The next generation of media power players? It's the fangirls.

Katie Stephens grew up in a music-obsessed family where, by age 5, she had already developed an appetite for the classics, notably Ozzy Osbourne. Her musical palate evolved as YouTube and Twitter exploded in popularity and exposed her to new music beyond her sleepy suburban town just outside New Orleans. By the time she got to middle school, Katie had moved on from the Prince of Darkness to the Prince of Pop, Justin Bieber, who was her first real initiation into the fandom world that would eventually set off her entertainment career.

“After watching Justin Bieber's ‘Never Say Never’ and seeing the people that surrounded him and were with him throughout this entire documentary, my first thought was ‘oh my god, I want to be one of those people that follows Justin Bieber around all the time.’ Like, please, that's a dream,” she says.

Katie is part of a generation of women who grew up alongside the rise of social media, where, in the depths of places like Twitter, they built thriving fandom communities with massive cultural cachet that helped celebrities go from no-names to household names. And as they were building influence, these teen girls were learning the fundamentals of marketing, audience development and community building outside the traditional confines of a classroom or internship, often before they could even legally drive. Now, these women represent a new wave of rising professionals who’ve built a fandom-to-pro pipeline that’s becoming one of media's most unlikely on-ramps.