Two magazine editors quit their jobs in order to create a daily newsletter that empowers girls with relevant news that matters. No, this isn’t the plot for a new Netflix series. This is all happening IRL at Clover, a newsletter—created by Liza Darwin and Casey Lewis—that aims to make every day better for girls. Ed caught up with the dynamic duo to find out what lessons they’ve learned, what misconceptions they want to correct, and what we can expect from Clover in 2017.
When Ed last spoke with you, we discussed how to start a newsletter. Now Clover is almost one-year-old! Can you share some of your successes and challenges?
Liza: A lot of people ask if it’s hard to write so much content every single day, but honestly, that’s the easiest part of running the whole company! Casey and I are used to intense deadlines and quick turnarounds. But some of our biggest challenges come from all the other stuff that goes along with starting a business: legal issues, technical problems, brainstorming brand partnerships, and more. The biggest challenge overall has been finding a balance between the product itself (AKA the newsletter and community) and dealing with all of the other things that need to be done. It’s amazing to see how this newsletter has grown; we have readers from all over the world, from Singapore to South Korea to Mexico to Missouri. And they write us every day to tell us what they think about Clover Letter. Building an honest relationship with our readers as we continue to grow has been one of the most exciting things about starting a business. It’s constant affirmation that no, we aren’t crazy for quitting our jobs and doing this; and yes, this is a cool thing that teen girls love.
Casey: Echoing Liza, the biggest challenge isn’t the content or even the newsletter itself—it’s being two female first-time founders navigating through things like contracts and budgets and investors. When we came up with the idea for Clover, we thought an email newsletter would be a cinch—and it kind of is. But it’s everything else that’s been the biggest learning curve.
How do you decide on the topics to cover in the morning announcements?
Casey: When we’re looking through news each day, we ask ourselves: Does this impact a teenage girl? If the answer is yes—and it often is, because so much hard news these days does directly affect young women—then it’s something we believe is worth writing about. Our goal is to cover the kinds of topics girls aren’t seeing all over Facebook. (We’re generally anti-viral and adamantly against clickbait).
What are you uncovering about the next generation of female thought leaders through Clover?
Casey: There’s an enormous misconception about Gen Z—that they only care about selfies and Snapchat. That’s absolutely not true. The number one thing we’ve found is that girls are incredibly passionate about issues, especially female empowerment and feminism. They want to be informed and engaged and make a difference in the world. Which is great, because the world needs a lot of change.
How about their dream career paths?
Casey: There’s no one dream job for this generation; there’s so much constant reinvention that you can have five dream jobs in the span of a few years (or all at once!). It’s also possible—likely, even—that a teen girl’s dream job doesn’t even exist yet. Mine certainly didn’t when I was younger. There was no such thing as a digital director or social media editor or app founder when I was 13. Technology has changed everything, media included, that it’s hard to imagine where it’ll be in a few years. I don’t think anyone believes print is dead, but it’s definitely not innovating like the rest of media.
What other sites or newsletters do you recommend for young women to check out?
Liza: Our readers have some great zines: Tongue Tied, Crybaby, and Electrick Girls are a few of our faves. We also love the Canadian magazine Sophomore, which is a feminist-leaning glossy and website. In terms of newsletters, we love diving into Lenny Letter and reading the weekly picks from our friends at Of a Kind.
What’s in the cards for Clover in 2017?
Liza: Get excited—so much stuff is coming in early 2017! We don’t want to give too much away, but expect awesome things both online and off. We’re getting into the merch game (cute totes and T-shirts!), and we’re also going to be expanding our online presence in unexpected ways. But the newsletter won’t be going anywhere—our mission is to inform and empower girls everyday, so we’ll continue to keep everyone up-to-date on what’s going on in the world.
Heather Taylor is a former entertainment writer turned brand mascot aficionado (and head writer) for Advertising Week’s Icon Blog. She shares her thoughts on pop culture at HelloGiggles and has been published in Brit + Co, The Drum, and BettyConfidential. Chat with her about anything from SNL to the Pillsbury Doughboy on Twitter @howveryheather. GIFs highly encouraged.
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