November 6, 2025 • 31 mins
Kyle suits up for Cosmopolitan and Seventeen Editor-in-Chief Willa Bennett to discuss their ties du jour & love for Demna, the impact high school English teachers had on their careers, how Willa honors & evolves the magazines she loved growing up with, their Highsnobiety photoshoot that minted Kyle’s babygirl status, Willa’s inspiration for Cosmopolitan’s 60th anniversary edition & what makes magazines (and Macaulay Culkin) so special. Willa and Kyle wax about their shared passion for ballet & Blind Date, and Kyle gauges Willa’s journalism prowess in a friendly game of “News or Not” while sporting chic headwear.
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Executive Producers: iHeart Media, Elvis Duran Podcast Network, and Full Picture Productions Executive Produced for Full Picture Productions by Desiree Gruber + Anne Walls Gordon
Produced by Ben Fingeret, Nora Faber, and Maia Mizrahi
Editing by Mikey Harmon and Nicholas Giuricich
Research by Kimberly Walls
Music by Yatta
Art by Danica Robinson
Additional GFX by Chris Olfers/The Southern Influence
Styling by Dot Bass
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
What are we even do?
Speaker 2 (00:07):
What are we even doing? Hey's Kyle McLaughlin and welcome
to the show What are We Even Doing? Where I
talk with fantastic artists, creators of all type about what
they're up to, what they're doing, what's happening on the internet,
how they're using social et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
And today we have like really a special guest. So excited,
(00:28):
Willa Bennett is here. She's an author, she's a journalist.
She's the editor in chief of Cosmo in seventeen. I'm
not going to say the youngest editor ever because you've
probably heard that ad nauseum, but anyway, truly capable and
so nice to have her on the show. So bless you.
Thanks for being here.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
Thank you. I'm so so, so so so happy to
be here.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
I'm so glad to hear that I put on the
suit that I wore and I went when I went
to the show at the ballin Jiagas show in Paris,
I decided we would I would honor you with prate,
like you know, imitation is this sear serious form of flattery.
Show and then I have my Scottish, my Tartani and
you're wearing a tie that I brought as an alternative, yeah,
(01:09):
which is an old jump All Gautier tie that I love.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
I'm so honored to wear.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
It's kind of a kind of a lace satin kind
of thing.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Beautiful. I wish you could all touch it.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
It's really interesting, right.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
It's beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. Yeah, thank you for letting me
borrow this. I'm so honored.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
The demnist Bunziaga looks really good on you.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
They it was made for you.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
He is such a special person. Yeah, you know, as
I've gotten to know him and appreciate what he's done,
and he's now moving to Gucci and I'm excited to
see what he's going to do there as well.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
So Yeah, I think his like admiration of the past
while so pushing forward is like so special and something
I think a lot about at Cosmo, just you know,
taking this like heritage legacy brand that so many people
have associations with and like pushing it forward while also
not losing that special connection. I think I really admire
(02:02):
how he did that at buns Yogen, and I think
at Gucci, my guess is we'll see a lot of
that too. We'll see a lot of archival, We'll see
a lot of going back to the roots. But I
think we'll see those like slight demnahisms, like we'll see
we'll see some trash bag in like a couple of years,
we'll see some like well, Kymical can be.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Walking down home and I would be honored. I would
be honored. His creativity is really unbelievable. Do you have
a specific core memory about where you are now? Like
what started you? You know, what was it that was like?
And you've talked a little bit about the writing and
the integration of the ballet and everything, but was there
something that sort of said I want to do this.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
I had this English teacher in high school, Nathan, and
I remember being in English class writing a story about dance.
We had read a bunch of books, and I remember
he called me after class and was like, I know
you like this dance thing, but you should be a writer.
And I was like really, And I think my first
response was that kind of makes me anxious, and he
(03:02):
was like, that's all I'm gonna say. And to this
day I sent him every single magazine and I always
write him a note that's like if there are grammatical errors,
please don't tell me. And he laughs every time he goes,
there's no way there's a grammatical But that was like
really like him pulling me aside and like saying that
I think again, like I think I was literally seventeen,
(03:23):
like I was so impressionable, but also I really didn't
think of myself as a writer in high school. I
really wasn't that person. I was like, I'm a dancer.
But I loved English class and it came really easily.
And I used to always say, like, good writing when
it's like flowing and coming out like feels like drinking water,
it's just like its own you're like in a different world.
And he was the first one to use that word, like, oh,
(03:45):
you should be a writer. And I think that was
like a big turning point for me.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
Without question. You remember which grade it was when it
was middle school or it was like I think it
was eleventh grade, eleventh grade, Okay, high school, so it was.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
Like literally seventeen, which is crazy, but that was huge
for me, and I think it really like pushed me
to think. I think, like when you're seventeen, especially like
identity and the words you call yourself feel so scary.
It's like I'm a writer, I'm a dancer, but like
in reality it's like you can be both. But you know,
I think at that age, like it really doesn't feel
as fluid and like flexible. So having a teacher pull
(04:15):
you aside and be like you should do this.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
New thing was huge, Especially someone you admire. The validation
that came.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
I love him.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Yeah right, I mean, that's that's it. That is big.
I have a similar thing when I was in was
a little bit younger in eighth grade. It wasn't abu
becoming a writer, but I was such a Dune fan.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
I love that.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
My English teacher, Mary Craigo missus Creigo, she would let
me write sayings from the book because it's full of
sort of you know crazy, you know, fear is the
mind killer, etcetera, etcetera. She'd let me write him on
the board and put him up there for the class
to see. Because I was so so much about that book.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
That's amazing.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
It started me on the path that ultimately led to
me being cast in them. That's amazing, which is so
weird to me. Deb You told her, she knows, she knows,
she knows.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Yeah, I mean she's seen.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
Probably she wrote I had to write in my paperback book. Yeah,
she wrote, get my name down in the paperback book
that I always carry around with me. That was like
dog eared and crazy.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
So that's such a special story. I think. Good again,
you're just so impression about that age, like, and.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
I think you recognize a passion. Yeah, right, because a
lot of teachers they don't care really, they're just like whatever,
they're teaching something. But someone to take an interest in you, like,
they take an interest in you obviously and felt strongly
enough to say you need to go this direction. Totally,
you're becoming a person, right, and you're treating you like
a person, not just like a kid. Totally, you're kind
of an adult. You're sort of moving towards being an adult.
(05:33):
The whole world of publishing, editing, et cetera. Is so
foreign to me.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Really, Yeah, I don't.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
I really know nothing about it. So help kind of
walk me through. Like you had a dream at some
point in time and said this is what I want
to do. How did it start to start? As you
obviously interested in writing, but did you like say, ultimately,
this is my goal is to run a magazine was
that something you wanted to do from the beginning.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
Or I have always loved magazines. I think I always
loved fashion, and so I was like, growing up, I
was reading these magazines. I was so fascinated by the storytelling.
You know, I obviously was a writer, so I was
very interested in like pictures and how they told stories
and how they made you feel, and I was obsessed
with cutting them out. And it just felt like these
(06:17):
like different worlds that you could jump into in this
very visceral way. I obviously loved reading books, but with
fashion magazines specifically, it felt like unattainable but attainable, and
it felt like watching TV or movies honestly for me.
And in college and I started really diving into journalism,
I realized it was about all of it and wasn't
just the written word, you know.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
I kind of worked my way up.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
I started at GQ and then we shot you at
my my last position at Haisnabidi, which is one of
my favorite shoots.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
I'm not even just telling you.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Thank you very much. I had such a fun time.
It was Blaze is Hot in Los Angeles, and remember
some of the they had, like it was a vinyl,
like a thick vinyl jacket of some kind, and I
was like, sure, let's go for it, you know, And
and the shoot turned out really really well.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
I was really I love those photos.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
You were vacuuming you, the clothes were amazing. We had
you like dripping in Balencia haga. It was like, truly amazing.
I feel like we really got some good looks. And
I remember this so vividly. We're looking through the photos
and someone on the social team actually was like, Kyle
McLaughlin his baby girl, And then it became this debate
where it was like.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Is he going to get it?
Speaker 3 (07:22):
And I was like, I think he is based on
his social media. Thank you, And you really got it.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Thank you. I've been well trained.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
You knew exactly what we meant. We were between the
headlines Kyle mcglough and his baby girl or Kyle mcglough
and his mother. H Oh, which one do you like better?
Speaker 2 (07:39):
The girl's pretty good, not that I've come to appreciate,
but you were talking a little earlier about the magazine
and I wanted to ask you also, just okay, you
come in Cosmo's been around for a while, wasn't Helen
Girly Brown didn't. She started it right her.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
So sixty years ago was her first, was her debut.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
Cosmo existed before her, but she was the one that
really like took this magazine to a new path and
really focused it around love and relationships, which is something.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
I think a lot about.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
I think, you know, even growing up, like I remember
reading her columns about sex and power and there was
just like truly nothing like it at the time. And
so you know this issue that you actually have on
your desk with Mark Kley on the cover, WHI this
is this sixty years since Helen's debut issue as E
I see, and I think what I love it so
(08:25):
much is we really we really pulled references from the archives.
We really went back into like what made Cosmo right
so special sixty years ago. We talk a lot about
reproductive rights, We talk a lot about you know, this
being a launch pad for a lot of talent. So
we have Chase you Wonders on here, who I'm sure
you're friends with. We have Medaline client kJ App, but
(08:45):
tons of people where I think they're on their way
to being the cover. And so it's just really really exciting.
Markak Kleley's mom was on the cover. Actually just special Andy.
There's just so many small Easter eggs. We actually have
a photo of her whole the first ever Cosmo, which
is of the Statue of Liberty.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
So I saw that Cosmo heads will get it.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
I love that you that you care and even you
see the anniversary issues right there, just kind of written
the top there. Yeah, I'm getting to understand you a
little bit. You like to plant things, but don't make
them obviously, Yeah, kind of.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
My first cover at High Snob was Billie Eilish and
she was wearing Yogi, who was on the cover of
High Snob like exactly eleven years ago before that. So
I think when you're building a brand, it's really important
to understand what the brand is in the context of
the Zeigei's which I think you do really well, but
then also grow it and iterate on it. On the
(09:42):
table of contents, there's this photo of Margaret and she's
like sucking a cherry and that's kind of an ode
to the way Helen used to write about cherries and
what that meant and in sexuality and you know, everything
is strategic and it's not to kind of overcomplicate things.
I think sometimes art is best when it it's direct
and simple, but I think it's it's important to know
(10:04):
where you came from.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
I completely agree, and but strategic but also playful, yes,
which I think is nice. Yes, like, don't take it
too seriously. Yeah. Yeah. And the cherry thing, of course,
I think immediately twin peaks, yes, and cherry pie and yeah,
qadry horn and the cherries and the tying of the
cherry stam but all of that what goes under that
right maybe not obvious to many viewers, but to other viewers, I.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
Get it totally and it's not for everyone to understand,
and I never am like. People ask me this all
the time, like are you upset if people don't like
get references? And I'm like, no, the references are like
to build out a creative process, but they're not They're
not meant to Yeah, they're not to.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
Like explain urt like.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
I think people bring their own associations and I welcome that,
But I also think when you're building a brand like Cosmon,
you're trying to take it into the future. You can't
just erase the past sixty years.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
That would be crazy.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
Yeah. Yeah, but that's not easy to do.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
It's fun. It's part of the fun.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
Yeah, which I think I get I get from you.
That's pretty cool. So what magazines did you read growing up?
I mean you mentioned that you had were her some
favorites that you were like, yeah this this, this is.
Speaker 3 (11:05):
Esquire, GQ, Cosmo seventeen. Like genuinely these like two stark masculine,
feminine brands. Yeah, and I think like that just spoke
to how clear their brand identities were.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Where did you You grew up in La in La Okay? Yeah?
Really it's Silverlink. How nice.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
When I first moved to La I lived in Los Felis.
Oh nice, Yeah, way before Los Felis was cool that
it was a kind of a backwater for sure, love
but I loved it and then found my way to
Venice and then you know, I love Venice. Yeah, it's
really it's really special. Well, you're heading up these magazines,
but you're also really social aware and how does that work?
(11:43):
So you've got you know, the magazine print magazine, which
we grew up with, but now there's such a strong presence,
you know, on on social for this and and putting
it out on social and how do you is there
a balance? There is there?
Speaker 1 (11:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
We have an amazing social team in it. They I
really learned so much from them. I think that we
really think. I mean there's obviously the new stand ad,
but then the social drop I think sometimes has more weight.
It really is a moment, like we really use it.
That we were really like making a statement and a
moment around what it means to be helming this magazine
sixty years after Helen's debut, more than anything. And I
(12:18):
mean my first issue was really it was the first
time a romantic relationship was on the cover, and that
was really about.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
With McCauley, right, Yeah, I just we did press work
for for Fallout. Yeah he's in Fallout, Yes, and I'm
so excited. He's such a nice guy.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
He is such a sweet guy. Yeah yeah, really I
was so blown away, like he's so special.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
He sent me the sweetest thank you after his cover
and I was like, wow, Yeah, he really went out.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
Of his way. I don't know, he's really special.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
Yeah, he really was someone I left set being like,
I really like I love him and I want the
best for him.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
Yeah. I felt the same way. We did a couple
of things together just for fun because they have you
do all sorts of crazy stuff. Yeah, promotion. But I said,
I really like this, and I had never met him before,
and we just kind of just jumped into the relationships
like Okay, let's have some fun, and he was totally
up for it.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
I feel like that's like two fandom. Like I can't
even imagine you guys hanging out. I think I would
freak out. That's like a that's a story for Cosmo.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
That's asion I'm up. I'm up for it. You studied ballet? Yeah,
so I took two years of ballet at the University
of Washington. Yeah. Tell me when did you start?
Speaker 3 (13:31):
I was a really serious ballet dancer growing up. I
started when I was seven. Actually, I don't really know
what it was. There was something that was really fascinating
about it, Like I was obsessed with reading about it
and really like I think I also just like met
so many friends that it really quickly became my world.
And I feel like I had so many of my
most formative experiences, like in dance with my dance friends,
(13:52):
and I think, you know, growing up in La like
it was really amazing to have this like passion and
this hobby that like, honestly.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
Was all I really cared about. It was like writing
and dance.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
So a lot of my friends were like going out
and I was just like so uninterested in that interesting.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
Very disciplined.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
I mean I always tell the story, but like the
morning after a problem, I had danced at nine am,
so I was like, yeah, I was just like very
diligent and very disciplined, I think is the word my
parents still say. It was just really intense, and I
think what it taught me, which is such a valuable
lesson that I still think about now, is like everything
(14:30):
you're working on and like thinking through in your life
informs your art, and so everything in dance would always
end up coming back to my writing.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
Well, writing is disciplined. I mean that's huge discipline to
be really. I mean, I think a really good writer
total time aside every day, and I struggle with it
so much because I love to write. Yeah, but it's
like the discipline it takes. And then writing is really
just rewriting. You know, you write something and then you're like,
I go back. So it's going back and going back
and going back until you have it. Just you're never satisfied.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
Yeah, I I really really really to what you're saying.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
I think, like I just yeah, I think, first off,
like all writing is rewriting. That's something I've told myself
a million times.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
My writing teacher is it is, It's just a mantra,
it's rewriting. Yeah, trying to get my son to understand
that you're just not just one pass and you're done.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
You got to go back and you need to like.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
Think about the words. And I really give Sarah Laurren's
a lot of credit. Their writing program was amazing, and
I think about some of the things I learned all
the time. I think as an editor, like it's so
exciting for me to like get a piece of text
and really help the writer like come out with more
clarity about what they're trying to say. And I always say, like,
good writing really is just direct at the end of
(15:37):
the day, like don't like we got to get to
the core of what you're saying. Yeah, And I think
a lot about that about celebrity profiles. I wonder what
you think of this, because I feel like there's this
narrative that like celebrity profiles are dead, and it's like
so not true.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
I don't think so, but you you have a new
form for that. I think blind date is kind of
the visual I guess often column you know, I think it's.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
Like all their space for all of it is like
my genuine take. Like I love blind Day basically like
I go on a it's a fun find day with
a celebrity.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
When it comes to.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
Line fold yourself, yeah, I'm blind and you have to
guess who it is. I just it's crazy.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
It's crazy and I usually get it wrong. But every
once in a while I feel like I maybe could
get you. That's why you should. You should. I mean
I won't be able.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
To know if you come home with the change. Well
you have the microphone the changes, yes, so that's good.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
Like I guess, but I think like the conversation your
questions are.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
So by the way i'd be, I would be embarrassed
maybe or maybe not. I don't care.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
Yeah, I feel like everyone I have like my tricks,
like I'll be like have we met before? And then
you ask specific questions it's easy or castmates.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
Always gives it away. Yeah, yeah, but you could lie
and be I.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
Mean no, I would never lie. It would be absolutely true,
you would never I'd have to yeah, because the whole
point of it is how you do?
Speaker 3 (16:50):
You know?
Speaker 1 (16:51):
Yeah, that's true, but blind it's a great format.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
I think it's exciting because it feels so real and
like again, I do think these younger audiences are are
more satiated from video content. So for me to have
a you know, a video series for Cosmo around sex
and dating like made perfect sense. And I think that
really hones in what we stand for, and that's love
and relationships. But you know, I wrote the Margaret Coayley
(17:14):
story and that is so interesting. We do these formats
in book where it's actually the question and answer between
the like subject and the writer, which I really enjoy reading.
I did a Grace Abrams profile and it was similar.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
And we we do these footnotes, which I actually love.
It's like so exciting.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
It's like footnotes of little details that like explain interactions,
and I just love that format because I think when
you're interviewing someone there's so many little nuances.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
It's like Kyle's wearing Blenciaga.
Speaker 3 (17:42):
This is significant because Demna now is like Gucci, and
what does this mean?
Speaker 1 (17:45):
You know?
Speaker 3 (17:45):
Like those details I think people are hungry for, and
that's something that makes it real and human, and so
I'm excited to see what else we can do with that.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
That's what that's what you do. I mean that sounds
like the easter egg idea, you know what I mean,
the context of what's happening and why it may have
an impact or influence this or that type of thing.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
So that I love that.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
How do you just really quick? How do you so
you read someone submits when you're writers and you look
at you read through and because I never am able
to like go, oh, this is what it's about, or
it could be this, or maybe it's this over here,
and I find myself all over the place instead of
like one central idea. I think I need to take
a writing class. Central idea that you sort of follow
(18:30):
isn't to pop music. I do a lot of it
through myself.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
Okay, cool, what's your favorite pop girl?
Speaker 2 (18:36):
Well? I've been loving Lord.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
Okay, I actually knew that I shouldn't have, but I.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
Saw the but Charlie as well. I love everything about it.
I love her journey. I love the musicianship. I love
the tones, the choices of instruments, the intrumutation, how she phrases.
I love everything about that it's interesting to me. It
catches me as as much as her lyrics.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
Catch me interesting. Okay, here's what I think is so
interesting about pop music. It's always about like a very
specific idea that you cannot necessarily explain in words, but
it's very clear, non confusing, and you relate to it,
and I feel like that's a good magazine article where
it's like, you know, it's an idea. Like for Maria Klelely,
it was like or I walked into the interview, you know,
(19:18):
I went to New Jersey. She was there with Jack.
It was one of her few days off. She's filming
three movies right now, super busy. Her mom's been on
the cover of Cosmo. And the idea was like, what
does it mean for Maria Kuleley to be on the
cover of Cosmo.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
After sixty years?
Speaker 2 (19:31):
Right?
Speaker 3 (19:31):
That was the concept. Right I got there, you know,
we went through her house, I went on the beach,
you know. We talked a lot about her different roles
and how she has played these complex women and what
that means for her and how she sees her own womanhood.
Talked a lot about sexuality, you know, the substance was
like its own thing, because I mean, talk about a
complicated film.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
Have you seen it?
Speaker 3 (19:53):
It's she crawls out of Demimore's spine to be like
the under.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
Honestly completely understand. And when I was prepping.
Speaker 3 (20:02):
For this interview, I truly did, like watch all of
her movies back to back. I'd seen The Substance before,
but you know, I hadn't seen made and was upon
a time in Hollywood. I watched it back to back
to get the full experience, and like it was pretty intense.
Like after I was like, wow, Like, these are so
many different types of challenges that women face depicted so clearly,
and so I think I was like in that headspace
(20:23):
when I went into the interview, and what I came
out with was, you know, we both had similarities, me
writing about Cosmo, her writing about her career, and we also,
you know, had similarities in how we thought about womanhood
and relationships. And I think what was so special is
she really like she had read Cosmo, so she totally
understood the weight of Cosmo and the platform and why
(20:46):
young people need a platform like Cosmo. Like she completely
got that and ran wild with it, which I was
so grateful for. And it's so special when a celebrity,
especially of you know her caliber, you know, is down
to talk about like why young people need sex education,
Like she was all for it and like really understood it.
And again her sister in her Red Cosmo, she was like,
(21:07):
we need this, like young people need magazines, especially ones
that talk about sex.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
I'm just I'm kind of thinking about what you're saying,
and I completely agree. I completely agree because I think
I see with my son, you know, they have access
to so much stuff online, but to have someone curate
something who's talking about a specific thing really clearly and
they can state it and say, this is kind of
where the reality is. This is what's really happening with
(21:33):
people with couples, with sex, with the situation growing up.
What this all means, have this kind of conversation. Don't
be watching video of whatever, you know what I mean
and basing your education or your learning on something like that.
I think it's it's healthier.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
Yeah, And I think there's a responsibility. I think.
Speaker 3 (21:52):
Look like we do talk to therapists, we do talk
to psychiatrists, we do talk to sex relationship therapists, couples therapists, Like,
we really do into it. And I think as much
weight as a Marcquali story has, we also have a
story that really shows how different couple split costs and like,
you know, when is the right time to talk about
money in a relationship? And you know, we have a
conversation a beautiful essay by Ashley Ford who she writes
(22:14):
about how you know she's seven years into her marriage
and she's like falling more in love and like the
dynamics that come into play, and like, I think all
of us are important. I think again, if there's so
much information, there's actually no information. Yeah, and especially when
it comes to your relationship. I mean it's too personal.
You can't trust just anyone. You can't trust the algorithms
for that. And so I feel like if Cosmo can
(22:36):
be that place that it was for me growing up
where it made me feel like there was something bigger
and it was going to be okay and reassured and
who I was then like we're doing our job.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
Yeah, A great, you have a love of that from before.
Oh my god, a court bringing that love into what
you're doing right now, it's really Yeah.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
I really believe in the mission, and I love, love,
love Cosmo, and I think there's We're really only getting started,
Like truly, this is my third issue.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
I'm like, we have so much more to say.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
You put on a different brain for seventeen for Cosmo
or is it?
Speaker 1 (23:06):
I always asked that.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
No, No, it was just that it's kind of interesting.
Is it a grown up? I'm sure there's someone ask
you that too.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
Yeah, seventeen is definitely younger.
Speaker 3 (23:14):
There's definitely like like a lot of fandoms I learned
about all the time. Like I Rosie, who runs our
social like she teaches me so much. I'm like, who's
this And she's like, well, actually in the summer, I
turn pretty your team Conrad because I'm like, what.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
Yeah, okay, are you team Conrad. I'm this now I'm
learning as you're talking. I think I need to start
reading seventeen because I can see that as a feeder
because that, yeah, it's like kind of that's the beginning
the the that's the the tadpole stage of ye slang
of who's what's happening, what's in the what's happening in
the media right now? And then that and then that
filters out a little bit, but it starts, it starts young.
Speaker 3 (23:48):
Yeah, I think the teen landscape is really important, and
I like take that responsibility really seriously. It's me an
intern there and every single morning going to my internship,
I'd be like, Wow, this is the best day of
my life. I want to work here forever. I'm never
going to work anywhere else. So it's cute because I
still go to the same building. Sorry, remember being an
(24:09):
intern and being like just so obsessed with seventeen. But
a lot of it, like really hasn't changed. It's still
about fandoms. It's still about like, you know, stars that
mean a lot to gen Z. The tagline is it
starts at seventeen, and we really talk about what it's
like to be seventeen. And our first cover, My first
cover was Ziowade, who's so special and it was right
(24:29):
for her eighteenth birthday. Then we had Clara, who'd be
a great guest for you.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
Okay, I feel like it's seventeen and again i'd refer
to my son sixteen. Seventeen is when the focus everything
is which has been directed inwards and me and me
and me and me, and suddenly it's like wait a minute,
and they start looking outwards.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
For I know, examples of mentors, people who inspire them,
and I think so and they look to someone and
connect with someone, and I think it's right at that
moment in the growing up that that happens.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
Totally.
Speaker 3 (24:58):
I think you're so impressionable like media at that time.
I mean, there's nothing more influential. It's like your friends
and what you see on your phone, and so to
have that intimate connection with a seventeen year old is
just so special. I really think media is so so
so important, and especially now. I mean it really like
can change public perception in such a specific way and
(25:21):
make people feel like okay again, yeah yeah, yeah, So
it's cool.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
You take it seriously. It's a response. I feel the responsibility,
like you know, you've got an obligation in a way.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
Totally.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
We're gonna have this new segment called News or Nonsense.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
I cannot wait for the segment. All right, so we're back.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
Here's what we're gonna do. You have years of creating
experience and creating these iconic covers. Right, I'm making headlines
some publications. So we thought it'd be fun to play
a little game where you have to guess if the
headline is real headline or can't lay made up. Okay,
So that says me, this is my press pass. This
is your press pass.
Speaker 3 (25:59):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
Okay, what if I want to be Kyle?
Speaker 2 (26:01):
Oh you can be me here? You want to be okay?
Very good, I'll be okay perfect. Then we also have
how are you with hat? So are you okay?
Speaker 3 (26:09):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (26:10):
This is the best day of my life?
Speaker 2 (26:11):
Okay? Which choose a color? Okay?
Speaker 1 (26:14):
The dark one? Okay, honestly kind of goes with your tie.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
Oh it looks good.
Speaker 3 (26:18):
Oh my god, you look amazing. You are a fashion icon.
You get that a lot.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
You like know that this is.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
A crazy thing because my day to day it's T
shirts and jeans.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
No, but like in my head, you're always in a
bluntiaga suit. I don't know what that says. Don't worry
about it, don't overthink.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
I kind of love that. Okay, perfect, This is good.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
I actually can't focus. You look perfect? Okay, hit me?
Speaker 2 (26:39):
I love it. Okay, here we go. First headline, you
are fake robot vacuums, form union demand weekends off.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
Real not real? Whoa really like? That's wired? Should I
guess the magazine publishing?
Speaker 4 (26:58):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (26:58):
Yeah, yeah, that's good to know. Maybe they should publish it. Okay,
well I read okay, ready, authority say a babysitter checked
under the bed from monsters and found someone fake. This
one's real. Well, I don't even know the publication. What
publication was this from?
Speaker 1 (27:15):
Do we remember MPR?
Speaker 4 (27:17):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (27:18):
Okay, that's not like an NPR.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
I guess yeah, that checks out the NBA.
Speaker 3 (27:21):
Is that an online Okay, just to argue, that sounds
like a podcast episode?
Speaker 2 (27:27):
Okay, we go. More than thirty four cats cause divorce?
Speaker 1 (27:33):
False? This one's real to wow, thirty.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
Thirty five cats would be well that's more. Yeah, thirty
three cats, you'd be okay, But you'd you have more
than thirty four cats? It would cause its interesting?
Speaker 1 (27:45):
I love that to be fair.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
That one's from the fifties. Okay, from the fifties. Well,
there you go. That makes sense. Then man wins custody
battle over pet Rock after six year legal dispute.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
Man wins custody battle over pet Rock.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
Six year legal dispute.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
You so crazy, I think false?
Speaker 2 (28:06):
You got it right?
Speaker 1 (28:07):
Okay, thank god I got one that was scary there
for amanent.
Speaker 2 (28:10):
You're standing at twenty five percent. That's okay, here we go. Okay,
Farmer teaches cows to use Japanese toilets. Now they refuse
to go anywhere without a bidet.
Speaker 1 (28:19):
I think false, but yes, very good. Here's the only
things I was like that could be like one of
your tricks. Oh, you know, like it sounds so fake
that it's actually true.
Speaker 3 (28:29):
But no, it's definitely false. That actually makes no logical sense.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
Sometimes on Instagram, don't you get caught on animals that
actually use a toilet. Yeah, that's like very confusing to me.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
Yeah, but like what publications publishing that?
Speaker 2 (28:40):
You know? Yeah, Texas woman marries ex boyfriend without his knowledge.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
Okay, she sounds iconic. Yes, that would be illegal, so
it has to be false.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
It's true.
Speaker 1 (28:51):
What she's iconic? I need to talk to her.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, you gotta have her.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
In a magazine. That's a Cosmo article. Is that's a
Cosmo article?
Speaker 2 (28:59):
Totally a baller? Okay, very good? All right? Last one
man arrested in UK cheese heist where imposter stole three
hundred and eighty nine thousand dollars worth of cheddar. Must
be very good Cheddar. I happen to love English cheddar real?
Speaker 1 (29:14):
Yes, wow, that was guess.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
It started sort of slow, and then you came on
very very strong.
Speaker 1 (29:19):
Really yeah, I was watching your body language. Didn't give
me anything, literally gave me nothing. I was trying to
help to style. That was a wild game. Thank you
so much.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
Thank that was so playing. Thank you so much for
being here. This was really really fun. This is so
any quick updates? What's next? I mean, obviously the magazine,
you got new things coming out all the time. You
said there was an interview in s Soeul you're early
excited about.
Speaker 1 (29:46):
Yeah, we have a lot. I blind date season two
coming out in October.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
Great, you can't and you can't say we don't know
who it is.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 3 (29:52):
We've we've done half of the episodes and I can
tell you off.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
The record it's amazing. I can't wait to buy off
the record.
Speaker 2 (29:58):
I mean, on the record, you've got to This is
really fun. You're so brave to go in you.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
I kind of agree, it's like really brave. And when
people don't know. It's like in the middle of my workday.
Speaker 3 (30:08):
So I'm like drinking a martini and like talking to
Renee Rap at like twelve, and then I'm like in
the boardroom at one and.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
You're like, how do you do it?
Speaker 1 (30:16):
Called being a modern NYE?
Speaker 2 (30:17):
I see, yes, yes, you can do anything. I did
love that one. By the way, she's fantastic. She's hilarious,
very authentic, very real, very like this is it.
Speaker 3 (30:25):
This is who I am, totally and she was just
like like over and over again, like iconic quotes, looking
to the camera being like dump him, Like yeah, it
was really is.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
She's so confident, in which I love.
Speaker 3 (30:37):
Super confident, and I think it's it's good for this
generation to see someone just like own who they are.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
Own is a perfect word for it. I think back
on my generation, it's like you had to beat there
was a lot more. You're sort of hesitant about how
you wanted to present yourself. You sort of had certain
there was editing going on, constant editing. And I feel
today it's like no editing. It's just here, I am
take it or leave it.
Speaker 1 (30:56):
That's a great lesson here, I am take it lead,
take it.
Speaker 2 (30:59):
Or leave it. Yeah, and I think it's fantastic. All right,
So now we're going to close out. That's all we
have time for today. I could go on for a
long more time, but thanks for joining us, helping us
solve what are We Even doing here? Which I don't
know if we did solve it, but we had a
really good time in the process. We will keep trying.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
Yay, Thank you guys so much.
Speaker 4 (31:16):
What Are We Even Doing is a production of iHeartMedia
and the Elvis Duran podcast Network, hosted by me Kyle
McLachlin and created and produced by Full Picture Productions Yay
featuring music by Yata and artwork by Danica Robinson. For
more information about the podcast, please visit our Instagram and
(31:36):
TikTok at wawed with Kyle. Please rate, review, and subscribe
to What Are We Even Doing on Apple, Spotify, YouTube,
or anywhere you get your podcasts.
Speaker 2 (31:51):
Exclamation point
What are we even do?
Speaker 2 (00:07):
What are we even doing? Hey's Kyle McLaughlin and welcome
to the show What are We Even Doing? Where I
talk with fantastic artists, creators of all type about what
they're up to, what they're doing, what's happening on the internet,
how they're using social et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
And today we have like really a special guest. So excited,
(00:28):
Willa Bennett is here. She's an author, she's a journalist.
She's the editor in chief of Cosmo in seventeen. I'm
not going to say the youngest editor ever because you've
probably heard that ad nauseum, but anyway, truly capable and
so nice to have her on the show. So bless you.
Thanks for being here.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
Thank you. I'm so so, so so so happy to
be here.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
I'm so glad to hear that I put on the
suit that I wore and I went when I went
to the show at the ballin Jiagas show in Paris,
I decided we would I would honor you with prate,
like you know, imitation is this sear serious form of flattery.
Show and then I have my Scottish, my Tartani and
you're wearing a tie that I brought as an alternative, yeah,
(01:09):
which is an old jump All Gautier tie that I love.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
I'm so honored to wear.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
It's kind of a kind of a lace satin kind
of thing.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Beautiful. I wish you could all touch it.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
It's really interesting, right.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
It's beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. Yeah, thank you for letting me
borrow this. I'm so honored.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
The demnist Bunziaga looks really good on you.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
They it was made for you.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
He is such a special person. Yeah, you know, as
I've gotten to know him and appreciate what he's done,
and he's now moving to Gucci and I'm excited to
see what he's going to do there as well.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
So Yeah, I think his like admiration of the past
while so pushing forward is like so special and something
I think a lot about at Cosmo, just you know,
taking this like heritage legacy brand that so many people
have associations with and like pushing it forward while also
not losing that special connection. I think I really admire
(02:02):
how he did that at buns Yogen, and I think
at Gucci, my guess is we'll see a lot of
that too. We'll see a lot of archival, We'll see
a lot of going back to the roots. But I
think we'll see those like slight demnahisms, like we'll see
we'll see some trash bag in like a couple of years,
we'll see some like well, Kymical can be.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Walking down home and I would be honored. I would
be honored. His creativity is really unbelievable. Do you have
a specific core memory about where you are now? Like
what started you? You know, what was it that was like?
And you've talked a little bit about the writing and
the integration of the ballet and everything, but was there
something that sort of said I want to do this.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
I had this English teacher in high school, Nathan, and
I remember being in English class writing a story about dance.
We had read a bunch of books, and I remember
he called me after class and was like, I know
you like this dance thing, but you should be a writer.
And I was like really, And I think my first
response was that kind of makes me anxious, and he
(03:02):
was like, that's all I'm gonna say. And to this
day I sent him every single magazine and I always
write him a note that's like if there are grammatical errors,
please don't tell me. And he laughs every time he goes,
there's no way there's a grammatical But that was like
really like him pulling me aside and like saying that
I think again, like I think I was literally seventeen,
(03:23):
like I was so impressionable, but also I really didn't
think of myself as a writer in high school. I
really wasn't that person. I was like, I'm a dancer.
But I loved English class and it came really easily.
And I used to always say, like, good writing when
it's like flowing and coming out like feels like drinking water,
it's just like its own you're like in a different world.
And he was the first one to use that word, like, oh,
(03:45):
you should be a writer. And I think that was
like a big turning point for me.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
Without question. You remember which grade it was when it
was middle school or it was like I think it
was eleventh grade, eleventh grade, Okay, high school, so it was.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
Like literally seventeen, which is crazy, but that was huge
for me, and I think it really like pushed me
to think. I think, like when you're seventeen, especially like
identity and the words you call yourself feel so scary.
It's like I'm a writer, I'm a dancer, but like
in reality it's like you can be both. But you know,
I think at that age, like it really doesn't feel
as fluid and like flexible. So having a teacher pull
(04:15):
you aside and be like you should do this.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
New thing was huge, Especially someone you admire. The validation
that came.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
I love him.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Yeah right, I mean, that's that's it. That is big.
I have a similar thing when I was in was
a little bit younger in eighth grade. It wasn't abu
becoming a writer, but I was such a Dune fan.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
I love that.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
My English teacher, Mary Craigo missus Creigo, she would let
me write sayings from the book because it's full of
sort of you know crazy, you know, fear is the
mind killer, etcetera, etcetera. She'd let me write him on
the board and put him up there for the class
to see. Because I was so so much about that book.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
That's amazing.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
It started me on the path that ultimately led to
me being cast in them. That's amazing, which is so
weird to me. Deb You told her, she knows, she knows,
she knows.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Yeah, I mean she's seen.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
Probably she wrote I had to write in my paperback book. Yeah,
she wrote, get my name down in the paperback book
that I always carry around with me. That was like
dog eared and crazy.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
So that's such a special story. I think. Good again,
you're just so impression about that age, like, and.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
I think you recognize a passion. Yeah, right, because a
lot of teachers they don't care really, they're just like whatever,
they're teaching something. But someone to take an interest in you, like,
they take an interest in you obviously and felt strongly
enough to say you need to go this direction. Totally,
you're becoming a person, right, and you're treating you like
a person, not just like a kid. Totally, you're kind
of an adult. You're sort of moving towards being an adult.
(05:33):
The whole world of publishing, editing, et cetera. Is so
foreign to me.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Really, Yeah, I don't.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
I really know nothing about it. So help kind of
walk me through. Like you had a dream at some
point in time and said this is what I want
to do. How did it start to start? As you
obviously interested in writing, but did you like say, ultimately,
this is my goal is to run a magazine was
that something you wanted to do from the beginning.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
Or I have always loved magazines. I think I always
loved fashion, and so I was like, growing up, I
was reading these magazines. I was so fascinated by the storytelling.
You know, I obviously was a writer, so I was
very interested in like pictures and how they told stories
and how they made you feel, and I was obsessed
with cutting them out. And it just felt like these
(06:17):
like different worlds that you could jump into in this
very visceral way. I obviously loved reading books, but with
fashion magazines specifically, it felt like unattainable but attainable, and
it felt like watching TV or movies honestly for me.
And in college and I started really diving into journalism,
I realized it was about all of it and wasn't
just the written word, you know.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
I kind of worked my way up.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
I started at GQ and then we shot you at
my my last position at Haisnabidi, which is one of
my favorite shoots.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
I'm not even just telling you.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Thank you very much. I had such a fun time.
It was Blaze is Hot in Los Angeles, and remember
some of the they had, like it was a vinyl,
like a thick vinyl jacket of some kind, and I
was like, sure, let's go for it, you know, And
and the shoot turned out really really well.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
I was really I love those photos.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
You were vacuuming you, the clothes were amazing. We had
you like dripping in Balencia haga. It was like, truly amazing.
I feel like we really got some good looks. And
I remember this so vividly. We're looking through the photos
and someone on the social team actually was like, Kyle
McLaughlin his baby girl, And then it became this debate
where it was like.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Is he going to get it?
Speaker 3 (07:22):
And I was like, I think he is based on
his social media. Thank you, And you really got it.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Thank you. I've been well trained.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
You knew exactly what we meant. We were between the
headlines Kyle mcglough and his baby girl or Kyle mcglough
and his mother. H Oh, which one do you like better?
Speaker 2 (07:39):
The girl's pretty good, not that I've come to appreciate,
but you were talking a little earlier about the magazine
and I wanted to ask you also, just okay, you
come in Cosmo's been around for a while, wasn't Helen
Girly Brown didn't. She started it right her.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
So sixty years ago was her first, was her debut.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
Cosmo existed before her, but she was the one that
really like took this magazine to a new path and
really focused it around love and relationships, which is something.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
I think a lot about.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
I think, you know, even growing up, like I remember
reading her columns about sex and power and there was
just like truly nothing like it at the time. And
so you know this issue that you actually have on
your desk with Mark Kley on the cover, WHI this
is this sixty years since Helen's debut issue as E
I see, and I think what I love it so
(08:25):
much is we really we really pulled references from the archives.
We really went back into like what made Cosmo right
so special sixty years ago. We talk a lot about
reproductive rights, We talk a lot about you know, this
being a launch pad for a lot of talent. So
we have Chase you Wonders on here, who I'm sure
you're friends with. We have Medaline client kJ App, but
(08:45):
tons of people where I think they're on their way
to being the cover. And so it's just really really exciting.
Markak Kleley's mom was on the cover. Actually just special Andy.
There's just so many small Easter eggs. We actually have
a photo of her whole the first ever Cosmo, which
is of the Statue of Liberty.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
So I saw that Cosmo heads will get it.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
I love that you that you care and even you
see the anniversary issues right there, just kind of written
the top there. Yeah, I'm getting to understand you a
little bit. You like to plant things, but don't make
them obviously, Yeah, kind of.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
My first cover at High Snob was Billie Eilish and
she was wearing Yogi, who was on the cover of
High Snob like exactly eleven years ago before that. So
I think when you're building a brand, it's really important
to understand what the brand is in the context of
the Zeigei's which I think you do really well, but
then also grow it and iterate on it. On the
(09:42):
table of contents, there's this photo of Margaret and she's
like sucking a cherry and that's kind of an ode
to the way Helen used to write about cherries and
what that meant and in sexuality and you know, everything
is strategic and it's not to kind of overcomplicate things.
I think sometimes art is best when it it's direct
and simple, but I think it's it's important to know
(10:04):
where you came from.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
I completely agree, and but strategic but also playful, yes,
which I think is nice. Yes, like, don't take it
too seriously. Yeah. Yeah. And the cherry thing, of course,
I think immediately twin peaks, yes, and cherry pie and yeah,
qadry horn and the cherries and the tying of the
cherry stam but all of that what goes under that
right maybe not obvious to many viewers, but to other viewers, I.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
Get it totally and it's not for everyone to understand,
and I never am like. People ask me this all
the time, like are you upset if people don't like
get references? And I'm like, no, the references are like
to build out a creative process, but they're not They're
not meant to Yeah, they're not to.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
Like explain urt like.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
I think people bring their own associations and I welcome that,
But I also think when you're building a brand like Cosmon,
you're trying to take it into the future. You can't
just erase the past sixty years.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
That would be crazy.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
Yeah. Yeah, but that's not easy to do.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
It's fun. It's part of the fun.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
Yeah, which I think I get I get from you.
That's pretty cool. So what magazines did you read growing up?
I mean you mentioned that you had were her some
favorites that you were like, yeah this this, this is.
Speaker 3 (11:05):
Esquire, GQ, Cosmo seventeen. Like genuinely these like two stark masculine,
feminine brands. Yeah, and I think like that just spoke
to how clear their brand identities were.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Where did you You grew up in La in La Okay? Yeah?
Really it's Silverlink. How nice.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
When I first moved to La I lived in Los Felis.
Oh nice, Yeah, way before Los Felis was cool that
it was a kind of a backwater for sure, love
but I loved it and then found my way to
Venice and then you know, I love Venice. Yeah, it's
really it's really special. Well, you're heading up these magazines,
but you're also really social aware and how does that work?
(11:43):
So you've got you know, the magazine print magazine, which
we grew up with, but now there's such a strong presence,
you know, on on social for this and and putting
it out on social and how do you is there
a balance? There is there?
Speaker 1 (11:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
We have an amazing social team in it. They I
really learned so much from them. I think that we
really think. I mean there's obviously the new stand ad,
but then the social drop I think sometimes has more weight.
It really is a moment, like we really use it.
That we were really like making a statement and a
moment around what it means to be helming this magazine
sixty years after Helen's debut, more than anything. And I
(12:18):
mean my first issue was really it was the first
time a romantic relationship was on the cover, and that
was really about.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
With McCauley, right, Yeah, I just we did press work
for for Fallout. Yeah he's in Fallout, Yes, and I'm
so excited. He's such a nice guy.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
He is such a sweet guy. Yeah yeah, really I
was so blown away, like he's so special.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
He sent me the sweetest thank you after his cover
and I was like, wow, Yeah, he really went out.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
Of his way. I don't know, he's really special.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
Yeah, he really was someone I left set being like,
I really like I love him and I want the
best for him.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
Yeah. I felt the same way. We did a couple
of things together just for fun because they have you
do all sorts of crazy stuff. Yeah, promotion. But I said,
I really like this, and I had never met him before,
and we just kind of just jumped into the relationships
like Okay, let's have some fun, and he was totally
up for it.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
I feel like that's like two fandom. Like I can't
even imagine you guys hanging out. I think I would
freak out. That's like a that's a story for Cosmo.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
That's asion I'm up. I'm up for it. You studied ballet? Yeah,
so I took two years of ballet at the University
of Washington. Yeah. Tell me when did you start?
Speaker 3 (13:31):
I was a really serious ballet dancer growing up. I
started when I was seven. Actually, I don't really know
what it was. There was something that was really fascinating
about it, Like I was obsessed with reading about it
and really like I think I also just like met
so many friends that it really quickly became my world.
And I feel like I had so many of my
most formative experiences, like in dance with my dance friends,
(13:52):
and I think, you know, growing up in La like
it was really amazing to have this like passion and
this hobby that like, honestly.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
Was all I really cared about. It was like writing
and dance.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
So a lot of my friends were like going out
and I was just like so uninterested in that interesting.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
Very disciplined.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
I mean I always tell the story, but like the
morning after a problem, I had danced at nine am,
so I was like, yeah, I was just like very
diligent and very disciplined, I think is the word my
parents still say. It was just really intense, and I
think what it taught me, which is such a valuable
lesson that I still think about now, is like everything
(14:30):
you're working on and like thinking through in your life
informs your art, and so everything in dance would always
end up coming back to my writing.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
Well, writing is disciplined. I mean that's huge discipline to
be really. I mean, I think a really good writer
total time aside every day, and I struggle with it
so much because I love to write. Yeah, but it's
like the discipline it takes. And then writing is really
just rewriting. You know, you write something and then you're like,
I go back. So it's going back and going back
and going back until you have it. Just you're never satisfied.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
Yeah, I I really really really to what you're saying.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
I think, like I just yeah, I think, first off,
like all writing is rewriting. That's something I've told myself
a million times.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
My writing teacher is it is, It's just a mantra,
it's rewriting. Yeah, trying to get my son to understand
that you're just not just one pass and you're done.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
You got to go back and you need to like.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
Think about the words. And I really give Sarah Laurren's
a lot of credit. Their writing program was amazing, and
I think about some of the things I learned all
the time. I think as an editor, like it's so
exciting for me to like get a piece of text
and really help the writer like come out with more
clarity about what they're trying to say. And I always say, like,
good writing really is just direct at the end of
(15:37):
the day, like don't like we got to get to
the core of what you're saying. Yeah, And I think
a lot about that about celebrity profiles. I wonder what
you think of this, because I feel like there's this
narrative that like celebrity profiles are dead, and it's like
so not true.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
I don't think so, but you you have a new
form for that. I think blind date is kind of
the visual I guess often column you know, I think it's.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
Like all their space for all of it is like
my genuine take. Like I love blind Day basically like
I go on a it's a fun find day with
a celebrity.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
When it comes to.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
Line fold yourself, yeah, I'm blind and you have to
guess who it is. I just it's crazy.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
It's crazy and I usually get it wrong. But every
once in a while I feel like I maybe could
get you. That's why you should. You should. I mean
I won't be able.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
To know if you come home with the change. Well
you have the microphone the changes, yes, so that's good.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
Like I guess, but I think like the conversation your
questions are.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
So by the way i'd be, I would be embarrassed
maybe or maybe not. I don't care.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
Yeah, I feel like everyone I have like my tricks,
like I'll be like have we met before? And then
you ask specific questions it's easy or castmates.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
Always gives it away. Yeah, yeah, but you could lie
and be I.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
Mean no, I would never lie. It would be absolutely true,
you would never I'd have to yeah, because the whole
point of it is how you do?
Speaker 3 (16:50):
You know?
Speaker 1 (16:51):
Yeah, that's true, but blind it's a great format.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
I think it's exciting because it feels so real and
like again, I do think these younger audiences are are
more satiated from video content. So for me to have
a you know, a video series for Cosmo around sex
and dating like made perfect sense. And I think that
really hones in what we stand for, and that's love
and relationships. But you know, I wrote the Margaret Coayley
(17:14):
story and that is so interesting. We do these formats
in book where it's actually the question and answer between
the like subject and the writer, which I really enjoy reading.
I did a Grace Abrams profile and it was similar.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
And we we do these footnotes, which I actually love.
It's like so exciting.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
It's like footnotes of little details that like explain interactions,
and I just love that format because I think when
you're interviewing someone there's so many little nuances.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
It's like Kyle's wearing Blenciaga.
Speaker 3 (17:42):
This is significant because Demna now is like Gucci, and
what does this mean?
Speaker 1 (17:45):
You know?
Speaker 3 (17:45):
Like those details I think people are hungry for, and
that's something that makes it real and human, and so
I'm excited to see what else we can do with that.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
That's what that's what you do. I mean that sounds
like the easter egg idea, you know what I mean,
the context of what's happening and why it may have
an impact or influence this or that type of thing.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
So that I love that.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
How do you just really quick? How do you so
you read someone submits when you're writers and you look
at you read through and because I never am able
to like go, oh, this is what it's about, or
it could be this, or maybe it's this over here,
and I find myself all over the place instead of
like one central idea. I think I need to take
a writing class. Central idea that you sort of follow
(18:30):
isn't to pop music. I do a lot of it
through myself.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
Okay, cool, what's your favorite pop girl?
Speaker 2 (18:36):
Well? I've been loving Lord.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
Okay, I actually knew that I shouldn't have, but I.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
Saw the but Charlie as well. I love everything about it.
I love her journey. I love the musicianship. I love
the tones, the choices of instruments, the intrumutation, how she phrases.
I love everything about that it's interesting to me. It
catches me as as much as her lyrics.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
Catch me interesting. Okay, here's what I think is so
interesting about pop music. It's always about like a very
specific idea that you cannot necessarily explain in words, but
it's very clear, non confusing, and you relate to it,
and I feel like that's a good magazine article where
it's like, you know, it's an idea. Like for Maria Klelely,
it was like or I walked into the interview, you know,
(19:18):
I went to New Jersey. She was there with Jack.
It was one of her few days off. She's filming
three movies right now, super busy. Her mom's been on
the cover of Cosmo. And the idea was like, what
does it mean for Maria Kuleley to be on the
cover of Cosmo.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
After sixty years?
Speaker 2 (19:31):
Right?
Speaker 3 (19:31):
That was the concept. Right I got there, you know,
we went through her house, I went on the beach,
you know. We talked a lot about her different roles
and how she has played these complex women and what
that means for her and how she sees her own womanhood.
Talked a lot about sexuality, you know, the substance was
like its own thing, because I mean, talk about a
complicated film.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
Have you seen it?
Speaker 3 (19:53):
It's she crawls out of Demimore's spine to be like
the under.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
Honestly completely understand. And when I was prepping.
Speaker 3 (20:02):
For this interview, I truly did, like watch all of
her movies back to back. I'd seen The Substance before,
but you know, I hadn't seen made and was upon
a time in Hollywood. I watched it back to back
to get the full experience, and like it was pretty intense.
Like after I was like, wow, Like, these are so
many different types of challenges that women face depicted so clearly,
and so I think I was like in that headspace
(20:23):
when I went into the interview, and what I came
out with was, you know, we both had similarities, me
writing about Cosmo, her writing about her career, and we also,
you know, had similarities in how we thought about womanhood
and relationships. And I think what was so special is
she really like she had read Cosmo, so she totally
understood the weight of Cosmo and the platform and why
(20:46):
young people need a platform like Cosmo. Like she completely
got that and ran wild with it, which I was
so grateful for. And it's so special when a celebrity,
especially of you know her caliber, you know, is down
to talk about like why young people need sex education,
Like she was all for it and like really understood it.
And again her sister in her Red Cosmo, she was like,
(21:07):
we need this, like young people need magazines, especially ones
that talk about sex.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
I'm just I'm kind of thinking about what you're saying,
and I completely agree. I completely agree because I think
I see with my son, you know, they have access
to so much stuff online, but to have someone curate
something who's talking about a specific thing really clearly and
they can state it and say, this is kind of
where the reality is. This is what's really happening with
(21:33):
people with couples, with sex, with the situation growing up.
What this all means, have this kind of conversation. Don't
be watching video of whatever, you know what I mean
and basing your education or your learning on something like that.
I think it's it's healthier.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
Yeah, And I think there's a responsibility. I think.
Speaker 3 (21:52):
Look like we do talk to therapists, we do talk
to psychiatrists, we do talk to sex relationship therapists, couples therapists, Like,
we really do into it. And I think as much
weight as a Marcquali story has, we also have a
story that really shows how different couple split costs and like,
you know, when is the right time to talk about
money in a relationship? And you know, we have a
conversation a beautiful essay by Ashley Ford who she writes
(22:14):
about how you know she's seven years into her marriage
and she's like falling more in love and like the
dynamics that come into play, and like, I think all
of us are important. I think again, if there's so
much information, there's actually no information. Yeah, and especially when
it comes to your relationship. I mean it's too personal.
You can't trust just anyone. You can't trust the algorithms
for that. And so I feel like if Cosmo can
(22:36):
be that place that it was for me growing up
where it made me feel like there was something bigger
and it was going to be okay and reassured and
who I was then like we're doing our job.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
Yeah, A great, you have a love of that from before.
Oh my god, a court bringing that love into what
you're doing right now, it's really Yeah.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
I really believe in the mission, and I love, love,
love Cosmo, and I think there's We're really only getting started,
Like truly, this is my third issue.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
I'm like, we have so much more to say.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
You put on a different brain for seventeen for Cosmo
or is it?
Speaker 1 (23:06):
I always asked that.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
No, No, it was just that it's kind of interesting.
Is it a grown up? I'm sure there's someone ask
you that too.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
Yeah, seventeen is definitely younger.
Speaker 3 (23:14):
There's definitely like like a lot of fandoms I learned
about all the time. Like I Rosie, who runs our
social like she teaches me so much. I'm like, who's
this And she's like, well, actually in the summer, I
turn pretty your team Conrad because I'm like, what.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
Yeah, okay, are you team Conrad. I'm this now I'm
learning as you're talking. I think I need to start
reading seventeen because I can see that as a feeder
because that, yeah, it's like kind of that's the beginning
the the that's the the tadpole stage of ye slang
of who's what's happening, what's in the what's happening in
the media right now? And then that and then that
filters out a little bit, but it starts, it starts young.
Speaker 3 (23:48):
Yeah, I think the teen landscape is really important, and
I like take that responsibility really seriously. It's me an
intern there and every single morning going to my internship,
I'd be like, Wow, this is the best day of
my life. I want to work here forever. I'm never
going to work anywhere else. So it's cute because I
still go to the same building. Sorry, remember being an
(24:09):
intern and being like just so obsessed with seventeen. But
a lot of it, like really hasn't changed. It's still
about fandoms. It's still about like, you know, stars that
mean a lot to gen Z. The tagline is it
starts at seventeen, and we really talk about what it's
like to be seventeen. And our first cover, My first
cover was Ziowade, who's so special and it was right
(24:29):
for her eighteenth birthday. Then we had Clara, who'd be
a great guest for you.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
Okay, I feel like it's seventeen and again i'd refer
to my son sixteen. Seventeen is when the focus everything
is which has been directed inwards and me and me
and me and me, and suddenly it's like wait a minute,
and they start looking outwards.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
For I know, examples of mentors, people who inspire them,
and I think so and they look to someone and
connect with someone, and I think it's right at that
moment in the growing up that that happens.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
Totally.
Speaker 3 (24:58):
I think you're so impressionable like media at that time.
I mean, there's nothing more influential. It's like your friends
and what you see on your phone, and so to
have that intimate connection with a seventeen year old is
just so special. I really think media is so so
so important, and especially now. I mean it really like
can change public perception in such a specific way and
(25:21):
make people feel like okay again, yeah yeah, yeah, So
it's cool.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
You take it seriously. It's a response. I feel the responsibility,
like you know, you've got an obligation in a way.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
Totally.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
We're gonna have this new segment called News or Nonsense.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
I cannot wait for the segment. All right, so we're back.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
Here's what we're gonna do. You have years of creating
experience and creating these iconic covers. Right, I'm making headlines
some publications. So we thought it'd be fun to play
a little game where you have to guess if the
headline is real headline or can't lay made up. Okay,
So that says me, this is my press pass. This
is your press pass.
Speaker 3 (25:59):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
Okay, what if I want to be Kyle?
Speaker 2 (26:01):
Oh you can be me here? You want to be okay?
Very good, I'll be okay perfect. Then we also have
how are you with hat? So are you okay?
Speaker 3 (26:09):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (26:10):
This is the best day of my life?
Speaker 2 (26:11):
Okay? Which choose a color? Okay?
Speaker 1 (26:14):
The dark one? Okay, honestly kind of goes with your tie.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
Oh it looks good.
Speaker 3 (26:18):
Oh my god, you look amazing. You are a fashion icon.
You get that a lot.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
You like know that this is.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
A crazy thing because my day to day it's T
shirts and jeans.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
No, but like in my head, you're always in a
bluntiaga suit. I don't know what that says. Don't worry
about it, don't overthink.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
I kind of love that. Okay, perfect, This is good.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
I actually can't focus. You look perfect? Okay, hit me?
Speaker 2 (26:39):
I love it. Okay, here we go. First headline, you
are fake robot vacuums, form union demand weekends off.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
Real not real? Whoa really like? That's wired? Should I
guess the magazine publishing?
Speaker 4 (26:58):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (26:58):
Yeah, yeah, that's good to know. Maybe they should publish it. Okay,
well I read okay, ready, authority say a babysitter checked
under the bed from monsters and found someone fake. This
one's real. Well, I don't even know the publication. What
publication was this from?
Speaker 1 (27:15):
Do we remember MPR?
Speaker 4 (27:17):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (27:18):
Okay, that's not like an NPR.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
I guess yeah, that checks out the NBA.
Speaker 3 (27:21):
Is that an online Okay, just to argue, that sounds
like a podcast episode?
Speaker 2 (27:27):
Okay, we go. More than thirty four cats cause divorce?
Speaker 1 (27:33):
False? This one's real to wow, thirty.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
Thirty five cats would be well that's more. Yeah, thirty
three cats, you'd be okay, But you'd you have more
than thirty four cats? It would cause its interesting?
Speaker 1 (27:45):
I love that to be fair.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
That one's from the fifties. Okay, from the fifties. Well,
there you go. That makes sense. Then man wins custody
battle over pet Rock after six year legal dispute.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
Man wins custody battle over pet Rock.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
Six year legal dispute.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
You so crazy, I think false?
Speaker 2 (28:06):
You got it right?
Speaker 1 (28:07):
Okay, thank god I got one that was scary there
for amanent.
Speaker 2 (28:10):
You're standing at twenty five percent. That's okay, here we go. Okay,
Farmer teaches cows to use Japanese toilets. Now they refuse
to go anywhere without a bidet.
Speaker 1 (28:19):
I think false, but yes, very good. Here's the only
things I was like that could be like one of
your tricks. Oh, you know, like it sounds so fake
that it's actually true.
Speaker 3 (28:29):
But no, it's definitely false. That actually makes no logical sense.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
Sometimes on Instagram, don't you get caught on animals that
actually use a toilet. Yeah, that's like very confusing to me.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
Yeah, but like what publications publishing that?
Speaker 2 (28:40):
You know? Yeah, Texas woman marries ex boyfriend without his knowledge.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
Okay, she sounds iconic. Yes, that would be illegal, so
it has to be false.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
It's true.
Speaker 1 (28:51):
What she's iconic? I need to talk to her.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, you gotta have her.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
In a magazine. That's a Cosmo article. Is that's a
Cosmo article?
Speaker 2 (28:59):
Totally a baller? Okay, very good? All right? Last one
man arrested in UK cheese heist where imposter stole three
hundred and eighty nine thousand dollars worth of cheddar. Must
be very good Cheddar. I happen to love English cheddar real?
Speaker 1 (29:14):
Yes, wow, that was guess.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
It started sort of slow, and then you came on
very very strong.
Speaker 1 (29:19):
Really yeah, I was watching your body language. Didn't give
me anything, literally gave me nothing. I was trying to
help to style. That was a wild game. Thank you
so much.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
Thank that was so playing. Thank you so much for
being here. This was really really fun. This is so
any quick updates? What's next? I mean, obviously the magazine,
you got new things coming out all the time. You
said there was an interview in s Soeul you're early
excited about.
Speaker 1 (29:46):
Yeah, we have a lot. I blind date season two
coming out in October.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
Great, you can't and you can't say we don't know
who it is.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 3 (29:52):
We've we've done half of the episodes and I can
tell you off.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
The record it's amazing. I can't wait to buy off
the record.
Speaker 2 (29:58):
I mean, on the record, you've got to This is
really fun. You're so brave to go in you.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
I kind of agree, it's like really brave. And when
people don't know. It's like in the middle of my workday.
Speaker 3 (30:08):
So I'm like drinking a martini and like talking to
Renee Rap at like twelve, and then I'm like in
the boardroom at one and.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
You're like, how do you do it?
Speaker 1 (30:16):
Called being a modern NYE?
Speaker 2 (30:17):
I see, yes, yes, you can do anything. I did
love that one. By the way, she's fantastic. She's hilarious,
very authentic, very real, very like this is it.
Speaker 3 (30:25):
This is who I am, totally and she was just
like like over and over again, like iconic quotes, looking
to the camera being like dump him, Like yeah, it
was really is.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
She's so confident, in which I love.
Speaker 3 (30:37):
Super confident, and I think it's it's good for this
generation to see someone just like own who they are.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
Own is a perfect word for it. I think back
on my generation, it's like you had to beat there
was a lot more. You're sort of hesitant about how
you wanted to present yourself. You sort of had certain
there was editing going on, constant editing. And I feel
today it's like no editing. It's just here, I am
take it or leave it.
Speaker 1 (30:56):
That's a great lesson here, I am take it lead,
take it.
Speaker 2 (30:59):
Or leave it. Yeah, and I think it's fantastic. All right,
So now we're going to close out. That's all we
have time for today. I could go on for a
long more time, but thanks for joining us, helping us
solve what are We Even doing here? Which I don't
know if we did solve it, but we had a
really good time in the process. We will keep trying.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
Yay, Thank you guys so much.
Speaker 4 (31:16):
What Are We Even Doing is a production of iHeartMedia
and the Elvis Duran podcast Network, hosted by me Kyle
McLachlin and created and produced by Full Picture Productions Yay
featuring music by Yata and artwork by Danica Robinson. For
more information about the podcast, please visit our Instagram and
(31:36):
TikTok at wawed with Kyle. Please rate, review, and subscribe
to What Are We Even Doing on Apple, Spotify, YouTube,
or anywhere you get your podcasts.
Speaker 2 (31:51):
Exclamation point
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