Today, I was going to create a more personal, easy, breezy newsletter because I get this question all the time: How do you do a newsletter every day? So I figured I’d take another, deeper dive.
People often tell me, “I could never do that.” Or, “I am so glad you say what you say, but I could never say that.” It is an interesting dynamic as a creator to step into a gap, into a space filled with unknowns. Right now, there are real unknowns about what it means to speak authentically about things we are concerned about.
When people begin to whisper, “I cannot say that” or “I cannot do that,” we are in danger—real danger. When everyday people are fearful of speaking out, freedom of speech is already slipping away.
I recently went live with Arlene and Lewis Byrd about their project, Hyire, a networking platform for entrepreneurs. It grew out of their frustration with LinkedIn and the sense that posts from Black creators are suppressed. I also did a Substack Live with Marlon Weems, another creator. All of us are Black, and we noted how much harder it is for us to get financial support.
Arlene and Lewis charge $100 for founding members of Hiyre, and people question that. Yet those same people spend freely on LinkedIn ads or premium packages. People are less likely to support Black creators with dollars and subscriptions, even while they extract our knowledge. White creators often get more support even when acting in bad faith. A white woman who screamed the N-word at a young autistic Black boy walked away with $800,000 in support.
So the real question is: are people willing to pool resources for anything except Black creativity and truth-telling?
For me, the hardest part of creating every day is not speaking or writing. My process is simple: I talk into my phone, edit the transcript, and then refine it. That is how I wrote my book. That is just how my mind works. The hardest part is exposing myself to the content—the pain, anxiety, and fear of what is happening every day in this country. It is like a hazardous job.
When I was a journalist, I saw terrible things, dead bodies, injuries, and more. Writing my book, I carried the pain of so many Black women in the workplace. The psychic toll of holding all that suffering is heavy. It often feels like a fire is burning, and only a few of us are trying to put it out.
Some people have the freedom to float above all this. They have enough money or the right color or gender to know that, whatever happens, they will be fine. That is not me. My livelihood, my emotional stability, and even my physical safety are on the line.
That is what it takes to be this kind of creator. My goal is to grow my Substack enough to eventually migrate to a more organic platform. If you value this work, support it. Be a free subscriber. If I get to 5,000 subscribers, that opens new opportunities on this platform. Every subscriber matters.
And if you use this material, cite this material, or want to go deeper, consider becoming a paid subscriber. It is $5 a month or $50 a year. CNN is charging subscriptions for news while already getting cable fees and ad dollars. Here, my newsletter is free. My videos are free. Only the deeper dives, trainings, and extras are for paid subscribers.
I am trying something new this Friday: a live Friday Roundup at 12:30 pm. It will also be available as a video.
I get a lot of questions about this process, so I thought I would share how it all works.
