When Danielle Weisberg and Carly Zakin first launched TheSkimm, a daily news-digest email aimed at busy young women, back in 2012, media critics dismissed the conversational tone, mix of low and highbrow content, and use of memes. In 2017, Slate dubbed it “the Ivanka Trump of newsletters” that “treats its readers like they’ve never read an article, looked at a map, or accidentally seen a CNN segment in their dentists’ waiting rooms.” How times have changed: With more than 5 million active subscribers across its email products, according to Axios, TheSkimm has earned its reputation as a crucial media resource for female readers who are interested in the world. And TheSkimm itself is doing important things for that world.
When, by the end of the first day of Donald Trump’s second term, a government-run website with reproductive health information, ReproductiveRights.gov, abruptly vanished, TheSkimm absorbed the content and republished it. The Skimm plans to host the resurrected page in perpetuity. The move wasn’t about partisanship for Weisberg and Zakin, who, in a wide-ranging interview with Vanity Fair, say they have no plans to endorse candidates in the future. The person whose team they’re on hasn’t changed since they launched the business from their shared couch: It’s “her,” their one-word shorthand for their readership.
“What our audience realized, probably even before we realized, is there was no knight in shining armor from the government—no matter what government was in power—that was coming to save her,” Zakin said. “When I say ‘save her,’ I mean give her the support that she needs and the economic policies that she needs to continue to be a contributor to the economy, to be able to have a family so that we don’t have a dwindling population rate. I think it is made very clear to our audience, millions of her across this country who all represent different political arms, that nobody is ever coming to help. And that’s a really bitter pill to swallow.”
TheSkimm is still as likely to give Kardashian shenanigans top billing in a newsletter as it is to spotlight the latest in ceasefire talks. Now, though, instead of deliriously refreshing the wires themselves all night before the morning send, Weisberg and Zakin head an operation made up of more than 75 full-time employees, according to Axios. Digital media giant Ziff Davis, which owns What to Expect, Mashable, BabyCenter, and more, recently bought the company for an undisclosed amount. (Weisberg and Zakin declined to discuss specifics of the deal.)
For this conversation, we sat down at Cafe Cluny in New York City’s West Village, right around the corner from the walk-up they used to share when they launched TheSkimm.
“It’s actually how we got the earliest celebrity fans,” Zakin said of the restaurant that once served as their de facto office, which a friend sent a sketch of as a gift celebrating the acquisition. “Julianne Moore was there all the time.”
The roommates turned cofounders are clearly still close: They still order fries (Weisberg checks that Zakin is getting fries as a side before she opts for greens as her own, then the two align on their dip choices) and nudge each other as multiple celebrities walk in, and they—no joke—finish each other’s sentences several times throughout the conversation.
Read on to find out which politicos read TheSkimm, what the algorithm dishes out to Weisberg and Zakin, and how the founders plan to help women be their own heroes.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Vanity Fair: The voice of TheSkimm has changed a lot over the years. Can you talk about finding the balance for a conversational tone about serious topics?
Carly Zakin: Back when we started, we called it news, but it was zeitgeist.
Danielle Weisberg: It was inclusive of the news, but also what was happening in our generation and being talked about.
Zakin: Our ethos was like, it doesn’t matter who you are, what your job is, if you are at a work-networking thing, or a wedding, or whatever, and somebody is talking about something happening in the world, you should know what they ’re talking about. We never wanted anybody to have a deer-in-headlights moment.
The algorithm seems to be everywhere these days. You spend a lot of time together and have a lot of the same interests—are you two on the same internet?
Zakin: Danielle and I are on the same internet.
Weisberg: Yes.
Zakin: Our spouses are not.
Weisberg: Definitely not.
How would you describe your internet?
Weisberg: We were on the way here together sitting next to each other in an Uber. And I texted my sister, who works in art, something from the Daily Mail about a gallery, and seconds later Carly texted my sister and me the exact same thing. And my sister was like, “Aren’t you guys next to each other?”
How would you characterize your readership, and has it changed over the years?
Weisberg: We talk about “her” or “she”—that is who we have obsessed over. She’s so educated. She has been told growing up that she could do anything. And then the expectation was, “You can have it all.” But do you want it all? What does that mean and how do you actually keep that up without losing yourself or your mind? We really saw, especially in the pandemic, was no one’s coming to save her.
