Second Life Podcast Interviews Reporter Jessica Yellin

last updated 10 March 2021

Welcome to Second Life, a podcast spotlighting successful women who've made major career changes—and fearlessly mastered the pivot. Hosted by Hillary Kerr, co-founder and chief content officer at Who What Wear's parent company, Clique Brands, each episode will give you a direct line to women who are game changers in their fields. Subscribe to Second Life on iTunes, and stay tuned. We'll be releasing new episodes on Mondays.

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Where do you get your news? If Jessica Yellin's Instagram isn't at the top of your list, it will be soon. In the newest episode of Second Life, the former chief White House correspondent for CNN and founder of #NewsNotNoise tells Hillary Kerr about how she took her Emmy-winning reporting skills to both social media and book publishing.

Yellin shares succinct and well-researched reports of the most important news directly on her Instagram, with topics ranging from Brexit and healthcare to the Green New Deal and the college admissions scandal. In addition to flexing her social media muscles, the Harvard graduate has also delved into the book publishing world and is releasing her first novel called Savage News next month. The satirical book explores what it's really like to be female in male-dominated newsrooms.

For anyone considering journalism, Yellin tells Second Life how she admires people who approach it differently. "Tell the human side of the story, focus on some of the stories that are being ignored, and tell with calm and a focus on the most important thing: the viewer leaving with a sense of understanding," Yellin says. "I don't need you to think I have the best sources. I don't need you to think I got the story first. I don't need the exclusive. I know these are things you're never supposed to say. I need to know that when you're done, you understand the story better and that you feel confident to talk about it and eventually empowered to act on it."

Subscribe to Second Life on iTunes to learn more about her journey from Harvard and the White House to social media and book publishing.

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Erin got her start as a Who What Wear intern over 13 years ago—back when the site only published a single story per day. (Who What Wear has since increased that number twentyfold.) She graduated magna cum laude from USC, which is how she ended up moving to Los Angeles from her hometown of San Diego. In college, she also interned at Refinery29, where she was promoted to editorial assistant and then assistant editor. After nearly three years at R29, she came back to WWW in 2016, where she currently holds the title of Associate Director of Fashion News (as well as the unofficial title of resident royal expert—in case you haven't noticed her numerous Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton stories). She spends her days trying to incorporate her idols, Anna Wintour and Roger Federer, into as many stories as possible. Outside of work, she loves tennis, classic rock, traveling, and smothering her dog with affection.