27-year-old ran a One Direction fan account as a teen—now she runs a media brand with 3.4M followers including Lorde and Bella Hadid: 'I love my job'

Abby LaurensonLucy Blakiston used to think working in media meant living a glitzy life wearing kitten heels, getting her nails done and working from chic offices

Instead, the 27-year-old runs her media empire, S--- You Should Care, from her bedroom in Wellington, New Zealand, where she s with six of her town friends and prefers the quieter life

The cheerful room is "where the magic happens," Blakiston tells CNBC Make It

It's where, starting at 5 a. , she writes her daily that covers political and pop culture news for some 80,000 readers around the world, and posts to an Instagram ing 3. 4 million people strong, including Lorde, Bella Hadid, Madonna and, most surprisingly to Blakiston, Joe Rogan. "All I need is my friends, my family, my bike and my laptop, and I'm so happy," Blakiston says

Covering the news can be exhausting and depressing, yet Blakiston considers it a privilege to fill a gap in legacy media by viding access to global news to Gen Zers in language they can relate to — and make a living out of it. "I love my job," she says

At first, the blog was a hobby for the three college students to break down complicated world issues, the Rohingya crisis, for themselves and their friends while in between classes and part-time jobs

They aimed to der information that wasn't so "black and white" or "boring," Blakiston says

Part of making the news accessible to fellow Gen Zers was meeting them where they are — on social media pages Instagram, TikTok and the platform now known as X

Blakiston says she channeled the skills she learned from running a One Direction fan account as a teen (social media management, photo editing and mobilizing an engaged audience) into creating SYSCA's distinct voice and apach to dering "the news without the blues. " For every post war or the climate crisis is a "timeline cleanse" post featuring Harry Styles, or a mundane poll whether cookware belongs in the dishwasher to help ers channel their frustration into a lighthearted online debate

Building a with your best friendsBy the end of 2020, Blakiston was working for a media company and says her boss encouraged the trio to take SYSCA from a hobby to a full-fledged. "He was, 'Girl, you have 3 million people listening to what you're saying

Why are you not getting paid for this. '" Blakiston says

Blakiston, Edwards and Mercer rented an office in Auckland to turn SYSCA into a ; Edwards handled partnerships, Mercer led design and Blakiston wrote the voice behind the brand. "People say, 'Don't go into with your friends, but they obviously don't have friends mine,'" Blakiston says of her co-founders. "I'm talking sisters

We've been friends since we were 14, and so we knew each other deeply. "You just need to make sure you're doing something that you're ud of, and don't take criticism from people that you wouldn't take opinions from in your real life

Lucy BlakistonCo-founder of S--- You Should Care Over the years, Edwards and Mercer left to pursue other opportunities abroad

By 2023, Blakiston was the sole co-founder who wanted to keep SYSCA running. "They set it up; they got it looking great; they got us the confidence that people would pay for the work we did," Blakiston says. "And then it was kind of, 'OK Luce, we've built you up

You can go and do it on your own. '"'Be cute for you'It's not always easy being a young woman working on the internet, let alone building a media company when the industry faces significant challenges

Global trust in the news is lower than it was during the height of the pandemic, according to re from Reuters, while selective news avoidance and concern what's real and fake in online news ticked up in recent years

Blakiston counts her ex-boss, the one who encouraged her to take the leap with SYSCA, as a mentor and says he's given her the best advice: "Just be cute for you. "Blakiston recalls him telling her, "You just need to make sure you're doing something that you're ud of, and don't take criticism from people that you wouldn't take opinions from in your real life. ""I'm just being cute for me, and if people love it, great," she adds. "But at the end of the day, if I don't love it, I'm not going to be good at my job. "That mindset is also why Blakiston says she doesn't shy away from being cringe on the Internet. "In the age of social media, if you want to be someone or put your work out there, you actually cannot worry the audience

You have to be yourself and just do it

And if other people are gonna think that's cringe, that is a jection of them

That is not your blem

What other people are thinking you is not your blem. "Running a Gen Z media companyThese days, Blakiston runs her media company with another town friend and current roommate, Abby Laurenson, who handles design and runs the group's book

The co-founder resists advice from others to scale up, which she considers "such a bro mindset. ""I never want my job to be managing a team," she says. "I want my job to be talking directly to the people. "I make enough money to be able to do what I love and be happy

Earlier this year, Blakiston co-wrote a book, "Make It Make Sense," and she also takes paid speaking and consulting gigs in order to re-invest earnings back into the

Blakiston say she's "ud" that the money to keep SYSCA afloat "comes from people just supporting the and the work

I always say, 'Normalize paying for the media you love,' and that's what they do. "Blakiston declined to additional details the 's earnings but says her main financial goals with SYSCA are to make enough money to cover her rent, pay contractors that help different parts of the, and grow her network of paid contributing writers. "I make enough money to be able to do what I love and be happy," she says

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