Valkyrae was honored by Saban Community Clinic in Los Angeles on Sept. 8, 2025, at its third annual Creators in Action fundraiser. The streamer, whose real name is Rachell Hofstetter, shared the recognition with pocket.watch founder and CEO, Chris M. Williams. More than 200 leaders from the digital and creator community attended, and the night raised over $137,000 for the clinic, the largest provider of free and reduced-cost healthcare in Los Angeles.Saban picks creators and executives to honor at each gala. 2025’s choice from the gaming world co-owns the esports organization 100 Thieves, runs the animation company Hihi Studios and returned to Twitch in January 2025. The money goes toward medical, dental and behavioral health care for low-income and uninsured patients across the city, and the reasons behind the clinic’s pick start with a résumé that reaches well past gaming.
Why Valkyrae was honored by a Los Angeles health clinic in 2025
Valkyrae. Image via: valkyrae/ Instagram
Creators in Action began in 2023, and Saban Community Clinic uses it to recognize people who have shaped digital media. The first gala honored the duo Rhett & Link and creator-attorney Adam Kaller. In 2024, the clinic recognized Jay Shetty and Malik Ducard, the chief content officer at Pinterest. The 2025 class paired Valkyrae with Williams, which put a gaming voice and a family-content executive on the same program.The clinic built its choices around range. In its announcement, Saban said this year’s honorees show innovation, inclusion and influence across entertainment, gaming and digital media. Valkyrae’s record fits well. She co-owns 100 Thieves and was named Gaming Creator of the Year by Adweek. She has also won at the Streamy Awards, The Game Awards and the Streamer Awards. In 2024, she launched Hihi Studios, an animation company built to develop original stories rather than only stream them, and her reach as one of the best-known female streamers in the world gave the clinic a name that draws attention.As for Williams, he served as chief audience officer at Maker Studios, and when Disney bought that company in 2014, he moved over to help the studio launch online originals. In 2017, he founded pocket.watch, a developer and distributor of kids and family content that went on to sign deals with Ryan’s World, Toys and Colors, and Love Diana.The gala was co-chaired by Brent Weinstein, a senior leader at CAA and a member of the clinic’s Friends Board, and Brian Flanagan, president of Mythical Entertainment. Their joint statement explained why the pair stood out. Weinstein and Flanagan said both honorees were shaping entertainment while “using their platforms to uplift others.” They added that the influence of Williams and Valkyrae shows creativity can drive real-world change, and that the committee was glad to honor it.The format was simple. Each year the clinic gathers creators and executives from Los Angeles’ digital media industry for a cocktail gala, picks honorees from both sides of the business and asks guests to give. Rhett & Link and Kaller in 2023, then Shetty and Ducard in 2024, followed the same creator-plus-executive split that Valkyrae and Williams filled this year.
What the $137,000 raised at Creators in Action will fund
The fundraiser took place on Monday, Sept. 8, 2025. Before the event, the clinic said it would be held at the Santa Monica offices of Range Media Partners. Individual tickets started at $150, and sponsorship levels ran from a $500 congratulatory ad up to $15,000.The host committee read like a roster of the creator business. It included Ali Berman, partner and co-head of UTA Creators at United Talent Agency, and Ben Davis, partner and co-head of WME Digital. Lauren Schwartz, an attorney at Hansen, Jacobson, Megan Smith of Align Public Relations, Dan Weinstein of Underscore Talent, Max Cutler of Pave Studios and Rana Zand of Range Media Partners also served, covering law, publicity, talent representation and production.After the night ended, Saban reported that the evening raised more than $137,000. The clinic said the funds will support health services for thousands of Angelenos in need. Its scale explains the stakes. The clinic handles more than 150,000 appointments a year across medical, dental, and behavioral care, and 83% of its patients live below the federal poverty line.
Success story: Valkyrae was in Time’s 100 creators
Valkyrae was in Time’s 100 creators. Image via: valkyrae/ Instagram
Valkyrae made the 2026 list of Time’s 100 most influential creators. Her co-owners at 100 Thieves include Scooter Braun and Drake. She hosts the podcast Wine About It with fellow streamer QTCinderella, has appeared in music videos for Machine Gun Kelly, Willow Smith and The Kid LAROI, and has voiced characters in several animated films.The streamer returned to Twitch in 2025 after her exclusive YouTube deal and was welcomed back with a lot of fanfare. Her followers across Twitch, YouTube and TikTok total 7.9 million.
How Valkyrae turned gaming fame into a powerhouse creator career
Hofstetter’s path started in ordinary jobs. She worked at a bank, a car wash, an arcade, a restaurant and GameStop while attending community college. A gaming Instagram account she began during the GameStop years drew followers who urged her to stream, and she went live on Twitch in 2015. For a while she kept her day jobs, until the money from streaming passed her paychecks and she became a full-time creator.The big jump came in 2018, when 100 Thieves signed her as its first female content creator. In January 2020 she left Twitch for an exclusive YouTube deal. The terms were never made public, and her early streams drew modest crowds. Then the “Among Us” boom arrived. Stream Hatchet counted 23.6 million hours watched for her in 2020, enough to edge past Pokimane as the year’s top female streamer, and she won Content Creator of the Year at The Game Awards that December.In April 2021 she and CouRageJD joined the 100 Thieves ownership group. Her work then moved beyond gaming. She co-hosted Netflix’s “Inside: USA” with Fanum in 2025 and launched Hihi Studios with media executive Kai Gayoso. Its first original, the webtoon “Bad Influence,” came out in 2025.Celebrity Net Worth estimates her net worth at $10 million. Brand deals with HyperX, Gymshark and Alienware, plus a merchandise store, add to income that no longer depends on one platform.
