Media in Minutes

Sara Lieberman: Lifestyle and Travel Journalist as seen in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Condé Nast Traveler & AFAR

March 23, 2021 Angela Tuell Season 1 Episode 3
Media in Minutes
Sara Lieberman: Lifestyle and Travel Journalist as seen in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Condé Nast Traveler & AFAR
Show Notes Transcript

On this episode of Media in Minutes, lifestyle and travel writer and editor Sara Lieberman tells us about searching for anacondas in Peru’s amazon, why she moved to Paris and some of her best travel advice. Sara is a full-time freelance writer and content creator for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Hemispheres, Condé Nast Traveler, AFAR, the Washington Post and many others. 

 

Check out Sara’s article with Israeli Chef Uri “Buri” Jeremias in AFAR.

Read Sara’s article about chefs around the world cooking with their kids in Food & Wine magazine

Try the Banana Everything Cookie Sara loves.

Sign up for Sara’s Overthinking It newsletter!

Check out a short video of our anaconda adventure through the Amazon River!

Instagram: @Saraglieberman
Twitter: @Saraglieberman

Angela Tuell:

Welcome to Media in Minutes. This is your host Angela Tuell. This podcast features indepth interviews with those who report on the world around us. They share everything from their favorite stories to what happened behind the lens and give us a glimpse into their world. From our studio here at Communications Redefined, this is Media in Minutes. I am so excited today to welcome freelance travel writer Sarah Lieberman. Sarah is a native New Yorker who is now based in Paris. She is a full-time freelance writer and content creator for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Hemispheres, Conde Nast Traveler, Afar, the Washington Post and many others. She is also a former editor on staff with titles such as the New York Post and Seventeen. Sarah is a lover of sunshine, cheese, chocolate, yoga, boats and bags, and is a self described overthinker. Hi, Sara, welcome.

Sara Lieberman:

Thank you. Thanks for having me.

Angela Tuell:

How are you doing?

Sara Lieberman:

I'm doing well, actually. It's a beautiful day today in Paris. So things could be worse. I'm looking at blue skies and the Paris rooftops.

Angela Tuell:

As you know, I have to start with the obvious question first, which I know, but I'm sure a lot of our listeners don't. You grew up in New York, went to college at Syracuse and worked in New York City for years. So how did you end up in Paris?

Sara Lieberman:

It really was just one of those things that I decided kind of on a whim. I know that sounds so silly, but I was never one of those Francophile people. But I did take French in high school back in the day and I'd always loved to travel. When I went freelance in 2013, after working at the New York Post as an editor for almost seven years, I very quickly realized that if I was going to pursue travel journalism, that I could pretty much do it from anywhere. And, it might be advantageous to do it from a foreign sea. And that first year that I had went freelance, I did a bunch of traveling to a bunch of different cities, mostly European and I had ended up in Paris quite a few times, and just really connected with the city, and just loved it so so much. And I sort of declared one night after one too many, I sort of declared on Facebook that I was going to move here. And yeah, like three months later, I rented out my studio in New York first, sort of temporarily to see how it went. So first nine months, we're sort of we'll see how it goes. And then yeah, now here I am, six years later. Wow. Yeah.

Angela Tuell:

So, you never looked back? No, I mean, my family and all of my friends for many years, are most of all living or live in New York. So I am fortunate enough that I get to go where at least before COVID I would get to go visit them fairly often. It's not that far. But yeah, I don't miss my life in New York City feels like ages ago, I think also because I was living such a different life, professionally, working on staff for a publication as opposed to being freelance. And I just had such a different life there in New York, you know, doing that, as opposed to what I do now. And, and I love that. And I love this equally. And yeah, I'm a no regrets type of person anyway, so yes. So what are you doing now? We know the last year has not been what any of us expected. You pivot from so much traveling. What are you focusing on at this point?

Sara Lieberman:

It was tough, I have to say, because last year, sort of started off with a bang in terms of travel. For me, I'm actually not one of those travel writers that like, you know, counts the countries that she goes to and is in a different country or city every month. I choose my destinations and trips pretty carefully. But it just so happened that 2020 had started off pretty strong in terms of travel, I had been in Peru, which we'll speak about. I've been in Peru and then I came back to Paris and I went to London, and then I went to Wales. And, then I came back and went to Morocco. And this was all in a matter of a month or two and then next thing we know, the world was was sort of shut down. So I mean, I was lucky enough to mostly have assignments for those trips already. But then after that, it was sort of like well, now what and thankfully, I mean, so what did I do or what am I doing? I mean, I was able when I traveled which wasn't that much, but you know, things did ease up here as they have in various countries and cities at different times during the pandemic. But I did get to travel within France this year, and, thankfully was able to place some pieces as a result of that. But I was very unsure, you know, I had to go on these trips and sort of hope that maybe I can get an assignment out of it. Because America, I mostly write for American publications and Americans couldn't travel to where I was now able to travel. So on the one hand, I was in a great position to be somewhere that other journalists, travel journalists, might not be able to be and to be able to experience hotels that had planned on opening this year. And, you know, so I had that opportunity. But on the other hand, the editors that I work with, either weren't assigning international stories, or a lot of the magazines that I write for Afar, American Way, you know, the airline magazines, were just not publishing anymore, or, you know, cutting their freelance budget. So it was definitely in a bit of a dicey place to be in. Yeah, I've been I've been doing a lot of copywriting. I started doing some book editing, which actually I quite really like, I've actually been going back to doing a lot of editing, which is what I was doing before I went freelance. And I like it a lot. I miss it. I miss working with other writers and helping them make their work better, and just more of a collaborative effort as well. Yeah. So all the good that has came to me, or made us explore areas that we have either not tried or have been at in the past. So that's good to hear.

Angela Tuell:

What have been some of your favorite stories over the years or favorite destinations? I would say most recently, Israel. Israel is kind of a funny place to cover for obvious reasons, I would think. I was recently just there about two years ago, and it was my third time, third or fourth. And this particular trip, I was on assignment for Afar. And then I just so happened to be able to get, I think, I think I ended up with five different stories from that one trip, that's generally how I try to roll is I go with one, either an assignment or an idea of an assignment, and then hope to get you know, a few other pieces as well, while I'm traveling just by sort of, you know, reaching out to people and following sort of leads and whatnot. But anyway, I had gone to interview this chef, his name is Henri Bori. And he's an Israeli chef that works really hard to sort of bridge, you know, for lack of a better term bridge borders between Palestinians and Israelis, or, you know, the, in his kitchen, he's got Muslim and Jews, and he, his whole thing is about mixing and, and it's just, he's a lovely, charismatic personality. And it was really just amazing to be able to walk the streets of his city, which is called the aapko, on the northern coast of Israel with him. And yeah, that was, that was a remarkable story. And then actually, I have to say, this summer, I had just a guess, because it's so tough, but it was most recent, it's top of mine, I really enjoyed exploring more of France, and I was able to go to the lower Valley. And both these trips, I went with one of my best friends here, and we travel really well together. And we had a really fun time, sort of doing an alternative to the Chateau circuit, in the Loire Valley. The Loire Valley is known for, you know, these grand Renaissance Chateaus that Henry gave to Catherine Domenici and all that. And so I've done that before. And this time, I sort of took an alternative route, and we were driving around and going to different places. So instead of going, you know, walking inside Chateau which spans over a river, we hired a boat and we a small boat that we drove ourselves, and we went under it. Really cool things like that. Yeah, so those were two, top of mine, too. And I ended up that was a story that I ended up doing for Highlife, which is British Airways magazine. What story have you wanted to tell that didn't make it in print? Yes, let's say yee, let's say yet, there really are quite a few, unfortunately. But actually, I would say the trip that we sort of took together or where we met in person, for the first time, would have to be the Peruvian Amazon, the cruising with Aqua expeditions. And it was just magnificent. I mean, that was, I mean, honestly, both my trips to Peru, which just sort of happenstance ended up to be back to back years. I had gone just the year before I think it was 2018. It was I believe one year before. Because I had to do some convincing. Right to get me back. Like I needed convincing. You had to do convincing - even though she was just there? Yeah. So I had gone with my brother a year before. It was technically my 40th birthday celebration. And he and I went and we did trek up to Machu Picchu, with Mountain Lodges of Peru. And they're fantastic. Like, it was just like the most amazing trek that I've ever done. I mean, I've never, the thing was, is we signed up for this, we're like, you know, send in our down payments, you know, we get like, all these sort of crazy sheets in terms of, you know, what to be aware of, and what to take. And all of a sudden, I'm like, Oh, my God, I don't think I realized what I signed up for here. You know, like, could I do this? You know, I really didn't, I didn't like I had obviously had to buy hiking boots. Like I'm not someone you know, I'm outdoorsy and I do stuff like that. But it wasn't, I just didn't realize what I was getting into. It was definitely one of the hardest things I've done physically. But one of the most rewarding and I just fell in love with the country. I know that's, you know, kind of a vague thing to say, because it's a big country. It's got a very varied landscape and terrain. And I only visited that point, that part of it, but it was just magnificent. And then yeah, a year later, when I had the opportunity to go and discover the Amazon, which to me was always something that I you know, had wanted to, to discover it just seemed like this magical forest, rain forest place. Yeah, creature creepy crawlies and creatures and flowers. And so yeah, so it was both of those opportunities. Unfortunately, I have not been able to write about it yet. I don't know why. And both of them. I felt like I had such strong personal narratives that I wanted to tell with my brother, it was this idea of sort of traveling alone, but together because while we were hiking, we were you know, we're all together, we're all hiking together, I think there were, we had a very small group, I think there were maybe six of us. But you know, you sort of pace yourselves apart. And so we're together, but we're also on our own and you know, every maybe 20 minutes, half hour, you sort of catch up with someone and talk and then you sort of go your own way. So that was sort of the angle that I was going to pursue with that. And then with the Amazon, you remember the day when we were searching for the Anaconda? Yes. Oh, that was thrilling. Really, because on one hand, I really wanted to find the Anaconda like obviously, but on the other hand, I was terrified. And didn't want to find it. Sara, you have to describe how, where my guides took us on this little boat. Yeah, right. So our so we're in this sort of, you know, what eight person skiff type of boat. And he and I think it was I think it was my fault because I think I was like, I want to find an anacanda. Exactly, fine. Thank you. So he, yeah, he starts taking into us into these like bogs or something, I don't even know what you would call them but it's off the main river and we would urge we're already off the main river into these sort of tributaries right. And then there were like, other ones that were off that and so he's cutting with the machete into cutting the vines down. And they're like zooming the motor and trying to get us past these huge mangrove trees. And I'm like thinking for sure we're not getting out of here alive. We're getting let a whether we find the anaconda or not. And anyway, so that was just that was I'll never forget that afternoon. It was really so I you know, these are the things you have experiences like that when you're when you're traveling and they remain so vivid in your mind that the hope is at least for us travelers that even if you don't write about it immediately, you know it's our responsibility to take notes and do a story you know, I am a big I love Instagram stories an I love posting about it. I o ten struggle with you know, o I post it now do I post it l ter before you have the story, giving too much away? But a lot of times the Instagram Stories t nd to be almost a diary for me. It's a sort of visual wa of not only sharing with my f llowers, but of reminding myself of the details of what w did. But yeah, so even thou Yes, where have you traveled that has really surprised you? h nothing has come quite yet with those particular experienc s. You know, I've had several t ings I mean, oh, I just wrot a story for Tatler magazine ctually about solo travel an traveling alone, which is omething that I've been doin since I started traveling and since I started traveling I guess after college because I want to. I really discover d travel after college and I we t backpacking for six months a d started solo travelin back then and I just did a st ry for Tatler all about solo tra el and I started it with a s ene of me in Bali for the firs time, way back in 2001 being ha sled on the beach to get a ma sage by these two women and havi g basically been swindled because one woman offered e a massage, I think to myself, eah, massage would be nice, y u know? And then another woman s ys, how about I do your nails a d like, okay, the next thing I know, I'm laying on, you know, f cedown on the beach, and I've go, you know, one woman on my feet another on my head, two on my h nd, one on my back. And I like tand up, and I had all these w men around me, and they're trying to get all this money f om me, you know, I was just to ally, you know, young, 21-year old being suckered into. But the whole point is, is that I use t at story in a piece that I just rote, you know, and then it's so those types of vivid experience. I know, it's not ideal, obv ously, if you're working wi h PR professionals or brands, an you know, new hotel openings, or whatnot. But, you know, for hose of us who tried to tell r al vivid storytelling and na ratives, you know, you want it t be more of an experience like hat anyway, rather than just wr ting about a new hotel. No, I th nk that's what readers want t hear, you know, they want to xperience those things, too.

Sara Lieberman:

I was really surprised by Marrakech, I'd always wanted to go to Morocco, it seems so foreign and magical, like this sort of far off place, and like it would be so different. And it is, it definitely is, but it's also like, you know, in the new city, as they call it, like outside of the Medina, you know, there's like McDonald's and Pizza Hut and like tall buildings. And, you know, I mean, it seems so naive to think that places like that don't have that. But when you have an idea of a place, you know, I mean, now as a traveler, who's been to many places, I'm not as surprised as I used to be. I remember, when I first went to Marrakech, and even like a place like Istanbul, that seems so foreign in your mind, you know, but really, these are fairly big metropolises as well. And even though, you know, the country may be different in terms of, for many reasons, like it's still like a very big city in their terms. So I would say those two, two places Istanbul and Marrakech surprised me in a good way now.

Angela Tuell:

How do you find your stories? You talked about that you're very careful, carefully choose where you go, you tend to find those stories or decide on on what you're doing? I hate to say social media, but I actually do find a lot of stories on social media, it's, you know, depending on who you're following, or you know, like, for example, I follow a lot of chefs and I tend to cover food and restaurants a lot. And actually, over the pandemic, I had noticed that a lot of chefs were now home because they weren't working in restaurants. And a lot of them were posting stories of them cooking with their kids, which was just first of all the photos were adorable. And it was just such an interesting dynamic, right, like, so here are these chefs who don't normally get to spend quality time with their children. And because of the pandemic, speaking of, you know, some positive things coming out of it, they are doing that. And some of them were doing such interesting things. There was a chef in Israel, who was learning to cook for his daughter and like creating multi course Michelin star meals - like lucky daughter, wow, like smashed, just lilke pureeing everything, but he was plating it in a way that it was like, unbelievable. So anyway, those were that was a story that I found on, you know, just by using Instagram. And I wrote about that for food and wine. I mean, I do I definitely get stories from publicists every once in a while for sure. And, you know, I think also just talking to people, you know, I mean, that's one thing that's so hard right now, I mean, you could talk to people, but it's different when you're out somewhere, you know, having a conversation over wine. And that turns into another thing. You know, I mean, that's, you find the stories just by talking to different people, other than in your normal friends circle, you know, right. What about either your worst, or one of your worst experiences? We've all had missed flights, accommodations that didn't turn out as expected, those kind of basic things, but what has been your worst and likely, as I know, you have made it better or

Sara Lieberman:

Again, I think probably because it's top of made the best out of it? mind because it was fairly recent, but in that same trip to Israel, which on the whole, the trip was amazing. I had decided I was there, were sort of like three parts to the trip. The main part was going to interview this chef for a bar. And then I just saw I had gotten a tip from a publicist, actually, that there were some interesting things happening up in northern wine country. And so I was planning on heading there and I was going to drive and then the third part was exploring Tel Aviv so I started in Tel Aviv, and I just loved it. I had been to Tel Aviv before and I just like had the best time and now. Just if I were ever to live somewhere else and move somewhere else, it would 100% be Tel Aviv. And, I only spent two days there and I was just having the best time and meeting all these people. And like, I mean, I'm telling you, I've been single, like, I've met more guys in two days in Tel Aviv than I have like two years here in Paris. It's just wow, that was amazing. So I was just leaving Tel Aviv, I get my rental car now by myself, and I'm traveling north and doing this road trip by myself. And again, I've traveled alone by myself, driving by myself, not ideal. I'm really a city person. I don't love to drive, and certainly not alone. I just, I get a little nervous and anxious. And anyway, so I had booked because I'm funding this part of the trip myself, because I didn't have an assignment yet. I had booked, you know, some cheap Airbnb place, and it was called a solitary cabin. And in my head, I'm like, oh, that'll be nice. You know, like, it's like a cabin, like, the corner of the woods. Like, there was like a little platform and I can practice yoga. And I was just thinking, you know, oh, it'll just be this beautiful two days that I can spend there and then I'll go and like continue on my way, you know, reporting in the wine country. And so I get there just before sunset, and the solitary cabin was like legit solitary and like to the point where it was down this like dark, steep pathway in the woods, the woman who ran it, like wasn't around, there were all these bugs. And it's like the, it wasn't dirty or anything. It's just I think I

Angela Tuell:

It's sounds like being stuck, it sounds like had just spent like two amazing nights in Tel Aviv, meeting all these people and like just like it's vibrant city and then all of a sudden I was like back alone again in the woods by myself, like so quiet all these creepy crawly sounds like I just was really scared. And I was just not into it. I slept horribly. I woke up the next morning, and it's different, obviously seeing a place during the day. And it was pretty, but it just wasn't. It wasn't my jam. I wasn't feeling it. And I ended up leaving a night early and just booking a hotel and being like, forget it. I'm just going to pay extra for the hotel. So yeah, I mean, I made the most of it. I saved the night, but then I sort of just decided to cut my losses andI tried, right. being almost being stuck and looking for anacandas kind of by yourself there. Yeah, yeah, pretty much I mean, that first night I got there, okay, was fine. And then the second day I spent I was out all day. So it was and I think that's the thing I think it was just more of a place for someone to come either with another person and be all like, you know, romantic, or like maybe someone's coming to work on a book or you know, really be solitary and I was sort of using it as a jumping off point to like go and you know, interview and meet people and that so I had I come back that second day after like being out all day. I was so tired. And I get back and like there was I didn't see it. But I was told later on that's what it was that there's a boar a wild there was a wild boar outside this cabin. Yeah. And that's when I knew I was like, that's it. This is my last night here. I was supposed to save three nights. So yeah, no more than that that solitary cabin was not not the ideal. But you know, I do love Airbnb, too. Don't get me wrong, it just wasn't the right choice. It wasn't what you thought it would be right. We had those visions of what something's going to be and it turned out that way, right? What are some of your best advice, you know, as travelers, you know, whether they're more newbies and exploring the world or not, but what are some of your best advice? What do you go by when planning travel?

Sara Lieberman:

I think you want to obviously do things you like, you know, I mean, one of the things that I always do when I go to, specifically a city, though it doesn't always have to be a big city, but it's easier to find. But I always try to find a yoga studio and take a class. I mean, I've practice taking a Slovenian class, Czech, Swiss, obviously French, Italian, I mean, any any country I'm in I always try to find a yoga class and did it in Siem Reap Cambodia.

Angela Tuell:

Even if you don't know the language, you can still follow along with the class. Exactly, especially with yoga, because if you know how to practice, you know, if you're familiar with yoga, the thing about yoga is there's the two main languages quote unquote, or Sanskrit, which is its own language. So and if you already practice yoga, you know, a little bit of Sanskrit. And really the other language of yoga is the breath. And so, i you follow and breathe, the you're good. It really doesn' matter what they're saying. S I would say just, you know, f nd something that you really l ve to do. I mean, obviously, a l t of times for people, they l ve arts, they go to museums, t at seems a little bit more o vious. I would say find s mething a little bit more n che because it's a really good w y to just see how people live, y u know, I know a lot of runners end to go running in a city, wh n they arrive there to get a lay of the land, I always thou ht that was such a great idea. I ve tried to become a runner, t never really goes very wel. But anyway, I do think tha's a really great way to get to know a city as well that would say like, it's really har to balance between planning nd being spontaneous. But I woul say as much as you can to sort of allow yourself spontaneity, as a travel writer, I do think there's a lot of pressure to c nstantly see and do and, you k ow, try and meet and, and li ten, and it can be really hard at times to do it all, you now. But I also think a lot f times, the best stories tend o come from those moments where you sort of just decide to wand r down the street, instead of staring at your phone and, an figuring out, you know, where ou need to be, and sort of ju t going with the flow a lit le bit more, and it's somethin that I struggle with all the time. Because, you know, ou always think like, it's lik, even as travel writers, it's, mean, it's our job to sort of tell you guys where to go nd what's new. But it's also eally difficult to go to a pla e that you've not been before, a d want to go places that ot er people have said are good, ou know, like, you want to go to this restaurant because this person try it see. So you know it's good, you're not going to isk possibly going somewhere, hat's not but yet on the ot er hand, if you don't take t at risk and try somewhere new, y u know, then what's the fun n that A and B like, then there' someplace that you discover t at you can pass on to someone lse, rather than it being ust the same old place that peop e continue to write about an cover and go to?

Sara Lieberman:

That's a great point. And you know, this brings up something else as well, that you know, it seems like a travel writers life is so glamorous, you know, you should get to travel everywhere and have a fabulous time. But you're working? You know, while you're there. Yeah. I mean, listen, like we definitely I definitely get opportunities that I don't think that I would otherwise be able to get to experience. But yeah, I mean, you're definitely working and you're constantly, there is this pressure to feel like that you need to see and do it all. And like what if I didn't, you know, it's like this balance between enjoying yourself and being in the moment and experiencing it, but also making sure that your tape recorder is working, and you took enough notes. And you know, you can take photos or, you know, you understand that what the person is saying if they didn't if they speak another language. I mean, I'll never forget, actually, that first trip to Peru that I took when I was hiking with my brother. I mean, technically that was a personal trip. That was something that we did on our own. And you know, I hope again, my hope was to write about it. But you know, I was really there as just sort of experienced well just so happen, because this is always how it happens that I got edits back on another story that I had filed, and I filed it in advance knowing that this might happen, right. And I got edits back for a story I was working on for Saveur magazine on my first big feature for them. Like literally the day after I had done this massive hike, I'm dealing with altitude sickness and had like, I couldn't even keep my eyes open. I was so unwell. And now here I have to, like look at this Microsoft Word document and all these edits and changes and dealing with the time difference. And so yeah, I mean, it can be really stressful. And it's like you want to enjoy, you know, and like relax. But there's also, yeah, you're working, you know, like, you need to, you want to be able to enjoy and relax. But you need to take notes on the day that you just had you need to nurse your headache that you have from altitude sickness. And also you need to get to the notes that are you know, you would just send from from your editor on another story. So it's not always like that. But it does seem like they seem to line up that way.

Angela Tuell:

It's always bad timing, right?

Sara Lieberman:

Yes and there are days where I'm twidiling my thumbs and not doing anything, but it just always seems to happen like that.

Angela Tuell:

Yes, yes. So what is it? What do you hope I you know, we can't predict the future. But what do you hope the future holds for you and for travel in general?

Sara Lieberman:

This is something that I think has had been getting better in the last few years, but I do hope more than ever, local writers will be given sort of precedence or, you know, in terms of covering a place, you know, travel, we need to slow down, we need to look at our footprint, carbon or otherwise, you know, the places we're going how often we're traveling, both for health concerns, climate concerns, and I think that, you know, the more editors can trust the writers that they have on the ground in places, the better it'll be, I mean for the world and honestly for the readers because the people who are on the ground, you know, are the people who know the places? Well, you know, well, that's not to say someone can't come to Paris and cover Paris, believe me, like that should happen and certain types of stories, I think, you know, I mean, that is being a travel writer like, you know, exploring a place for the first time and that sense of, you know, bewilderment and excitement. And I live in Paris and I tend to lead or write a lot of stories here in France, but I really like to travel everywhere. So obviously, when I go somewhere else, you know, I'm sure there's someone who if I write a story on you know, Tuscany, there's some writer based in Sienna who's going to be like what does she know, you know, for certain types of stories when it comes to knowing a city, knowing a culture, you know, I hope that editors will consider their local writers more. Yeah, I mean, that's it, I guess, my biggest hope for COVID free world and travel.

Angela Tuell:

You know, I have to ask you a little bit about cooking. I know you love to cook. And like many of us, you know, have expanded our horizons in the culinary world during the pandemic, what have been some of the dishes that you're most most proud of, and maybe even a few that didn't turn out as you thought?

Sara Lieberman:

Most proud of? I mean, this is so simple, but I did a poached pair with chocolate sauce. And it is so basic, but it is was the easiest, most delicious thing. I mean, literally, you're just basically putting a pair in water with some, you know, cinnamon and this and that. And then melting the chocolate was a little bit of a debacle because I didn't have some of the right tools. But I mean, it was so it was so easy and so delicious. I tried to make gnocchi and that was not worth the effort. I'd much rather just buy fresh pasta. Yeah, I did. I did not go down the whole sourdough route as many people did. Because I'm just not into the whole bread thing. I'm live in Paris. Why would I make my own bread? Like there's a gazillion bakeries.

Angela Tuell:

You can walk out your front door, right?

Sara Lieberman:

Literally, my front door, there's a bakery right downstairs. So I'm not going to be making bread, I have gotten really good. Probably too good at, like just whipping up some cookies. Like, because I'm such a sweet tooth. And so I'll just be like laying on the couch at night and be like, I could really go for like a peanut butter cookie. And I'll just make some. So I would say these peanut butter cookies. And also they're called Banana. Everything could use its banana, chocolate, and oatmeal together and walnuts. I mean, they're like, it's everythin but the kitchen sink in those cookies.

Angela Tuell:

Those sound wonderful. And then the yoga evens it all out. Right?

Sara Lieberman:

Yeah. I know. People always like how are you eating this much? I do yoga every day. But I don't know myself. I wonder how I do it.

Angela Tuell:

Something else, I love all of the interesting stories and the inspiration and whatever else is on your mind that you throw into your newsletter Overthinking It, how did the newsletter come about? And what kind of reactions have you gotten from it?

Sara Lieberman:

It's been really fun. I've really enjoyed doing it. It just came about because I found that I was reading so much. And you know, back in the day, you know, with Facebook, where people would read an article and they would share it. And I would do that, too. But I just sort of felt like maybe I'll just you know all the articles that I read over the course of a few weeks, I'll sort of start saving them and then I'll put them together in a newsletter I'm reading my thought process was I'm reading them anyway. You know, I watched this video anyway, listen to the song anyway, these are things that I'm already doing. And I'll just share them with people. And so that's sort of how it came about. I mean, the title is self explanatory. I just overthink all the time and everything I do. I'm just second guessing and overthinking it.

Angela Tuell:

So it took you a while to put the newsletter together then? You're overthinking it?

Sara Lieberman:

Yeah, yeah. Well, the funniest thing is, is that it was meant to be easy, right? It was meant to just literally be like I'm reading and watching all these things anyway. And then I decided to add this intro because it felt weird to just like send this list of things that I'm reading or doing without saying, Hey, what's you know what's going on with me. And so basically this introduction, which is, you know, kind of bloggie, about something that's happening in my life or some sort of moment or something that, but of course, this is the part when I did a survey, this is the part that everyone likes the best. But that's what takes me the longest. The rest of it, I'm putting together over the course of two weeks before I send it. And it's always that intro bit that takes that takes the most time but it's the part that everyone likes the best.

Angela Tuell:

It is the best. Thank you. I will tell everyone how to sign up for that newsletter.

Sara Lieberman:

Thank you.

Angela Tuell:

Well, thank you so much, Sara, I really appreciate you sharing your thoughts and insights with us.

Sara Lieberman:

My pleasure.

Angela Tuell:

Thank you.

Sara Lieberman:

You can find Sara online at Sara Lieberman.com and on Instagram and Twitter at Sara G Lieberman. That's all for this episode of media in minutes. A podcast by Communications Redefined available anywhere you get your podcasts, you can find more at Communications Redefined. com slash podcast. I'm your host Angela Tuell. Talk to you next time