How Corporate Natalie Scaled a $500 Brand Deal into a Creator Empire and Agency

(SeaPRwire) –   Natalie Marshall, who goes by Corporate Natalie, felt unstoppable after securing her first brand deal—a $500 sponsored post for Twisted Tea.

“I was like, I am the richest woman in the world,” she said. The budding creator celebrated by treating her friends to dinner at what she described as the nicest “hole in the wall” sushi spot she could find in San Francisco.

A University of Notre Dame graduate and former Deloitte consultant, Marshall began Corporate Natalie as a side hustle. For the last six years, she has cultivated a persona centered on the ridiculous aspects of corporate culture, like passive-aggressive Slack messages and meetings full of jargon. Her comedy sketches struck a chord. She now boasts 1.4 million Instagram followers, 827,000 on TikTok, and 276,000 on LinkedIn—an audience that has drawn brand partnerships with everything from major technology companies to consumer products firms.

Shortly after Marshall began creating content, she saw the potential for significant earnings. To appear more established and build credibility, she invented a fictitious assistant.

“I made an assistant who was actually just me, operating on my other email alias, looping in my assistant to handle this brand deal,” Marshall explained. “So it seemed like I had this whole business and this world around me.”

The illusion she crafted worked. Today, Marshall runs a full-fledged brand where she satirizes office life on TikTok, Instagram, and LinkedIn, and employs three full-time staff. Her accolades include being named a 2023 LinkedIn Top Voice and making the Forbes 30 Under 30 list. She has also starred in a Dunkin’ Donuts commercial with Will Arnett and appeared on a Roku series wearing a Kris Jenner wig to play Charlie Puth’s “momager.” The 29-year-old previously co-produced the podcast Demoted with fellow B2B creator Ross Pomerantz, known as Corporate Bro. While Marshall declined to disclose her revenue, and influencer earnings can fluctuate widely based on followers, content, and platform, top creators are known to make millions annually.

The remarkable success and following of Corporate Natalie have led her to launch Expand Co-Lab, a creator-led influencer marketing agency designed to fix what she views as a fundamentally flawed system.

“Brands pay massive amounts of money for one singular video to creators, and they often never meet them or talk to them,” Marshall stated. “Agencies play this intermediary role that creates separation between the creator and the brand. I sat with that with my team, and we decided we wanted to launch [a] creator led influencer marketing agency.”

The influencer marketing industry

Marshall’s launch of Expand Co-Lab coincides with a pivotal moment for the global influencer marketing industry, which Influencer Marketing Hub projects will grow 35% to $32.55 billion in 2025.

Brands are directing more of this investment into B2B channels. TopRank Marketing’s 2025 B2B Influencer Marketing Report found that 99% of B2B marketers with a continuous influencer strategy consider their programs effective, and 72% of the most advanced teams have a dedicated budget they plan to increase.

However, Marshall contends that increased spending does not automatically lead to better results and can even reduce efficiency.

She explained that creators are typically approached by a brand or agency with a monetary offer and a creative brief to discuss specific topics. But “oftentimes these briefs are written by copywriters, not creators,” leading to documents with multiple calls to action, numerous text overlays, and brand messaging vetted by legal teams. Marshall has had to rewrite scripts as many as ten times to meet briefs not tailored to her comedic style.

“We understand that there’s things you have to do to get your message across, but it’s often really difficult, because me, as a comedy creator… how am I supposed to make a joke but also mention all of these things?” Marshall said. “I think the sweet spot that really makes incredible content is when I meet with the brand directly, and we talk through [the] main problem point [they’re] trying to solve.”

Corporate Natalie’s solution to influencer marketing friction

Expand Co-Lab operates on a straightforward principle: Involve creators from the start.

The agency prioritizes direct dialogue between brands and creators during briefings instead of simply delivering a lengthy slide deck. This approach helps concentrate efforts on what Marshall terms the brand’s essential “one hero moment or message.” Additionally, creators frequently receive no performance feedback from the brands they partner with.

“I don’t know how the campaign performed. I don’t know if I’ll ever speak to them again. Were they happy? Were they sad? I don’t know,” Marshall noted. “There’s no communication.”

Expand Co-Lab does not act as a talent agency or take a commission from creators. It collaborates with a collective of creators focused on the consulting and ideation phases. Current collaborators include Brandon Smithwrick, Varun Rana, Sara Uy, Corporate Bro, Rachel Tokar, Matthew Kearney, and Morgan Young. Marshall says she meets with dozens of new creators each week to grow the collective, with the B2B sector representing the primary opportunity where she is focusing her efforts.

With six years of experience bridging creator culture and the corporate world, Marshall understands both brand objectives and creator workflows. Yet, as she grows her business, she is cautious not to suggest that content creation is for everyone, regardless of how enjoyable or rewarding it might seem.

“I don’t think everyone needs to be a content creator. If you love filming yourself and you love filming videos, absolutely—stick with it,” she advised. “Find the thing that makes you uniquely you… that single point of failure. If you left the company because you’re so good at this one thing, the company would fall apart in some small way.”