*By Michael Teich*
For the right price, users can get a video shout-out from celebrities – actress Bella Thorne and NFL Hall of Famer Terrell Owens, to name a couple – through app Cameo.
"Selfies are the new autograph," Cameo's CEO, Steven Galanis, said Friday in an interview on Cheddar. "We thought the most personalized, authentic thing you can do with someone that's not there is getting them to say something to you."
Through the marketplace app, fans can request a message of their own devising that a celebrity can either consent or decline to read on camera.
The platform ー which launched in April ー has facilitated 52,000 videos and its talent count has grown to over 3,000, Galanis said. The most expensive shout-out on Cameo costs $1,000, but Galanis said the average video is $40.
Influencers are capitalizing on their popularity with ad dollars from brands eager to reach social media. Total ad spend on influencer marketing will jump from $5 billion this year to $10 billion in the next five years, [according to marketing firm Mediakix](http://mediakix.com/2018/03/influencer-marketing-industry-ad-spend-chart/).
But now, actors, athletes, musicians, and social media personalities can get paid directly from their fans. Galanis said his company takes a 25 percent cut, but the talent sets his or her own price.
"We always tell talent to optimize for amount of fans touched versus price," Galanis said.
For more on this story, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/cameos-personalized-shout-out).
Members of the Kappa League mentoring program at Wyandanch Memorial High School in Long Island, NY are preparing for an educational trip to Ghana. Principal Paul Sibblies is on a mission to enrich his students' lives to put some of them in touch with their roots. "When you invest in young people, then it's the greatest investment you can make," he said.
A group of 15 students recently graduated from SANYS U., a six-week program held by the Self Advocacy Association of New York State. The course helps people with disabilities to advocate on their own behalf, learning more about their rights, legislation and issues that matter most.
The minivan is turning 40 years old this year. While it made up just 1.8 percent of the car market in 2022, that number could begin to tick up, as more families increase interest in the car's advantages. Cheddar News' senior reporter Michelle Castillo takes a deeper look at the minivan's lineage.
