Creator Conversations

Should I start my own thing? How do I do that? And, once I sort that out, how do I promote myself and my work? How do I grow?

These are just some questions coming up for entrepreneurial journalists that J+ is excited to address in a series of events and workshops in 2022. 

Driven by our creators in residence, Yvonne Leow and Hillary Frey, this multipart series will coalesce around topics including: 

  • Building your brand
  • Establishing trust with your community
  • Operating as a solopreneur
  • Distributing on different platforms
  • Overcoming setbacks and staying the course

 Sign up here!

Creator Conversations: Managing Your Operations

Mitchell Rosenberg

Wednesday, April 13 at 12 pm ET/9 am PT

How to build and scale your team with Mitchell Rosenberg

Mitchell Rosenberg is a 24-year-old California native and the founder of Simplified, an online platform designed to make politics accessible. Driven by public service, he currently serves as an Assistant Legislative Deputy for California Governor Gavin Newsom and as an Advance Associate for the White House. Rosenberg graduated from Chapman University with a double major in Political Science and Television Writing & Production, and from Northwestern University with a Master’s in Public Policy and Administration.

Jules Terpak

Wednesday, April 20 at 12 pm ET/9 am PT

Producing news stories on TikTok with Jules Terpak

Jules Terpak has built an audience of over 260K+ on TikTok. Her content focuses on culture-commentary regarding tech and media, which she found a passion for after being introduced to Gen Z, universal basic income, and inefficiencies within modern work simultaneously back in 2019. Since growing her platform, Jules has worked with the likes of Google, The Washington Post, and many more. She hopes to simplify info regarding the ever-changing digital world, and approaches creating content as a gateway rather than a means to an end.

Sean Jacobs

Wednesday, April 27 at 12 pm ET/9 am PT

From solo project to media company with Sean Jacobs, founder of Africa Is a Country

Sean Jacobs founded Africa Is a Country a site of opinion, analysis, and new writing on and from the African Left in 2009. Over the last 10+ years, Sean has grown the site from a solo show to a niche yet influential media company with a core team of six paid permanent team members, and a host of freelance contributors working on everything from content to design to fundraising. In this session, Sean will share his experience about managing and sustaining growth, creative ways to look for funding, resource allocation, handling partnerships, and more.

We understand you are busy! If you sign up for the series but cannot make it to the live event, we will send you a link to the recording.

These events are open to the public and are supported by the Meta Journalism Project. 

SIGN UP HERE!

Past Events: Conversations on Building Your Brand

The first series, “Building your Brand,” featured the following events: 

Emma Gray and Clarie Fallon

Wednesday, January 19 at 1 pm ET/10 am PT

Building and becoming your own brand with Claire Fallon and Emma Gray

The former hosts and creators of Bachelor-obsessed podcast Here to Make Friends—and founders of the pop culture-obsessed newsletter and audio Substack, Rich Text, and podcast, Love to See It with Emma and Claire–will share about their journey to entrepreneurship (and rebranding!) after life in big media.

Judd Legum portrait

Monday, January 24 at noon ET/9am PT

Differentiating your brand from the pack with Judd Legum, creator of Popular Information

Judd Legum is the journalist behind Popular Information, a Substack newsletter covering politics and power. In the past three years, PI has grown to reach tens of thousands of subscribers, but how did it begin? Judd, who was previously the founder and editor in chief at ThinkProgress, shares his experiences on how he launched PI and distinguished his newsletter from the endless number of political voices that exist today.

Gabriel Snyder

Wednesday, February 2 at 1 pm ET/10 am PT

Making a media brand for media people with Gabriel Snyder

In 2021, journalist Gabriel Snyder launched the subscription newsletter Off the Record, which reports on the New York City media industry. Here, he’ll share his thinking behind the publication, his spin on the current state of media reporting, and his path to being a founder (including all the things he’d advise NOT to do.)

Andrea Hernandez

Tuesday, February 15 12 pm ET/9 am PT

Launching your brand into the universe with Andrea Hernández, creator of Snaxshot

Andrea Hernández, the creator of Snaxshot, runs a popular Substack newsletter and Discord community covering the latest trends in the food and beverage industry. Born and raised in Honduras, and educated at Northeastern, Andrea will share her insights as to how she cultivated a following of self-proclaimed “snaxbois” and “snaxpals.”

Anne-Laure Le Cunff

Tuesday, March 1, 12 pm ET/9 am PT

Branching your brand beyond newsletters with Anne-Laure Le Cunff, creator of Ness Labs

Anne-Laure Le Cunff is an entrepreneur, a writer, and a neuroscience PhD candidate who started Ness Labs, a platform with more than 35,000 newsletter subscribers and 2,500 paid community members. Every week she shares neuroscience-based insights to help people be more productive and creative without sacrificing their mental health. Before that, she was a marketing lead at Google with a focus on branding projects in the mental and physical health sector.