Affordability & Our Audience
The economy has always been a key issue for our audience. Now, the cost of groceries, rent, gas, child care—it’s all gone up, and they’re feeling it. Affordability isn’t a niche issue. It’s the kitchen-table reality for millions of women.
To help provide a sense of stability in these unstable times, we’re meeting them where they need us, letting women know they aren’t alone, helping them make sense of what they’re seeing and experiencing, and providing the compassion and connection that they need to stay tuned in.
Much of this messaging comes from Grace who (especially now that she’s on social media!) is able to provide a clear and relatable voice for our audience. Grace is a bright spot amongst the stress and shows our audience that things are hard, but it’s not their fault, and there are things they can do to make their lives a little better.
What makes Grace such a valuable and trusted voice is her real, relatable, and actionable advice. She never promises things she can’t deliver, and that means being real about what’s happening in the world. As much as she would love to, Grace can’t lower prices or raise incomes all on her own, but what she can do is offer small solutions to make someone’s paycheck stretch a little further and ways someone can support their loved ones as they do the same. It’s not about solving these problems for our audience, it’s about validating their feelings and providing ways they can help themselves get through hard times and help others do the same.
How to Be a Better Villager
Our programming is designed to cut through the noise, reduce the overwhelm, and help women stay engaged—because an informed, connected community is one of the most powerful forces for change there is. But too often, people are isolated and disconnected from their communities, which can increase othering and division.
That’s why one of our new series is explicitly about how to be a better villager. This means showing all the ways you can show up for your community, from cooking for a new mother, driving a friend to the airport, or putting food in a local food pantry. These small actions build up and help our communities become stronger, more caring, and more resilient.
Don’t Blame Yourself. It’s Not You, It’s the System.
Our messages also repeat (explicitly or implicitly) the message “it’s not you, it’s the system.” We never want our audience to blame themselves for their economic struggles. The truth is that right now, no matter how good you are at saving, finding cheaper prices, or going without, it can be impossible to afford all the things you need, let alone afford things like vacations that allow you to thrive. We make sure our audience understands that we are living in an economy that just doesn’t work for many of us. Prices are going up, and have been for years, yet wages are not following. Sometimes, there’s just no way to make the math work.
But that doesn’t mean that we can’t take actions that make things a little easier for ourselves and our loved ones, or that we can’t use our civic power to make sure that those who are meant to fight for us are actually acting with our best interests in mind.
That’s the power of what we do. Grace has a wonderful relationship with her audience where she is able to help them take actions both at the very local level, by supporting their loved ones and getting the confidence to ask for help, and at the big-picture, systemic level by encouraging them to speak up for what they need and what they believe in.
Here’s one message we hope will stick with our readers:
Action is the Antidote to Hopelessness
When things start to feel hopeless, the worst (but also the easiest) thing we can do is give up. Taking action, no matter how small, can help us feel like we’re in charge of our lives, and can make a meaningful difference in our situation. Like Grace says, it’s important to be a villager, to have people to lean on, and be someone that others can lean on.
