what's in my inbox👩🏽‍💻

newsletter round up

I’m very serious about what goes in my inbox.

It’s as much of a temple as my body is. I don’t do clutter. I will unsubscribe so quickly from anything I don’t want, and I’ll take time to email customer support if it doesn’t seem to be working. I don’t like giving out my email willy-nilly or making unnecessary accounts on websites. And I archive things as soon as I am done with them, so I usually only have 3-4 things in my inbox that either have action items or I just love to look at. I want my inbox to be a beautifully curated selection of inspiration to start my day. And I want to look forward to it! I Marie Condo my inbox: if it’s not bringing me joy, it gets the boot. Even the NYT cooking newsletter got the boot. And the Sephora sales emails. I figure, those are the kind of things that I’ll seek out on my own. The inbox should be a place where news comes to me.

Let’s face it, I work an email job. Most of us work email jobs. For those of you who do not know what this means - lol. It means that you don’t have a lot of regular tasks, but rather you work at the whim of your inbox, waiting to be called upon. So I spend a lot of the day staring at my work outlook. The Gmail spread is my treat to myself while I eat my lunch. Or even over a coffee as soon as I get to the office. I only wish I could read them on a kindle or something to avoid all the blue light. Maybe I should just print them all out, a la my boss.

I don’t have to tell you that media is in a weird place. I delete and re-download socials all the time. I’ve toyed around with only following real people I know on Instagram versus following only news outlets versus following celebrities and it all makes me feel shitty. As legacy media outlets become less relevant, I’d assume the average person is consuming less and less news. Meaning the people who want the news will seek it out, and the disparity between those who are informed and those who are not keeps growing. But at the same time, as news gets more curated for individuals, maybe we’re only hearing what we want to hear.

Well, I don’t have the answer to that problem. But I do love substack. And local events. And feeling like a part of culture. So here is a little look inside my inbox. Think of it as a “what’s in my bag” for the modern age.¹

daily:

Actor’s Access - 3x daily

If yk yk - gotta stay on my grind. I get notifications about new postings on actor’s access that match my profile three times a day. That way I can see the new auditions as soon as they come in and immediately submit. I usually also look at everything on the website once every week or two just to make sure the algorithm isn’t hiding anything from me. I like to sort by casting director 😎

The Playbill Post - Morning

Sort of for work, sort of for pleasure. A morning roundup of theater news. Helps me keep my finger on the pulse.

The Broadway Briefing - Morning

Same deal, morning Broadway headlines. The briefing is generally more robust and just better than the post, but I get both anyway. It usually also includes articles from the West End and notable regional things. The briefing also has a little review roundup which I find fun. When a new show opens they summarize what all of the critics thought in a simple graphic. For example:

Most recently Glengarry Glen Ross which opened at the Palace Theater

W42ST - Morning

Hyper-local Hell’s Kitchen news! Tells me if a new restaurant is opening. Spotlights longtime community members. Gives an excellent weekend roundup of shows museums and events in the city. Talks about local policy and representatives too. I’m into it. The comments/forums can be super funny. It’s like if we had a Star’s Hollow town hall for Midtown West.

Semafor - Mornings

A recent addition and something I learned about via FeedMe (see below). Just a really good and comprehensive morning politics/news round-up. I am reckoning with trying to be a more informed citizen so between this and The Daily I’m on the up.

One Story from The Atlantic - 3pm-ish

This is kind of funny because I don’t have my own subscription to The Atlantic. My dad pays for Apple News + for the family which includes a lot of stuff but I have to use the Apple News app. So I basically use this newsletter to give me a little brief and then I decide if I want to read the full article in the Apple news app. Takes an extra step but it’s okay. It’s self-explanatory - they send you one article per day that they think is worth reading. Usually news.

FeedMe - Mon-Friday, time varies

As many of you know, this is the only Substack I pay for. $7/month to feel like a hot sexy finance businesswoman. Emily writes about a lot of stuff, but I particularly enjoy knowing what bistro the finance bros are getting their overpriced caviar at, or whether Nobu will be moving to the Hamptons. She talks about business and entertainment and New York happenings. I know I am not her target audience because she did a dating survey and 10+ respondents made more than $500K per year. I dragged Reis to a meet-up she had at Rhodora over the summer and although I did not network at all, I did have some amazing focaccia and bought a hat. She was recently on the cover of the Times business section so like, I guess I knew her before she was popular?

Feed Me x Rhodora

weekly:

Hung Up by Hunter Harris - Tuesdays and Fridays

The blueprint. The first Substack I followed! Live love Hunter Harris. One post a week is usually paywalled but there’s a lot of free goodness too. I just generally really agree with her takes or at least find them hilarious. Someday I will watch RHONY and enjoy hung up to the fullest. Also a big fan of her podcast, Lemme Say This.

Nothing for the Group - Fridays

A Tali recommendation, a good theater-y Substack that alternates between a roundup of new and developmental work happening around the country, and a guest submission column called “bills bills bills” where people talk candidly about how they make a career in the arts work, financially. I just wrote up my own column and submitted it, so I’ll let y’all know when it’s published there.

Plant Based - Tuesdays and Fridays

Okay sorry this section is a lot of Substack but this is a recent favorite of mine. She does a recurring column where she interviews people about what they keep in their fridge which I find fascinating. My idea of “a staple” is very different from other people’s. I also particularly love her comprehensive ranking of different wellness and beauty related things, like her fancy lip balm ranking or online workout class ranking.

The Audacity by Roxane Gay - Tuesdays but sometimes also Wednesdays or even Thursdays

Maybe you’ve heard of her. She does a weekly “roundup” of things that are happening in the world and in media and then also spotlights a short story from an emerging writer every week.

sporadically:

A Couple of Google Flight Alerts

Currently looking for a flight to Chicago in May, a flight to Puerto Rico in January, and maybe a flight to Mexico City in July. Let’s hope they come down.

The Broadway Journal - Comes maybe once or twice a month

More business-y news. Typically only comes when there is an interesting IP battle or notable financial trend. Writing this out is making me feel like a big nerd. I like what I like!

The Review of Beauty - Some random Wednesdays

This is true journalism. This woman is so good at what she does. And what she does is write about and expose the beauty industry. She regularly writes an advice column for The Guardian and publishes it on her substack as well. My favorite piece she’s done was on how companies have weaponized our stress in a state of political unrest and capitalized on our desire for “self-care.” Just obsessed.

Big Salad

FeedMe makes me feel like I’m truly 27, Big Salad makes me feel like I’m 40. Biggest mom energy ever from Joanna Goddard, but I like to stay in touch with all kinds of generations. What are the moms feeling these days? I do love her monthly roundups of things she and her friends are loving. I think this newsletter makes me well rounded.

Dua Lipa’s Service 95 - I don’t know when this comes. Maybe every like 4 days?

The truest it-girl, the tastiest of tastemakers, Dua Lipa giving me advice on things I will never experience and recommendations for places I will never go. But hey, it’s aspirational. Maybe someday I will use Service 95 to find out where to get cupping massages in Shanghai.

The kind of shit i care about.

See the rest of the Substacks I subscribe to here <3

Was this fun for you at all?

1. I probably will do a “what’s in my bag” at some point.