves striking the best deals and handling the business, but also giving your talent creative inputs when required, she says. For this, you yourself must understand the subject.

Most of her clients' leads come via social media platforms, which helps Sahni pair them with the right brands and track and measure the results.