Create the Content You Wish to See in the World

An announcement, of sorts

Sep 17, 2024

I love a mood board just as much as the next internet princess

I’m about to say 4 words that few people just love to hear.

So I’ve been thinking…

I love reviewing products and talking about branding — trust me, you don’t want to go to Whole Foods with me — but I’ve been feeling a little itchy lately.

Itchiness (mental) is a sensation I come back to often. It’s a perfect representation of my discomfort on a physical level. Itchiness doesn’t need much more of an explanation — every human understands its strange and mildly annoying sensation. I feel itchy when I’m inadvertently listening to Pearl Jam or when I’m reminded of Elisabeth Moss and her membership to the church of Scientology.

Most relevantly to this conversation though, I feel itchy when I’m creatively stagnant.

I started out writing these weekly brand reviews in an attempt to create consistency during a confusing and uncertain time in my life. The weekly review gave me a form of accountability I wasn’t getting elsewhere as a newborn freelancer. But what happens when structure becomes suffocating?

This is a melodramatic way of saying: I could use a little diversity in my verticals. I have a lot of thoughts (shocker) about wellness and beauty, topics that exceed the confines of a branding critique. I realized that I was putting myself in a box for literally no reason.

The current landscape of wellness media is uninspiring to me. I don’t care for the articles on Goop or Poosh or any other double-O lifestyle brand for that matter, laden with SEO-baiting keywords. I don’t want to listen to Huberman Lab (a stance I held even before that article came out) and I don’t need to read about how to lift weights from the New York Times of all places. That being said, if you’re reading this from the NYT, DM me. I have ideas.

I ruminate on these complaints a lot, but for some reason*, it hit me. Why don’t I just write the wellness (and beauty) coverage that I’m personally interested in?

I’ve spoken about the shudder that goes down my spine when faced with the term “wellness girlie,” and I’ve laid out some sort of blueprint for her archetypal counterparts: the Frat Bro Turned Wellness Bro and the Wealthy White Lady. I’m great at seeing patterns, putting others — and myself — in boxes. It’s comforting! It’s familiar! It makes me feel seen! But I’m also reasonable, and as the hero of my generation said it best, “I know there’s lots of different nuances to you and to me.”

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I’m slightly embarrassed to admit I was temporarily blinded by the haze of conformity that I forgot I could exist outside of the paradigms I created (and will continue to create, if I’m being honest).

And what is the wellness coverage I’m personally interested in, you ask?

I’m thinking

comparisons between all the celebrity-backed haircare lines
commentary on my sober-curious lifestyle as a single woman
what wellness looks like around the world and
an investigation into why all of the pilates classes are invite-only

for starters.

I’ll still do reviews (just on a less frequent basis, my pace was becoming a bit untenable, frankly), and they’ll still be honest (especially for the brands and products you request). Into the Fridges are certainly not going anywhere. But I’ve got some other fun stuff in the works. Who knows, I might go crazy and throw some polls in the mix. Moral of the story, prepare for some new formats from me.

My brain is going a mile a minute with all of the ideas I have — a telltale sign that I’m onto something good. It’s amazing how great it feels to be liberated from the limits we self-impose.

Ideas, requests, and curiosities are always welcome here, so if there’s something you’re looking to see more of as it pertains to wellness and beauty, I’m all ears.

Look out Friday’s post where I’ll be comparing all of the electrolyte powders that serve you targeted ads. I love trying random shit and acting as a human guinea pig for the sake of service journalism, I guess.

In the meantime, here are some pieces of content I enjoyed consuming: