An update from Holly
Dear readers,
Hello! Holly here, dropping by with some big news.
For immediate reassurance, The Know is not going anywhere. In fact, our little corner of the media world is getting bigger every day, our pace of growth faster than it’s ever been. Our projects for 2023 have been bubbling for a while and are almost ready to launch, our team is exceptionally talented, and you, our readers, are fiercely loyal. On top of all that, we’ve chosen my replacement, and she’s excellent. Kate Samuelson will bring to the Editor-in-Chief role buckets of experience from print and digital media, newsletter expertise, and a bunch of new ideas. Everything is good. Great, even!
But here’s the news: I’m leaving. And I’ll tell you why, because I know we’ve always carved out space for reflection and I’ve shared some of my personal feelings with you before.
I’ve been with the company - originally as a Trainee Reporter and Head of Partnerships back when we were called #ThisMuchIKnow (anyone still here from 2019?!) - for almost four years. A lot has happened since then: we launched an app, we ran campaigns for sustainable fashion, we told the news on Instagram everyday, we closed down the app, we launched a newsletter, we had our share of viral moments. I’ve learnt so much! It’s even strange for me to look back to the early days, because I feel so differently now.
I became Co-founder & Editor-in-Chief in June 2020 - right in the middle of the pandemic. We shifted to remote working, altered our editorial strategy, and focused on one core thing: keeping things going at a time when budgets were diminishing, but readers needed us most. And we’ve done really well since then! Our pivot to newsletters and the hiring of our wonderful CEO and Co-founder, Lynn, has kept us steadily afloat in a notoriously tricky industry. Our scrappy experimentation has uncovered solid ways to keep growing. Our team can do anything.
All of this is to say, I think I’ve given The Know everything I’ve got, and I realised towards the end of last year that the company is now in a place where it can run (and thrive!) without me. This was a great feeling initially. I felt confident in my role, I could clearly see the value I was adding each day, and I knew I could scope out solutions to most problems we were facing. Yet at the same time, my confidence in other areas was dwindling. I struggled to imagine my future beyond The Know. I wasn’t great at consolidating the skills I had picked up (we’ve since worked on that). In fact, at times I thought the only thing I could be good at was running this company. I’ve enjoyed the intimacies of a tiny team, and the flexibility that comes from a remote-first environment. But I started to feel curious about who I might be if I left my comfort zone and entered a new phase.
This role was my first break into the media industry - I knew nobody in the field, I couldn’t afford to do a Master’s, and my incessant pitches were landing on empty ears. To be leaving four years later with experience creating content for all platforms, commissioning and editing, building products, orchestrating launches, hosting events and podcasts, measuring our impact, and collaborating with partners, is so much more than I could have imagined at this stage in my career. But the trickiest (and most rewarding) part in all of this has been working with my team. Getting to know them as people, understanding how they like to work, what scares them, and where they’d love to feel more confident, has always felt like priority number one. To the people I learnt so much from in the beginning - Emily, Sofia - to the colleagues who’ve contributed so much along the way - Emma, Michael, Sadia, Sarah, Julia, Fozz, Esther, Lily, Belle - you are all brilliant, the best part in all of this. And finally to Lynn - a leader, role model and friend who has taught me so much about managing competing priorities, carving out a career that works for you, and sowing seeds for the future. I have been so lucky to work alongside you and absorb your wisdom along the way.
If you’ve made it this far, well done! If you’d like to follow my next steps, connect with me on LinkedIn or drop me an email.
In future, I’ll be in the same place as all of you: reading The Know, and feeling a lot better for it.
With love,
Holly x
Co-founder & Editor-in-Chief, 2019-23.