We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Alysse Bryson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Alysse thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you tell us the backstory behind how you came up with the idea?
Growing up in a small town in the Pacific Northwest, my teenage sanctuary was a collage of magazine pages and stacks of books, a testament to my love for content, storytelling, and pop culture rooted in the 80s and 90s. Somehow, in my early 20s after dropping out of college, I stumbled into a career in media, advertising sales specifically, and I took to it like a fish to water. Little did I know that one decision would lead to a 25+ year career of a small-town girl turned media maven.
After six years working at my small hometown newspaper, I went to work in the “big city” at The Seattle Times, selling to luxury automotive clients. There, at the age of 30 (2006), I got sober and shortly after that, stumbled across a city magazine. It was love at first sight and two interviews later, they hired me on the spot. Over my near-decade career at the city lifestyle magazine, I moved out of sales and into management. I ended up as the Publisher of Seattle Met magazine, managing a team of advertising executives, marketing, promotions, and events, plus rubbed elbows with local celebs, traveled all over the country, and hosted lavish parties of all sizes around Seattle.
In 2016, I turned in my stilettos, swapped magazines for television, and served as the Director of Business Development with KING 5 TV, Seattle’s NBC affiliate. My secondary title around the office was “Director of Fun.” For six years, I was laser-focused on their three locally-produced lifestyle shows.
It was during this time, around 13-14 years sober, that I started to really pay attention to the growing swell of people recovering out loud across all social media platforms, podcasts, and bookshelves. I started hunting for a sober lifestyle magazine that could tell me where all the cool sober content and business owners could be found. I yearned for content I could identify with as a woman in long-term recovery. Yet, everything I found seemed to be targeted at people in early recovery and very clinical in nature.
When the 2020 Global pandemic hit, like most people, I was crafting and glued to the news. When I realized it wasn’t going to be just “three weeks,” and we were in it for the long haul, the idea hit me. I could use this gift of time to create the sober lifestyle magazine resource of my dreams. I’d taught myself WordPress with my own site and understood the pieces that went into a lifestyle website from my decade at the magazine. I also knew I couldn’t do it alone. As great as my taste is, to be an ultimate resource, it would need to reflect different pathways to recovery, different lengths of sobriety times, and people from different backgrounds and cultures.
The Sober Curator launched in August 2020 with four Contributors. Fast-forward almost four years, and 33 of us are in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and the UK. We’ve created nearly 1,500 pieces of sober lifestyle content, and we are just getting started. We get an average of 20K people to the website monthly and have an email list of 16K+. Compared to the big numbers I dealt with in the print and TV world, these numbers sometimes feel small. But then I stop and think about putting 20,000 sober people in an auditorium and that feels pretty damn good.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
Please think of us as your sober concierges. The Sober Curator is your ultimate resource for all things related to recovery and zero-proof living. With a team of passionate volunteers at the helm, we are on a mission to curate, review, and contribute only the best content related to living a sober lifestyle.
We won’t preach to you about the “right” way to get sober. Instead, we are here to serve as your personal concierge for life without alcohol. As your sober concierges, we understand the importance of staying entertained and informed while on the journey to sobriety, whether you’re new or in long-term recovery. That’s why we curate, review, and contribute fun and interesting content, ranging from the hottest podcasts and books to the latest fashion and music trends.
At The Sober Curator, we strive to show that sobriety doesn’t have to be dull or restrictive. #sobernotboring Our commitment to providing exciting and informative content is designed to help you stay inspired, motivated, and engaged in your journey to a sober lifestyle. We believe that getting sober matters, but we also believe that staying sober matters more.
Join the revolution of those who recover out loud and discover the latest sober travel, events, merch, and more with The Sober Curator. With us by your side, you’ll have access to a world of possibilities for a vibrant and fulfilling life without the influence of alcohol and drugs. Getting sober is hard enough; finding great sober content shouldn’t be.
Join our team of volunteers.
Do you have a passion for long-term recovery and possess exceptional writing skills? Are you a content curator at heart or possess behind-the-scenes expertise in areas such as design, editing, social media, digital engineering, AI, project management, SEO, or other related fields? If so, we want to hear from you!
At The Sober Curator, we’re on a mission to make a positive impact on the world of recovery through engaging and informative content. We’re always looking for like-minded individuals who share our passion and can help us achieve our goals.
Joining our community not only allows you to contribute to the greater good but also provides an opportunity for personal growth and development. We welcome all those willing to lend their skills and expertise on a volunteer basis to help us build a better world for those in recovery.
In return, our goal is to provide a robust suite of resources that empower our Sober Curator Contributors to achieve their personal and professional goals while making a meaningful difference in the recovery landscape. We provide the place, space, and support to recover out loud.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
Given that The Sober Curator is made up of 33 individuals, including myself, who identify as being in recovery from alcohol and substance use disorder, we eat resilience for breakfast. In the WE DO RECOVER section of our website, many of our Sober Curator Contributors have shared stories of hitting bottom, facing health issues, and experiencing loss due to the consequences of their actions. Collectively, we’ve experienced all kinds of trauma. We believe the opposite of addiction is connection. By sharing what it was like, what changed, and most importantly, how we now thrive in sobriety, we help others feel not so alone.
With nearly 18 years sober, I’ve still had to deal with the hard punches life can throw. At 10 years sober I faced emergency heart surgery and my son was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease. At 13 years sober, I battled stage one melanoma cancer. I’ve buried friends and loved ones due to the disease of addiction. I also battle depression and I have to do a lot of things to keep my mental health in check. Because of the community that surrounds and supports me, I’ve been able to get through every single hard time sober. One of my favorite quotes is “So far, you’ve survived 100% of your worst days.” Every day is a gift and I don’t take that for granted.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
I’ve heard it said before, “It’s not what you know; it’s who you know.” Building a network was crucial over the decades of my traditional media career. Early on, I got into good practice after meeting someone to connect with them virtually, usually through LinkedIn, Instagram, or Facebook. I have the gift of gab and an uncanny knack for making everyone feel like I’m their best friend.
Building a reputation in the recovery community has been equally important. I’m not perfect. I make mistakes on the regular. At some point along the journey with The Sober Curator, I got dubbed as being on a mission to become the “Kevin Bacon of Recovery.” I spent days and weeks during the pandemic networking with sober people in virtual spaces from all over the world. (Think Zoom, Clubhouse, podcasts, and Instagram Lives) I interviewed people for our Sober Spotlight section and featured clothing and apparel brands of sober business owners.
In addition to my reputation as a creative, I am also known as a connector. I bring people together. When you focus on serving others, are friendly and authentic, and tell the truth as you perceive it to be, that resonates with people. And lucky for me, I only have to deal with life one day at a time.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://thesobercurator.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesobercurator/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thesobercurator
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alyssebryson/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/thesobercurator
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@thesobercurator/videos
- Other: https://www.alyssebryson.com/ https://www.facebook.com/alysseinthecity https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-sober-curator-inc/