Pro Athlete–Turned–Tech Founder Builds Platform to Protect Creators

by New York Edge News  

Donnavan Kirk’s Creator Connect Offers Artists a Lifeline as AI Disrupts the Creative Economy

 Before launching Creator Connect, Donnavan Kirk played professional basketball in Spain, Lithuania, Chile, and Japan. It was in Japan that he taught himself to code—a move inspired by the country’s cultural precision and social awareness. “Trains ran on time not just because they had to, but because being late would affect someone else,” he said. “That stuck with me. There’s an unspoken accountability.”

That same mindset informs the design of Creator Connect, a platform built to support artists through infrastructure, not engagement metrics. “I saw artists all over Instagram—but no structure, no protection, no sustainable income,” said Kirk. “What I saw wasn’t inspiration—it was disorganized creative labor with no support.”

CEO + Founder of Creator Connect Platform and App- Donnavan Kirk 

Kirk built the app as a direct response to what he calls “a gap between talent and access.” He saw creators struggling not because of a lack of skill, but because there was no centralized way to organize, price, or present their work to clients. “You could be talented and still get buried under noise. Or worse, undervalued,” he said.

Creator Connect offers tools for artists to list their services, showcase their portfolio, get discovered locally, and transact securely. Features include a geo-map for finding creatives nearby, project-based escrow for commissions, and upcoming integrations with smart contracts and digital avatars.

“We give creators a place to control their pricing, track their commissions, and get paid. You can list your brand, your modeling rates, your artwork value—locally or globally,” said Kirk. “It’s about ownership. No more guessing what your work is worth.”

The app’s buildout was shaped by consistent user feedback. “One creator asked, ‘How do I know if the person following me owns any art?’ That’s how we came up with the ‘collections’ feature,” said Kirk. “People wanted to hire local, so we built the map. Artists hated the three-step commission funnel, so we scrapped it.”

A recent winner of the ‘Pull Up and Pitch’ competition hosted by Black Tech Saturdays, Kirk has raised over $300,000 to build Creator Connect—bootstrapping it through personal funds, support from family and friends, and royalty-for-equity partnerships.“ My coach invested. My mom invested,” he said. “Less than 1% of VC money goes to people like me, so I stopped chasing it. I knew what needed to get built.”

The app removes time-based posting, freeing creators from algorithmic pressure. “You don’t have to compete with trending posts. You just show your work,” he said. “It’s your world—your terms.”

As generative AI tools grow more advanced, the need for platforms like Creator Connect is urgent. A recent ACM paper titled AI Art and Its Impact on Artists outlines how image generators like Midjourney and DALL·E flood the market with derivative content, often trained on artists’ work without consent. The result: economic displacement, reputational harm, and a chilling effect on original creative production.

“We’re not talking about AI helping artists—we’re talking about companies training models on their work, then profiting from it,” the report notes.

Kirk agrees. “AI can create visuals, but it doesn’t feel. It doesn’t know what it’s like to build something from lived experience,” he said. “It’s not soul-driven.”

Rather than reject AI outright, Kirk sees opportunity in adapting. Creator Connect will soon allow users to create monetizable digital avatars—movement-capable renderings that can license their likeness for brand use. “Imagine creating a commercial with your avatar without ever showing up. That’s real money,” he said.

As platforms like Netflix and Marvel Studios begin adopting AI-generated sequences, independent artists are forced to adapt or risk erasure. “We’re not a gig app or a feed. We’re infrastructure,” Kirk said. “Artists need a place to anchor their value. That’s what we’re giving them.”

The White House’s 2025 AI Action Plan calls for more equitable systems and protections for workers affected by AI. But Kirk isn’t waiting for regulation. “No law is going to tell an artist their work matters,” he said. “But a platform can show them it does.”

Creator Connect is available in the App Store. 

To view the full AI Action Plan click here: Whitehouse AI Action Plan

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