The Parasocial Paradox | The risks & realities of being visible online

About this podcast

There's the public side of being a creator - the growth, the audience, the brand deals, the sales. And then there's the side nobody talks about: the risks, the exposure, the realities that come with making a livelihood out of being visible online. As a professional creator, you're business is built on the relationships you have with your audience, the ones you need to grow, to monetize, and to actually serve them well. But along with all the upsides of building an audience come risks. Risks that nobody tells you about, often until you find yourself staring them down face-to-face. Privacy and security exposure. Mental health and burnout. Platform dependency. Income volatility. Public call outs. Cancellation. AI cloning your content without consent. Audiences that feel a little too close for comfort. And the worst part: There's no safety net and no playbook for any of it. Our goal is to change that. In each episode of the Parasocial Paradox, you'll hear experienced creators dig into the tensions, risk, and realities of being visible online platform risk, financial instability, AI, physical safety, mental health, audience dynamics, all of it. There's a lot of upside, and there's a lot that can go wrong, and we don't talk about the latter nearly enough. Think of it as listening in on a private creator mastermind or hallway track at a conference, where nobody's performing and nothing's off the table. Because while these conversations are already happening, they’re happening behind closed doors in 1:1 calls, masterminds, and group chats. If we want more creators to be less exposed, more secure, and more able to build successful, sustainable careers, we need to put that stuff on the mic, because the truth of this business is this: it's wonderful, and it’s also really hard. Hosted by Susan Boles, who spent years in federal law enforcement and security before becoming a creator herself. After a decade of watching creators build with zero infrastructure for protection, she started Unpublic, a creator safety and privacy service built for people whose livelihood depends on showing up online. The risks are real. So are the rewards. And it's time we actually talked about both. That's the paradox every creator feels - building relationships with an audience while navigating the real risks of being visible online. Pull up a chair, grab your coffee, and turn off the ring light. We're not performing here.