Well, everyone, we made it. This is the first full issue of La Fronde and I'm glad you're here.

It almost doesn't feel like a launch, and that's by design. The preview stories we dropped last week gave you a real sense of what this newsletter is about: timely scoops and analysis, interviews with women doing interesting things in the industry and reporting that isn't afraid to call out some bullshit.

The most unexpected part of this whole launch phase has been the organic growth. Thousands of you found La Fronde without a single marketing push, which tells me this space is needed. Thank you for spreading the word — and a special shout-out to everyone who became a paid member before even seeing an issue.

Today's newsletter features a Q&A with Hannah Williams, who sold her social media series Salary Transparent Street to NowThis in a multi-seven-figure deal. On paper it looks like the dream: keep creating, just with way more resources. But a deal like that often means less control over your brand. A few months in, I asked her bluntly — was it really worth the tradeoff? I also flipped her classic question on her: how much are you making? Two questions most people would plead the Fifth on. Hannah went on record.

Plus: a scoop on The New York Times' plans to scale its audience efforts, an anti-Met Gala guerrilla campaign making its way through Manhattan, digging into what’s really behind CNN’s subscriber ‘success’ story, and our very first I Said What I Said submission — where our community shares unpopular media opinions and we debate them.

Tuesday issues are for paid members only; Thursday is free. If someone forwarded this to you, you can sign up here. Or, if you’re already a free reader and want to upgrade, you can do that here.

xoxo,

Stephanie

Hannah Williams had just launched Salary Transparent Street when I interviewed her for a Washington Post story back in 2022. The TikTok series — where Hannah stops strangers on the street and asks them to share their salaries on camera — had about a thousand followers at the time. Three years later, she has millions, and a seven-figure acqui-hire deal with media company NowThis to show for it.

I reached out a few months into the deal with a blunt question: how's it actually going? Hannah offered candid answers, filling me in on what running Salary Transparent Street is like now, how much she’s making after such a large deal, and giving an unvarnished look at what really comes with selling something she built from scratch.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.