8 Questions for... Alicia Dara

Womancake Magazine

Photo by Claudio Schwarz on Unsplash

Alicia Dara

is a nationally recognized Executive speech and presentation coach based in Seattle. She has helped thousands of people including CEO’s, Global VPs, Executive Directors and US Presidential candidates break through blocks, find their Power Voice, and put it to work. Her most popular group training is Power Voice for Executives, which provides high-level communication skills that build trust with key stakeholders, and help each individual make maximum impact in their career. Alicia is also the creator of Power Voice for Career Women, which is both a skills training and a team-building event. Corporate clients include Microsoft, Amazon, Columbia Bank, Kimpton Hotels, Planned Parenthood, and Carhartt. Private clients include the National Women's Political Caucus, Graham & Walker, The Sequoia Project and members of Meta, Merrill Lynch, Booz Allen, Charles Schwab, Deloitte, Kirkland & Ellis, Seattle Trade Commission, Windermere, and X. In 2023 Alicia became the Founder and Editor in Chief of Womancake Magazine.

1. Why Substack?

In late 2022 Sari Botton published my essay about my time as a young female musician in the Seattle Grunge scene in her magazine, Oldster, which is hosted on Substack. That was the first time I’d heard of it, and the timing was good, because Sari was already well-known and Oldster was growing fast. The response to my essay was amazing. I knew I wanted to continue writing, but I didn’t want to do it alone. I took a good look at the people in my life and I realized that all the extraordinary older women (over age 40) were being left out of all the culture and media that I care about. So I started my own project, Womancake Magazine, in 2023, to showcase their skills, talents, and accomplishments. The name comes from the fact that around the world cake is a big part of celebrations, but as women age we are viewed as less and less worthy of celebration. I wanted a word that would remind us to celebrate ourselves and each other. I’m the Editor-In-Chief, and I also write a weekly essay. The staff also writes regular columns and essays, and we feature interviews with fantastic older women doing all kinds of amazing things in every sector and industry. Our community is kind, respectful and helpful to each other, and there’s a ton of encouragement and love that happens in the comments (it’s basically the opposite of every other comment section on the internet). I experimented with various platforms, but Substack has been the most intuitive for my particular learning style, and I also appreciate how many subscriptions are driven by the internal community. Substack’s stats and data are also quite thorough. They recently showed that we’ve got readers in 28 countries around the world! There are definitely some bugs that need to be worked out, and some features that don’t work as well as they should. Eventually I’d like to move Womancake to a platform that we own ourselves, but for now we’re happy to be here.

2. How long did it take you to find your groove?

From the very beginning, my mandate for Womancake was to be of service to our community every way we can, and write about topics that interest, engage, educate and uplift them. We started with 3 posts per week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday mornings around 6am), but it quickly became apparent, via Substacks stats and reports, that our audience was only engaging heavily with the first 2 posts. This actually works out better, as I have a day job, and so does each writer on my staff. So now we mostly publish 2 posts per week, and they have very high engagement. Quality over quantity definitely means something on this platform.

3. How has it changed you?

Being a good Editor-In-Chief means casting a critical but encouraging eye on the work of my staff, who are wonderful people leading compelling lives. Showcasing their voices and making sure that they come through loud and clear is my mandate as EIC. Editing their work has also greatly improved my own writing, and helped shape our mandate for everything we puslish: vivid, not pretty!

4. What mistakes have you made?

I would have filled out our staff much faster. Myself and my Managing Editor were doing most of the posts and interviews during the first year, and it was a doozy! This past year we gained our Music Editor, Celia Chavez, our Travel Columnist, Jennifer Silva Redmond, and our Beauty Editor, Shannon Park, all of whom have dedicated fans among our readers. We’re still looking for a Sex Columnist, a Fashion Editor, a Book Columnist and a Food Columnist, because we know our readers are compelled by all 4 of those things. Women over age 40, submit a sample of your writing (1.5K words or less) to womancakemag@gmail.com

5. To pay or not to pay?

We’re keeping it free and open until we hit a certain number of subscribers. Eventually we’ll put most of our posts behind a paywall and start offering exclusives to that group. We’re getting close to hitting our number, so sign up now!

6. What artistic and technical choices have you made?

We’ve found that our readers are most engaged and active with posts that are under 2K words, and often 1.5 is the sweet spot. There are times when I long to write longer, deeper pieces, but I’ll save that for my memoirs, I guess? In any case, we’ve made the choice for now to keep everything as simple as possible, which means we stick to the “newsletter in your inbox” format, no video or podcasting (I actually did do a mini-pod for a few months at the beginning of 2024, but it was too much to maintain in light of my day job schedule). I like that our graphics are kind of old-school, early-90s zine-ish, a bricolage of things that make sense to us.

7. What’s been the effect on your writing?

I publish a personal essay of my own almost every Monday on Womancake. That means I write every day, and it’s a powerful learning tool. Last year I finally figured out that my voice as a writer comes directly from my nervous system, and the way I experience the world through my senses. I had a dangerous childhood, and it put my limbic system on high-alert. I struggled for years to heal, and for a long time I believed limbic hyper-activity was negative. But recently I learned that the same circuits that fire when we’re stressed and anxious also do magical things when we’re inspired and productive (the secret is cultivating the latter state of being!). I’ve always trusted my creativity and the role it plays in my life. In my mind’s eye it’s a massive, gorgeous summer meadow, and I just run right into it with my arms wide open. I don’t write outlines for essays. I go in with a sense of curiosity, and a vague question that I want to engage with. The rest reveals itself as I write.

8. In it for the long haul?

As a writer? Definitely. With Womancake? Same. On Substack? Unknown. Sign up and stay tuned ;)

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