Congrats on the bonus and the acceptance into the Creator program! My impression is that Medium is looking and has always been looking for good essays and articles that the general public, not just those writing for Medium, would be interested in in: in other words, readers as well as writers.

I believe if people can look back over their stories and find a body of work they can be proud of; stuff that would make it in the world outside Medium, then they have succeeded here.