📲 Inside Deuxmoi's crowd-sourced celebrity gossip empire

Last week I mentioned we’d be expanding our coverage beyond beehiiv newsletters.

Today’s guest does send a newsletter through beehiiv, but it’s only one branch of a business built around a 2M-strong Instagram audience. The core question guiding my conversation with her: How did you translate your Instagram following into a sustainable business?

My hope is, no matter what type of creator you are, you’ll be able to take something valuable from her experience.

Once again, I’d be grateful for your feedback about this newsletter. Just reply to this email or use the poll at the end. Thank you to the folks who shared feedback on the previous issue — you know who you are.

— Francis Zierer, Editor

Editor’s note: Deuxmoi is run by an anonymous entity, so throughout this newsletter, we’ll use “Deuxmoi” to refer to the brand and “Deux” to refer to the primary person behind the brand.

Deuxmoi, if you’re not one of the account’s 2 million Instagram followers, is a crowd-sourced celebrity gossip outlet. The Instagram account is the brand’s core pillar, but it’s become a full-fledged media brand.

Back in 2013, two friends launched the account as an extension of their eponymous fashion-lifestyle blog; they left that concept behind by 2015, but the woman we now know as Deux continued posting sporadic memes and archival photos on the account and gained 45k followers by early 2020.

In a moment of early-pandemic boredom, Deux posted an Instagram story asking followers if they had any celebrity stories to share. They did; followers began flooding her DMs and haven’t stopped since. They flock not so much for grid posts but for an endless stream of stories compiling celebrity sightings and anonymous tips.

By the end of 2020, the account had grown from 45k to around 530k followers. This origin story has been covered extensively and expertly in outlets like The New York Times (2020), Vanity Fair (2021), and Cosmopolitan (2023).

Today’s newsletter is not about how Deuxmoi started — it’s about how Deux the woman turned a large, attentive Instagram following into a multi-channel media business.

Spinning celeb sightings into a sustainable business

Deuxmoi has grown from one woman’s hobby into her full-time job, in the process becoming a revenue-generating business supporting two full-time salaries (including Deux’s) and two regular freelancers. The arms of this business include:

• An Instagram account with 2M+ followers

• A Twitter account with 134.6k+ followers

• A TikTok account with 443.3k+ followers

• A newsletter (subscriber count undisclosed)

• A podcast (listenership undisclosed)

• Brand deals and partnerships through the above channels

• A merch collection (including clothing and a card game)

• A book

At least three other projects are currently in the works: a TV show with HBO, an app, and a dedicated celebrity gossip website. We put together a timeline to get you up to speed:

All this sprang from one bored question, sent to the right amount of Instagram followers, made up of the right people, at the right time.

Add a relentlessly consistent output, four years, and pure love of the game, and you have today’s media company Deuxmoi.

We spent an hour speaking with Deux about:

• 💼 How working with an agency (WME) accelerated the business

• 🎙️ Figuring out how to podcast on the fly

• 📰 The nostalgic design of Deuxmoi’s newsletter

• ❤️ The strong creator-audience bond at the core of it all

• 🙈 Ignoring the haters

Read an excerpt of our interview below.

Read enough? Before you go, here are a few quick lessons from Deuxmoi, applicable across niches and platforms.

1. Audience over everything. You can be creative and make stuff for yourself; that’s amazing. But as soon as you decide you want people to care about it, your audience becomes your top priority. Why do they care about what you’re doing? Why should they spend their time engaging? Make that abundantly clear and engage with them directly.
   

2. Working with an agency unlocks monetization at scale. It doesn’t have to be WME; dozens (hundreds?) of agencies dedicated to digital-native creators have sprung up in the last decade, each catering to different creator niches, platforms, and initial follower counts. Built an audience but struggle to monetize? An agency can take over business development.
   

3. Thinking about expanding to a new platform or channel? Stop thinking; just do it. Deux “had no idea” what she was doing when she started a podcast. That was two years ago. It’s since been renewed twice — seems like she figured it out.
   

The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Creator Spotlight: Deuxmoi is truly a brand — there’s now so much going on besides the Instagram account. How has that expansion played out? Which project came first after Instagram, and how have you chosen subsequent projects?

Deux: Merch was the first. Then I signed with WME, when I had almost 1 million followers, and they were able to help me expand the business into podcasting, books, and the TV show. That all happened over the course of eight months — it was pretty quick.

With the merch, I was just using Instagram as a marketing tool. I started Deuxmoi, as it is known today, in March of 2020, and I first sold merch in January of 2021. At the time I was putting so much effort into running the account that it made no sense for me to continue unless it was beneficial to me in some way.

So I was like, let's try merch, and if merch is successful, I will continue to run the account. And the first merch drop was really successful.

I think the first drop was just two sweatshirts we’d designed. Because it was so successful, I wasn't gonna just sell merch and then disappear or close the account. It was definitely an incentive for me to keep going.

I think I started working with WME in February. From launching the merch to working with WME, it all happened quick.

CS: When did you start doing Deuxmoi full-time and what allowed you to or made you know that it was the right time to make the leap?

D: I was taking on more and more projects that were taking up more of my time. I was making excuses to miss work. Luckily, working from home was the norm at the time because of COVID. This is all in my book, Anon Pls., which is a fictional account, but this part happened in real life, too. I was spending more and more time on the account, having to make up excuses, having to take meetings in bathrooms at the office. Eventually I was working on so many projects [as Deuxmoi] that I had the means to quit my other job.

I should say that I did both [my full-time job and Deuxmoi] for two years. It was a stressful time juggling both.

CS: Can you tell me about starting the podcast and how it's changed over time? What motivated you to start it? What are its strengths relative to your other projects and channels?

D: First of all, I had no idea what I was doing. WME said, “Do you want to try to get a podcast?” And I was like, “Sure.” So they set up meetings for me with all the different podcast companies.

We just had a pitch and an idea. I should say, this is not what I did in my career. I was kind of just making it up as I went along. I’d never had to pitch myself in a meeting like that, but I've had to pitch myself like that several times since 2020. 

We pitched the podcast, we had interest, and we picked the podcast company we were gonna go with. I had no idea what I was doing when we started. I mean, who has experience in podcasting? It's not something they teach you in school. It's not a major in college where you learn how to be a good podcaster.

I learned how to save information — juicy information — for the podcast, not just put it on social media. That's basically the concept of the podcast today: it's information that I don't provide on social media and it's pieces of information that I need to talk through rather than just posting a DM that somebody sent me. 

Instagram, even though there’s video, is very one-dimensional. The podcast has been greatly beneficial for getting across points I need to get across.

CS: Is the podcast a success, relative to your initial goals when you started it?

D: First of all, I didn't start looking at downloads until this year. There's a database called Megaphone we use to track that, you can log in and see how many downloads you're getting per month. I never looked at it until last year, 2023. I had no idea how many listeners there were in the early days, but the audience has definitely grown.

I know my podcast has been a success, first of all, because it’s been renewed. It's a yearly contract and now we're going into the third year.

The number-one rule or piece of advice people have given me for the podcast is: don't read the podcast reviews on Apple. Because those are anonymous, the reviews are going to be really harsh. So yes, over the years, I've gotten probably 100 DMs about the podcast, and they've all been positive. Some have been constructive criticism that I definitely take into consideration.

CS: You launched the newsletter one year ago. The brand and look is really unique — it’s all baked into images, formatted like a magazine; it really feels like a magazine in your inbox. Can you tell me about the vision for the newsletter?

D: Well, you nailed the vision. It is supposed to look sort of like an old-school magazine layout. It did take a couple iterations in the beginning. We played around with it a little bit and I actually hired somebody to help me design it. She's the one who came up with the look you see today.

I mean, I come from the era of magazines. I know they're a thing of the past now and everything's digital, but reading gossip magazines and fashion magazines was a big part of my adolescence and young adulthood. So that’s the look I wanted.

Just like the podcast, there's information exclusive to the newsletter. It's also a roundup of what we talk about in a week on the Deuxmoi Instagram account. Now, the Deuxmoi Instagram account doesn't follow the news headlines; it follows what the people want to know. Of course, sometimes the two coincide, but I don't know if people realize that about what we do.

The newsletter is a roundup because people were asking me the same questions over and over again in Q&As or DMs. It was stuff that I had posted on Instagram stories, but people probably missed because stories expire in 24 hours. Everything's saved to highlights, but people either don't know that or don't feel like going through them. So the newsletter was a roundup of all the best information from the week. And I'm constantly plugging it, every second.

The newsletter is also something that I do on my own. It's not something that I work with WME on. So when I started selling ad space for the newsletter, it was fully my own project, which is a lot of work, but it's fun.

CS: Can you speak more to your relationship with WME? How do you navigate that? What does working with an agency enable for you?

D: Well, all of my work is connected to the agency except for the newsletter. When they approached me, they made it very comfortable for me: “Listen, if you want to work with us, great. If you don't, no problem.”

They understood that I'm not a celebrity. I'm just a regular person off the street and this kind of fell into my lap. The team of people I work with were very conscious of that and made me feel comfortable.

I never had to sign anything with them, so I'm able to do my own projects. 

WME doesn’t get a cut of my newsletter ad deals, but they get 10% of everything else. The newsletter is like a fun little side project. I've connected with tons of brands because I need to do the outreach myself. I'm not WME; I don't have a Rolodex of contacts at every brand. So I had to make those contacts myself.

CS: At this point, besides anyone at WME, how many people work for Deuxmoi? How does this team operate, in terms of splitting up the work? What led you to hire — why did you need to bring in other people?

D: There are three people not including myself. I mean, I need to bring in triple that amount of people, to work on everything. But I'm paying three other people right now. One is full-time and two are freelance.

I have one person that just does all the videos — all the Reels and TikToks. I have one person who does the creative and layout for the newsletter, then another person does all the editorial copy for the newsletter.

One of those people also goes to events and creates video content there. My podcast host works on literally almost every project with me. She's someone I knew from my real life, so we work together in person. The other two are remote. That's really it! 

All my video content is done by these two really cool young girls. I don't do any of that; I do know how to do it, but they're so much faster at it than I am. Plus they're, you know, Gen Z; they're cool.

CS: Let’s talk long-term vision. You’ve been doing this for about four years now, full-time for two of those years. Where would you love for Deuxmoi to be in five years?

D: I would love for it to become a media company. I mean, it already is. Again, I would just love to expand the team. I am launching a website, so I will be hiring freelance entertainment writers, because the team that I have now is fully loaded. Everyone's working on things that play to their strengths.

So I need someone who is a traditional entertainment writer, that’s their strength. I will be looking to fill some freelance positions there this year. 

Beyond the website, we'll see. Taking an investment definitely is not something that's off the table, in my mind. I've had conversations. It just hasn't happened. So until then, I'll just keep chugging along

I don't like to look too far into the future, I like to look a year ahead. So for this year, I'm focusing on launching this website and hiring entertainment writers.

CS: I read that you’re launching an app. What can you tell me about that?

D: Yes, I'm also launching an app. First of all, the app is free to download, so it’s just about enhancing the brand. It’s a hotel, restaurant, and spa app based off of the celebrity sightings and reader recommendations collected on the Instagram account over the past three years. 

You can search by city, you can search by cuisine, you can search by celebrity. That's the first rollout for the app.

CS: It sounds emotionally exhausting doing what you do. Beyond financial gain, why do you keep doing this as opposed to going back to a “regular” full-time job? Is there anything that would drive you back to the “normal” working world?

D: No, I had a full-time normal job for decades. Have you ever worked in corporate New York City? It's literally, like, a hellish prison run by devils. So would I ever go back to that?

What is the incentive for me to be my own boss? That's it. Working in corporate New York City specifically, because that's the only place I've been, is like being in prison.

Besides the fact that it's much more lucrative [running Deuxmoi], there's just so many things wrong with the corporate structure. I love when I get on corporate TikTok and people are making fun of it because it's so accurate.

I don't mean to sound like a feminist, but being a woman is definitely not to your advantage in that world. There's a ceiling, and once you hit it, there's nowhere to go. With what I’m doing now, the possibilities are endless.

CS: You have so many projects and channels under the Deuxmoi brand. Is there a particular thing in all this work you find most satisfying?

D: Not a project, but interacting with the audience. That's my biggest asset, knowing what they're thinking. It’s been tremendously helpful and I don't take it for granted, which is why I try to respond to everyone on a daily basis and let them know that they're like seen and heard. Even the haters. 

I've said this from the beginning: it's the community. It's always the community first. I've had people send me some of the nicest words that anyone has ever said to me in my life through DMs or text messages about being a follower of the account.

It's restored my faith in humanity because there are good people out there and there are nice people out there and there are people out there that will lift other people up and will recognize like, “wow, you're a woman, this is a very small, woman-run business, keep it up — I support you.” That's definitely the best part.

CS: If you could give advice to anybody trying to build an audience online, how would you suggest dealing with negative feedback?

D: Ignore the haters and just keep doing what you're doing. Don't ever take what they say personally or change what you're doing because they're saying you should. I’ve never listened to what they said. Even if I’ve messed up once or twice, I stayed true to my own instincts. 

You just keep your head down and stay focused and move forward. Actually, that piece of advice was given to me by someone on an A-list celebrity’s team — and this celebrity has definitely had to deal with haters.

I keep telling myself that every day: keep your head down and stay focused. 

CS: What is your biggest challenge in operating Deuxmoi?

D: God, there are a lot of challenges. I would say the biggest challenge is churning out the content, because I do a lot of the Instagram content myself while simultaneously managing all the other projects I've named throughout this interview. There's just not enough time in the day.

There's no brand without the content. I’ve got to create content; no one else is going to bake the bread.

Thankfully my community keeps me abreast of everything that's happening. They find everything that's happening on Twitter, everything that's happening on TikTok. They'll come to me and be like, “Have you heard this?” Or, “Is this true?” Or, “Can you find out if it's true?”

That kind of relationship, I think, is invaluable to any content creator and their audience.

CS: Can you share one of your best moments or wins since you started Deuxmoi four years ago?

D: Probably being on Drew Barrymore's podcast, because I'm a big fan of hers. 

And I don't know if it's silly, or if people will get it, but being featured in Us, because that was a magazine I grew up reading. They did “25 Things You Don’t Know About Deuxmoi,” which is a feature they've had in their magazine for years. That was special. Being featured in People Magazine for my book was another special one.

One tactical, actionable takeaway — it works for Deux; you could apply it to your social accounts or newsletter today.

In other words, be social on social. Respect your audience.

This applies to any channel — respond to your DMs on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, or TikTok, and reply to the people who reply to your newsletter.

Yes, it’s obvious. But have you done this lately?

The value of engaging directly with your audience cannot be overstated and is evergreen. Doing this brings you new ideas, critical insight to improve what you’re already doing, and (hopefully) direct, emotional satisfaction in your work.

• We’re big fans of Chenell Basilio’s Growth in Reverse newsletter. This week’s feature on how Ben Tossell grew Ben’s Bites subscriber list to 100k is, no surprise, quite educational.

• Creator commerce platform Kajabi surveyed 2,000+ “high-earning creators” for their new report, “The State of Creators ‘24.” Full of seful information about what it takes to earn six figures as a creator.

• Music and culture critic Jon Caramanica’s latest piece, “Have We Reached the End of TikTok’s Infinite Scroll?” is fantastic whether or not you use TikTok. Grab a coffee and sit with it.

That’s all for this week! Thank you for reading; the team and I put a great deal of effort into producing this newsletter and we’re honored you’ve opened and read it.

On to next week’s issue, featuring a British newsletter boasting 48k+ subscribers across 80+ countries.

— Francis Zierer, Editor

P.S. One ask: please click the poll just below. I’d be grateful if you include a message along with it. Be blunt. Your feedback makes this newsletter better!