*cracks open a cold can of Diet Coke* Ahh, here we are, finally living out every 2000s movie scene of a 30 something woman sitting in front a blank page. I didn’t think this is where I’d be at the end of 2025, but the little voice in my head telling me to do it is getting louder and louder so here we are.

Who is this girl anyway? I’m Sarah, a 34 year old eldest daughter of immigrants in NYC navigating a world where it seems like everyone is getting dumber as a trend and I’m too smart to be here. I have spent 2025 on a career break away from corporate, and I’ve had WAY too much time to “realize stuff” (as our dear Kylie so aptly put it). Sidebar, I recently looked up when Kylie Jenner said that famous quote and it was 2015. So if you didn’t have anything to remind you we’re old today, there you go. *cries*

Back to the task at hand - introducing Pretty Busy and what you can expect from me and this creative space. Pretty Busy is a newsletter for smart, curious, and busy women navigating culture, career, and modern life. Each week, I’ll break down the headlines, trends, and chaos of the world around us — from pop culture and news to tech and wellness — and translate them into insight you can actually use (or at a baseline a funny story to break up your doomscrolling).

I came up with the name Pretty Busy because my friends have always seen me as the “busy friend.” In my 20s especially, I was in my peak corporate girl boss era, running around the city from workout class to in-office tech startup to midtown happy hour. I traveled a ton, picked up a yoga teacher certification (and subsequently a side hustle), and had a large group of friends in the city to keep me busy with events every night. I would deem that version of me super busy. Maybe some of you readers can relate.

Now, in a “post-pandemic” world (is it really over though?), after that group of friends all left NYC, lots of personal growth and a newfound diagnosis that made me an SSRI girlie, not to mention entering a new decade of life during lockdown, I would say I’m not busy at all by comparison. Gone are the multiple happy hours a week, replaced by the occasional meet up for drinks with an old coworker. No longer do I care about climbing the corporate ladder - more on that later - instead I want to prioritize myself and get the most out of life now vs. waiting to retirement. I recently realized I’m still busier than many people, and have settled on “I’m pretty busy.”

Along this journey we call life, I’ve learned so much through reading, therapy, deep conversations with friends, deep conversations with strangers, countless solo travel trips, and surviving two Trump administrations (so far). That, plus a finely tuned skill of pattern recognition has compelled to share my musings with you all. Because there must be other women out there thinking the same things I am: “this can’t be the life we’re living for the next 40 years”, “damn these bachelorette trips are really adding up,” “god, what did Sydney Sweeney do now,” “Congress MUST smell like a nursing home at this point, right?!”.

So if this resonates, please subscribe to Pretty Busy, a platform for the nuance of pop culture and current event commentary through the eyes of a hyper independent millennial woman with excellent pattern recognition. I plan to make this a place where we have deep dive conversations on topics affecting many of us as ambitious and smart 30-somethings, and a place where I synthesize what I’m reading/seeing/watching so you don’t have to (as your chronically online bff who is the person getting the “can you tell me what happened with the so and so scandal” texts).

I hope you’ll join me for this ride, and can’t wait to launch this soon!

TTYL,

Sarah