Living in Sin - 001
Getting my sea legs so be nice, y'all.
Hi y’all!
I made the (terrifying!) decision to walk away from my full-time job this summer. I’ve been freelancing here and there for almost three years and it was time to make the leap.
So hello world, I’m now freelancing as 7Deadly Consulting. I cosplayed well as a corporate PR girlie, but my heart was always with my freelancing projects. (My clients now are bakeries, bookstores, food non-profits, and cannabis brands; can you blame me???)
I’ve been a Substack lurker for a while now, but I want to be more active so I started Living in Sin. My weekly* place to lust over good brand strategy, share the freelance work I’m proud of, and maybe get a little judgy about PR gone wrong. If you love reality TV, YouTube-creator drama, media about overly-involved celeb wellness routines, and gossiping over THC mocktails this is your safe space. ✨💖
Pride
My client Old Town Books in Alexandria, VA spreads its wings and opens a children’s specific offshoot, Old Town Books Junior on October 5th. Bookstores are magic. (If you get it, you get it.) Sixth grade me walked around the Oakview Barnes & Noble in Nebraska with Grande Mocha like I owned the place.
I missed the “me time” that comes with quietly browsing a bookstore, so I put reclaiming that on my vision board for this year. The Old Town Books team has truly been a treat to work with. I invited folks for a media night last month, and walking around their beautiful new space felt like a total vision-board-moment.
Sloth
This week’s long-form content to lazily, luxuriate into: At Home With the Internet’s TMI Queen from Angelina Chapin at The Cut. Tana Mongeua fascinates me. She first got on my radar as a recurring character of the David Dobrik Vlog Squad, and I’ve always kept tabs on her from a PR-POV.
For me, her persona has a degree of magnetism, almost a unique brand of It-Girl energy that has persisted amid her (and her network’s) PR missteps, unacceptable racist remarks, etc. etc. This profile unpacks some of that. I was hooked as soon as Chapin described “She has survived multiple scandals with a cockroachlike tenacity.“
Greed
I simply cannot get enough of Mormon-based reality TV.** Real Housewives of Salt Lake City is back and I’ve eaten up all Secret Lives of Mormon Wives content I can get my hands on. I’ve known about dirty sodas for a while but never gave them a try. Swig is really killing it on social right now. I’ve been binging their content and they finally pushed me to give it a try at home. (A Dr. Pepper with heavy cream hates to see me coming now.) I’m interested in how they grow. The CPG space is so competitive, but it would be a great brand move if they leaned into custom syrup blends for national e-commerce IMO.
Tiktok failed to load.Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser
Gluttony
My small joy lately is starting my days with two cups of coffee and exactly two cookies. My client La Monarca Bakery sent me some their new baked churro cookies. I’m firmly an apple/cinnamon for autumn person. I don’t trust pumpkin-lovers, tbh.
Lust
I don’t care that the Kitchen-Aid mixer is completely impractical, I’m lusting over it. The brand press release says it “brings the beauty of nature to your countertop as it connects you with the outdoors every time you enter the kitchen.” I’m not someone who tends toward cottage-core, but I am here for this. Tracking PR ROI is notoriously difficult, but given that this new model is already sold out, I’m giving credit to PR for the success here. They’re building on an already successful track record of PR work, like mirroring Pantone and creating a color of the year model.
Envy
I’m so envious of whoever Hoda Kotb trusts with her PR. I am an NBC news loyalist. My parents never waivered from WOWT and I have so many fond memories of watching TODAY with my mom growing up. I read Top of the Morning: Inside the Cutthroat World of Morning TV last summer and it really informed how I think about broadcast, an industry often unkind to women. Hearing Hoda is leaving TODAY feels like a changing of the guard. I admire her ability to be respected while always being in on the joke at the same time. Early Hoda and Kathie Lee are some of my collective favorite early Twitter moments. Also, I simply need to have Pumptinis as SUR with these women; it would heal me.
Wrath
I’m turning 30 this year, and I simply am not bringing anger, hate, wrath. etc. with me into the new decade. So instead I’m leaving you with a camera-roll gem: my favorite mural on the MBT in DC.
okay bye, babes!
-M
*Or bi-weekly. Or whenever I feel like it. Don’t hold me to any of this; I’m a poorly recovering perfectionist plagued by Catholic guilt.
**Can y’all let me know if Sister Wives is worth the 18-season commitment?