Betches' Aleen Kuperman on explaining new media to immigrant parents—and not wanting to write about 'The Bachelor' again

Aleen Kuperman is co-founder and CEO at Betches Media. The company has grown from a blog created in a dorm room at Cornell in 2011 to a sprawling media network including nine podcasts, New York Times-bestselling books and millions of Instagram followers. In this episode of the “Ad Block” podcast, Kuperman talks about growing up as the child of Russian immigrants who escaped the Soviet Union in 1988, a year before the Berlin Wall fell. In particular, it was a struggle to explicate what “Betches” was to her parents, who had always had high expectations for her future. “I had to explain to my parents, ‘I’m not going to medical school next year,’” she says. “I was terrified to have that conversation. They were like, ‘What’s a blog? How are you making money? What are you talking about?’” As with many new media startups, the business model evolved quickly, and as soon as she had gotten her parents on board, things would change. “They had just figured out Facebook, now they have to go learn Instagram,” Kuperman says. Tangible successes helped, like the book deal the team landed while still in college. “To my parents, that’s legit. A book, they understand.” Kuperman grew up hearing the stories of the family’s journey out of Russia, living in Vienna and Italy off the personal possessions they could sell before eventually being allowed into the U.S. and settling on Long Island. “Only now, I think back to all the things they instilled,” like her strong work ethic, she says. “It... Continue reading at 'Advertising Age'

[ Advertising Age | 2019-10-18 09:01:00 UTC ]
News tagged with: #instagram followers #soviet union #high expectations #medical school #making money #long island #book deal

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Vanity Fair Publisher Moves to Condé Nast Media Group President

The seemingly endless summer of Condé Nast corporate and executive activity continued on Aug. 21 with the announcement by four-year president Bob Sauerberg that Edward Menicheschi (pictured) was ending eight years as Vanity Fair VP and publisher to become president and chief marketing officer of... Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2014-08-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Penske Media Buys Fairchild Trade Titles, Including WWD

Penske Media Corp., the Los Angeles-based publishing company founded by automotive heir Jay Penske, is acquiring Fairchild Fashion Media's trade magazines from Conde Nast Publications.The sale includes Women's Wear Daily and Footwear News, according to a statement today from the companies."This... Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2014-08-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Guardian view on Amazon v Hachette: reading and writing | Editorial

Can a one-size-fits-all, low-price, consumer-dominated sales model support a diverse, innovative, challenging literary output?It is either an existential threat to intellectual freedom or a rustbelt media industry meeting its comeuppance at the hands of disruptive technology. The battle between... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2014-08-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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National Geographic Ranked No. 1 in Social Media Among Publishers

National Geographic is the king of the social media jungle, according to a top 10 list released by Shareablee. The New York-based digital data company has ranked NatGeo as the most effective publisher in the social space for the month of July, with 46.4 million engagements on Facebook, Twitter... Continue reading at AdWeek

[ AdWeek | 2014-08-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Giving Hungry Fans What They Want: Four Big Web-to-Cookbook Releases for Fall

PW spoke to the creators of How Sweet Eats, The Kitchn, Skinnytaste, and 100 Days of Real Food, as well as their editors, about what went into building their popular sites and their new cookbooks. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-08-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Cleary Wolters, the basis for an 'Orange Is the New Black' character, will write a memoir

The character of Alex Vause, portrayed by actress Laura Prepon on the show, is based on Wolters. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2014-08-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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HC signs book on golden age of crime writing

HarperCollins has signed a book exploring the golden age of crime writing by author Martin... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2014-08-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Nerdist Wants to Create a Larger Network Like a Disney

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[ AdWeek | 2014-08-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon wants you to ask Hachette's CEO for lower ebook prices

Amazon's fight with Hachette over ebook pricing just got extra-personal. Hot on the heels of writers attacking Jeff Bezos' "retaliation," the Amazon Books Team has posted a Readers United site that calls on you to email Hachette CEO Michael Pietsch... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2014-08-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Julian Gough funds writing trip on Kickstarter

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[ The Bookseller | 2014-08-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Native-Ad Slayer John Oliver Visits Native-Ad Seller Hearst and Explains His Hit Piece

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[ Advertising Age | 2014-08-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Tribune Company Rebrands as Tribune Media

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[ AdWeek | 2014-08-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Media Monkeys Diary: TV writers, Eddie Mair, Gardeners Question Time

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[ The Guardian | 2014-08-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon Explains Why It Thinks $9.99 is the Right Price for Ebooks

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[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-08-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Ross Levinsohn Joins Scout Media as Executive Chairman

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[ AdWeek | 2014-08-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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3 Trends That Prove Social Media is Growing Up

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[ Publishing Executive | 2014-08-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Stanfords to hold travel writing festival

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[ The Bookseller | 2014-07-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Here's a book about people tweeting about writing their novels

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[ Engadget | 2014-07-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Tony Abbott 'consulted Rupert Murdoch over paid parental leave'

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[ The Guardian | 2014-07-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-07-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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