As Mamdani Backs NYC Small Businesses, Secret World App Connects Them With Local Creators
A café owner posts a paid creator task on the Secret World app — a short video, visible to creators nearby.
On New York's commercial corridors, creators, customers and small business owners already share the same block.
The platform connects small businesses with the creators, workers and customers already in their neighborhood.
A paid task can be as small as a short video — the kind of work that usually moves through text messages and referrals.
A small task can introduce a business owner and a creator who would not otherwise have met.
Secret World app connects NYC businesses with local creators through jobs, paid tasks, deals and community opportunities.
A business shouldn't have to wait for someone to search its name. It should be able to give people nearby a reason to walk in.”
MANHATTAN, NY, UNITED STATES, August 18, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Secret World app announced an expansion of its local business participation model in New York City, giving neighborhood businesses additional ways to connect with creators, independent workers and local users through the platform.— Kaixiong Zhang- Founder of Secret World App
The expansion comes as New York City advances new policies focused on strengthening its small-business economy. Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced OPEN for Small Business in July, a package of more than 50 regulatory reforms intended to reduce paperwork and bureaucratic burdens for the city’s approximately 180,000 small businesses.
The city initiative includes changes affecting restaurants, bodegas, barbershops and other neighborhood businesses across New York City.
Secret World app is developing a complementary technology platform focused on connections between those businesses and the people living and working around them.
Through Secret World, participating businesses can publish local opportunities including hiring posts, small paid tasks, creator opportunities, deals, memberships, events and other updates intended to provide value to nearby users.
The platform is designed around a broader local creator community rather than a traditional advertising-only model.
A restaurant, for example, can post a request for a photographer or short-form video creator. A barbershop can publish a hiring opportunity. A boutique can connect with a local model or content creator. A neighborhood business can also publish a deal, event or other local offer.
These activities are intended to bring businesses, creators and residents into the same local network.
“Local businesses already create opportunities every day, but many of those opportunities never become traditional job listings or formal advertisements,” said Kaixiong Zhang, founder of Secret World app. “Secret World is being built to make more of that activity visible and easier for local people to discover.”
Connecting Local Businesses and Creators
Secret World app is designed for creators and independent workers across a wide range of skills and services.
Participants can include photographers, videographers, editors, designers, models, barbers, trainers, promoters, artists, food creators and other individuals offering skills or building independent businesses.
Many local business needs are temporary, project-based or too small to become conventional employment listings.
A restaurant may need photographs of a new menu for one afternoon. A retail store may need a creator for a product launch. A gym may need video coverage of an event. A business preparing for an opening may need promotional support for several hours.
Those opportunities are frequently distributed through personal contacts, social media posts, direct messages and community groups.
Secret World is developing a centralized local environment where more of those opportunities can be posted and discovered.
The platform also allows businesses to contribute opportunities that do not involve paid creator work.
Deals can provide savings for local users. Hiring posts can connect businesses with people seeking work. Memberships can encourage repeat visits. Events can bring creators and customers into physical locations.
The company’s approach is based on participation between businesses and the surrounding community rather than one-directional advertising.
The Secret World Hustle Map
Local activity is organized through the Secret World Hustle Map, a live map designed to display different forms of neighborhood commerce and opportunity.
The map can include permanent businesses, temporary popups and small paid tasks.
A participating business can use its presence to publish current information beyond a standard address and operating hours.
That information can include a local deal, a creator opportunity, a hiring post, an event or another reason for a nearby user to engage with the business.
Temporary sellers and popups can also appear while active, allowing the map to represent forms of local commerce that may not operate from permanent storefronts.
The approach is intended to create a more current view of economic activity occurring within a neighborhood.
Secret World app is initially concentrating its development and business outreach in New York City, where dense commercial corridors place independent businesses, creators, customers and temporary sellers within short distances of one another.
Creator Cards Support Local Discovery
Secret World also includes Creator Cards, profiles designed to help independent people present their skills, work and existing online presence.
Creator Cards are intended for individuals whose work may currently be distributed across several platforms or personal networks.
A photographer may use one platform to display work and another for communication. A food creator may build an audience on social media while receiving business inquiries through direct messages. A designer or video editor may rely primarily on referrals.
Secret World brings those creator identities into the same community where businesses can post local needs and opportunities.
The feature is intended to support direct discovery between businesses and creators without requiring every interaction to begin through an agency or large advertising platform.
“Creator does not only mean someone with hundreds of thousands of followers,” Zhang said. “A photographer building a portfolio, a student editing videos, a neighborhood food creator and someone with a useful skill can all contribute value to a local business.”
Supporting Neighborhood Business Activity
New York City’s current small-business reforms provide broader context for Secret World’s expansion.
The Mamdani administration’s OPEN for Small Business initiative is intended to simplify procedures, eliminate outdated requirements and reduce regulatory friction affecting small businesses across the five boroughs.
Additional information about OPEN for Small Business is available through the official New York City Mayor’s Office:
https://www.nyc.gov/mayors-office/news/2026/07/mayor-mamdani-announces–open-for-small-business—over-50-refor
Secret World is not affiliated with the City of New York or the Mamdani administration. The city initiative and Secret World’s platform are separate efforts addressing different parts of New York’s small-business environment.
Secret World’s focus is on digital discovery and community participation.
The company is developing tools intended to help neighborhood businesses make opportunities more visible while giving creators and local users additional reasons to interact with businesses nearby.
Building Neighborhood by Neighborhood
Secret World’s New York rollout is based on geographic density.
The company plans to concentrate participation within individual commercial areas rather than distribute businesses and creators thinly across the entire city.
The strategy is intended to create neighborhoods where multiple forms of activity can be discovered within walking distance.
A local area could include participating restaurants, barbershops, cafés, retailers and gyms alongside creators, paid tasks and temporary popups.
As participation grows, Secret World plans to expand across additional New York neighborhoods.
The company believes concentrated local activity is important for creating a useful discovery experience and strengthening connections among participants.
Businesses as Participants in the Creator Community
Secret World’s business tools are being developed around the idea that local businesses can participate in creator communities by contributing useful opportunities.
The platform distinguishes that approach from advertising that primarily purchases impressions or placement.
Business participation can take several forms depending on the needs of an individual location.
A business may need a creator.
Another may be hiring.
Another may have an event.
Another may want to offer a deal to the surrounding community.
Another may have a short task that does not require a permanent employee.
The Secret World platform is intended to provide a common place for those activities to become visible.
The company views that interaction as part of a broader shift in the relationship between neighborhood businesses and independent creators.
Creators can provide skills, content and local reach. Businesses can provide work, spaces, products, experiences and opportunities. Local users can discover both.
The result is intended to create more connections between participants already operating within the same neighborhoods.
About Secret World App
Secret World app is a New York-based local discovery platform designed to connect creators, independent workers, temporary sellers, local businesses and nearby opportunities.
The platform includes the Hustle Map for local discovery and Creator Cards for individuals seeking to present their skills and connect with others.
Secret World is initially focused on building its network in New York City.
Additional information is available at:
https://secretworld.ai
Tzipora Mizrahi
new york journal for business
+1 929-655-9348
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