I Did A Thing. Meet Atta Girl.

So….I have a publication now? I have a publication now! Today, together with my Twitter friend but now real life friend Gabrielle Moss, I launched Atta Girl, a publication for everyone the internet thinks is “over.”

In my mid-30s, I was struggling to see myself in the internet. Every time I opened a browser, I was stressed out. Beauty was about nothing more than anti-aging. Clothing became unrelatable. Relationship content assumed I was married or a mom—and made me feel like I was lacking because I was neither. Every turn I took around the internet reinforced to me I was doing something wrong, or somehow was wrong, just for like…having birthdays. I wasn’t having fun on the internet anymore, and I didn’t like it.

I also didn’t like the way things worked. Freelance writing can be a space of endless pitching to editors who never write back—it can feel like you’re always waiting for “permission” to write, and therefore permission to earn money. I wanted to give agency to writers themselves.

So here’s Atta Girl, a place where women in their 30s, 40s, and beyond can find community and creativity. It’s a Medium-based publication, meaning writers don’t need my permission to write, and they don’t need my permission to make money. Everyone on Medium publishes whatever they want, and earns money from Medium based on the quality of their own content. If you want to submit content to Atta Girl, I’d love to check it out. Here’s some info about how to do that, and here’s what we’re looking for. We as editors also write back—to everyone.

Atta Girl is also a community. In addition to monthly group Zooms where we share ideas, ask questions, and talk shop, every writer on Atta Girl is asked to share their own content socially, tagging @attagirlmag too. This means we’re all supporting the publication itself, and therefore every other writer in it, every time we promote our own work. We’re increasing the visibility of ALL writers who want to enjoy the internet the way they did when it was all Instant Messenger and cat videos.

If you wore or still wear Clinique Black Honey, if you can recite the lines to Love & Basketball, if you kind of wish phones still had cords sometimes—you’re one of us. Whether you’re a writer OR a reader, this is Atta Girl, and you are not over. You’re in.

In Alanis, Aaliyah, and Ani we trust,

Shani