Lucy Blakiston used to suppose working in media meant residing a glitzy life sporting kitten heels, getting her nails carried out and dealing from stylish places of work.
As an alternative, the 27-year-old runs her media empire, S— You Ought to Care About, from her bed room in Wellington, New Zealand, the place she lives with six of her hometown mates and prefers the quieter life.
The cheerful room is “the place the magic occurs,” Blakiston tells CNBC Make It. It is the place, beginning at 5 a.m., she writes her each day e-newsletter that covers political and popular culture information for some 80,000 readers world wide, and posts updates to an Instagram following 3.4 million folks sturdy, together with Lorde, Bella Hadid, Madonna and, most surprisingly to Blakiston, Joe Rogan.
“All I want is my mates, my household, my bike and my laptop computer, and I am so joyful,” Blakiston says.
Protecting the information may be exhausting and depressing, but Blakiston considers it a privilege to fill a spot in legacy media by offering entry to international information to Gen Zers in language they’ll relate to — and make a residing out of it. “I really like my job,” she says.
Information with out the blues
Blakiston launched SYSCA in 2018 with two of her greatest mates, Ruby Edwards and Olivia Mercer. At first, the weblog was a passion for the three school college students to interrupt down sophisticated world points, just like the Rohingya crisis, for themselves and their mates whereas in between lessons and part-time jobs.
They aimed to ship info that wasn’t so “black and white” or “boring,” Blakiston says. A part of making the information accessible to fellow Gen Zers was assembly them the place they’re — on social media pages like Instagram, TikTok and the platform now often known as X.
Blakiston says she channeled the talents she discovered from operating a One Path fan account as a teen (social media administration, picture modifying and mobilizing an engaged viewers) into creating SYSCA’s distinct voice and method to delivering “the information with out the blues.” For each submit about conflict or the local weather disaster is a “timeline cleanse” submit that includes Harry Styles, or an earthly ballot about whether or not cookware belongs within the dishwasher to assist commenters channel their frustration right into a lighthearted on-line debate.
The information web page exploded through the summer time of 2020 as SYSCA labored to make sense of the Covid-19 pandemic, Black Lives Matter protests, and elections within the U.S. and New Zealand. Celebrities like Ariana Grande and Billie Eilish shared SYSCA posts on Instagram, and the information web page swelled to over 1 million followers.
Constructing a enterprise together with your greatest mates
By the top of 2020, Blakiston was working for a media firm and says her boss inspired the trio to take SYSCA from a passion to a full-fledged enterprise.
“He was like, ‘Lady, you’ve got 3 million folks listening to what you are saying. Why are you not getting paid for this?'” Blakiston says.
Blakiston, Edwards and Mercer rented an workplace in Auckland to show SYSCA right into a enterprise; Edwards dealt with enterprise partnerships, Mercer led design and Blakiston wrote the voice behind the model.
“Individuals say, ‘Do not go into enterprise with your folks, however they clearly do not have mates like mine,'” Blakiston says of her co-founders. “I am speaking sisters. We have been mates since we have been 14, and so we knew one another deeply.”
You simply must be sure you’re doing one thing that you simply’re pleased with, and do not take criticism from folks that you simply would not take opinions from in your actual life.
Lucy Blakiston
Co-founder of S— You Ought to Care About
Through the years, Edwards and Mercer left to pursue different alternatives overseas. By 2023, Blakiston was the only real co-founder who wished to maintain SYSCA operating.
“They set it up; they bought it trying nice; they bought us the boldness that individuals would pay for the work we did,” Blakiston says. “After which it was form of like, ‘OK Luce, we have constructed you up. You possibly can go and do it by yourself.'”
‘Be cute for you’
It isn’t at all times simple being a younger lady working on the web, not to mention constructing a media firm when the trade faces important challenges. International belief within the information is decrease than it was through the peak of the pandemic, in keeping with research from Reuters, whereas selective information avoidance and concern about what’s actual and pretend in on-line information ticked up in recent times.
Blakiston counts her ex-boss, the one who inspired her to take the leap with SYSCA, as a mentor and says he is given her the most effective recommendation: “Simply be cute for you.”
Blakiston recollects him telling her, “You simply must be sure you’re doing one thing that you simply’re pleased with, and do not take criticism from folks that you simply would not take opinions from in your actual life.”
“I am simply being cute for me, and if folks like it, nice,” she provides. “However on the finish of the day, if I do not like it, I am not going to be good at my job.”
That mindset can be why Blakiston says she would not shrink back from being cringe on the Web. “Within the age of social media, if you wish to be somebody or put your work on the market, you truly can not fear in regards to the viewers. It’s important to be your self and simply do it. And if different individuals are gonna suppose that is cringe, that may be a projection of them. That isn’t your downside. What different individuals are eager about you isn’t your downside.”
Working a Gen Z media firm
Today, Blakiston runs her media firm with one other hometown pal and present roommate, Abby Laurenson, who handles design and runs the group’s ebook membership. The co-founder resists recommendation from others to scale up, which she considers “such a tech bro mindset.”
“I by no means need my job to be managing a workforce,” she says. “I need my job to be speaking on to the folks.”
I make sufficient cash to have the ability to do what I really like and be joyful.
Lucy Blakiston
Co-founder of S— You Ought to Care About
SYSCA gives its each day e-newsletter at no cost and would not promote on Instagram; it is funded by subscribers who pay $8 USD per 30 days, or $80 USD per yr, for entry to premium content material together with the group’s ebook membership, private essays and extra articles from paid contributing writers. Earlier this yr, Blakiston co-wrote a ebook, “Make It Make Sense,” and she or he additionally takes paid talking and consulting gigs as a way to re-invest earnings again into the enterprise.
Blakiston say she’s “proud” that the cash to maintain SYSCA afloat “comes from folks simply supporting the e-newsletter and the work. I at all times say, ‘Normalize paying for the media you like,’ and that is what they do.”
Blakiston declined to share extra particulars in regards to the enterprise’s earnings however says her fundamental monetary targets with SYSCA are to make sufficient cash to cowl her hire, pay contractors that assist completely different components of the enterprise, and develop her community of paid contributing writers.
“I make sufficient cash to have the ability to do what I really like and be joyful,” she says.
Are you prepared to purchase a home? Take Smarter by CNBC Make It is new on-line course How to Buy Your First Home. Professional instructors will enable you to weigh the price of renting vs. shopping for, financially put together, and confidently navigate each step of the method—from mortgage fundamentals to closing the deal. Sign up today and use coupon code EARLYBIRD for an introductory low cost of 30% off $97 (+taxes and charges) by way of July 15, 2025.
Plus, sign up for CNBC Make It’s newsletter to get ideas and tips for fulfillment at work, with cash and in life, and request to join our exclusive community on LinkedIn to attach with specialists and friends.
