Lena Dunham promises that her new newsletter will absolutely give you TMI – but in a good way. Today, along with her friend Jenni Konner (an executive producer on Duham’s HBO show Girls), she shared details of Lenny, her first venture into online publishing, which will launch this September. Dispatched weekly, the mailout will be targeted at women between the ages of 18 and 34 (“millennials” if you must) and will include essays, product recommendations and advice.
Dunham told The Cut, “Lenny is your over sharing Internet friend who will yell at you about your finances, help you choose a bathing suit, lamp, president … AND tell you what to do if you need an abortion.” Putting it another way, she said it’s for people whose interests include both Rihanna and radical politics.
This magical world of content will be created by a team including director Jessica Grose (formerly of Slate and Jezebel) and editor-at-large Doreen St. Felix, and Lena’s powerhouse publicist BFF Audrey Gelman will advise. But while the team leans female, Dunham insists Lenny is open to everyone: “We’re not making any assumptions about your identity. We’re making the assumption that you’re passionate and you care about other people’s emotions and style and you just want to live a more connected life.”
There is also a plan to expand into e-commerce, focusing on products made by women. Like everything LD does, Lenny will have strong feminist vibes, all sources imply. And in that spirit, she is not setting up her project in opposition to Gwyneth’s easily comparable site Goop. The internet has room for many, many female lifestyle oracles. “We worship Gwyneth,” said Konner.
Related: Is Malia Obama Lena Dunham’s New Intern?
Credits
Text Alice Newell-Hanson
Photography Todd Cole
[The Wise Up Issue, i-D No. 322, Winter 2012]