Brands
Nofiltr.Group shifts focus to building creator careers, not deals
After nine years, the company focuses on building careers, not chasing brand deals
MUMBAI: In the creator economy, management often isn’t management at all. Most so-called creator management firms fall into two camps: consultants who broker brand deals and take a cut, and assistants who handle logistics and schedules. Neither builds a career, and neither safeguards a creator’s most valuable asset – their audience’s trust.
The problem is structural. Management companies earn by saying yes, but trust grows by saying no. Turn down the wrong campaign today, and your creator is worth more tomorrow. Say yes too often, and you chip away at what makes them irreplaceable.
Nofiltr.Group, led by CEO Hitarth Dadia, has long felt this tension. “We’ve turned down more money on behalf of our creators than most companies in this space have ever earned,” he said. “A management company doesn’t do that. An incubator does.”
Founded in 2017, Nofiltr was never just a manager. It was an incubator: spotting raw creative talent, often from small towns, and building careers from the ground up. Formats were developed, audiences constructed, and singularity protected. Saying no was part of the job.
Over time, the company’s label drifted towards management. Wider rosters, faster brand deals, quarterly targets – but the instinct to protect creativity never wavered. Nofiltr has built more than 15 creator careers from scratch, and prides itself not on the deals it closed, but the ones it killed.
Now, the company is clearing the clutter. It is doubling down on incubation and career building. Success will no longer be measured in campaigns per quarter, but in the long-term value of creators. Nofiltr is returning to its roots, where the structure finally matches the instinct.
Meanwhile, Dadia is preparing another venture to tackle a bigger challenge: giving creators ownership of the intellectual property they produce. A problem every other creative industry has solved, but the creator economy has yet to fix. The clock is ticking.
Brands
Lululemon picks former Nike executive to be its next chief
Heidi O’Neill, who helped grow Nike into a $45 billion giant, will take the top job in September
CANADA: Lululemon has found its next chief executive, and she comes with serious credentials. The athleisure giant named Heidi O’Neill as its new CEO on Wednesday, ending a search that has left the company running on interim leadership since earlier this year. O’Neill will take charge on September 8, 2026, based out of Vancouver, and will join the board on the same day.
O’Neill brings more than three decades of experience across performance apparel, footwear and sport. The bulk of that time was spent at Nike, where she was a central figure in one of corporate sport’s great growth stories, helping take the company from a $9 billion business to a $45 billion global powerhouse. She oversaw product pipelines, brand strategy and consumer connections, and played a significant role in shaping how Nike spoke to athletes around the world. Earlier in her career, she worked in marketing for the Dockers brand at Levi Strauss. She also brings boardroom experience from Spotify Technology, Hyatt Hotels and Lithia and Driveway.
The board was unequivocal in its enthusiasm. “We selected Heidi because of the breadth of her experience, her demonstrated success delivering breakthrough ideas and initiatives at scale, and her ability to be a knowledgeable change and growth agent,” said Marti Morfitt, executive chair of Lululemon’s board.
O’Neill, for her part, was bullish. “Lululemon is an iconic brand with something rare: genuine guest love, a product ethos rooted in innovation, and a global platform still in the early stages of its potential,” she said. “My job will be to accelerate product breakthroughs, deepen the brand’s cultural relevance, and unlock growth in markets around the world.”
Until she arrives, Meghan Frank and André Maestrini will continue as interim co-CEOs, before returning to their previous senior leadership roles once O’Neill steps in.
Lululemon is betting that a Nike veteran who helped build one of the world’s most powerful sports brands can do something similar for an athleisure label that has genuine love from its customers but is still chasing its full global potential. O’Neill has done it before at scale. The question now is whether she can do it again.
