All jobs have a “time to make the donuts” dimension. You do your thing, rain or shine, awake or sleepy, enthusiastic or just keeping it together. You follow your schedule, and you hope that your work adds up to something worthwhile.
When someone notices that, it feels like magic.
Yesterday, we were featured in the Washington Post.
And by “we,” we mean you, too. This piece is about what makes a sustainable media business in 2026. The answer is all of us together, showing up to make the donuts. It is your consistent support over all these years that makes Pantsuit Politics: listening to episodes, continuing the conversations in comments and emails, sharing them with your friends, and paying for that monthly subscription rain or shine.
“The creator economy rewards patience, and few have been more patient than Beth Silvers and Sarah Stewart Holland, who started recording the podcast ‘Pantsuit Politics’ in 2015 from their bedroom closets, after their kids went to bed. For 11 years they’ve tried to leave listeners ‘empowered, not anxious’ — a task they admit has only gotten harder.”
There are ways in which we have been patient—doing our version of making the donuts through some very, very hard moments both politically and personally. But we have these jobs we love and this work that matters to us because of your patience, the way you’ve hung in with us when we’ve been tired or frustrated, when we’ve not said what you thought we’d say, when you’ve been mad at us or hurt by us. We have Pantsuit Politics because you built it into something bigger than us, and we see that when you’re hanging out together all over the country, running for office, leading campaigns in your communities, and hosting your America250 parties.
Thank you so much for being here with us. We say all the time that we want to honor your support every day, and we mean it. We do our best work here on Substack, and it’s for and with and because of you. We hope to be making the donuts with you for many years.
If you’ve been reading along for free and wondering when to make it official with a subscription, we’d love to have you. The comment sections and subscriber chat are the heart and soul of what we do here, and we do our best to make this, as Alyssa J said this morning in the chat, “a subscription that is worth every penny” (when we asked Alyssa if we could quote her on that, she said “the only thing I wanted to add is that I’m sorry I didn’t join the Spice Cabinet sooner!”).
Sarah and Beth
Congratulations! I'm so proud and grateful to be part of the Spice Cabinet. I want you to know that even though I don't comment on every episode, I absolutely have something to say about each one. But I'm usually driving or some other sort of multitasking and by the time I could comment I've forgotten the brilliant thing I was going to say in response to the brilliant things you said. But know that I have conversations with you both in my head multiple times a week. Listening to you has made me more nuanced, knowledgeable and sane. Oh and less reactive. Keep making the donuts! You've inspired me to continue making mine. XO
Congrats, ladies! I also wish I had become a paying subscriber sooner, too. I love what you do!!