Good morning,
I was in my early 30s when I first picked up SELF. The magazine.
It was the '90s. The cover was all legs and cheekbones with Cindy Crawford, Heidi Klum, Niki Taylor in swimsuits. The message underneath was that this is what taking care of yourself looks like. Harder. Faster. Thinner. Back then, we called it motivation.
Who remembers the annual Self Challenge issue? Women across the country, myself included, doing the same lunges, eating the same recipes, reporting back. It felt like community. Someone was finally paying attention to us. It also quietly told us we weren't quite enough yet.
SELF magazine closed this month after 47 years.
Millions of monthly readers. A National Magazine Award. And Condé Nast's CEO essentially said there was no path for SELF to continue.
No path. For millions of women.
This isn't about one magazine. Most recently, Teen Vogue folded into Vogue on line and Glamour lost its international editions. The pattern is always the same: media serving women, covering culture and health and what matters to us, now gone. Not because the readers left but because the business model never put us first.
Independent media is the only path viable forward the way I see it. It's the only model where the readers are at the center, rather than a demographic being sold to advertisers who'd rather reach someone younger.
PROVOKED launched 15 months ago. This week we welcome a new Senior Wellness Editor—Susan Spencer, formerly Editor-in-Chief of Woman's Day—and we’re actively bringing on three to four new journalists in health and beauty.
We're not Condé Nast. We never will be. That's entirely the point.
This issue is for every woman who dog-eared a SELF issue and felt, for a moment, like someone was paying attention. We're here for what comes next.
