Recommended by Natalie Guevara
Fresh essays, new interviews with collaborators, and thoughtful musings about Stephen Sondheim's work. A rich tapestry that demonstrates the master's impact on our culture. I'm a life-long student and I still come away with new learnings from this resource. In sum: "G-d, that's good!"
Ochuko Akpovbovbo does a tremendous job of contextualizing brand, business, & lifestyle news, adding a substantive (and often humorous) POV to the Internet's favorite topics of the week. There are similar newsletters out there, but this one is my favorite.
Jake Bell is clear-eyed about what makes brand storytelling sticky and often runs insightful chats with scrappy entrepreneurs, marketers, and trend forecasters who breakdown the hits, the flops, and the learnings behind their brand-building efforts.
The Schmear Hunter is highly caloric, full-fat content in the best way possible. I learn from his critiques on TV and film. As an audience, we're losing discernment. Well, that's not the case with Schmear's takes.
Evan Ross Katz is one of my favorite pop culture commentators, and one of our most thoughtful. To me, I haven't fully ruminated on a pop culture event until ERK has commented on it. Plus: His podcast, SHUT UP EVAN, is fantastic. What a talented interviewer he is!
Liana Satenstein, queen of all media (her YouTube show is also a fantastic watch), pours over the idiosyncratic details that make a garment, a music video, or an entire fashion moment serrated and memorable. She explores things with a little cling and lasting power, whether it's a '90s DKNY campaign or Gwyneth Paltrow's tank top in "A Perfect Murder." For me, Liana fills a much-needed void in style-centric writing today, evoking voice-y scribes like Joan Juliet Buck, Liz Lange, and Kate Betts.
FOR SCALE is a newer-to-me Substack follow. I love David Michon's unfiltered, dialed take on interior design, domestic spaces, and style. While I admire intriguing interiors, I'm not an AD girlie. David's excellent Substack—which is editorial, but never pretentious—is more my speed. A great find!
I became a fan of Lindsey Weber from years of listening to her excellent pop culture podcast WHO? Weekly, co-hosted by the equally talented Bobby Finger. To know she's a fellow theatre fan, and actively seeks out non-mainstream, non-commercial, and experimental theatre, warms my heart. I love her recommendations.
I learned of Laura McLaws Helms from following her Instagram, @laurakitty, for years. There's a big overlapping Venn diagram of her interests and mine: 1970s everything, but particularly 1970s-era NYC; under-explored fashion designers and artists; what it means to have a true style legacy. I'm forever learning about new cultural artifacts from her, and I can never predict who or what she'll write about next. She also has an excellent companion podcast.
Stephanie Pérez-Gurri is a fellow Cuban girl from Miami who took the media scene by storm in NYC and is now nurturing her soulful, stirring writing talent. The way she explores themes of womanhood and motherhood will stay with you. Never a cliché; endlessly surprising, funny, and true. I cannot recommend her newsletter enough!
Written by film historian and author Marya E. Gates, this is a round-up of thoughtful writing on cinema, as well as some great recommendations on what to watch and where. Subscribe for her Directed By Women Viewing Guide, released weekly!
The thoroughly modern Victoria Myers is a writer and filmmaker with an original voice that harkens back to the days of Dorothy Parker, Nora Ephron, and even Jacqueline Susann. Subscribe!
Madeline Hill is one of the smartest women I know. She has a varied background—media, content, and social strategy; activism; modeling; currently studying abroad in London!—and I can safely say she's the only writer who has made me care about sports AND sports gossip. She always has a razor-sharp take on what's happening in the zeitgeist and just makes me laugh. I love her!
Hunter Harris is that quintessential It Girl you only encounter in pop culture like "That Girl," "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," "Sex and the City," "Insecure"... I can go on. She's winning, mischievous, and opinionated. All great things to be when you're publishing the funniest pop culture newsletter on Beyoncé's Internet. Hung Up is Substack at its best. Just subscribe!
Bennett D. Bennett's newsletter is like taking a peek behind the curtain of advertising & media campaigns you read about in ADWEEK, from one of the most thoughtful minds in the biz. I love poking around the archive.