Living in Sin - 028

Were you a Nick at Nite kid - y/n? Also let's talk Jordon Hudson finally.

May 27, 2025

Hi y’all!

Hi, hi. I’m back.

After a somewhat unplanned break (read: I took a vacation and Living in Sin took a brief backseat to client work) Substack was one of those “good intentions” that gently slid down my to-do list while I was building decks, prepping interviews, and trying not to dissolve into a puddle of Google Docs.

Not totally sure if anyone missed me — but I did miss writing this. I had a good think about what I actually want to offer here that feels useful (and not just another PR girl shouting into the void). The tl;dr is this: I still think there’s space to talk candidly about the way we work, what we notice, and what we’re pretending not to notice. Especially in PR and media, where no one wants to say the quiet part out loud.

Also… I can’t believe I missed our collective discourse about the new pope. That feels like it should have been exactly this newsletter’s lane. I have thoughts, obviously — but I’ll spare you my late takes and jump into this week’s sins instead.

Let’s get back into it.

—M

Pride

This week, I’m proud of my news diet. Like, sincerely. My morning routine is a buffet of The Daily and NPR while I make coffee, a scroll through The New York Times app, and then a dive into the inbox where The Skimm, The Newsette, WaPo, Bloomberg, WSJ, and The Athletic (I’m trying really hard to learn the NBA in earnest.)

Sprinkled in are my beloved niche Substacks — media gossip, entertainment industry breakdowns, fashion think-pieces— plus a loyal swipe through NBC’s homepage and a peek at local news, because I still believe it matters.

Vacation definitely made it harder to keep up, but stepping back only reminded me how much this daily information habit feels like part of doing my job. Not in a forced, productivity-is-my-identity way, but in the sense that a good PR pro doesn’t just know what’s happening in the media — she understands how it feels, how it moves, and where it’s going next.

From a PR POV, your news intake is part of your toolkit. It sharpens your instincts. It teaches you tone. It shows you what lands, and more importantly, what lingers.

And yes, I will always click on a headline about a controversy and nepo babies if it’s written by The Cut. I contain multitudes.

Sloth

This week’s long-read to luxuriate into comes from the Wall Street Journal, which dropped a little profile on the growing cult of the 4 a.m. wake-up. I was pulled in immediately — because I am, admittedly, a sucker for any AM/PM routine content.

The piece traces the evolution of early wake-up culture from C-suite power players to content bros plunging into bottled Saratoga water and taping their mouths shut in the name of productivity. We’re watching the mainstreaming of wellness-through-discipline for men — the protocols, the supplements, the vanity metrics. And yet somehow, injectables haven’t had their bro-rebrand moment yet.

Where is the medspa that throws Brotox Happy Hours!?!? This is a cultural moment ripe for someone smart to own it. So if you’re a brand in the aesthetic or wellness space and this made you sit up straighter, call me.

Greed

I cannot stop thinking about this piece by Madeline Bilis for Thrillist: “Nickelodeon Adults Want What Disney Adults Have.” It’s a millennial mood board of slime, nostalgia, and missed branding potential. And I have to give Madeline her flowers — she wrote the kind of cultural story PR folks want to bookmark and forward to clients with the subject line “let’s do something with this.”

The premise is simple: Disney Adults are a fully activated consumer segment. Nick Adults? Still waiting for their moment. Sure, there are a few bright spots — the Nickelodeon resort in Punta Cana, some theme park one-offs in New Jersey and Minnesota — but no cohesive brand universe has been built around adult fans who grew up with Rugrats, SpongeBob, and The Wild Thornberrys. And yet the appetite is clearly there.

From a PR POV, this is a massive whitespace. If I were a restaurant near by I’d be working on a Kenan + Mezkel–style nostalgia cocktail menu with throwback trivia nights. Textile brands could explore a limited-edition drop of Nick at Nite sleepwear collabs with a Gen Z-favorite brand.

I’ll say it again louder for the brand teams in the back: Millennials will spend for the bit. Give us the bit.

Gluttony

I might be biased — born and raised in Nebraska — but I think corn is having a moment. And I don’t just mean on the grill this summer.

We’ve officially reached the oversaturation point of tomato-scented everything: Bath & Body Works dropped an 18-piece “Off the Vine” collection, Mrs. Meyer’s turned it into a $4.99 hand soap, and even Flamingo Estate, the originator of the trend, admitted it’s time to move on. So here’s my pitch: corn is next. Hear me out.

Corn actually gives fragrance brands a lot to play with, especially as we head into long-lead pitching for Thanksgiving 2025. There’s a comfort food meets Americana angle that feels just quirky enough to work. Plus, corn is already trickling into beauty and fashion editorial (see: corn silk textures and all the butter-yellow Pantone callouts). We’re ripe for a cozy, buttery, nostalgic scent moment that doesn’t scream pumpkin spice.*

Lust

Savory oatmeal. That is all. Follow Back Roads Granola for more.

backroadsgranola

A post shared by @backroadsgranola

Envy

I am deeply jealous of anyone in Jordon Hudson’s immediate vicinity who gets to give her a hug right now. The internet hate she’s getting? Misogyny dressed up in clever tweet threads and podcast smugness.

I can’t stop thinking about how exhausting it must be to be 24 years old and have grown men (who absolutely learned the word “coquette” like… last week) dissecting your every outfit, facial expression, and interaction as if they’re breaking down game tape. The latest offender? Poser-cool-guy Pablo Torre, who keeps intentionally mispronouncing her name on his podcast — and not in a clever bit kind of way. Just… in a petty, “please tell me I’m the smartest guy in the room” way. And I say this as someone who usually loves smart, self-aware sports media. But this just feels weird and immature.

Jordon’s sin seems to be that she’s confident, well-dressed, and unbothered. And for some reason, that combination makes people foam at the mouth. Personally, I think she’s iconic. Justice for Jordon. Also this coat is ICONIC IMO.