Badass Alert. (That’s You.) You’ll Want to Read This Important OA Announcement.
Authenticity and audacity ahead. Your wellness will thank you.
Hi Friends,
I’m departing a bit from our usual format to share some thoughts with you today. It’ll be short and sweet, and I’d love to hear from you.
The last year has been a wrecking ball for so many of us. Whether financial, professional, physical, or emotional, everyone has been touched by the trauma of a pandemic and economic collapse. My heart goes out to each and every one of you with compassion and care, whatever your individual struggles have been or continue to be.
Something that this time has given me the chance to do—in the midst of pain, and stress, and the news cycle—is to reflect on Organic Authority itself.
When I began this new media venture, I had no idea what being a media company founder would entail. There’s enough discovery, drama, education, and affirmation to fill a lifetime’s worth of Moleskines.
When I started Organic Authority, my goal was just that: To create a resource that would be the authority on all things organic. To inspire people to vote with their dollar and choose organic food at the checkout. Then, grocery stores, brands, Big Ag, and conventional farmers would be forced to listen to consumer demand for clean organic food. To bring organic food, and living, , into the mainstream. Many years on, organic food and living is, if not yet mainstream, generally accepted and understood. I’m grateful to the many other thinkers, writers, creators, artisans, entrepreneurs, and publishers who have helped push organic living forward with us.
And yet, as I took stock during 2020 of my hopes for 2021—not only my hopes for OA, but my hopes for you, our community, and our society—I realized something else was calling to me. In fact, this something has been with me for a very long time. As I zeroed in on it with honesty, the quiet bubbling in the back of my mind became a tidal wave of conviction.
No question about it: Covid is making every single one of us reexamine the way we live. It’s rattling our foundations. Bringing us to the absolute ground. And yet in this, there’s a once-in-a-generation opportunity to make real progress.
Now, I’m not talking about political progress; I can’t solve the problems our leaders must solve, things like climate change, or student loan debt, or healthcare. Nor can you. Not on our own. But for me, as a publisher blessed to exchange fresh ideas with an incredible community every single day, there is something I can work to solve.
Beginning soon, we’ll be taking Organic Authority in a new and necessary direction. We’ve been doing this long enough to see that there is a big, fat problem in women’s media. Call it white waif wellness. Call it checklists of perfection instead of healthy progress.
Humans are happiest when they make progress in their life. Becoming a better You. Moving beyond your fears and boundaries. Achieving ‘perfection’ is in my opinion a low standard.
While I’m the first to admit I care about my fitness and my health and that extends to liking what I see in the mirror, I’ve never been a subscriber to being a conventional American female consumer, to conflating wellness with supermodel, or skinny with healthy. The Instagram look-like-a-model complex is only the latest manifestation of this persistent media bias toward women.
Lately, it seems as if brands’ efforts toward inclusivity or body positivity are anything but authentic. We, as media, are still not getting it right. There’s a whole lot of “you go girl” right next to “you don’t find celery juice filling?”
When I think about my women friends, my rocks, my anchors, my lights; when I connect with you—I think, what a disservice women’s wellness media is doing us all! It’s the same story the media has been selling to women for decades, just under a different name – wellness. There’s always a new diet, a new tool, a new something wrong with us. In short: it’s a checklist.
I happen to think a woman’s life is about more than being bolted down to spec. The women I trust and admire believe in progress, not perfection. They’re strong, not helpless. They’re innately beautiful, not beautiful for their age.
And they’re complex. They have what one of my friends calls “the juice.”
All this hunker-down time has helped me realize that Organic Authority isn’t just about being the trusted authority for organic food and wellness ideas.
Nope; what we’re going to do is to fearlessly support you being the authority in your own life. You. Your true you.
I’m sharing all of this with you because I want you to get excited for what’s ahead.
OA is going to get a little more wild. Edgy. Honest. Unexpected. Real. Joyful. Fun. And funny.
We’ve been hard at work behind the scenes developing exciting new content and products, for women who take the lead in their own lives. For the badasses who deserve a badass women’s wellness outlet. I can’t wait to share and to hear from you. Brace!
BTW have you signed up for our newsletter yet? Sign up here.
P.S. We love our badass guys, too. Stay tuned, everyone!
