Luvvie is an award-winning writer and 15-year blogging veteran known for her razor-sharp wit, and her take on all things pop culture, race, media, and technology.

More about this episode: majomolfino.com/blog/2018/5/31/speak-up-with-luvvie-ajayi

Her debut book I’M JUDGING YOU: The Do-Better Manual was a New York Times Bestseller and is a series of humorous essays that dissects our cultural obsessions and calls out bad behavior in our increasingly digital, connected lives.

It passes on lessons and side-eyes on life, social media, culture and fame, addressing those terrible friends we all have to serious discussions of race and media representation to what to do about your fool cousin sharing casket pictures from Grandma’s wake on Facebook.

Show Notes:
-On Luvvie’s childhood in Nigeria, their move to the U.S. when she was nine years old, and how she adjusted to American culture. Her name was different; her accent was different. [2:55]
-Her choice of psychology as a major in college, why she dropped her lifelong dream of becoming a doctor, but why she also didn’t think she would make a good therapist. [7:29]
-On her experience after college, going into marketing internships while figuring out what she really wanted to do, including starting her now-famous blog back in college. [8:36]
-Luvvie’s journey in becoming the marketing coordinator of a non-profit while developing her blog as a hobby; winning an award for “Best Humor Blog” in 2009. [13:20]
-On writing recaps for the show, Scandal, by Shonda Rhimes which eventually garnered her attention online and grew her fanbase. [15:49]
-How she came up with the idea for her New York Times Bestseller “I’m Judging You: The Do-Better Manual.” [19:48]
-On feminism: why a lot of people – especially women of color – have a hard time calling themselves feminists. [25:58]
-Reclaiming what it looks like to be a creative: writing, speaking, running a business, and hosting the Rants and Randomness podcast, and why you should let your work evolve with you. [41:45]

References:
- Majo's website: majomolfino.com
- Learn more about I'm Judging You: The Do-Better Manual – luvvie.org/im-judging-you-book/

Music by Carolyn Pennypacker Riggs – carolynpennypackerriggs.com

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