In my softball era 🥎

My 8-year-old daughter has been on a tear with organized sports this year. She's always been an athletic kid — lots of running and amateur parkour that gave me, even as a seasoned parent, the worst anxiety of my life — but I never actually enrolled her in anything.

This is in part because my older kiddo is an indoor kid. I was a (mostly) indoor kid. Their dad? Also a former indoor kid.

So I figured whatever wild energy she had, whatever physical activity she needed, could be managed with regular trips to the playground.

lolololol NOPE

This past fall, she enrolled in soccer. She loved it. Then soccer ended and she enrolled in basketball. She loved it. Then basketball ended and now we're doing softball. She loves it.

As it so happens, I also love softball / baseball ... which is how I somehow ended up volunteering to coach her team 🙃

Not only is coaching little league a huge time commitment, but I also have to get TEN 8-year-old girls to listen to me and view me as both an authority figure and a friend?? How??

I knew I needed to find a way to subtly signal to these kids that I was cool. Not in the Steve Buscemi-with-a-skateboard way, but in a way that felt genuine and fostered connection.

Enter: Taylor Swift.

Some of you may know that I've been a Taylor Swift fan for 20 years (which makes me feel VERY old), and finally got to see her live for the very first time (!) when The Eras Tour came to Seattle in 2023.

I have my qualms with Taylor, but for the purposes of bonding with 8-year-olds, I wasn't about to introduce discourse on the billionaire class, capitalism, or the environmental impacts of private jet usage. I could, however, wear this sweatshirt:

So I showed up to our first practice in my Eras Tour hoodie, just quietly being like, "I get you" while more loudly being like "GET YOUR GLOVES UP!"

And y'all, it worked.

One of the girls pulled me aside during a water break, gave me a sly look, and said, "I like your sweatshirt."

This is a lesson in knowing your audience. Because I could have shown up in a Mariners hoodie and my players would have been like, "Okay, she likes baseball. We get it." But instead, I chose to show another side of myself — a side completely unrelated to the known shared interest I have with these girls, but one that I thought would still resonate — and that's what made the difference.

So that's my tip for you this week on social media. You're already sharing your small business, or your art, or whatever it is you're trying to get people interested in. And they're there for that. But they're also there for you. So let them see a part of you that they don't know about, and might not be expecting. You could be pleasantly surprised by how they respond 🧡

⚖️ Meta is getting fucked up this month with multiple lawsuits over how their social media platforms impact children. The first, in Santa Fe, ordered Meta to pay $375 million in damages after they were found liable for allowing predators access to underage users on their platforms, often leading ​to IRL abuse and trafficking. The second, in Los Angeles, named both Meta and Google in a lawsuit filed by a woman who claimed her compulsive use of Instagram and YouTube as a child had caused severe harm to her mental health. She was awarded $6 million in damages by the jury.​

💰 Social Media Today reported that Meta is changing the way it identifies sponsored content on its platforms. I am unclear on why this is news because I feel like they are always doing this?? Like is it me or is "Sponsored" or "Ad" always interchangeable and in a different place on every post? I swear I'm in my Instagram feed every day fighting for my life trying to figure out if something is a suggested post or sponsored content. (I'm not the only one, right? Please tell me I'm not the only one.)

🎥 Instagram finally introduced a way to pause Reels which, as far as I'm concerned, is one of the primary features they needed to compete with TikTok. (That, and better reach for their live content ... but that's another rant for another day.)

🤖 Instagram is doubling down on generative AI by introducing a way to create a video from your photos using AI transitions. I haven't actually looked at this yet but I assume it's probably a lot like those "celebrities, then and now" videos that are all over Facebook where people morph from their 15-year-old self to their 50-year-old self and leave me feeling very uncomfortable.

🎠 Another Instagram update (but this is a big one): You can finally re-order your carousels AFTER they've posted! 🥳 Shout out to all my fellow indecisive girlies who post six pictures and then decide they want #5 in front of #4 — this one's for us!

SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGEMENT:​
My books are open for new ongoing Social Media Management clients! Let me take the social media work off your plate so you can reclaim your time for yourself, your family, and your community.

NEW FOR APRIL: CONTENT LIGHTNING ROUNDS!​
If you're still in DIY social media mode but need content ideas, book a Content Lightning Round! In these 30- or 60-minute Zoom sessions, we'll dig into your content strategy and brainstorm new ideas so you can walk away with an actionable plan to fill out your content calendar.

Reserve Your Spot!

⚾ The MLB season has officially begun! As a San Franciscan by birth and a Seattliete by choice, I root for both the Giants and the Mariners. I'm loving the new additions the Mariners have made to their lineup this year — both in terms of players and the nacho ferry — and am hoping for a repeat performance and World Series run this year 🤞🏻

🍜 My oldest kiddo is dealing with some GI issues that have us trying a low-FODMAP diet in our household. First of all, let me tell you that I didn't know that "FODMAP" was an acronym and I thought it was just "food map," misspelled 🤪 Secondly, I would like to also complain that this shit is HARD. They can barely eat ANYTHING, and they're already a picky eater. Luckily, I discovered the Spoonful app, which has been helping me find things that will work for them.

🔯 Passover is coming, and I am STRESSED. This is my favorite holiday, and it's always been my dream to host, but it's just so COMPLICATED. I have to cook so much food (and I don't cook)! It's always on a school night! I actually have to clean my house! But in all seriousness, I am looking forward to it, and will hopefully have some fun pictures and stories about our celebrations for the next newsletter.