Ann Friedman is one of my favorite writers, my favorite podcaster (alongside her bestie and cohost Aminatou Sow), and one of the best role models for a media entrepreneur who remains authentic and innovative throughout her career. You can read more about her career on her website. I reached out to her partly for her advice and perspective on the current media environment, partly because I wanted to learn more about her sewing skills, which she mentions briefly in this charming interview with Aminatou at Cup of Jo.
How's your day going?
I'm good! I was up super early for an interview so 10:30 a.m. feels like...afternoon. I just ate a second breakfast.
What was your second breakfast?
Toast with peanut butter, honey, and salt. A classic.
Ah, freelance life. How's it treating you these days?
It might sound pretentious, but I haven't really self-identified as a "freelancer" for awhile, as almost none of my income comes from pitching and writing articles anymore. I try to say self-employed, which feels more accurate because my newsletter is its own business, the podcast is its own business, and I've spent most of the past few years working on a book.
When do you think that switch happened? Like, if you could pin down a year?
2018, maybe? I think that was the year when both the newsletter and the podcast businesses felt established and were bringing in enough money to really take the pressure off of magazine writing as a source of income.
Do you miss magazine writing?
I still do a bit of it — a few articles a year. Mostly I miss my relationships with editors, and being part of the magazine-making process. I don't miss the pitching panic and all the juggling. My dream is always to be on the short list of writers that a beloved editor calls when they have a juicy assignment, no more no less.
I'm not always sure what advice to give to young people who ask for it because the freelance world feels so different, but I feel different too. What do you think?
I just tell the truth. Which is that I got where I am by investing in relationships with peers (who connected me with work and eventually rose through the ranks to be able to offer it to me directly) and creating things I had ownership over (see: the newsletter and podcast). I don't think it works to say "just start a podcast" in 2021, but the ownership principle really stands.
Yes! I think doing your own thing has been true to some extent since the Tumblr days. But now people have enough resources and mediums that they can do a lot more. If it's not a podcast, it's a newsletter. If it's not a newsletter, it may be a YouTube channel.
There are more platforms but also more competition, more noise.
What do you think someone should or could do to combat that noise?
Rather than try to cut through the noise, think about what you can create on a platform where there's less noise—at least, less noise created by journalists. It was a huge advantage to me, in the earliest days of my career, that most powerful journalists had total disdain for blogs. Later, it was an advantage that most journalists weren't into sending email newsletters. Media is slow to respect and capitalize on a new medium, which can be a real advantage. (Yes, I'm asking you to start a TikTok magazine.)
Hahahaha. I do love TikTok.
I also love TikTok. It's inherently editorial.
Oh, please say more!
The accounts I love have their own internal editorial rubric. To take just one example: These "guided meditations" for little daily-life moments. Accounts like these are not copying dances or riffing on jokes, they're their own self-contained thing, with their own language and tone and guidelines. That's the essence of editorial!
Yes!
And something that's rarely talked about when TikTok is covered. Only the memes and collaborative things get talked about. To be clear, most of these accounts aren't journalistic. But they're still editorial, and I think there's a journalistic opportunity there. I think it's possible to be very editorial on Twitter and Instagram, too. The difference with TikTok, when it comes to noise, is that media orgs are still very much still figuring it out. To bring it back to your question about cutting through the noise.
Ooh, I could really talk to you about TikTok all day. But I also wanted to talk to you about sewing -- and actually, TikTok does factor into this.
I love sewing TikTok!
Me too!
So many bobbin jokes. Like, we get it. The bobbin ran out. NEW JOKE PLEASE.I felt seen by the first 5-10, but now I'm ready for meta-bobbin humor.
Sulagna: Have you been able to work on any sewing projects recently? I turned a dress into a romper recently, that was fun.
I took most of August off work, so I've made so many things lately. I pieced a quilt and made a set of squiggly-shaped pillows for a friend's birthday. Like you, I more commonly do alterations but since I've had more time, I've also been making some clothes for myself from scratch.
I HATE patterns because they replicate all the problems I have with buying clothes off the rack. Instead I used existing clothes that fit me well as the pattern for new things. I recently made a swimming suit modeled on the most comfortable pair of underwear I own, and I am now committed to exclusively bespoke swimwear.
Yes, I think the problem I've had with YouTube tutorials (which is not the fault of the platform or the creators) is I'm usually looking for help on how to make clothes fit me, rather than making clothes that are the creators' personal style. Do you have any recommendations on sewing creators to follow that might help with that?
Honestly I feel pretty out of step with most of the instagram/tiktok sewing community, which is SO pattern-focused. I follow for tips, but the pattern process is just so different from my own freestyle approach. I also have yet to find an alterations-focused creator I like. That said, I haven't been too motivated to look. I've been sewing and altering clothes since I was a teenager (so like... 20 years) and I have most of my go-to fixes down pat.
If I were a rich woman I'd buy a basic sewing machine for every teen and teach them how to alter clothes. It's indeed SO liberating to think of your body in terms of its specifics and needs, rather than in terms of an arbitrary number on a label.
Truly! Thank you so much for finding time to speak to me! In the meantime, if you ever want to send me TikToks, PLEASE DO.
Once I find someone who transcends the same old bobbin joke, you'll be the first to know!
I’m doing more interviews with writers and novelists and just plain interesting people these days. Reply to this email or email me at sulagnamisracontact@gmail.com if you want to talk about your newly (or oldly) published book; a book we both loved and read; or just plain fun internet stuff.