We’ve got some pretty big changes coming up at Autostraddle — a new, bright, hopeful chapter that began as the smallest seed of an idea last winter, has been through months of conversations and considerations and meetings and consultations and adjustments, and is now finally becoming a reality. Autostraddle is being acquired in an equity-only deal by For Them, a New York-based company “driving the queer revolution through products and services that function as direct links to queer wellness, radical self-expression, authentic connection and human experience.” Their first product, launched in 2021, was The Binder, a chest compression garment designed for safe, all-day wear and comfort, created in collaboration through fit tests with 500+ trans and non-binary humans. In addition to developing future product drops and services, For Them recently launched their membership program, The Playground, as well as a podcast network. And now they have acquired this very website.
For Them’s founder and CEO Kylo Freeman will be our new CEO.
Carmen will remain Editor-in-Chief, and all our editors are staying through the transition. The website will continue to exist and thrive and serve lesbian, queer and trans communities. After facilitating the changeover, I’ll be stepping out of leadership and shifting my focus to editorial, under Carmen’s leadership, as well as working with Kylo on product development and Brand Partnerships. We won’t be fundraising anymore, but Nico will continue running A+, which will remain our primary source of revenue.
You can expect A+, like so many things around here, to get even more awesome in the coming months and years. Together we’ll be building a fuller community experience, including events and an app.
There’ll be a lot of practical information coming out in the coming months, but for now on this webpage we wanted to kick off this merge in the most Autostraddle-ish way possible: with a very incredibly serious interview!!!
This interview was conducted over the Zoom app, led by Riese (Co-Founder) and Carmen (Editor-in-Chief) and aimed at Kylo (our future CEO, who by the way is also an actor which is relevant and you will find out why).
Also present on the Zoom in a peanut gallery capacity:
- A+ Director Nico Hall
- ForThem’s COO Em Chadwick
- ForThem’s Social Media & Comms Lead, Motti.
Also you should know that even though ForThem is in New York and that’s where Kylo and Em live, Kylo and Em are from the U.K. This will come up in the interview so just be prepared is all!
Riese: I want you to know first of all that I prepared for this interview, like I do for all celebrity interviews, by familiarizing myself with your body of work, which for me meant watching two of your episodes of New Amsterdam—
Kylo: No you didn’t. Don’t say that.
Riese: I did!
Kylo: That’s embarrassing!
Carmen: That is how Riese prepares for interviews, but also I did not realize that you were in New Amsterdam and now I have to see your episodes.
Kylo: Oh god. Was it the one where someone’s leg was bent at a weird angle and I grabbed it and said some medical jargon I didn’t understand and then fixed their leg, was it that one?
Riese: No, so far you’ve only had one line, and in the first episode you didn’t have any lines at all—
Kylo: My Mum was like, “you don’t have any lines?” and I was like, “you didn’t see all the face acting I was doing?”
Riese: But then in the next episode you said something mean to Lauren’s girlfriend about her privilege.
Kylo: Oh sure.
Riese: Which I thought was a little harsh.
Kylo: I’m sorry.
Carmen: Kylo, I’m going to start with the main thing our readers will want to know about you as CEO, which is …. when did you know you were gay?
Kylo: I think I always knew in my bones and soul, but I had the bravery to admit it to myself maybe when I was 16, and then I eventually started telling people and exploring what that meant when I was 18.
Riese: Was there something that inspired your revelation at 16?
Kylo: Oh yeah. [laughs] Yes. She’s very straight and has a husband. But I should first say that my gender is interesting to this too, because that was also something that was really alienating for me when I was very young, being asked to wear anything feminine, but I didn’t really understand it. Which’s where my passion for creating representation across multiple communities comes from. But I conformed and got pushed into the mainstream, heteronormative society of Liverpool and the UK, and then I met a woman that I felt very passionately about, and that was very confusing and I figured that it must mean something about my sexuality.
Riese: Along those same lines, when did you know that you wanted to start a queer company?
Kylo: I’ve always wanted to start a queer company, but when did I have the resources and the privilege to do it? I mean, not until I was almost 30.
As I started to really understand my sexuality and my gender I could really see the ways that we’re very underserved and underrepresented across so many areas — from products and services to community. So I’ve definitely been passionate about doing it for a long time.
My first company was a production company focused on underrepresented folks behind the camera. That’s because I was getting booked as an actor, and there was a big push for diversity on-screen, but we didn’t seem to have that same diverse talent behind the camera, or writing the stories. I think For Them is solving the same issue, which is: how do we serve underserved folks in the community?
Carmen: That’s great. And I think that’s gonna lead right into my question, which is — when did you know that you wanted to buy this company and why? What do you think sets our company apart from everything else out there?
Kylo: Um, don’t be scared, Riese, but I’ve known of you for a long time. I’ve known Autostraddle ever since Autostraddle was made accessible to me on the interwebs. Autostraddle also told me about The L Word, which blew my whole mind wide open, and it was cool to keep going back to Autostraddle to keep up on what you thought about the episode that I’d watched.
I think Autostraddle genuinely — it’s cheesy to say, but it helped me come out because it helped me understand that there’s so many queer folks out there living lives that are cool and interesting and full. You all have such a unique voice and a strong connection with your community.
So I’ve been a massive superfan, and a genuine fan ever since I could remember. Then I got the pleasure of meeting Riese and we just got on really well. We realized that the way we think and the way you all think is very similar in terms of mission and what we’re trying to achieve and what’s important. I think that’s really, really rare and I haven’t come across that a lot in the business world, of two people driving towards the same goal from a different angle. Then I met the whole Autostraddle team and in terms of mission, in terms of ethos, the whole team’s incredible. And it just felt like it was a very easy decision from my end, to be honest.
Riese: I love that!!!! Okay, so. When you were little, did you dream of owning a website that recently published an article called, “How Many Times Did I See Black Swan in Theaters While Closeted? An Investigation”?
Kylo: It was my one and only dream.
Riese: Follow-up — how many times have you seen Black Swan?
Kylo: Actually, a lot. Actually a lot.
Riese: Really?
Kylo: Yeah, I’ve seen it a lot, it’s so sexy. I can’t say that enough. So thank you for the article, thank you to Black Swan. It could do with a little more diversity in the cast, but that’s the lens I’m always driving with. But it’s sexy and important.
Carmen: I think objectively both of those things are true. I think the readers are gonna love knowing that you think it’s sexy. We all agree there.
Kylo: Excellent.
Carmen: I actually have a serious question, which is, what are your dreams for Autostraddle for our employees, our writers, our readers?
Kylo: I don’t know if this term resonates for folks that haven’t done improv, but, but it’s just: “yes, and.” Everything that you’ve achieved, I’m in awe of, I think it’s so incredible. You have this amazing 14-year year base, and I’m not trying to disrupt that, and I’m really excited to be able to provide that to our members, and for Autostraddle members to get all the perks that our members have, access to our products and services, and to hear from them what they want, and to invest in those ideas.
And here’s the thing: I’m a builder. I’m a CEO. I can build stuff. I haven’t built a successful editorial business, and that’s why I wanted to go out and seek the advice and collaboration of people who have done this really well. I want to give it more structure and resources and grow it to the point that you dream of. I think because we’re all naturally driving towards the same mission, not much will change. We’re just saving and bolstering that queer archive that we care so much about.
Carmen: I do feel like this fits right into my question which is, what has been the most exciting and the most surprising thing about working with these weirdos?
Kylo: Who are the weirdos? You all? Us?
Riese: Autostraddle. Our team.
Kylo: We’re pretty weird too, so, it doesn’t feel that different? I’m used to working with an all-queer team that has amazing creative ideas that are a little bit out of the box, so it feels like a perfect fit from my end. I’m also just super-excited to have more than just one person on our team who can write, which is Motti. Motti would like to sleep a little more and write a little less I think.
Motti: Kylo hired a Brooklyn stand-up comic to run comms for the company.
Kylo: That’s right, and I regret nothing. Hm, what was most surprising? I think I’ve been surprised how well we fit together. I feel that is quite rare, right? Like, I could genuinely hang out with all of you. I don’t know that that happens a lot at work, you know?
Riese: Probably not, but what do I know? I work here.
Carmen: Okay, my next question is, should our readers be terrified that our site is gonna turn into Binder Sponcon overnight, or will we keep the editorial independence that they have come to expect and adore?
Kylo: Certainly the latter. Please educate me, what is Binder Sponcon?
Riese: It’s sponcon about binders.
Carmen: Correct.
Kylo: Sponsored content about binders. Oh, okay! I think the queer community is much more than binders, although I think binders are a good parallel to how underserved we are and that’s why For Them started out manufacturing a binder. But totally, editorial independence will be kept, you’ll continue to foster an audience of lesbian, queer and trans people. Carmen will be at the helm, and I just hope that we do even more content with more folks in the community. But no binder sponcon — well actually — you’re not even gonna do one? Maybe one. I’m not saying none.
Carmen: Maybe one.
Kylo: Not on day one.
Riese: Maybe day three. Binder Day.
Carmen: You’re joking but we will make up holidays.
Riese: Yea, like “It’s Great To Be Gay Day.”
Carmen: Which is 100% made up and does not happen at the same time every year, it happens when we decide it happens.
Riese: Yeah I love that. We sold a lot of stickers for that holiday.
Carmen: We sure did.
Riese: Okay my next question is, I’ve noticed that (ForThem COO) Em puts two question marks at the end of an ask in Slack. Is that a British thing? Or do you think it’s meant to connote urgency? Or to give me a heart attack every time she asks me for something?
Kylo: I don’t believe it’s a British thing. I think it’s probably to note urgency.
Riese: Okay wow, so there is a lot of urgency then.
Kylo: But is that urgency being communicated well with those two question marks? It’s probably a habit. I mean, Em?
Em: I have nothing to say for myself other than being haphazard with my keyboard.
Kylo: I think it’s a habit. When Em types on her laptop, fire comes up from her keyboard. And the way that she reads her screen is flying upwards and down and left and right and it will give you a full-blown panic attack if you are anyone but Em.
Riese: It’s true. Whenever we’re on a meeting and you’re doing something on the computer, your eyes are darting all over the place.
Carmen: Oh my God, like full-on Matrix?
Em: Trinity is my absolute idol, so I’m into that.
Carmen: Okay, speaking of British things, can you say something British for our British readers?
Kylo: Well, I was gonna say “good day gov’na” but it’s not 1800, so I don’t know. You haven’t heard the full Liverpool accent, which is actually pretty specific.
Em: It’s amazing and I love it. It’s like, “we snogged outside the chippy.”
Riese: Okay, let’s say we run into each other on a cobblestone street on our way to a Shakespeare play and you want to invite me over for tea tomorrow. What would you say?
Kylo: I’d say “hey mate, do you wanna grab some tea?”
Riese: Hm. [disappointed]
Carmen: This is great, I feel like I’m inside of Love Actually. My Beckham has been bent.
[Riotous laughter]
Em: That’s the reference of the century.
Riese: Okay real question: How do you plan to foster a positive company culture?
Kylo: So, ForThem’s been active for three years. I’ve built companies before this. I’ve also been in a lot of bigger companies where I felt like culture was not being fostered in a safe and good way. And so I have all of those learnings and I’ve basically tried to build a queer company from scratch. So a lot of that has stuff that’s non-traditional, based around structure that I think creates safety and openness and collaborative behaviors in the team, we’re very intentional about our values. So I want to continue as we’ve started. We take a lot of feedback from the team, you’re very collaborative.
I think that’s really all I have to do as a leader, is just listen to folks and try to strive to create a great environment for everyone. I know I’m not perfect. We just do our best out here.
Carmen: Okay. Riese told me that you don’t like reading Slack messages that are over two paragraphs long. Have you ever read an article on Autostraddle.com?
Kylo: Yes! [laughs] Okay, in my mind, publications and Slack messages are two different kinds of content, right? The wonderful and nuanced and interesting writing on the Autostraddle website cannot be compared to urgent two question mark slack messages, right? I’m a team member that just loves to hear people’s voices. I think as we’re asking folks to do things it just creates a little bit less friction. Riese’s slack message was like — some words were bolded, there were some italics in there, some underlines, there were paragraphs and bullet points, it’s like, structure. It’s like a love letter, you know?
Riese: A love letter about health insurance, yeah.
Kylo: A love letter about health insurance and I will not read it!
Riese: My next question is, which part of Autostraddle do you intend to torch first?
Kylo: [laughs]
Nico: Make sure that you write “laughs, but not villainously.”
Riese: “Laughs kindly and generously.”
Carmen: “Laughs, but not like a Disney villain.”
Motti: “Laughs, but takes out the flamethrower.”
Kylo: Nothing! I don’t plan to torch anything.
Riese: Okay. How do you plan to manage and leverage the company’s resources effectively?
Kylo: Look, indie publications are tough to run. Traditionally, Autostraddle has overspent slightly in certain areas, but that’s not due to any mismanagement of funds, but rather, because they’ve struggled to balance their ethics around fair wages and providing opportunities for new talent with the realities of maintaining sustainable revenue streams for a mid-size media company. It’s unprecedented how long Autostraddle has survived on just a boot-strapping model. So what we’re going to be doing is building a scalable budget that over time can grow in a way that still feeds the business. I began my career and education in finance, I was originally an auditor (!) and then became CFO for various startups. Being an entrepreneur in residence at prehype helped me match my financial background with skills of how to build sustainable companies. So I’m bringing a lot of knowledge and experience to the table, but I believe you’ve done an amazing job with the very limited resources that you’ve had.
Carmen: So what are you most excited to see happen in the new Autostraddle x ForThem merger?
Kylo: I want to nurture what you’ve already built, but then create even more opportunity for more underrepresented queer writers, and venture into more podcasts and into new queer IRL spaces, too. We’re building your puzzles into an app. I know that’s something Riese and I talked about early on, moving into the areas that your audience has been asking for for a long time but you haven’t had the resources and human power to do it. I think that’s really exciting because to me, you’ve already told me what folks want, right? But you haven’t had enough people to be able to drive towards it. I’m just excited to drive towards those things that you would’ve done if you’d had all the resources in the world, you know?
Carmen: I think that’s a great answer.
Riese: Okay, next question – do you remember what snack I got when we went to that co-working space in February, on the day we were looking through our finances? Like, I remember the snack was kind of a weird concept, but I don’t remember specifically what it was.
Kylo: Yes, I do, because I remember feeling like it was just quite a surprising choice. Because it was lunchtime. You got some sort of granola yogurt thing, is that right?
Riese: Oh, I did. But also I got like, a bowl of some sort of potato something?
Kylo: Yeah exactly.
Em: And there was this big pot of sauce and it made me feel sick when I looked at it. It had a bad texture.
Kylo: It was a pretty unique choice. It made me even more excited for our conversation because it made me think wow, this person is different.
Riese:Yeah, exactly.
Kylo: This person thinks outside the box, you know?
Riese: Uh-huh.
Kylo: Like, there was avocado toast on that menu —
Riese: Yeah, I could’ve gotten that.
Kylo: There was pizza on there — there was… anything but that. I actually really enjoyed that choice.
Riese: That means a lot to me, thanks.
Nico: “There was anything but that.”
[laughter]
Riese: I don’t think I ate it though.
Kylo: You did not. Which was even more interesting.
Carmen: Okay, last question: what are you most nervous about when it comes to running Autostraddle?
Kylo: So my goal is and has always been to serve the queer community, and my worry is that we as a collective won’t have all the tools we need to get it right every time — there are so many perspectives to consider and validate, and then, so many opportunities to make mistakes. So I hope we have the opportunity to learn from them. But I think with a larger team, and lots of different queer folks’ perspectives, we’re gonna get better and better at this stuff over time. We have a really diverse team too — across race, gender — I think that’s why it’s important to stay as collaborative as possible, right? This is not a dictatorship. I’ve learned so much from my team that I knew nothing about before. This is a real collaborative team, and the more we lean into that, and listen to everyone’s voice, the more we’ll be able to get closer to serving folks right every time. I want to keep learning, you know, as we go.
Motti: This is especially hard for Kylo because they are an 80-year-old man. Sometimes they need to be told what’s cool and hip and stuff.
Kylo: That’s true, you can put that in.
Riese: What do you think is cool and hip?
[pause]
Riese: Do you wanna ask Motti?
Kylo: [looks at Motti] Bum bags?
Riese: Bum bags?
Kylo: Bum bags! Bum bags and slippers. I know you call them fanny packs—
Carmen: Ooooh oh my god, I was like “what are you talking about?”
Nico: “Fanny Pack” would have different implications across the ocean.
Carmen: Ohhhh right because “fanny” across the ocean—
Kylo: Right ‘cause fanny is a vulva, so.
Riese: It sounds to me like a colonoscopy bag.
Nico: It sounds like maybe a preparatory instrument.
Motti: An enema for bottoms! Called a “bum bag.”
Riese: That’s good!
Kylo: Look at this product development we’re doing on this call!
Riese: My last question is, have you seen Suits? Meghan Markle is in it, and she’s married to the prince of your country. Harry. Prince Harry.
Kylo: I have seen Suits. Yeah. She is married to the prince of our country.
Riese: She’s very pretty, right?
Kylo: Yes, she is very pretty. And it’s a shame that we have lost her as an actor, but it is a privilege that we have gained her as a princess. Meghan, I love you.
Riese: [to Nico] Do we have any other questions we need to ask?
Nico: You gotta work in member support.
Riese:“We will collapse without ongoing member support.” Can you tell that to our readers?
Carmen: “True or false—”
Riese: “True or false — we still need massive member support to survive? Please don’t cancel!”
Kylo: So, hi, A+ members. Welcome. Your wonderful member dollars will still be driven to the same awesome place that they were driven to before, so all of your membership money will sustain our wonderful queer writers. They will create queer content, and Autostraddle as a whole has its own budget and that’s where 100% of your A+ dollars will go. We have a membership program as well, and those programs will eventually merge and you’ll have access to even more cool perks and features than you do now.
Riese: That’s great, thank you!
Kylo: Okay. So last point, I’m from Liverpool and we are very passionate about our football team. And our sort of statement for the football team is “you’ll never walk alone.” And I just wanna get that in there.
Carmen: We’ll make it work.
Kylo: There’s a song around it, I’m going to send it to you. You have to sing it with your hands above your head screaming.
Riese: I’m from Ann Arbor, Michigan, and what we say is, “Go Blue.”
Carmen: I also grew up in Southeastern Michigan saying “Go Blue.” But famously, I pretend not to know sports, but I would like to officially announce here that I am going to come in second place in the Autostraddle WNBA Fantasy league this year.
Kylo: Whoa.
Carmen:And that is only after a year of learning basketball.
Kylo: Oh, that’s amazing.
Carmen: Knock on wood. Watch, by the time this is published, I’ll get knocked out of second place. But knock on wood.
Riese: You’re winning now, and this moment is all that matters.
Addressing Your Privacy Concerns
Apologies that we didn’t pre-empt the concerns that we’re seeing around data collection and privacy. We want to address those concerns now.
In terms of the data Autostraddle has on A+ members: we have the name and email you signed up with. If you have received perks, we have your address. This is very similar data that any online shop might have for you. We do not have access to your credit card or other payment information, as that is encrypted via third party payment processors and we don’t have any ability to access that information. To be perfectly clear, advertisers have asked Autostraddle in the past for more reader data, and we have not collected it nor sold it.
For Them, similarly to Autostraddle, collects name, email, phone number device information and payment info (via a third party processor), as well as address when necessary for shipping products. The “gender tracking” on the app is not referring to any kind of biometric data tracking, but rather to a reflection style feature of the app. The app allows you to track how euphoric, confident or joyful you feel on any given day in a kind of personal diary, for your own personal use. It also allows you to track your outfits. None of this data is medical or biometric. Location is not tracked. We never, ever ask about medical procedures, HRT, diagnoses, medical history or anything of that matter. If anyone wishes to download their information to review, bring to a therapist, etc. then they can download their history. Other than that, this information is not shared with anyone. Users also have the option to delete their entire profile at any point they deem necessary. None of this data is sold to third parties, and never will be, nor would it be useful in any way in terms of salability to third parties. These features were developed through conversations and work with beta testers who requested these features be made available to them in the app and this “tracking” is the end product in and of itself, and is not intended as a means of scraping data. All data is encrypted and secure.
A+ members will be able to opt in as to whether they download the app and they will be able to opt into using any individual features within the app. There is no way for us to force you to download the app, and since the website will still be accessible as a website, it will not be necessary to download the app to continue to read and access A+ content. The merging of the memberships may involve migrating our data to a more secure and advanced system, but that’s not in order to sell it, but rather because we might have the chance for the first time in 10 years, to use a member database that is not made out of tape and bubblegum. Mostly, the “merging” of the memberships was just our way of communicating that members of both companies are going to start receiving each others’ perks and benefits. For Them is going to be releasing new products in the future, and for example, A+ members at the Silver level and up are going to be getting discounts on those products. For Them members will get to read A+ content. We’re working on building out the tech that will allow all this to happen smoothly, but that does not involve in any way selling your data or obtaining data from you that you don’t willingly give us.
We also want to close by addressing the concerns around the following phrase in For Them’s privacy policy: “Finally, we may also share your Personal Information to comply with applicable laws and regulations, to respond to a subpoena, search warrant or other lawful request for information we receive, or to otherwise protect our rights.” While this is absolutely standard language when it comes to privacy policies (you’ll find this in many other queer apps’ privacy policy for example), we want to assure you that unlike certain other media companies we shall not name for legal reasons, we will not blanket comply with information requests, but will instead take any such requests (or orders in the case of subpoenas and warrants) through our legal team. Keeping our community safe is our priority.
We will not harvest or sell user data to third parties. For Them’s physical products and the app are our end game. Autostraddle will continue to create content which is also our end game. Our end game is not data harvesting. Ultimately, whatever we’re doing, whether it’s making gender affirming products or lesbian content, we’re here to serve our community. Our legal team is currently reviewing an updated privacy policy that addresses all the above concerns in greater depth. This will be published within the week. We hope this was clarifying and helpful, but do feel free to thread any questions.
