Monday Memo #9: Ablaze, Seasons Shifting

August 3, 2020

August always feels like a shift in the air.

In the last 48 hours, I became an Auntie* for the first time (👶🏻 Facetimed with a 7-hour-old!), witnessed my first Zoom wedding (👰🏻👰🏻 mazel tov!), and toured the tropical yurts of the isle of Brooklyn 🌴

So, dear reader, what’s shifting for you this season?

*I’m not like the other Aunts, I’m a cool Aunt

Where You’ll Find Me

🍾 Thrilled to announce I am a brand spankin’ new Wethos Founding Member!

🧐 What’s a Wethos, you ask??

💥 A game-changing platform for independent strategists & creatives to team up and make more 💰, founded by 3 badass ex-agency ladies, that’s what.

💡 Wanna collaborate? The waitlist is now open, and you can sign up for it here.

👏🏽 Per CEO Rachel Renock:

Rachel Renock (she/her) @rachren1

This industry, from agencies to freelance platforms, is a system designed around toxicity, abuse, & exploitation, and we believe it is irreversible within existing institutions. The rise of independents will be powered by REAL tools that enable them to demand more money TOGETHER

Geri Kirilova @geri_kirilova

🍾 Huge milestone for an incredible team. @wethosco has always been focused on doing work that matters, and this product launch is no exception. If you are an independent creative, don't miss this 👇 https://t.co/kwDxBCN4Ws

Rachel Renock (she/her) @rachren1

we’re about to blindside this whole damn industry and they’re not even paying attention independents need REAL tools to demand 👏🏻 more 👏🏻 money 👏🏻 TOGETHER we deserve an industry standard for pricing, real transparency, & a NEW system that doesn’t exploit and dismiss creatives

Robert McLaws @robertmclaws

I am so stinkin excited about this, Rachel is an *amazing* founder, and is a big thinker. They’ve built something at the perfect storm of COVID, enabling the next generation of creative consultants. Go get it, girl! 🔥🚀👊🏻 https://t.co/AXPEN7H4wH

Links & Longreads

💅🏾 Flo Milli Summer, by Hunter Harris for Vulture

🐦 The Mysterious Life of Birds Who Never Come Down, by Helen Macdonald for NYT

🍦 How MSCHF Built Managed to Dominate the Internet — With Fun!, by Bijan Stephen for The Verge

🔮 Queer Horoscopes for August 2020, by Corina Dross for Autostraddle

Creativity/Productivity Hacks

👩🏽‍💻 Roxane Gay on Working From Home During a Pandemic, by Roxane Gay for Dropbox

👘 #11: Divide your wardrobe into hard clothes (to be avoided at all costs) and soft clothes (to be worn at all times).

Megan Beauchamp (h/t Create & Cultivate):

✅ Putting my wins down on paper at the end of each day has been a much bigger morale boost than I expected.

Dope Stuff for Your Desk

Keep Bezos ears out of your home with Alexagate, an Alexa add-on that jams the microphone using seven ultrasonic speakers.

From the Mixtape: Ablaze

Stop everything you’re doing and watch this video of Alanis Morissette singing “Ablaze” in one imperfect, brilliant take with a chatty toddler (subject and muse of said song) on hip:

🎧 High school me is shooketh: Alanis sounds better now than 20 years ago, warping my copy of Jagged Little Pill on my Discman with teen angst on repeat. Seeing Alanis come full circle with her children in these songs made me realize how much I missed her voice in my life.

To my boy, all that energy, so wild
Love your hues and your blues in equal measure
Your comings and your goings-away
My mission is to keep the light in your eyes ablaze

To my girl, all your innocence and fire
When you reach out, I am here hell or high water
This nest is never going away
My mission is to keep the light in your eyes ablaze

Such Pretty Forks in the Road is Alanis Morisette’s first studio album in 8 years:

Tattoo of the Week

🧀 Mac & Cheese by Jessi Preston. (I’m cheesy.)

See you next week! ✌🏽

—

From the Desk of Sharon Panelo,
Queer Nerdy Filipina Strategist At Large