Magazine Pitches
These article pitches were written for a fall 2022 class, Magazine Publishing Essentials with Benoit Denizet-Lewis, to learn more about selling a story. I have pitched the first article to Salon.com to no response, but I decided I did not want to write more publicly on the second topic.
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Why is TikTok Obsessed with Mormon Influencer Baby Names?
The internet is mesmerized by parents naming their babies Zenora, Koko, and Broederlow.
Pitched to: Salon.com
My TikTok feed is full of videos by users @emdoodlesandstuff and @post_mormone analyzing the baby name choices of Mormon influencers–and I can’t look away. Both accounts have tens of thousands of followers and millions of likes. Em Kim (@Emdoodlesandstuff) is especially engaging because she tries to predict the names influencers will choose for their children based on their Instagram profiles– and she’s had multiple successes. Buzzfeed profiled Em Kim in 2021 when she first went viral, but Kim’s following has kept growing steadily in the past year. Why are people still tuning in?
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The baby names themselves are ridiculous, with two of the most recent new Mormon babies being named Broederlow and Koko. On top of this, Mormon influencers tend to use the same names again and again, and often leave clues about what their children’s names will be for followers. These influencers also often make money from displaying their children or making a game out of their names, which might be controversial, especially for Salon audiences. Many of the influencers design their Instagram feeds around homemaking and childrearing, and their accounts are all named some variant on Little Women. Most are blonde. But at the heart of their popularity, I think, lies a desire for community, stability, and–of course–a cohesive, all-encompassing Instagram aesthetic.
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I’m proposing a trend piece combined with some cultural commentary, similar to Warwick’s “Child stars: The power and the price of cuteness” commentary piece from earlier this month. The piece would begin with the TikTok trend itself, highlighting Kim’s approach, then zoom out to interrogate the popularity of Mormon lifestyle influencers and their baby names among a general, non-Mormon audience. I’m a new voice, but I’ve been closely following this trend for almost a year out of sheer personal interest, and I would love to share my thoughts with you and Salon readers.
Winnie-the-Pooh Taught Me to Love My Body
One inbetweenie’s quest to feel better about her stomach in a crop top.
Pitched to: Teen Vogue
Like many young adults, I’m on a journey of body neutrality after a lifetime of shame surrounding my eating habits and my midsize, ”inbetweenie” body. Unlike many of those dealing with similar feelings, my healing through fat justice is centered on a singing Winnie-the-Pooh toy.
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Throughout my childhood, a plush Pooh would sing me a song about how exercising “puts him in the mood for food” and how he exercises to “improve his appetite.” Unlike so much messaging around me–like those omnipresent 100-calorie packs or my mom’s Weight Watchers meetings–Pooh expressed pride about the fact that he’s “stout” and “round.” Recently, after gaining about 50 pounds and lots of support and acceptance surrounding my weight, I revisited the Pooh movies. I felt profoundly seen and celebrated. I would love to write for Teen Vogue about my experience unlearning fatphobia guided by a silly bear cartoon. The essay would weave Pooh’s attitude about his body, eating honey, and exercising with my own experience working through the shame and disordered eating of my teens as an adult. It would be grounded in commentary on 2010s diet culture–like the horrors of eating Special K for dessert or substituting spiralized veggies for pasta–combined with a heartfelt approach to healing through nostalgia, while also featuring an honest confusion that Disney (infamous for their insecurity-inducing, stick-thin princesses) presents a character proud of his fatness.
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There seems to be more recent attention on fatphobia following Taylor Swift’s “Anti-Hero” video and an ongoing cultural trend of fat neutrality/ positivity (as highlighted in the “Summer Bodies” series), and this essay would be a great opportunity to continue the conversation in an encouraging, sometimes-lighthearted direction. I think a lot of Teen Vogue readers could relate to my story and find odd comfort in Pooh as a fat role model.