When she was 18 years old, Cassidy Gard became a reader of my blog, Ramshackle Glam. Nearly twenty years later, we're peers -- and both writing about burnout, motherhood, and what happens when the life you built stops making sense. In her twenties, Cassidy was chasing the dream: red carpets, national TV, access, visibility — the version of success we were all taught to want. By 30, everything cracked: grief, isolation, panic attacks. From there, her life took a turn she never could have planned — including a solo road trip to Montana, buying a cabin on six acres, and completely rethinking what success actually means. In this episode, we talk about: The early internet era (NonSociety, blogging, YouTube) and how we learned to “be a brand” before it had a name Why burnout isn’t about overwork — it’s about misalignment The difference between being ambitious and being in survival mode Postpartum rage, resentment, and the invisible labor no one prepares you for Sobriety, relationships, and how your environment shapes your life Why reinvention often feels like failure before it feels like freedom This is not a tidy transformation story. It’s a conversation about what breaks — and what gets rebuilt.

What happens when the influencer economy grows up — and starts raising children inside it?

In this episode of Like Me, Jordan Reid sits down with journalist and author Fortesa Latifi to discuss her new book, Like, Follow, Subscribe — a deeply reported look at family vloggers, mom influencers, and the children whose lives are documented, monetized, and consumed online.

Together, they explore:

1. The shift from early mom blogging to child-centered influencer content
2. The blurry line between sharing and exploitation
3. Why authenticity online may be impossible
4. The role of class, labor, and economics in shaping who can “opt out”
5. The psychological impact of growing up as content
6. And why this conversation is far more complicated than “good vs bad parenting”

This episode also gets personal, as Jordan reflects on her own experience as part of the first generation of lifestyle bloggers — and what it means to look back at that era through a very different lens.

Find full episodes of content, show notes and more here.

Remember to follow @likemepod on IG for behind-the-scenes info and clips.

Claire Zulkey has been writing online for more than two decades, which means she’s lived through blogs, social media, newsletters, and every version of the internet in between. In this episode, we talk about what happens when the part of your life that used to give you endless material — work, parenting, relationships, ambition — starts to feel less like inspiration and more like logistics. We talk about burnout, perimenopause, aging parents, teenagers, creative dry spells, and the weird guilt of not having something new to say when your job is to keep saying things.

It’s a conversation about the stage of life where you don’t necessarily want attention anymore — but you’re still here anyway.