What does a talent agent actually do for their 10%? Why are creators and brands now sitting in the top ten earners at one of the biggest agencies in the world, next to the actors and the athletes? And why does the man who runs UTA in Europe tell his clients that a brand coming to them directly is a brand planning to undercut them?

Darnell Strom is Head of UTA Europe, the agent behind Malala Yousafzai, Michaela Coel, Jon Batiste and Karlie Kloss. He walks Poppy through how the money actually moves in the talent business, from the $30 million guarantees of the 90s and early 2000s to the equity deals being written for talent now, and what that teaches anyone negotiating their own worth without an agent in the room.

In this episode:

◼️ Why UTA signed YouTubers 20 years ago while rival agencies laughed, and who is scrambling now

◼️ Why TV and film went from 85% of UTA's business to under half in 15 years

◼️ How the definition of talent expanded to anyone with a platform and a following

◼️ Why creators and brands now sit in the top ten earners next to the actors and the athletes

◼️ What a brand is really doing when it comes to you directly instead of your agent

◼️ Why giving up 10% beats getting paid 50% less on a deal you negotiated yourself

◼️ Why the data on your own audience is the leverage you cannot get on your own

◼️ Why a creator's recommendation converts like a friend's, and what that is worth to a brand

◼️ Whether to stay the expert in one thing or expand, and how to expand without losing the audience

◼️ The film made with AI tools for $750,000 that reached cinemas because the audience asked

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What happens to your pension when there is barely one worker left per retiree? Why does a demographer say the best money decision you can make in your thirties is having a child? And why does he think the next great crisis will be a bond crisis?

Paul Morland is the demographer behind No One Left. His next book, Bust: The Economics of Population Decline, is out in November.

He walks Poppy through the economics of a shrinking population, a story usually argued as culture and never costed as money, and what it means for your tax bill and the state that promised to look after you.

In this episode:

◼️ How a low birth rate turns 100 people into 40, then into 16, inside two generations

◼️ What an ageing country does to your wages, your savings and your tax bill

◼️ Japan as the preview, going from 8 or 9 workers supporting each retiree to barely one

◼️ Why Paul thinks the next crash will come from governments that cannot pay their bills

◼️ Why he calls the state a Ponzi scheme once the population pyramid inverts, and what he thinks happens when it can no longer meet its promises

◼️ Why he says not to count on a state pension, and what he tells anyone in their thirties to do instead

◼️ Why you cannot fix a worker shortage by sending half the workers home

◼️ What happens to birth rates when men pick up more of the housework

◼️ The changes employers could make tomorrow, starting with why offices have gyms and no nurseries

◼️ How the tax system could pay mothers back for the pension years they lose

◼️ Why he does not believe AI or robots will be looking after us in old age

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Jana Sascha started De La Vali selling dresses from the back of a car in Ibiza, to anyone who would buy them. Nearly ten years later the brand is stocked by its dream retailers, worn by Kate Moss, and online sales are up 300% in a year. So how do you actually make a fashion brand profitable?

This week Poppy sits down with Jana Sascha, founder and creative director of De La Vali. Jana breaks down the real numbers behind scaling an independent fashion brand, from a first collection sewn on a shoestring to a restructure and back to profit.

In this episode:

◼️ How much it really costs to start a fashion brand

◼️ Why on-time delivery decides whether your stockists keep you

◼️ How shifting from wholesale to 60% direct to consumer can transform a business

◼️ How a spare dress handed to Kate Moss at a party changed the brand's trajectory

◼️ How to pick the most important first hire for a small brand

◼️ Why giving retailers a 2.4 to 2.8x margin can still make you money

◼️ Why Jana now keeps De La Vali privately funded and running on its own profits

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