Kaitlyn Teer of Big Salad and Cup of Jo

Hey Friends,

In the latest Content People episode we talked with Kaitlyn Teer, the newsletter editor behind Cup of Jo’s Big Salad - just the largest beauty newsletter on Substack , no big deal.

I’m a longtime Cup of Jo reader (and a fan of the eponymous Joanna Goddard ), so it was the utmost treat to chat with Kaitlyn.?

We talked about Kaitlyn’s early morning writing routine, an average week in her life at Big Salad, her love for her home of Bellingham, WA, and the importance of artful language, even in a newsletter or blog post.

Kaitlyn’s writing advice: choose your vowels with intention, be deliberate in your syntax, and bring energetic resolution to your sentences and paragraphs.

Listen to the full conversation on Apple | Spotify | or wherever you get your pods.

Some of my favorite moments are below.

A week at Big Salad

I work closely with Joanna each week to develop, write, and design each week's issue. So that means everything from scouting for and pitching possible guests to writing questions for and conducting interviews. And scouting for photos and designing the graphics for that week's newsletter.

Our graphic designer, Diana Moss , built out all of the templates for our newsletter in Photoshop and put together this gorgeous brand identity for us. And so I just build on that in Photoshop with different images each week.

Since we're a small team, I also contribute to the social strategy for Big Salad. We've got an editor, Jannelle? Sanchez, who's just incredible and does a lot for Cup of Jo. And I pitch in on the Cup of Jo side sometimes, too.

The emotional power of vowels

I read about this in Priscilla Long's The Writer's Portable Mentor . She has a whole section on the vowel scale. So, not only can you play with vowels in terms of how they're repeating throughout a sentence - just to sound nice - but the vowels themselves contain energy.

And we know this, right? It's intuitive. If you think about words like ‘shriek’ and ‘flee’ and ‘bee,’ - those are exciting, high-pitched pitched, energetically tense sounds. And then if you think about vowels that are lower on the vowel scale - like O and U - you think about moon and blue. And those are just a different mood, a different tone. They are calming, they are soothing.?

So it's just a fun thing to play with in terms of word choice. And you can get into the weeds with it as much or as little as you want. It’s like a volume knob. You can turn the effect up or down, but it is just a little trick that the language works that way on us.

Deep listening as an interviewer

I am so much about respecting people's boundaries and like whatever they consent to share. That's what I'm good with. But I think part of deep listening is: Wait, where are the sparks and where are the threads and how can we make these connections come together?

And what's cool about it? And this is true for Cup of Jo’s Week of Outfit posts , and Beauty Uniform posts. There are always two to three themes that sort of bubble up and become what the conversation is about.?

Her upcoming book (!)

I’m working right now on a book about mothering and the climate crisis. And just how strange it's been for me as a parent to be giving my children language for the natural world, and teaching them about these places and these animals that are actually under threat - and in danger of disappearing altogether during their lifetime.

I've had to learn to hold together my hopes for them, and for all of us, alongside my fear, which I think is just a part of parenting in general. Like Eula Biss, when writing about parenting, said, ‘I think one of the biggest questions is: What will we do with our fear?’

My book's big questions are: How do we help our children fall in love with the natural world and introduce them to the real, complex, and overwhelming problems that we're facing - while also reassuring them that they're not alone in it?

Kaitlyn, thanks for such a wonderful conversation. ? Follow Kaitlyn on Instagram . Subscribe to Big Salad on Substack and visit Cup of Jo here . Follow Content People on Instagram here .

?? ?? Hey! Content People is produced by Medbury Inc . We’re a boutique agency that manages LinkedIn strategies and content for executives, leadership teams and brands - with zero cringe. (Really.) Check out our website for testimonials and pricing, or book 15 minutes to chat with Meredith. ?? ??