Today we’d like to introduce you to Abby Gardner

Hi Abby, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?

As a woman of many, many words I will try to keep this as concise as I can! I grew up in Indianapolis (where I have since returned to after years and years away) as a precocious, eldest daughter, who was absolutely a pleasure to have in class.

I was always an avid reader and a kid who loved consuming pop culture in every way possible. This is has been one of the most consistent aspects of my personality. I had all my favorite TV shows, loved a soap opera (daytime and nighttime) and religiously read the Soap Opera Digest my aunt would drop off when she was done. People magazine was a bible to little me and as I got just. bit older I was obsessed with magazines in general. I read YM and Seventeen, but my heart was with Sassy. A teen mag with an edge and a voice that felt like the coolest big sister in the world? What a dream. I also made my mom take me to the drugstore to buy every fashion and women’s magazine I could get my hands on.

I didn’t fully comprehend it at first, but I was laying a foundation for my future career. Even in high school, I would say that I wanted to be an orthopedic surgeon/sports medicine doctor and I still find that whole world fascinating. But when it was time to think about registering for classes at Duke, where I would go to college, I realized that my heart wasn’t actually in that world. I wanted to be an English major and find a way to work in magazines.

After graduation, I convinced my parents that I needed to move to NYC without a job…in order to be able to *get* a job. (I realize that I was extremely lucky to be in a position to have that safety net of support!) I did indeed move and found a job at a very small PR firm (via the NYT Classifieds!), in the hopes that it would at some point open a door into magazines. I had been writing letters to everyone on a masthead I could in the meantime. Ah, the olden days!

That crazy job (which is a whole other story!) did in fact lead to getting an interview at Jane magazine and I was hired as the beauty/photo assistant. It was truly a dream as Jane Pratt, the editor-in-chief and founder, had previously been the EIC of Sassy, when she was just in her 20s. It was everything I could have hoped for and such a cool group to be a part of. I learned from some of the smartest people ever and it was also an environment that was way less hierarchical than some of the other magazines that were more established. There are many hilarious and crazy stories from those days, but it was decidedly not a Devil Wears Prada situation. We’re actually having a reunion this summer and I cannot wait.

I got some promotions and focused in on the beauty part of the job eventually moving on to Allure and then the Beauty Director of YM, with former Sassy and Jane editor Christina Kelly as the EIC. Sadly YM was one of the early magazines to fold, even pre-recession, in 2004.

When that happened, I moved to LA for a while and dabbled in fashion PR and various freelance gigs before heading back to NY and jumping back into publishing, this time with more of a digital spin. Of my former print friends and colleagues, I made that transition a bit earlier and I am really glad I did. I was at The Daily Front Row and then edited Fashionista before being on the launch team of a now-defunct site called Glo. I then made it back to my magazine roots (but make it web) running digital editorial and social for Marie Claire and then Cosmo. At that point, I was overseeing beauty, fashion, lifestyle, entertainment, news, etc.

What is a media career these days without 9482930482930 pivots?!? After Cosmo, I went to work at an agency as the VP of Content and working on social and content assets for beauty brands. This led to other sorts of copywriting and brand work and those are the main focus of my day-to-day.

But I also launched a newsletter called We Have Notes so as to focus on all the pop culture/fashion/beauty things that I was obsessed with and wanted to write about in my own voice. I’ve had a podcast of the same name that I like to say is currently on a One Direction-style hiatus. But I hope to bring it back soon! We Have Notes is now on Substack and I offer both paid and free subscriptions.

I’m also going to be teaching a course this fall at Indiana University. I’m developing it all myself and it will be about the media, pop culture, and storytelling.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?

There have been many, for sure. But I think each has pushed me in ways that I needed, even if I didn’t realize it at the time.

The shifts in the media industry that have happened from the late ’90s until now have been wild and sad and stressful. LOL to me thinking I’d be a print magazine editor forever. The industry now looks very little like the one I joined post-college and it’s sad to see so many talented people lose jobs and switch industries because we had to in order to make things work. But all of that also opened new doors and pushed me to start doing things I may not have otherwise explored.

It also taught me that I will always figure it out. I’ve reinvented myself a million times and while I wish I wasn’t so good at it, I know I can do it again if I need to. But the instability is not fun at all.

I also wish that I had taken more risks with some of my writing back then. That I had the confidence in my voice that I do now. I suppose that’s just growing up and understanding yourself better, which comes with age and life experiences.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?

While I love my day job, my passion is We Have Notes which has become such a wonderful outlet for me—and a great little community of many people who are into the things that I am too.

It started as a sort of recommendations space because my friends and family were always asking me what to watch or read or check out online. I am a chronically online pop culture obsessive and love making suggestions (or trying to bend people to my will ;))

I’ve always wanted it to sound like you’re in a conversation with one of your friends at brunch or drinks or whatever. It is still a space for all the pop culture you want to obsess over with me, or for me to give you a rundown of what’s happening so you don’t have to keep up. But it’s become so much more. I have gotten more personal in how I relate to pop culture and what it does for me. It has also become a space to celebrate being super into what you’re into, no matter how old you are.

I’m a Gen X Swiftie (since her first album!) and Harrie (I went to 20 shows of Harry Styles last tour) and I am unabashed in my love for them (and so many others). There is an underlying theme in a lot of what I write that you don’t have to stop being excited about things when you get older. And who cares if you’re not the “target demographic” for something?!? Be into what you’re into! You don’t have to age into apathy! A lot of elder millennials and Gen Xers (mostly women) have found me at WHN and it’s been so cool to form this lil world of grown-up fangirls and fanboys and talk about things that some might consider “unserious” but actually can have a huge impact on your life.

The crisis has affected us all in different ways. How has it affected you and any important lessons or epiphanies you can share with us?

I know that I was very lucky and privileged during the pandemic in that I did not lose anyone (or have anyone close to me get super sick). I had work and a bigger apartment (since I had already left NYC) and was already used to living and spending a ton of time alone (not a bad thing for me!)

I don’t have kids, so that was not something I needed to juggle. Of course, I was nervous and scared for the world and felt empathy and sympathy for those in pain or on the front lines or simply struggling to make that new reality work.

But for me, those couple of years actually allowed me to become more myself. In combination with other factors, I started giving fewer f*cks and letting my weird out in ways I’d suppressed for so long in trying to be perfect or some other silliness. Turns out, that opened a floodgate of creativity and a new perspective on how I wanted to live my life once we could start doing that in a more “normal” way again. I am grateful for what that space brought out in me.

Pricing:

• We Have Notes offers free subscriptions. You can upgrade to paid for $50/year or $5/month to get bonus content and access

Contact Info:

• Website: https://wehavenotes.substack.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abbycgardner/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/abby.gardner
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/abbygardner
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@wehavenotes