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Jana M. Perkins
@janajm.com
5.1K followers 190 following 470 posts
founder, @womenofletters.org. data scientist with a PhD writing a book (DEEP LITERACY, DIGITAL TIME) for Routledge
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All of which is to say that to get this kind note from Emily meant so much. I’ll link the interview itself below
A screenshot of a Substack email notification that reads:

 Emily J. Smith mentioned your publication in their note. Absolutely LOVED this conversation with @Jana M. Perkins who is one of the kindest interviewers out there. About my path to writing, inspirations that kept me going, my next book, and much more. Thank you so much for having me, Jana!
October 31, 2025 at 3:10 PM
janajm.com
Me any time I read an acknowledgements section in a book
A New Yorker cartoon depicting a bride and groom at the altar. The caption reads, "Now the bride and groom will read their own vows while we silently assess whose were more thoughtful"
October 30, 2025 at 2:35 PM
janajm.com
For Women of Letters, I had the great pleasure of talking with @emjsmith.bsky.social.

We discuss her debut novel, her background in tech, how she navigated the transition to writing full-time, what she’s working on next, & so much more. 📚💙

womenofletters.substack.com/p/emily-j-smith
A screenshot of text that reads: Pushing against the pull: In conversation with Emily J. Smith "Part of me wishes I’d opened my eyes up to writing earlier, but in a lot of ways I'm grateful that I had a different experience than most writers I know." WOMENOFLETTERS.SUBSTACK.COM A screenshot of text that reads: Fast-forward to today. How did the path to what you’re doing now unfold? EJS: It’s been about ten years since I took my first writing class and allowed myself to pursue writing seriously. Once I started, I couldn’t stop. I essentially rearranged my life around writing. “It felt like I might be throwing my entire career away, something I’d worked very, very hard to establish. But it did not get thrown away. It was reshaped.” I had always conflated my identity with my career—working in tech and nonprofits—but when I began writing I started to view my job as simply that, a job, and poured my energy into writing. Through classes and workshops, I made writer-friends, which shifted my social circle. Forming close relationships with other writers allowed me to keep going, to not feel completely insane taking my writing seriously despite frequent rejections and the daily struggle to coherently form thoughts. Exchanging work with these friends, having someone to send a draft to, to toss around an idea with, was life-changing. A screenshot of text that reads: With her debut novel, Emily has accomplished the rare feat of writing a book that is timely, incisive, and deeply affecting — all while being the kind of impossible-to-put-down read that audiences dream of finding. The book, along with its author’s Substack, draws on Emily’s years of experience as a woman working in tech to offer cultural commentary that is both intellectually rigorous and emotionally honest. In one exchange, for example, we see one character confronting another, saying, “You’d think a woman that smart would know better.” The book’s main character, Edie, responds without hesitating: “Not at all,” she says. “Smart women look for challenges.” She’s one of the few writers whose latest work I never miss. I’m thrilled we were able to connect over this interview. Jana M. Perkins
 Founder, Women of Letters
October 28, 2025 at 7:15 PM
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The only podcast I still listen to at 1x speed
A screenshot from the Podcasts app on an iPhone, where an interview from the Talk Easy podcast is playing
October 27, 2025 at 2:38 PM
janajm.com
For Women of Letters, I had the great pleasure of talking with @corinnelow.com.

We discuss her new book, the economics of women’s lives, why she left a job at the top consulting firm in the world, becoming a tenured professor at Wharton, & so much more. 📚💙

womenofletters.substack.com/p/corinne-low
A screenshot of text that reads: Having It All: In Conversation with Corinne Low "I really did not want my book to gaslight women about the real challenges that we face in making it all add up. I wanted to be really honest about my own struggles to make that all work." WOMENOFLETTERS.SUBSTACK.COM A screenshot of text that reads: Fast-forward to today. How did the path to what you’re doing now unfold? CL: I majored in economics while I minored in kind of my true passion of writing. I loved economics, and I thought it was a really elegant and beautiful way to understand the world. I didn’t necessarily know what a career in economics looked like, but a lot of my friends were interviewing for consulting positions. So, at the same time as I was deciding, like, maybe writing isn’t what’s going to pay off my student loans, my friends were interviewing for these consulting positions. They were like, “Oh, you get a signing bonus— it’s great!” And I was like, “I’ll just give it a try. I’ll interview.” “You’re not going to be able to plan it out from the beginning. But how are you setting yourself up for that next step?” A screenshot of text that reads: In her meticulously researched, newly published book, Corinne brings her years of expertise as a Wharton professor and an economist studying gender to answer the age-old question: is it possible for women to have it all? From parenting to partnership to career planning to self-care, she offers a wealth of accessibly articulated and data-rich insight into so many subjects central to women’s lives—including a detailed account of the many reasons why, historically, ‘having it all’ has been such an elusive goal. If there was one book published on this topic in the last year I would recommend as essential reading, it would be this one. Jana M. Perkins 
Founder, Women of Letters
October 2, 2025 at 1:41 PM
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Her debut memoir, the importance of having mentors, the decision to open a bookstore and write full-time, & so much more—

A wide-ranging interview with LAMBDA Literary Nonfiction Fellow Nikkya Hargrove. 📚💙

womenofletters.substack.com/p/nikkya-hargrove
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In conversation with Nikkya Hargrove "I am a hopeful person, and determined too, and my hopeful determination has never led me astray." WOMENOFLETTERS.SUBSTACK.COM" A screenshot of text that reads: “Fast-forward to today. How did the path to what you’re doing now unfold? NH: I loved asking questions as a kid, and always found myself wondering what the ‘true’ answer was… curious about the nuts and bolts of the big questions in life. I, naturally, loved my honors English class and my teacher Mr. Troller, who had a way with words that I admired. My writing skills improved because of him. Then one day, I sat talking with my grandfather while in high school, and he said, “I think you’ll be a journalist one day,” which felt like a statement out of the blue. Today, I am a published author, write for my local paper, and own a bookstore in my town. I am exactly where I am meant to be, even if I never thought of myself as a journalist or reporter.” A screenshot of text that reads: “Editor’s note Nikkya’s writing in Mama, her first book, is visceral and punctuated in its vulnerability. She recounts each of the emotionally saturated events that frame her memoir with open-hearted precision, including her mother’s incarceration, the adoption of her half-brother, and the experience of falling in love with her now-wife. “We keep the conversation light,” she recalls of visiting her mother in jail as a teenager. “We do not go deep. We do not ask about fears, wants, or needs.” Her book, however, does exactly that, venturing into all of the above and more. It was a privilege to get to speak with her about some of the stories behind those stories. Jana M. Perkins
 Founder, Women of Letters”
September 9, 2025 at 6:45 PM
janajm.com
Can we also just take a moment to appreciate this little guy
The tiniest bunny you have ever seen in your life crossing the sidewalk of a city street
September 1, 2025 at 6:20 PM
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Hi from your friendly neighbourhood flower paparazzi
Large pink flowers in a small landscaped flowerbed Bright orange flowers, with some smaller purple flowers, in a curbside flowerbed Pink, purple, and white flowers in a medium-sized flowerbed
September 1, 2025 at 3:16 PM
janajm.com
Alright, Bsky — I think I just discovered our new favourite website.

@dlazaro.ca built the coolest thing: if you go to sky.dlazaro.ca, you can get a snapshot of what the sky currently looks like at your approximate location as a gorgeous CSS gradient.

Here’s mine from this morning ☀️
A light blue gradient, fading into white
August 15, 2025 at 2:46 PM
janajm.com
For @womenofletters.org, I had the great pleasure of talking with Carrie Sun.

We discuss her widely acclaimed memoir, working at one of the most prestigious hedge funds in the world, why “process over outcome” is bad advice, & so much more. 📚💙

womenofletters.substack.com/p/carrie-sun
A screenshot of text that reads: “There are two kinds of writers: those who write what they know and those who write what they don’t know. I’m in the second camp. I wake up excited to ask questions that confound me and to find answers that surprise me.” Jana M. Perkins A measure of worth: In conversation with Carrie Sun WOMENOFLETTERS.SUBSTACK.COM A screenshot of text that reads: “Where do you feel the most scarcity in your life? Where do you feel the most abundance? CS: I have a newborn at home, so the obvious answer might be that I feel a scarcity of time. It’s interesting. While objectively I have no time (I’m writing these answers in the middle of the night as I nurse), I feel, oddly, an abundance of time. I think it has to do with control and agency. When I was working on Wall Street, I felt an intense chronophobia—the fear of the passing of time—afraid that I wouldn’t be able to do everything I wanted to do in this life. Even though then I could take long showers and go out with friends, neither of which I have time to do now, I felt that my days did not belong to me. I felt time-poor. Today, somehow, I feel time-rich. I own my days. I also feel an abundance of gratitude to be in this position and, unexpectedly, a scarcity of anxiety: it no longer matters so much what happens in the future because I’m doing everything I want to do in the present.” A screenshot of text that reads: “Editor’s note Among the most compelling memoirs are those that offer a window into experiences so singular they would otherwise remain known to only a fraction of humanity. Literary treasures of this kind are scarce not because extraordinary experiences evade us, but because we so rarely encounter the writer who can transmute those experiences into essential reading. Carrie is one of those writers, and Private Equity is one of those memoirs. Named one of TIME Magazine’s must-read books of the year, one of Vogue’s best books of the year, and the work memoir of the year by Harper’s Bazaar, it chronicles, as its central focus, her time spent working at one of the most prestigious hedge funds in the world. Yet to say that Private Equity is a memoir about Wall Street, the financial industry, or even a professional coming-of-age is to fail to capture the breadth of insight it offers across so many intensely interesting subjects. As Carrie explains below, “A decision is only risky if what’s at stake is valuable.” I learned a lot about decision-making, risk, and value from her propulsively readable memoir, and it was a privilege to get to learn more about her in this interview. Jana M. Perkins Founder, Women of Letters”
July 31, 2025 at 12:27 AM
janajm.com
For @womenofletters.org, I had the great pleasure of talking with Kapka Kassabova.

We discuss her experience of growing up in Bulgaria, her award-winning Balkan quartet of books, creating her own literary genre, & so much more. 📚💙

womenofletters.substack.com/p/kapka-kassabova
An image of Henri-Edmond Cross’s “Landscape” painting, which features a lush and brightly coloured impressionistic landscape. A screenshot of text that reads: “Fast-forward to today. How did the path to what you’re doing now unfold? KK: It’s been quite surprising, really. And I think ‘path’ is a good word. It turns out that paths have been much more important to me as a creator and as a soul, as an evolving soul in this lifetime, than roads. Paths rather than roads. When I started researching and writing about people and places, which happened with Border, I found my voice. And I found my voice thanks to the transformative encounters with people in those places that I had. And that was thanks to paths. Paths are away from roads. Paths are on the periphery of the center of power. The center of power is very fond of roads and other large infrastructure. And after all the roads that I had traveled as an adult — you know, as someone who emigrated more than once, changed countries more than once, changed languages, sort of acquired various cultural identities along the way — in the end, the most important journey has been a journey of paths. In a way, researching Border, which was the book where I really felt that I found myself and I found my genre — I created my own literary genre and continued from there — it coincided with a life event, which was that I moved from the city to the countryside. And in doing that, I started to shed some of the baggage that we’ve just been talking about.” A screenshot of text that reads: “Editor’s note The only word that can be used to adequately describe Kapka’s work is ‘mesmerizing.’ The effect either of reading her writing or of listening to her speak is one of being swept into what feels like an alternate dimension, where everything is tinged with a kind of numinosity and wonder. To experience the vividness of her perspective once is to seek its repeated encounter — and, fortunately for us, it can be found throughout what are currently more than a dozen of her published books and countless interviews. I’m delighted, with our conversation, to have added to this rich collection of transporting exchanges. Jana M. Perkins
 Founder, Women of Letters”
June 30, 2025 at 3:02 PM
janajm.com
Calling it now: @melissafebos.bsky.social’s THE DRY SEASON is the book of the summer
A screenshot of text that reads:

 “The manner in which I had loved people was a symptom of how I moved through the world and understood my place in it. I had understood one of my life's tasks to be the management of others' perceptions of me. It was my job to attract them and then meet or placate their desires. I had performed this unconscious labor in every realm of social life. I had earned my living that way, my self-esteem, and my physical safety. It defined the silent economy of all my romantic relationships, which insisted that the rest of my life's passions must fit into the space cleared by a lover's satisfaction. My freedom was earned by their contentment. No one in possession of that ruthless part, whose first love was art, could sustain such a dynamic. Eventually, it exhausted me, the relationship collapsed, and I was on to the next. I had not invented it, but I could choose to set it down.” A screenshot of text that reads: “This all sounds very rational, and the factor that most drove my endeavor was not rational. I felt it in my body like physical hunger, tugging on every cell. It felt biological. A pressure like that of sickness or fatigue. It was a desire that had finally grown stronger than its opposite, but was yet unknown. What did I want when I wanted the absence of something? It wasn't really time or a hob-by. I had no reference for the object of my hunger, and that was a strange condition. In my quietest moments, on the drive home from work, my body humming as I belted out a song about love, and just before I fell asleep or after I woke, I was just an animal with a past. I sensed how much I didn't know yet. I understood that an animal could be very hungry and not know for what, only in what direction it lay.”
June 24, 2025 at 4:06 PM
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For @womenofletters.org, I had the great pleasure of talking with Jennifer Baker.

We discuss the mentors who supported her work, how to establish boundaries, the importance of reframing the definition of ‘failure,’ & so much more. 📚💙

womenofletters.substack.com/p/jennifer-baker
An image of Paul Cézanne’s “Still Life with Apples and a Pot of Primroses” painting, which features flowers and apples placed over a tablecloth on a small table A screenshot of text that reads: “What’s a commonly shared piece of advice that you disagree with, and why? JB: I think there’s more I’d push back on in terms of perception than advice. Especially in the sense of creation. I often, or at least too frequently for my taste, hear, “I failed to…”. And I’m always curious where this idea of “failure” comes from. Various people online, pick your social media mode, have said, “I failed to get a book deal.” And I’m sitting here thinking, “Did you? Or did you just not get a book deal? Because that’s not a singular occurrence.” Failure exists. There’s a lot we’re failing to do now as a nation, let alone a world. But in terms of trying and not getting, in terms of rejection? That’s not failure.” A screenshot of text that reads: “Editor’s note I first discovered Jennifer through her Minorities in Publishing podcast, which shines a light on underrepresented professionals in the book publishing world. Its episodes generously offer everything from real-world context on issues like representation to a behind-the-scenes look at the publishing industry to a deep dive into the personal histories of guests. The podcast recently celebrated its 10th anniversary and is already charging ahead through its 11th year — a feat of longevity that, under her leadership, simultaneously comes as no surprise to long-time listeners and marks a significant accomplishment in today’s increasingly ephemeral media landscape. I’ll continue to be among the many who are celebrating this major milestone as we eagerly look ahead to its future from here. Jana M. Perkins
 Founder, Women of Letters"
May 30, 2025 at 12:51 AM
janajm.com
Joan Didion fans, this is essential reading: a remarkable memoir by Cory Leadbeater, who was her assistant for a decade and *lived with her* (!) for four of those years
The book cover for Cory Leadbeater’s THE UPTOWN LOCAL A screenshot of text that reads: “HOW DO I explain Joan. Once, as we sat together listening to music—“There’s a Small Hotel,” it was, the Ella Fitzgerald version, not the Josephine Baker, not the Peggy Lee, and we spent that afternoon talking about Joan’s favorite hotels, the Bristol, the Royal Hawaiian, the Beverly Wilshire, none of which had I ever been to, and she smiled and said someday she would take me—I was wearing a blue hat, and without saying a word, she reached up and took the hat off of my head and put it down on hers. She wore it for the rest of the afternoon. Many years later, when I introduced Joan to Liz, Liz made a nervous joke about Joan getting rid of me one day. Joan looked stonily at Liz. “No,” Joan said sternly, and flatly. Joan waited, then followed it up: “No,” she said again, and the subject was closed. After Joan died, but before her clothes could leave the apartment, I was enlisted to check the pockets of her coats and sweaters, to make sure nothing valuable was missed. A long-forgotten missive or an idea for a book might be waiting, or else a scrap of paper that would, maybe, tell us all how to survive death. But what I found instead were only used, crumpled tissues. Tissues. She had always had tissues. She had them in her hand when we walked in the Park, at breakfast too each morning; she had had them in her hand even when she first opened the door for me on that August morning nine years before. In fact, I was always having to order her tissues—Fridays, 2 p.m., I was calling Zitomer Pharmacy, week after week, year after year, to order toilet paper, to order mouthwash, to order face cream or Band-Aids and, of course, to order twelve boxes of tissues, Kleenex, the rectangular boxes, large, yes twelve, please. Sometimes they would put me on hold for ten minutes at a time while they checked their stock, and I’d curse as I sat there waiting. What I wouldn’t give now—to be on hold with Zitomer. To be ordering twelve boxes of Kleenex...” A screenshot of text that reads: “Joan loved Hemingway, and I loathed him; I worshipped Woolf, and Joan loathed her. We loved the same poets—Auden again, always Auden—and found common ground with Ford, García Márquez, Henry James. During the second hospitalization, sensing (stupidly—for Joan was tougher than all of us imagined, tougher than all of us combined, I was in the process then of learning) that time might be short and determined that she should share my opinion, I procured a copy of Mrs. Dalloway and began to read it to her. By day three, she was asking for more. I am writing this here simply to get it on the record: Joan changed her mind about Virginia Woolf at the age of eighty, in a hospital bed, thinking herself quite near death. Though I never learned to write from Joan, much as I wish I had, I did learn some things about persisting in reassessment, about having the courage to keep the void of uncertainty at the center of one’s gaze. Joan didn’t die either of those times, but she was close—and still, it was as good a time as any to reconsider Virginia Woolf.”
May 27, 2025 at 2:45 PM
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POV: it’s Sunday afternoon and everyone in the house has to listen to my podcasting voice
An image looking down over a wooden desk that features a laptop, keyboard, mouse, cup of tea, glass of water, and microphone
May 25, 2025 at 9:02 PM
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Raced through this luminous @sarahmanguso.bsky.social novel in less than a day and will be thinking about it for the rest of this week
The cover of LIARS, a novel by Sarah Manguso A screenshot of text that reads: “A few months later, John started another company. He'd somehow done it from within the bank, which had agreed to provide the initial funding. This company had ten times the venture capital of the first company, so it was ten times safer, he said. He'd come up with the idea of an inter-net-connected mirror. You could learn a new language while brushing your teeth. If you wanted to, you could practice the language while the mirror took video of you. Speech coaches would then evaluate your progress and send back custom-made lessons to help you learn faster. He called the company Polyglot. We'd have to move back to Los Angeles. Office space and assistants were cheaper there than in New York. John waltzed out the door to a three-hour drawing class while I cleaned the house, went to the laundromat, browsed used furniture online, and made chili. He came back—he'd wanted to draw a woman, and the model had been a man, so he sulked and played video games until his three hours were up. I felt the usual fury, blanketed by the usual somnolence. I sat alone on the roof-deck, in the dark, cooling off after a hot bath. The big tree swayed. The Big Dipper blinked. The hundred-and-fifty-year-old building creaked. I was a small animal passing through on my way back into the earth.”
May 14, 2025 at 7:31 PM
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Springtime in Champaign, Illinois
An image of a garden full of tulips An image of a red brick building with several large flowering trees in front An image looking up at the sky through a group of flowering trees
May 6, 2025 at 8:56 PM
janajm.com
This month, I wrote about:

- The value of keeping the line open
- How learning to gift my best time to myself has changed the way I prioritize long-term goals
- My favourite reads from the past month

You can find it all at jcontd.com/keep-line-open-best-time-first 🧪
A screenshot of text that reads: “One thing I’ve learned, over the course of my career, is that you never know when someone from your professional past will later come to play a role in your professional present. And while you have no control over the circumstances that lead to a potential reconnection down the line, you do have control over how you treat people during those periods when you’re actively a part of each other’s lives.” A screenshot of text that reads:

 “These days, I’ve rearranged my schedule so that at least some portion of the things that are most important to the realization of my long-term goals happens first in the day, when I feel sharpest and most energized. What this has meant is that, among other things, I now read for about 2 hours every day, I’m no longer starting my messages to loved ones with “sorry for the delayed response!”, and my personal projects are coming along at a pace that feels meaningful to me.”
May 1, 2025 at 8:07 PM
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I had the great pleasure of talking with Marianne Brooker for @womenofletters.org.

We discuss her book Intervals, for which she won the 2022 Fitzcarraldo Essay Prize @fitzcarraldoeds.bsky.social; her current writing projects; & so much more. 📚💙

womenofletters.substack.com/p/marianne-brooker
An image of Francis Danby’s painting “The Avon Gorge at Sunset,” which features a pastel-coloured landscape at sunset. A screenshot of text that reads: “Tell us about some of the projects, ideas, or questions you’re currently working on. MB: I guess I want to do things that are a little bit different, in some sense. I’m trying to write a novel — I kind of want to experiment, and maybe be a bit less constrained by writing from life. But also, by myself, coalescing around similar kinds of questions as I was exploring in Intervals. So I’m researching — I’m saying this very tentatively, because I’m not really saying it out loud very much at the moment yet, but — a kind of novel about the life of…   […]” A screenshot of text that reads:

 “Editor’s note In all my reading, I’ve encountered few works like Marianne’s Intervals. Her book offers a capacious look at life, death, and dying through a chronicling of her mother’s decision to withdraw from life-sustaining treatments. As she describes it, “Intervals are temporary places of rupture and of rest; they are liminal, partial and in-between. … I invite you to bear loose witness — to sit with me, as close to the pain as I can get — on the condition that the story doesn’t end here, that there is yet a world to win.” The result is an expansive, important, and generous work. I gained a lot from having had the benefit of her perspective. Jana M. Perkins
 Founder, Women of Letters”
April 30, 2025 at 9:08 PM
janajm.com
Whenever I manage to make it down to the Siebel Center for Design I always end up wondering why I don’t spend more time there
An image of a large atrium within an aesthetically-designed building An image looking across a large table. The table features several pieces of paper with instructions on them, a box of writing utensils, and the notes and miscellaneous belongings of those who are seated around the table
April 21, 2025 at 9:33 PM
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It’s a great article for several reasons — shoutout to @chaykak.bsky.social, who has consistently done solid reporting on tech — including this helpful explanation of how atproto works 🧪
A screenshot of text that reads: “On the internet, protocols are a bit like a city's electrical grid-crucial to its functioning but invisible to most civilians. When you send an e-mail, you are making use of the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP). When you visit any website, you are using Hypertext Transfer Protocol (hence the letters at the beginning of every address, HTTP). Because of SMTP, your e-mail account can send messages to any other e-mail account; you don't have to be a Gmail user to e-mail a Gmail user. Daniel Holmgren, one of Bluesky's head engineers, likened the company's protocol-called the Authenticated Transfer, or AT, Protocol-to an "open data lake"; whatever is in the water is public property, and any boat on the lake can dredge it up. Conventional social media, by contrast, is siloed: a Facebook account cannot follow or message a TikTok account. In recent years, Google,”
April 8, 2025 at 11:02 PM
janajm.com
e.g., I often think back to this example from Miranda on one of her early experiences with mentorship.

Knowing just how much she’s accomplished in the years since, it’s not at all surprising to me that someone with her perspective would have gone on to flourish in her career
A screenshot of text that reads: “I also remember another strange moment — I suppose these are the forms in which mentorship arrives — that, when I was in graduate school, I received an acceptance from a journal called Paideuma, at the time focused on Pound studies. Most of us weren’t publishing, at that time, during doctoral work. … I still remember just deciding that I was going to send in an article because something had been going right with one of the papers that I’d been writing on Ezra Pound and his connection to deluxe editions. I found Paideuma, and I decided to send in the essay. And the senior editor — who was a grand figure of Pound studies, Carroll Terrell, who did the companion to Ezra Pound’s Cantos — wrote back; it was he himself who wrote back, with a typewritten letter. He had written something terse to the effect of, “You have a point. This is very interesting. We will publish this.” I think I may even have spoken to him by phone. At the time, we weren’t so elaborate in our professionalization. Quite otherwise. It was quite exciting to get an honest letter back, from Carroll Terrell directly. So those were a few of the moments of mentorship. Often there was very little about it that was formal or formalized.”
April 1, 2025 at 7:14 PM
janajm.com
This month, I wrote about:

- How mentorship probably won’t look the way you thought it would
- Mark Duplass & the importance of self-advocacy
- Why it’s worth investing time into making the most of email
- My favourite reads from the past month

You can find it all at jcontd.com/email-self-a... 🧪
A screenshot of text that reads: “Writer, director, and actor Mark Duplass gave a 2015 keynote at SXSW where he debunked the concept of what he calls ‘the cavalry.’ The cavalry is any person, group, or company that you think will miraculously happen to notice your tremendous ability, your amazing work, your untapped potential — and, from there, pluck you out of obscurity into success.” A screenshot of text that reads: “Very few of the experiences I’ve learned and grown from over the years would have materialized were it not for the people who guided, supported, questioned, and encouraged me along the way. Because of this, I’m a big believer in the value of mentorship: I seek it out wherever possible, and I’ve maintained a regular availability for serving as a mentor to others for the past 8 years. As a result, I’m also always eager to learn more about how other people experience mentorship. I was struck, in a recent reading of Gary Stevenson’s The Trading Game, by how he described an exchange with a more senior trader shortly after he started interning at Citibank: “This started him on a long monologue about trading and his journey within it, of which I did not understand much. He showed me graphs and told me many stories. I looked into Johnny’s eyes, I looked at the graphs. I looked into the middle distance, and thought. Or at least, I narrowed my eyes to give the sense of thinking. I wondered if he could tell that I didn’t understand.” A screenshot of text that reads: “I say this, in part, because many of the best and most impactful opportunities that have come my way have either originated in my inbox or have had some critical portion take place over email. Some recent examples: A recruiter from a FAANG company reached out to me over email about a full-time position they thought I’d be a great fit for. Their message ended up in my spam folder; if I hadn’t been diligent about checking it for any messages that might’ve slipped through the cracks, I would’ve missed out on the opportunity to interview for the role.”
April 1, 2025 at 12:28 AM
janajm.com
Have been baking up a storm ever since moving into my new apartment and this vegan focaccia bread has quickly emerged as a favourite 👩🏻‍🍳
An image of a rectangular-shaped focaccia bread dough An image of a rectangular-shaped focaccia bread loaf
March 29, 2025 at 4:16 PM
janajm.com
A dream of a dream to see @roxanegay.bsky.social discussing THE PORTABLE FEMINIST READER in conversation with Sasha-Ann Simons in Chicago tonight!

The entire theatre was full of people who were so excited to dive into the book that they started reading it the second they sat down. 📚💙
An image of Roxane Gay on stage with Sasha-Ann Simons, with WBEZ Chicago projected on the screen behind them An image of the title page of THE PORTABLE FEMINIST READER, featuring Roxane Gay’s signature An image of a theatre aisle, featuring a tote bag hanging off of one of the seats that says “support your local feminist bookstore.” The seats are filled with people who each have a book in their lap
March 27, 2025 at 2:38 AM