Exclusive: Betches Media CEO Aleen Dreksler launches Substack advice column
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Aleen Dreksler. Photo illustration: Axios Visuals. Photo: Betches Media/Laura Valencia
Betches Media CEO Aleen Dreksler has launched a newsletter on Substack to share advice about careers, relationships, motherhood and more.
Why it matters: Dreksler joins a growing list of media leaders and entrepreneurs sharing thoughts on leadership through a newsletter.
Catch up quick: Three college friends — Dreksler, Jordana Abraham and Samantha Sage — founded Betches in 2011. The digital media company publishes news and entertainment content geared to women on social media, its website and newsletters. It also has a podcast network and hosts events.
- LBG Media, a U.K.-based publicly traded firm that operates LADbible and UNILAD, acquired Betches in 2023. All three co-founders are still in the C-suite, including Dreksler as CEO.
How it works: Please Advise will publish weekly and answer audience questions, Dreksler tells Axios in an exclusive interview.
- Her first column is timed with Betches' 14th birthday and covers navigating a male-dominated work environment and how best to seek feedback.
- "Betches has always been about figuring ourselves out together as a group of women, and of course, through humor, and I really want to use this platform to continue to do that," Dreksler says.
- "And I would like to be that ... advice giver that I wish I had and bring the ladder down, as they say," she adds.
- Dreksler has no immediate plans to monetize the newsletter.
The big picture: Media leaders have taken to launching newsletters rather than just sharing their thoughts on social platforms like X and LinkedIn, on stages, or in boardrooms.
- Morning Brew co-founder Austin Rief said he was starting The Austin Brief when announcing his exit as CEO last week.
- Colin Morrison, whose career accolades include former CEO of Axel Springer International and COO of Future, writes Flashes & Flames.
- Brian Morrissey founded The Rebooting after serving as president and editor-in-chief of Digiday.
Between the lines: Dreksler says she chose to publish on Substack as she found herself, her friends and Betches' audience spending more time there.
- "I love that it's a really creative and thought-provoking corner of the internet, and it's for personal niche interests," Dreksler says. "I love that it's a social platform without this really intense quick hit algorithm."
What's next: Betches has several big projects in store for 2025, such as bringing back its awards show "Betch of the Year," growing its new vertical Betches Sports and launching a live experience celebrating women comics.
