My Media Journey
I am bitter about something and I will eventually let it go.
In short, last year, I and the lazy girl job concept got quite the media attention. There is still a few articles a week written about me or lazy girl job as a whole, but last summer there were more than 10,000 media mentions in less than 3 months. It was quite the grand slam.
I felt the media coverage of lazy girl jobs, whether negative or positive, was important for the movement. The “anti work”/lazy girl job movement should be discussed in more depth. We should be questioning where our time goes and if that will provide the pay off. We should be holding corporations responsible for the legitimacy of our career development and financial prosperity. And we should reevaluate our relationship with work and our definition of productivity.
I never truly cared about the negative stuff. I firmly believe all press is good press. And it’s honestly a compliment when people spend their time discussing you, no matter the sentiment. And most reporters who shut down the lazy girl job trend did a really poor job at it. If they talked long enough they showed their hatred towards young people, their resentments about their own career (or lack thereof) hence we needed to take the same thankless path, or whatever else sob story their employer made them parrot.
Here’s a few really out of pocket responses I experienced from the media
Suzy Welch writing an op-ed for WSJ and making fun of my voice
Suzy Welch invited on to CNBC and lied by saying I was a life coach
The cast of Shark Tank appearing on The View to discuss how stupid lazy girl jobs is
There’s a lot more, but I have commentated Ad nauseam on Instagram last year including but not limited to (Kevin O’Leary, The Young Turks, and literally every media outlet in the US and Australia).
Again, I am still thankful for all of this. These chain of events resulted in my own personal success which allowed me to pour more into this audience. I was able to grow Anti Work Girlboss to what it is and have opportunities I used to pray for. So I am forever thankful.
But then something ever so sly happens….
The Atlantic came out with this article. TLDR; the reporter is like hey all we are doing is fake meetings now, maybe these jobs are pointless.
Which I agree! And this is something I have been discussing for 3 years. But during those 3 years I was met with name calling, propaganda cycles of high profile people making fun of the trend (and sometimes even making fun of myself).
So, two things are happening for me on an emotional level right now:
I am bitter
I am a human, too. I still get bitter about stuff. I still get frustrated, because I care.
I am excited
There are a lot of reasons why I started the lazy girl job trend. The biggest reason is to show the entire world what is and isn’t working in corporate america. And to thus inspire a revolution. So if I needed to be the punching bag for a little bit, it is so worth it! It’s exciting!
But there is an even more creepy media situation that happened last night. And I see a pattern here. A lot of topics the media is getting you to ignore, disagree with, cancel, etc… is unfolding in a different way a few years later.
Our Media Journey
Zuckerberg wrote a letter to the US House Committee Chair. He discussed the government influences he faced during last election and the result of “bowing down” to these pressures.
This affected our information on Covid-19 (including humor and satire) and Russian disinformation (or lack thereof).
This is a quote that I really loved:
Our position has been clear and consistent: we believe tech companies and other private actors should take into account the effects their actions have on the American people, while making independent choices about the information they present.
I won’t go into a full political commentary about this. It’s not necessary and I would just be making this story about me.
What I want you to understand is that there's a noticeable pattern where the media presents legitimate points worth knowing, but then tells us not to believe them. However, a few years later, these points often turn out to be true or, at the very least, not as the media initially portrayed them.
So now taking this observation and applying it to today’s media coverage. Instead of blinding believing everything they say, I always ask myself “why do they want me to believe this?” or “why do they want me to not believe this?”
And that’s if I am ever reading/watching the news which is few and far between. I gave up holding the news accountable in 2020 therefore I don’t really watch it.
It’s also important to follow the money behind all these media outlets and remember if it’s free, you’re the product.
This is a shorter post today and I made it free because it’s for everyone. There’s no monetary gain for me in what I am saying. I believe in achieving as much autonomy possible in this lifetime. And we cannot do that when we are being brainwashed. I am very anti-brainwash, hence why I am not in corporate America anymore.
Xoxo,
Gabrielle