Honored as one of the industry's most promising rising leaders, Ellen has made her mark on #paid's enterprise creator partnerships and is defining how creator marketing operates at scale.

NEW YORK, NY / ACCESS Newswire / May 1, 2026 / #paid, a leading creator-marketing platform powering campaigns for the world's top brands, today announced that Ellen Hawkins, a Client Success leader, has been named a finalist for the Digiday Future Leaders Award in the Rising Influencer Marketing Leader category.

The Digiday Future Leaders Award recognizes the next generation of leaders making a significant impact in their industry with 10 years of experience or less. Making its inaugural debut, the Rising Influencer Marketing Leader category honors an individual who is emerging as a leader in their organization. Ellen was selected as a finalist for her demonstrated leadership, forward-looking strategy, and cross-functional execution.

"Ellen embodies the true meaning of a Future Leader," said Ali Braverman, VP Client Success at #paid. "Her fingerprints are all over #paid's major moments and milestones, and this recognition is a true reflection of the impact she has on the creator economy at large. We couldn't be prouder."

As the operator behind some of #paid's biggest moments, Ellen has led extremely complex and high-profile programs:

• Managed and activated nearly 300 creators to generate close to 60M views and over 2M engagements across TikTok, YouTube, and Snapchat.

• Built scalable frameworks for countless activations, driving a 140% efficiency improvement for #paid versus 2024 benchmarks.

• Helped evolve creator marketing into a more measurable, enterprise-ready media channel, with IRL programs growing 168% year-over-year.

• Built the operational foundations that drive technology adoption and overall growth for #paid, completing 100+ process change actions and unlocking an estimated 300-440 operational hours.

"I'm incredibly honored to be recognized as a Digiday Future Leader finalist," said Ellen Hawkins, Team Manager, Client Success at #paid. "I'm passionate about making creator marketing more scalable, more measurable, and more human, and I feel grateful to be part of a company like #paid whose mission aligns with that."

In her five years with #paid, Ellen has played a direct part in executing #paid's high-impact creator programs, partnering closely with executive leadership across Sales, Marketing, Product, Paid Media, Measurement, Finance, and Creator Ops to transform first-of-their-kind initiatives into repeatable frameworks that enable #paid's next phase of growth.

This honor reinforces #paid's commitment to developing the next generation of leaders while continuing to push the boundaries of what's possible for brands and creators working together.

Media Contact:

Allie Gonzales - allie@notablypr.com

About #paid

#paid is a creator marketplace that connects vetted creators with the world's most recognizable brands, like McDonald's, Sephora, Samsung, and Disney. Together, creators and marketers collaborate and measure entire creator marketing campaigns in a centralized and integrated experience. The company empowers creators to do what they love, and brings trust to the creator ecosystem with proprietary technology solutions to large category problems, like fair pricing, algorithmic matching, and automated content usage rights that create true omni-channel creator marketing. The company is rated #1 for its customer support and managed services, and powers marketing teams and content creators from offices in Toronto, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Miami. For more information, visit hashtagpaid.com.

SOURCE: #paid