Why a once-anonymous creator unmasked herself to build a bigger media brand

By Alyssa Mercante • July 16, 2026 •

This article is part of an ongoing series examining successful creator business strategies. More from the series →

In 2018, Kristi Cook was an anonymous YouTuber making videos about internet celebrity drama and gossip on a channel known as Spill Sesh, with only her disembodied voice doling out the week’s hottest gossip. The channel became wildly popular, garnering over 700,000 subscribers in just a few years (now 860,000) across more than 1,000 videos with over 350 million views.

At the time, Spill Sesh highlighted a relatively untouched niche: taking TMZ-style reporting (which she was familiar with as she once worked for the media company) and applying it to internet celebrities, influencers, and content creators. In 2023, she told The New York Times that she earned around $20,000 a month through Google AdSense.

But Cook felt that, despite her success, her creator journey had grown stagnant.