A handful of influencers who made Forbes magazine’s “Top Creators 2026” list tout ties to the Lone Star State.
The list compiles the top stars of YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and other platforms who have amassed massive followings and turned those audiences into dollar signs. Most of those ranked earn millions of dollars generated through their millions of followers and various business ventures.
Two creators have direct connections to Texas: one is a Dallas native, and the other completed a brief stint in the Houston area.
Alix Earle
Earle ranked 16th on the list of 50 creators. She showed her hundreds of thousands of YouTube subscribers a look into the Bayou City while traveling back and forth to Houston during her relationship with Texans wide receiver Braxon Berrios.
She shared her favorite restaurant recommendations and day-in-the-life activities in Houston. Earle also ventured outside the city, visiting University of Texas sororities in Austin.
Across platforms, Earle has more than 14.5 million followers.
She creates beauty and lifestyle content and has launched multiple businesses, including her skincare company, Reale Actives, and invested in several companies. According to Forbes, her earnings total $12 million.
Earle and her family will star in the upcoming unscripted Netflix series, “Earle Meets World,” about her life navigating fame and success.
She also previously competed on “Dancing with the Stars,” where she finished as the runner-up.
Alan Chikin Chow
The writer and actor ranked 25th. He is a Dallas native who grew up in Plano and has amassed more than 101 million subscribers on his YouTube channel, “Alan’s Universe,” where he brings to life fictional romance, sci-fi and other stories.
Chow is not one to shy away from his Texas ties. He often mentions the Lone Star State in podcast interviews, saying he wanted to create videos to make his mother laugh, which launched his career.
He also shares short-form comedy on YouTube Shorts. These collect hundreds of millions of views.
And this year, Chow will expand his content creation to include a scripted Netflix series about aspiring K-pop idols.
Honorable mentionsIShow Speed
The streamer sensation, Darren Watkins Jr., better known as IShowSpeed, ranked eighth on the list. It’s no surprise he took a top spot, with over 45 million subscribers across his YouTube channels and millions more on his other social media platforms.
The online jack-of-all-trades, who has pivoted from gaming videos to a World Cup 2026 Tour with FIFA, has earned $30 million from his internet stardom, scoring major brand deals with companies like Dick’s Sporting Goods, Beats by Dre and Doritos.
It was his tour of World Cup matches that brought him to Houston recently, where a clip of him meeting Houston Mayor John Whitmire went viral.
“Speed just met John Whitmire, the mayor of Houston, Texas, who told him that Speed is taking over the city,” an X post read showcasing the quick meet-and-greet in which Speed dabbed up Whitmire.
“Are you the mayor of Houston?” Speed asked Whitmire. “I think you are tonight,” Whitmire said.
Whitmire welcomed Speed to the Bayou City, saying he needed to spend more time in Houston.
“I’ll give you my contact. If you’re in town and want to go to a ball game, Astros, Rockets, Texans, that’s a deal,” Whitmire told Speed.
Speed also met Houston Police Chief J. Noe Diaz.
Ms. Rachel
Rachel Griffin Accurso, an online educator more popularly known as “Ms.Rachel,” ranked 24th on the list. She takes her educational ocntent to YouTube, where she teaches millions of toddlers a range of lessons from the alphabet to emotional regulation. Her videos amass billions of views.
Ms. Rachel has also taken to advocacy through her social media channels. This work has found a home in Texas, as she got involved in the fight to close a federal immigration detention center in South Texas.
She turned her attention to the Dilley Immigration Processing Center after video calls with 9-year-old Deiver Henao Jimenez, who has been held with his parents at the center, and Gael, a 5-year-old with significant developmental delays.
Gael, who is nonverbal, was in the process of being assessed for autism when he and his parents were detained in El Paso at a routine immigration check-in.
“I am political,” Accurso told NBC News. “It’s political to believe that children are worthy of life and care, and that every child is equal, and that our care shouldn’t stop at what we look like, our family, at our religion, at a border.”
Accurso was reportedly working with lawyers and immigration rights activists to close Dilley and “make sure that kids and their parents are back in their communities where they belong.”
She has used her platform to advocate for children in Gaza, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and beyond.
This article originally published at 2 influencers with Texas ties make Forbes’ Top Creators list. See who.