This Gen Xer spent 28 years in a cubicle and never made more than $70,000. At 59, she made $500,000 in the creator economy

For nearly three decades, 59-year-old Eileen Munoz spent her workdays in a cubicle. To her, the tiny confined desk came to represent everything she felt about her nine-to-five career in insurance: stuck. 

The most she ever made in a year was $70,000, and she eventually became so burned out that she would cry on Sundays, knowing her cubicle and another full workweek were waiting for her.

Seeing how miserable she had become and how work was spilling into her home life, her husband encouraged her to quit. Finally, in her mid-fifties, she did, without much of a plan and assuming whatever came next would be her old job in a different font. Instead, a friend introduced her to user-generated content, or UGC, where brands pay everyday creators to make social media content they can use to market their products. Munoz had never edited a video, filmed herself for a brand, or even added subtitles. 

But in 2025, just her second year as a content creator, she brought in roughly $500,000 from UGC and TikTok Shop, where she promotes products aimed at people navigating middle age, including skin care and supplements as well as products related to menopause, thinning hair, and aching joints. She also works across home and pet categories...