Okay y'all, listen. I am so glad that I can help freelancers as a coach. SO GLAD. It's productive and purposeful. I love hearing where people are at. It's amazing to watch people make progress.

BUT. But. I think constantly about how these fixes are basically bandaids.

This media industry is such a mess. There are so many power dynamics at play that keep gig workers in an underpaid, precarious place.

Freelance journalists can't make enough by just doing journalism, which means journalism overall suffers.

I spend about 50% of my time telling people that they deserve more. They deserve better. They deserve to be able to make journalism, to help hold our government accountable, AND pay their rent.

This industry's biz model has always been a mess. But now? It's just unsustainable.

I spend hours each night thinking about fixes. Policies. Ways we could make room for more people. Ways we could fix the power imbalances. Ways we could make it STANDARD PRACTICE for writers to get paid a living wage.

Our @TWC_pod coaching scholarship app brought in DOZENS of qualified women asking for help, asking for a step up in an industry where they aren't afforded a voice or a chance. We can only help 3. THREE.

My editorial assistant search brought me nearly 100 qualified new writers, all of them basically asking: How do we start? How do we make journalism and also make a living?

Each time I have to say: "Have you considered brand work?" I want to punch a wall.

All of this is to say: The journalism industry is BROKEN. We cannot normalize that. We cannot allow unfair power dynamics and low pay and unpaid internships and working for exposure and broken business models to continue.

It's not normal. It's tragic.