On #5SmartReads

where it began, where it went, and what's next

#5SmartReads is returning as a weekly issue to my paid subscribers, over on my Substack. This format allows me to operate 5SR independently, as it takes 2-3 hours to research and write a single issue. This subscription income fairly compensates me for my time.

It also offers some much needed boundaries for my mental health and peace - I have the space to write about critical issues without worrying about the algorithm limiting my reach, and have the space to delve into them with the care and detail they deserve.

My plan is to publish more regularly as we grow the subscriber base. I currently have 140 paid subscribers, and net about $30 per subscription annually.
- when we hit 500 paid subscribers, I’ll publish 2 issues a week.
- when we hit 1000 paid subscribers, I’ll publish 3 issues a week.

The whole story is below - behind the paywall has some personal life updates that contributed to the changes you’ve seen on 5SR over the past year. This is a boundary I’ve set to share my life safely).

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“I can’t do it anymore. I’m done.”

I was two days into my social media and #5SmartReads break. I’d deleted the apps from my phone, logged out of Substack on my browser, and letting my brain come down from the dopamine roller coaster it’d been on for 5 1/2 years.

Had it really been 5 1/2 years?

How it started

The fall of 2018 was a a major one for me. I found out I was expecting Rhaki, nearly a year to the day I had miscarried and was treated for complications. I stepped away from the blog I’d written for 9 years, and placed my full focus on my new role as CEO of Rhoshan Pharmaceuticals.

Well, almost all of my focus. I still needed a creative outlet, and one that didn’t pigeonhole me in being ‘packing girl.’ When I wasn’t focused on drug development or spending time with friends and family, I was obsessed with the news (it was 2018, after all). I wanted to talk about the stories that didn’t get the coverage or airtime they deserved. I wanted to talk about the serious and the frivolous in the same conversation.

Basically, I wanted to be a host on The View (and still do). Sharing screenshots of news articles, with some commentary and the “swipe up” link open, was my first step in getting this ball rolling.

Weeks went by, with little engagement. I dubbed these random Stories #5SmartReads, took advantage of pregnancy insomnia to share them first thing in the morning, and kept sharing until folks started paying attention.

It snowballed from there - countless replies to the stories I was sharing, a weekly newsletter to link all of the week’s reads (along with some commentary and random musings). As #5SmartReads grew, so did my Instagram community. As the community grew in size and engagement, brand sponsorships soon followed (I shot a campaign for J.Crew less than a week before giving birth to Rhaki).

Less than a month after he was born, I was back to posting 5SR. I missed it. I loved finding hopeful, intelligent gems amidst the chaos of the news. I loved having conversations in my DMs, learning from others and expanding my perspective.

I opened 5SR to contributors a year after I started, both to learn from others and to ease the load as I focused on closing a funding round, ramping up on my speaking career, and caring for my larger family.

Everything was going so well as we entered 2020. And then the pandemic hit the United States…

How it scaled