Cara is currently pursuing a PhD at Loughborough University, supported by a sponsorship from the institution. With over 10 years of experience in the media and creative industries, Cara has held managerial and director positions, leading teams and projects that integrated creativity with strategic business goals. Her extensive background in media management and creative direction has provided her with a deep understanding of industry dynamics, making her transition into academia both seamless and impactful.
Cara completed her MBA at the University of Birmingham, where she refined her business acumen and leadership capabilities. This solid foundation in business management enhances her ability to examine the intersection of creative practices and entrepreneurship from both theoretical and practical perspectives.
Her PhD research focuses on exploring creative labour in the Chinese digital world, specifically investigating the experiences and entrepreneurial journeys of individuals in this rapidly evolving sector. Cara is interested in understanding how creative professionals navigate the challenges of digital platforms and the complexities of entrepreneurship in China, particularly in the context of online influencers and content creators.
Through her research, Cara aims to contribute new insights into the dynamics of creative labour, shedding light on the precarity and entrepreneurial spirit that define the modern digital economy. Her work seeks to fill a gap in the literature around creative worker, entrepreneurship, gender, and the influencer culture in the Chinese context.
Cara remains actively engaged in the media and creative sectors, using her industry experience to inform her academic work and drive innovation in her research. She is eager to influence both academia and industry with her findings, particularly in the areas of creative labour, entrepreneurship and feminist studies.
Wanghong Creators and an Entrepreneurial Influencer Self in the Neoliberal Digital World
PGR Supervisors: Prof Lise Jaillant and Dr Jilly Kay
Cara’s PhD research focuses on the experiences of wanghong creators on Xiaohongshu (Red), exploring how they navigate the precariousness of digital labour while embodying the entrepreneurial self in the neoliberal digital economy. Using cultural studies and feminist studies approaches, her work delves into how these creators experience their roles, with particular attention to gendered labour and the emotional and economic challenges they face. The platform's business model, which centers on personal branding and continuous content production, forces creators to manage their careers as entrepreneurial ventures. Their success is tied to unpredictable metrics such as engagement, followers, and online visibility.
A key aspect of Cara’s research is understanding how wanghong creators internalize the neoliberal demand to manage their careers as entrepreneurial endeavors. This includes constant self-promotion, content creation, and monetization, all of which contribute to a precarious work environment where economic rewards are unstable. Success on the platform is dependent on fluctuating factors, such as audience interaction, market trends, and the creators’ ability to adapt to evolving algorithms. These pressures often lead to precarious conditions, as creators are compelled to constantly validate their worth and maintain relevance in an ever-evolving digital landscape.
Through a cultural studies lens, Cara examines how digital labour is shaped by cultural practices and societal expectations, while a feminist studies approach allows her to investigate the gendered experiences of wanghong creators, especially women, who face distinct challenges in balancing entrepreneurial aspirations with gendered expectations. This perspective highlights how women creators negotiate empowerment and exploitation within a predominantly female-dominated sphere.
Cara’s research aims to explore how wanghong creators cope with the precarity of their work, using interviews and online observation to capture their lived experiences. By considering gender and the cultural context of digital entrepreneurship, her study provides valuable insights into the experiences of creators as a new form of entrepreneurship within the neoliberal digital world.