Let yourself take a deep breath
+ my personal piece in Adweek + all dogs are good dogs official report
Hi friend,
I know, I didn’t check in with you last week. I fully intended on it. I had plans in my calendar and ideas of what to write about.
But when the time came, I had so much other stuff going on that I felt incredibly overwhelmed about writing something you’d want to read.
I felt so guilty for not writing. For not keeping to my schedule.
But then I remembered that I’m a real human being with other real commitments (and this is why I tell people this is a mostly weekly newsletter).
Once I realized that writing this was just not going to happen last week, I felt the guilt lift off.
Like I could finally take a deep breath.
I don’t know why we don’t let ourselves do that more. Let ourselves change our minds and reassess things when we know better.
Why we don’t let ourselves take more deep breaths.
If you’re working on something this week that’s causing you stress or feelings of guilt, is there anything you can do about it?
The answer might be no, in which case I’m sending you all the love + strength.
But if the answer is yes and that big stressful thing is flexible, can you be kinder to yourself?
Can you reassess more realistically now that you know better?
Let yourself take a deep breath if you can. You deserve it.
with warmth + love,
N
P.S. Next week’s newsletter may also be a bit delayed as I’ll be at Social Media Week in NYC! If you’ll be there too, reply or DM me so I can say hi to you in person!!
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On another note for my fellow U.S. based friends: I’m incredibly disgusted and upset at the recent news this week coming from the Supreme Court. If you’re feeling compelled to take action, I highly recommend checking out this list of abortion funds you can donate to, including both National and State-specific funds.
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📚 The Click Throughs
Long-form reads for the marketing geek + content creator
Bloomberg: Life After Twitch: Streamers Are Finding New Ways to Make Money and Avoid Burnout
Like many creators over the past year, Twitch Streamers are finally feeling the effects of the “always on” lifestyle. Many are looking to how they can turn their success into other business deals that don’t require frequent, regular streaming.
Glossy: The fall of ‘blanding’: DTC labels rebrand to keep up with the era of maximalism
Look, I love brands that all have that classic, clean, trendy DTC aesthetic. You know the one I’m talking about with its serif fonts in muted colors. But to thrive as a brand, you’ve gotta adapt to the times. This piece chronicles how brands are updating to the newer, flashier fads.
The Cut: Do I Really Need to Be on Social Media?
This is a Q&A column submission, but I felt like it spoke to a lot of what we go through as social media managers. If you’ve ever felt the stress and pressure of growing your personal brand to showcase your work, this one’s for you. This piece addresses how to be online when you don’t actually want to be online.
ElleUK: Young Women Are Self-Diagnosing Personality Disorders, Thanks To TikTok
Dismantling the taboo of speaking about mental health and disorders is one of the positives of social media... or maybe it’s not? This piece examines how young, impressionable people are finding solace in TikToks discussing psychological disorders + potentially finding help for actual diagnoses.
Adweek: What Grief Can Teach Us About Marketing and Advertising
I’m biased on this one because it’s written by yours truly + potentially far more personal than I ever thought I’d get with the internet, but here it is for your reading. Last week was National Infertility Awareness Week and I couldn’t think of anything more fitting than writing about my experience with infertility + miscarriage through my lens of marketing. TL;DR Be more human in your marketing practices. We’re all going through heavy stuff.
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🧘🏼♀️ Mindful Moment
One actionable thing to get you through this week
I feel like lately I’ve been in need of mindful moments (the plural version). Sometimes that means meditating or working out.
Other times it means going about my normal work day but with soothing sounds in the background.
This website transports you into the sounds of forests from around the world (and tells you where you’re listening to). Take a little break or explore your forest all day – totally up to you.
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🔗 Link(s) in Bio
Things I’ve been loving that have absolutely nothing to do with marketing or business
Yahoo: Inside the Lucrative Wordle-ization of Online Games – The amount of times I’ve had conversations over the past few months about “Oh it’s Wordle but for [insert topic here]” is absolutely wild. If this sounds like you, this is an interesting read.
Refinery29: Too Many Thoughts Living Rent-Free In Your Head? Try Mind Gardening – I absolutely love Anne-Laure Le Cunff and, thus, love the idea of gardening your brain to generate more creativity and soothe our overworked minds.
Would you try out Tropicana’s new cereal made for orange juice?? I can’t imagine this becoming a regular staple but I enjoy the gimmicky hype.
The Cut: How the Pandemic Made Me Lose My Ambition – It’s interesting to think about how the pandemic and more work from home life may have impacted our career ambitions. This piece is deeply relatable and fascinating.
Glamour: The Coastal Grandmother Aesthetic Is a Lifestyle, Not Just a TikTok Trend – Literally all I aspire to is the life of a coastal grandmother in a little cottage and a cozy sweater with a glass of wine in hand.
New York Times: They’re All Good Dogs, and It Has Nothing to Do With Their Breed – Instantly clicked on this headline and couldn’t agree more. They’re good boys, Brent.
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💭 Content Calendar
Ideas for you to take into your week ahead as a content creator
Take time to make things you love.
That’s my content motto this month.
Things take time and often good things take even more time.
Don’t be afraid to allot the time you need to create the quality of content you want to make.
On the flip side, don’t get too stuck in the planning and forget how to trust your gut.
Take time to make things you love.
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👋 The (ring) Light at the End of the Tunnel