Brand Newsletters on Substack

Hi all, and welcome to 2025!

As our founder Jenny wrote on LinkedIn last week, it’s already been a LOT.

It’s easy to feel disheartened — or even useless — right now. We feel it, too. But we also know how important it is to use our own platforms and networks to speak up during these challenging times.

Which brings us here, to Substack. There’s no denying this platform is blowing up, and for good reason. Amidst the Metas and Xs of the world, operated by oligarchic billionaires (MSNBC’s words, not ours), Substack is a kind of pastoral reprieve. Its almost analog set-up features enable creators, businesses, journalists, thought leaders, and the like to publish their work, explore their creative interests, and give space to their own voices. People are showing up: In February 2023, Substack had over 20 million monthly active subscribers; in January 2024, Substack had 49.4 million unique visitors. That’s cool!

As we think more critically about our platform and the responsibility it carries, particularly for the next four years, we’re increasingly drawn to Substack for all the many ways it amplifies voices, not bans them. It seems like this place really brings people together instead of pitting them against one another for shareholder benefit. That’s important to us.

So going forward, we’re going to be more active, and more ourselves, on here. We’re going to double-down on sharing stories, resources, and strategies to help tell the stories that matter — for our clients and for ourselves.

A post shared by @carlyanddanielle

The perfect example comes courtesy of longtime JBC partner theSkimm alongside its co-CEOs Carly Zakin and Danielle Weisberg.

After the new White House administration took down ReproductiveRights.gov, JBC worked with theSkimm to re-house the content on its own site, restoring access to the 168 million Americans who relied on the public resource for crucial healthcare information. Enter theskimm.com/reproductive-rights-gov, a public resource that reproduces word for word the same essential facts and Know-Your-Rights materials that were lost when the site went offline.

This small, but important act of resilience has been reminding us that even in our small corners of the world, we can enact real change. (For more on how brands can use their voice in moments like these, revisit our post-Roe communications guide.)

At JBC, we believe in the power of non-traditional approaches to advocacy. The work may not always be easy, but it’s undeniably important. And we’re so empowered to share more of it with you this year.

But first, we have to brag and share a selection of recent press on theSkimm that we’re so, so proud of.

1. After President Trump Took Office, ReproductiveRights.gov Went Dark—So theSkimm Founders Brought It Back to Life (Marie Claire)

2. Reproductive Health Site Goes Dark After Inaugural (Axios)

3. Reproductive Health Resources Are Being Hidden — Here’s Where to Find Them (PS)

4. White House Erased Women’s Health Info, theSkimm Hit Undo (MediaPost)

5. theSkimm Brings Back ReproductieRights.gov Content After Site Goes Dark (PRWeek)

As always, please get in touch in the comments, on our Instagram, or via info@jbc-pr.com if there’s anything you’d like to see covered here.

‘Til next week,

Jenny & Melissa

We later took a deeper dive into why investing in Substack isn’t a choice — it’s a necessity.