Oh my, January!

A brief update from a hectic lady.

Flying to Zurich. Sweatshirt from Kauai. Pizza from…Newark.

I’m sitting at Newark airport, eating margarita pizza at one of those newly bougie wine bars just by the gate (having it all!). I’m heading to Davos with (RED), because obviously I am synonymous with the World Economic Forum. (Har har. This is a lady who gets a headache immediately on opening Excel). I’m off to attend some panels, moderate one, host a (RED) event and hopefully further progress our mission to wipe AIDS the heck off this earth, already.

I haven’t posted on The Stack for weeks because I’ve been spinning plates – well, that and going back to Australia to see my mama over the holidays. Man, do I admire the Profesh Substackers, who turn out content every week, gating their stories at just the most suspenseful place (strategic!), offering exclusives and working hard (really hard!) to build their communities. I just don’t have the bandwidth.

I joined Substack because I missed writing. As an editor in chief for almost six years, I didn’t have time to write full features – apart from, I remember, profiles of Joe Biden and Stephen Colbert. I was so stretched that I resorted to doing Q&As with an intro, hoping the conversations would be jazzy enough to keep my reader’s attention. In the almost two years since InStyle folded, I was surprised how much I missed olde fashioned writing; having some thoughts and throwing them out into the world. And the things I’ve been working on – while thrilling, and hopefully culture-changing in some way – have necessarily developed slowly. Who ever thought I would miss deadlines?

Well, that was then. Now, I feel like I’m in Everything Everywhere All at Once, typing this with hot dog fingers. My husband Brandon has always referred to me as “Johnny Appleseed,” flinging, well, apple seeds around throughout my career. Well, I guess he’s right because those damn plants (a book, a film, my non-profit work, a couple start-ups, more fashion) are all shooting up at once. And, like young saplings, they require my diligence and attention.

Long story short, I’ll be posting less frequently on Substack. I’m looking forward to writing about my adventures in Davos next week, but there will likely be longer breaks between dispatches. I wanted to flag that for all you dear readers, especially my paid subscribers – I don’t want you to feel like you don’t get bang for your hard-earned bucks. (If you want to freeze your subscription for a bit, go for it).

While I sit here trying to keep pizza sauce off my new pink sweatshirt, I just wanted to say thank you, guys, for your support so far – you’ve all been so engaged and thoughtful. Your girl’s just gotta tell her stories in more places.

Soon. X