A Change to Rising Up - Latest stories, articles & more

by Rising Up With Sonali 24 days ago 4 min read

👉🏾 Look, I never started out wanting to run my own media outlet. I always preferred to be part of a larger team that has the infrastructure to nurture audiences.

But, after YES! Media shut down in 2025, I found myself jobless in the midst of a reconfiguration of the media industry - one that is deeply linked to the very inequities my work interrogates. And so here I am, one year into a project where I'm figuring out how to make the math work, dependent on the dedication of my readers and viewers to sustain my work. It's both, daunting and exciting. And I'm figuring my way through it, teaching myself new technologies, trying new things. (And NO, that doesn't include AI in research and writing. Naturally, there will be typos.)

"You'll easily get enough paying subscribers interested in your work!" enthusiastic supporters told me a year ago. I believed them, thinking that if I pour my heart and soul into my unique brand of journalism, people would seek it out and support it. 🥺 How naive I was! I DO have thousands of subscribers - but they're mostly free subscribers. And a fraction of you - you blessed angels, you - are sustaining the project with your monthly contributions.

So, I've been doing some housekeeping to decipher what I could be doing better to entice free subscribers into shelling out a paltry $4/month. I'm told I send out TOO many emails. Here I thought your cluttered inboxes were rolling out the red carpet for 3-4 weekly emails about my lovingly-created work 🫣.

So, starting next week, I'll publish my interviews only to my website. And, every Friday, all subscribers will get one email distilling all the content I created that week. In it, I'll also send you links to the stories I write and publish as part of my side-hustle to make ends meet while I rack up paying subscribers. (I will also occasionally send out additional emails about new projects, breaking news, etc). I can practically hear your sighs of relief 😅.

I decided there was a line I WOULD NOT cross - I'm stubborn like that. I will not put the audio files of my interviews behind a paywall. I believe in giving people the ability to listen to my interviews without requiring them to pay for it. BUT IT SURE WOULD BE NICE IF THEY DID ANYWAY.

So, below you'll find the archive of content I created this past week. For my paid subscribers, all of this is freely accessible. Free loaders, you'll get the audio for free, as well as my print stories which are published on their respective platforms.