#59 — Madeleine Streets (Footwear News)
Hello! And welcome to the last edition of Inside The Newsroom of 2019. I’ll be taking a two-week break over the holidays to rest up and put together an awesome schedule of guests. Already booked in are the amazing Rachel Botsman, Dave Weigel and Sarah Noeckel! Today’s guest is… Madeleine Streets, business reporter and strategist at Footwear News. Today’s format will be a little different than normal. Instead of the traditional podcast and newsletter, Madeleine and I had more of a liveblog/chat about the perils of studying and working in the U.S. as internationals, what American Express is doing to try and save local independent retailers from the onslaught of the Amazon Black Friday and Cyber Monday frenzies, and how that ties in with saving local journalism. Below is said chat with links to everything we talked about. Enjoy 🤓
Daniel: Hey Madeleine, thanks for agreeing to be the first guest on Inside The Newsroom Chats! God that sounds corny…
Maddy Streets: Not corny at all! Fitting for the current frontier of journalism I'd say. And I'm very pleased to be here, thanks for having me.
Daniel: Unfortunately readers won't be able to hear your accent, but we will be two Brits talking about U.S. retail. This should be fun!
Start off by telling us about your journey from the UK to the U.S.
Maddy: I'll be including all my 'u's, don't you worry. So I've always wanted to practice journalism in the U.S. I visited New York as a kid and it stole my heart, as cheesy as that sounds. Next came my decision to pursue journalism, something I first considered at about 15. I did my undergraduate degree in the UK at the University of Bristol, but always kept my eye on getting to the U.S. at some point. I was admitted into New York University's master’s program in 2015 and I've been kicking around here ever since.
Daniel: That's awesome, especially that you knew you wanted to be a journalist so early on. As a fellow master's graduate of the U.S. schooling system, I can safely say that completing my undergraduate at Coventry University in England was a piece of cake compared to my two years at the University of Missouri. How did studying in the UK compare with the U.S. for you?
Maddy: It's a tough ride, no question. At Bristol, I studied history and had a maximum of nine contact hours a week, which went down to two during my dissertation. At NYU, I had a single eight hour class every Thursday of my second semester for a broadcast class. The sheer volume of work, from reading to classes to assignments, was on a different level.
I think also, because it was a master’s program, the standard was significantly higher. I was in a class with older students who had worked professionally before returning to their studies, so they brought a serious work ethic. Our professors were also trained industry veterans who had worked with incredible reporters, and nobody wanted to be a disappointment! Then there was the fact that we were meant to be producing work with the aim of getting it published, not just making it 'class ready'. I look at that experience as the toughest academic challenge I've faced, but a great bootcamp for the lifestyle of a journalist.
Which are the best journalism schools in the world?
Daniel: Oh my god I know, the workload in Missouri was just insane. Yes it was a master's, but I had between 12-15 hours of classes a week, and then worked 20-25 hours a week for the Columbia Missourian newspaper, and then had to decide between studying or a social life. Mental.
I must ask, and I’ll try my best to hide any envy: As someone who has successfully worked in America for a couple years now, how hard was it to get a visa to stay in the U.S.? What was the process like? I read that obtaining a visa is getting more and more difficult.
Maddy: Exactly! I don't think I could have hacked it as an 18-year-old, I'll tell you that.
I won't sugar coat it, the visa process has been one of the most difficult parts of living and working here. I've had several friends decide the stress and bureaucracy wasn't worth it, but I couldn't say the same and am glad I've toughed it out. Practically speaking, I’ve predominantly taken advantage of the work authorizations that are given to graduated students, which are a wonderful opportunity, but still quite limiting. The OPT enables you to work without sponsorship for up to a year, but the longest extension, the STEM extension, requires you to work at one of a select number of approved companies (E-Verified companies). This can make the job hunt so hard in a field as volatile as journalism is right now.
Daniel: I am one of those who wasn’t willing to tough it out. Although for some reason Missouri doesn’t include journalism in their STEM program, so I was screwed from the start. It’s just a weird system, and it’s not just the U.S. Here in the UK it’s very similar in that we train and educate millions of international students every year, and instead of keeping them in our workforce, we ship the majority of them out within a year. It just doesn’t make sense…
Why are international students ditching the U.S.?
And so how did you end up at Footwear News and tell us a little about them.
Maddy: Every time I feel frustrated at the systems here, I remember that a Brazilian classmate of mine at NYU was only there because she hadn't been able to extend her visa in the UK! It's a difficult process for internationals wherever you are, and something you wouldn't really know about until you’re faced with it.
Footwear News is one of the magazines in the Fairchild Publishing portfolio, which is a subsidiary of the Penske Media Corporation. It houses a number of trade publications and its most famous magazines include Rolling Stone, Variety and Women's Wear Daily. WWD was actually the gateway for how I ended up in my current role. I applied for an opening there, cold-emailing the executive editor who said he liked my initiative. He put me forward to the next round, but they ended up filling the job within 24 hours and I missed out. When I followed up the next day, he asked if I'd like to be considered for the same job at their sister magazine, Footwear News, and a week of interviews and edit tests later, I got the job!
As a trade magazine, we cover the industry and its relevant adjacent industries for everyone in the footwear space. Our print readership is a mix of brands, retailers, manufacturers and suppliers, while our website has more of a consumer-facing angle. By relevant adjacent industries I'm talking about e-commerce, retail real estate, manufacturing technology, material innovation etc.
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Daniel: Damn, sure sounds like the American Dream to me. And yes to Rolling Stone, I know that one! Shameful plug: I recently had the amazing Jamil Smith on the podcast to talk about voter suppression. Sounds like a sweet place to work though.
I was reading a cool article you wrote last week on an initiative run by American Express called Small Business Saturday, which has now been going for 10 years. What exactly is it and how did it start?
Maddy: Thank you, it's always nice to know someone's reading my work! But in all seriousness, Small Business Saturday is a great idea. If you think about what retail looked like 10 years ago, we were already starting to see warning signs of what e-commerce could mean for small business, but it wasn't nearly the beast it is today. The concept is simply that the Saturday after Thanksgiving, shoppers should try to patronise local businesses where possible and not just follow the big flashy sales of Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
American Express provides free resources (with their branding) for small businesses to promote themselves with, to help attract additional customers during that shopping weekend. They also encourage consumers to vote with their wallet and choose independent where possible. This year, for the 10th anniversary, they also expanded the programming to include a pop-up event in New York titled 'The Big Future of Shopping Small'.
That provided a space for them to highlight new technology innovations that business owners might want to consider investing in, such as AI and AR, while also connecting directly with that community in a fun relaxed setting. I stopped by to attend a talk and demonstration. Full disclosure, they had AmEx Global Ambassador Lin Manuel-Miranda there too and I'm a big fan, so I had a great time.
Daniel: Holy shit, Lin Manuel-Miranda is a big deal. I shamefully only found out who he is earlier this year after he appeared on Conan O’Brien’s podcast. Seems like a cool guy.
Yeah I saw American Express ads on the tube for it this year here in London and thought it was a cool idea. And not just because I could get cash back if I used my AmEx card. I presume you use ‘patronize’ as in spending money in these independent stores and not going in and being facetious. That would be mean… But sounds like an awesome scheme.
You mentioned in your piece that almost $20 billion was generated this year. That’s insanely huge! Give us some context around that… Is that a record? And does it take place in just a handful of cities?
Maddy: I listened to that podcast too! He's a real character and a New York local, who's actually working with some friends to preserve a bookstore from his youth, hence his involvement in SBS.
Right, I think the physical incentives they use are quite small-scale if you compare it to the huge discounts across Black Friday and Cyber Monday, but they do a lot of clever branding around that sense of community that so many of us are missing in today's hyperconnected yet strangely disparate world. And yes, definitely patronize as in support financially!
The almost-$20 billion was indeed a record, in fact that included an increase of almost $2 billion from last year. It's taken from across the US, rather than occurring in set cities — the SBS model is open to any retailer who wishes to participate. The calculations are done in partnership with the National Federation of Independent Business.
I spoke with the team about the growth and they really believe it’s set to continue, as more and more shoppers become aware about their environmental impact and the pressures of Amazon and co. on independent stores. In fact, they're talking about making it less of an annual holiday and more of a year-round approach to shopping in general.
Daniel: What is it about buying locally that you think gets people so energized about shopping? I don’t do it enough, but I always get a kick out of helping out people I’ve never met before just because they’re trying to make it in my area.
It’s interesting how that compares to journalism... All we seem to hear about is that local journalism and local newspapers are being decimated because nobody’s willing to subscribe to their hometown paper, yet small retailers we are...
Maddy: I think about that comparison a lot actually, it's probably one of my biggest drivers to support local business in any way that I can. I realise that sounds very pretentious, but I think it ultimately comes down to all of us feeling that maybe all the efficiency we've been pushing hasn't actually made things that much better. Yes, I can use an app to have food delivered to my door in under an hour without needing to get off the couch, but pulling on shoes and walking the block to my neighbourhood bar or restaurant is so much more rewarding.
With journalism, I think the rewards are a little less... pleasurable? The information is valuable, crucial even, but because so much of the news is challenging to hear, I think people are less inclined to treat themselves with say, a subscription to their local paper, as opposed to a treat from the local store.
Daniel: Yes! Could not agree more. It’s as if automation has been shoved down our throats so much that we’re beginning to chuck it all back up and revert back a couple of decades. I saw a cute little tailor shop in Kings Cross last week that had a pair of people sewing customized blankets. Was very strange but awesome to see.
Not sure if you saw a recent opinion piece from Politico that encouraged people NOT to subscribe to local newspapers as a way to save journalism. The author’s argument was that to subscribe is to give money to the big hedge funds that own the newspapers and are going to cut them down in size anyway. Was a curveball of a piece, but highlighted the dire situation local journalism finds itself in. It’s as if we should just Venmo journalists money directly…
Maddy: Wow, no I hadn't but I've just had a quick read through and that's a fascinating argument. I got into quite a heated conversation with my sister a few weeks ago about my frustration that so few of my non-journalist friends pay for their journalism. I pay for more publications than I can reasonably afford, but I figure if anyone should be respecting the paywall, and rewarding the journalists for their work, then it should be those who know the work that goes into it!
Having said that, I do think the politics behind the scenes of local papers makes the issue a lot more complicated. John Oliver did a segment a long while back about the Sinclair Broadcast Group and its impact on local television news. I remember being horrified but not really correlating that with local newspapers, but I realise that was quite naive of me.
I think nearly everyone appreciates the value of truly good, objective journalism. The issue is the lack of trust in the first place, that makes people reluctant to endorse or financially support a publication as a whole. And while I'm sad that so many people are skeptical of mainstream media, I can see that for people who aren't surrounded by the news day-in and day-out, it's becoming trickier and trickier to tell reporting apart from propaganda.
But I'm very open to the idea of Venmo-ing journalists directly... I suppose that's almost what some people are doing, in paying for newsletter subscriptions to their favourite individual journalists! Is that something you've considered doing?
Daniel: I saw a clip of that John Oliver segment. And to think I applied to work for Sinclair before that whole ordeal… ugh!
I’m a little conflicted about the whole subscription business. I say this as someone who’s bias to the Guardian business model that relies on donations instead of subscriptions to maintain free access to information. But also because by the time you count up all of your subscriptions, you’re talking more than $50 a month, and that’s probably on the conservative side for some.
It’s definitely something I’m considering for the new year. It centers around making sure the podcast and newsletter is worthy of a monthly subscription. Occasional bouts of imposter syndrome don’t help…
Maddy: I read something about this, I think it was the recent Labour campaign that was comparing the amount people will spend on a subscription to Netflix versus how much it would cost to 'subscribe' to the NHS. Subscriptions made a lot of sense when you could get all your needs from that one source: a subscription to toothpaste, a subscription to internet. Now that we've got so many options all asking us to commit every month, it isn't financially feasible for most, and could alienate readers altogether.
I do think the donation model is a good one. If I read something I love for free and then occasionally the creator highlights that their work does take them time and effort to produce, I am usually very happy to contribute. Often as much as I would pay over six months in subscription fees. But I feel joy from making that donation, as opposed to resentment about the monthly deduction from my bank account.
But it’s less reliable and I think journalism is so important, particularly today, that I'm reluctant to leave it at the mercy of inconsistent but generous donations. Definitely not a clear-cut answer though. For what it's worth, I think we all have a bit of imposter syndrome, and yours is definitely unwarranted. I say that as a completely unbiased guest of the newsletter…
Daniel: I didn’t see those proposals by Labour, very interesting… I do think a consolidation is coming. I see Disney just came out with a streaming service. That makes it Disney, Netflix, Amazon, HBO, NOW TV, Apple TV, and that’s all before cable. I’m probably forgetting a few as well…
That’s too kind of you. I’ll pour one out for imposter syndrome tonight. 🖕
Anyway, I've taken up enough of your time. Thanks so much for doing this. If you're a subscriber and have made it all the way to the bottom and are still reading, you really do fucking rock. Thank you.
Maddy, what stories have you got in the pipeline that we should keep an eye out for...
Maddy: NBC's Peacock! That's another service for you. Thank you so much for having me, it's lovely to be able to talk about the nitty gritty bits of journalism that I don't get to address directly in my published work. And apologies to everyone reading for how verbose my answers are, it's purely enthusiasm.
In terms of upcoming stories, I've got a longer piece coming out about the impact of 3-D printing on the footwear end-product, as opposed to just the prototyping stage. I'm also going to be exploring the shopping habits of consumers during this in between period of sales... look for me on Footwear News to discover what I find out!
Daniel: Oh boy, where do they come up with these names? People actually got paid to name it that! No need to apologize, verbosity is number one when it comes to newsletters.
Awesome, will definitely be looking out for that, sounds super interesting. Thanks again, let’s do this again sometime!
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