• The world's biggest creator, MrBeast, has found his first CMO.
• The company promoted Feastables head and marketing vet Michelle St. Jacques to the role.
• Her remit will include leading marketing and defining the MrBeast brand.

MrBeast has found his first CMO, Business Insider exclusively learned.

The top YouTuber's company promoted Michelle St. Jacques to the role. St. Jacques has led consumer goods, including Feastables, MrBeast's snack and candy company, since February.

In her new role, she'll add marketing duties for Beast Industries, the star's holding company, while continuing to oversee consumer goods. She's based in Chicago.

Beast Industries started the search earlier this year, a move that reflected the company's growing ambitions. It's been expanding far beyond its core YouTube channel — which has over 524 million subscribers — and seeks to become a Disney-style entertainment giant.

Beast Industries CEO Jeff Housenbold said in a memo to staff, viewed by Business Insider, that he considered external candidates for the CMO role but decided St. Jacques was the best person for the job.

"In her time at Beast, MSJ has shown she can set clear strategy and deliver strong execution for our products and partners," he wrote. "She has served as both CMO and Chief Commercial Officer and built iconic consumer brands like Dove, Heinz, Miller Lite, and Coors Light. She's also a world-class people leader who knows how to build high-performing teams."

St. Jacques joined the company following a slowdown in Feastables' growth.

Housenbold wrote that St. Jacques' remit would involve defining the MrBeast brand and making sure everything the company does ladders up to the same positioning; leading marketing for MrBeast and partner brands; and overseeing the viral marketing team. He said that he saw an opportunity to lean into e-commerce and performance marketing to drive customer acquisition and retention.

St. Jacques steps into a role overseeing a brand that's looking to lessen its reliance on its famous founder. Her job requires someone who can do everything from getting people to theatrical releases — Donaldson lent his voice to "Angry Birds Movie 3," which is scheduled for a December release — to selling snacks and toys in stores, or pitching fans on phone plans and financial products.

Beast Industries has made a string of big hires to bulk up its executive suite. Along with Feastables, the company has begun to move into financial services with the acquisition of the Step app and has planned a mobile phone service.

The company is also laying the groundwork to expand into ad and marketing services for brands and additional services for other independent content creators like MrBeast, and has teased a membership program.

• MrBeast has an unusual expectation for ex-employees: Don't talk about MrBeast on social media — at all.
• Labor lawyers said the language in a letter outlining obligations for departing employees was uncommonly broad.
• A MrBeast rep said the language is meant to protect employees and the company from harassment.

MrBeast has an unusual expectation for departing employees: The world's top YouTuber doesn't want them to post about him — even if they're saying nice things.

Employees leaving the company of MrBeast, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, receive a letter outlining their obligations, including an "expectation" that they refrain from creating, commenting on, or engaging with social posts involving Donaldson, his company Beast Industries, or any of its employees. Business Insider viewed one such letter and confirmed it was the standard version used by the company.

The letter also states that the employee should not disclose nonpublic information about the company or make false or disparaging statements about it.

Three employment lawyers told Business Insider that the letter had a few uncommon features, pointing particularly to the references to social media.

"It does seem like an unusual burden to not be able to comment on social media," said V. James DeSimone, a California-based attorney. Plus, the letter doesn't offer any severance or other consideration in exchange, he added.

A Beast Industries spokesman said the social media language is intended to protect employees and the company from harassing behavior on social media.

Evan Fray-Witzer, of the firm Ciampa Fray-Witzer — who has experience working with creators — said the language in the MrBeast letter was broader than typical nondisparagement clauses he's seen. That's because it covers all comments, not just negative ones, and also extends to every post that references the company.

"If you were to read this literally, the person couldn't hit the 'like' button on a MrBeast post," Fray-Witzer said. "That's absurd."

Donaldson has been chasing YouTube fame since he was a teen, and the colossus he's built is the result of the tight creative control he exerts. He's known to obsess over his videos and his image and to kill projects he doesn't believe meet his standards.

Russell Berger of Offit Kurman said the language might be understandable in the context of a social media star's company, but thought the letter was unusually formal, long, and cold in tone.

"This is more of a putting-you-on-notice way of doing it," he said. "Mostly when people leave a job, they don't get a reminder of what they can and can't do."

Legal bark or bite?

Fray-Witzer said the company's motivation is understandable: It likely doesn't want former employees undermining its brand or profiting from MrBeast's content.

The 28-year-old creator, who has over 523 million YouTube subscribers, has been rapidly scaling up his company, which was valued at around $5 billion last year. The operation has grown to nearly 800 employees as it has expanded into areas like candy and financial services.

"Where it becomes more questionable and heavy-handed is the extent that it is being used simply to silence former employees from saying anything about MrBeast or the company," Fray-Witzer said of the letter.

The lawyers who spoke with Business Insider said the letter isn't a contract and is likely not enforceable.

DeSimone said, however, that if the employee previously signed an agreement saying they wouldn't comment about Beast Industries on social media, and then did so, the company could potentially have a basis for legal action.

It might be hard to get a judge to enforce the provision, however, and MrBeast would likely "have to prove some sort of damages," Fray-Witzer said.

Even if the language isn't enforceable, it could still have a chilling effect.

"The question for the employee is always, what's worth the juice here?" DeSimone said.