One Hundred Magazines 💯
Plus: An interview with Chicago's Gracie Koh
blog.forty-four // One hundred magazines.
That’s the amount of copies we’ve (pre)sold—rather, a milestone we passed earlier this week. Out of those one hundred-plus, forty-one are annual subscriptions.
Whether you’re a longtime reader or stumbling upon us for the first time, I wanted to share this figure to express our sincere gratitude. As I’ve written before, we’re an independent publication, and we don’t exactly have a decades-old (or even century-old) name-brand recognition like Rolling Stone or Vanity Fair. We don’t have the same industry connections to the traditional media and entertainment world, either.
But your support helps give us the unique opportunity to pursue stories we find important—and take on projects we believe in. Right now, we’re a small team of three, punching above our weight; in the future, we’d love to build out a roster of talented contributors. Writers and storytellers across creative backgrounds, joining us in our mission to Make the Internet Feel Smaller.
If you’d like to become a “founding” member, you still have two days to sign up! It costs $60 a year, and you’ll receive…
All four of our 2025 print editions
Tickets to our quarterly Block Parties
Perks like exclusive blogs and apparel discounts
And if you’d rather read just our March 29th edition first to see what we’re all about, you can preorder the print here.
We’re scheduled to receive them from the printer tomorrow, and we can’t wait to start shipping them to you all soon enough—and hang out at the Block Party this Saturday.
— NGL
P.S. Last blog, we shared a story about “We The Culture,” a $25 million program (started by Meta) intended to uplift Black creators. We interviewed several participants who opened up about where they are now—you can read it here.
Sponsored by Fourthwall
It Only Takes 60 Seconds…
…yet when it comes to fostering a healthy community over the long run, sharing a personal thank-you note with every customer goes a long way.
Look: There’s a lot of different places our readers can spend their money. We understand that, which is why we want to express our gratitude in a meaningful fashion.
Fourthwall actually makes it easy for you to record and send short videos to each customer, one-by-one—I’ve personally been sharing thank-you’s with everyone who’s signed up so far. If you haven’t gotten yours yet, don’t worry…it’s arriving soon!
Join 200,000+ creators and artists using Fourthwall to power their shops—get started for free today.
Gracie Koh is a creator and filmmaker based in Chicago, Illinois. Born and raised in the Windy City, she’s directed campaigns with brands including Nike and Adobe—and shines both behind (and in front of) the camera.
The following conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Shua Buhangin: Hey Gracie! What were your biggest wins of 2024?
Gracie Koh: Well, for one, I was able to travel a lot. I went to, like, three different countries. I traveled all around the States. And so for that, I think that holistic experience of being able to travel for my work and getting to do what I love is, like, an absolute dream.
So my bigger picture answer is broadening my experiences. You realize how much more there is to explore beyond, you know, your city, and what you grew up looking at and being inspired by.
But I think the more specific experience that really resonates with me is a spot I did for Adobe Stock. It was one of my favorite projects I worked on in 2024, which is funny. From an outsider’s perspective, I got to work with a lot of huge, huge brands and go all over Europe.
The reason why is because I filmed this spot in Chicago, with an all-Chicago team. That resonated with me so deeply, because I was able to bring together a team of people that I've worked with since I started—along with a combination of new directors and team members I've looked up to for the longest time. I challenged myself to produce, direct, edit, and star in my own commercial, and it was so beyond challenging, but in such a rewarding way.
Sometimes, at the end of the day, while these amazing experiences and opportunities come to you, it's really about the people you surround yourself with and the team that you choose to stand alongside you.
SB: Yeah, that's definitely the sentiment that I hear from a lot of people. The relationships that you've been able to cultivate this past year…not only does it bring you up, but you feel the collective bond, and everyone's being lifted up at the same time.
I feel like you've definitely gone down the production and director route, too.
GK: As I've been exploring, I would love to keep going down this director—sort of, like, talent route. Something I think we've chatted about is that when you learn to be in front of the camera, you learn how to be a better director behind the camera.
Because when you're receiving direction and delivering this sort of emotion…when you have a really good director communicating that, you learn about the notes that you're receiving as the actor or talent. And then now, you get to apply that from a director standpoint.
So I've been in a season where I'm exploring so many different roles, but my heart has always just been in the directing, producing role. I feel like I was in this role before I even knew it. I knew I always loved bringing people together for projects, trying to give my friends opportunities and also just create spontaneously. And I think in the beginning I was realizing, whoa, this is what a director and a producer does. Maybe this is exactly what I want to do.
SB: With all of the things that you've learned about yourself and the projects you've done, what's something that you’re leaning into in 2025?
GK: Actually, I think I'm relearning—and I learned this a lot in 2024—that doing more doesn't mean you're actually doing more. I want to be way more intentional about the time and energy I'm putting into different projects and things I pick up.
Because in 2024, when I was taking a flight out, like, every weekend, and doing five different projects the same week—while trying to still balance a million other things I had planned—I kind of assumed that equated to grinding and being the best.
But when you're so split in different places, you're never fully there for that one project or for that one group. And in 2025, I want to be someone who's very present and very excellent in everything they do. Sometimes that just requires letting go, learning when things are the right time versus when things need your entire time and attention.
And I think as I applied that towards the latter half of 2024, I felt more like myself. I felt more creative—less burnt out and less stretched thin. And that's the energy I want to carry into 2025.
SB: So I have to ask…got any cool projects coming up in 2025?
GK: I do! I have a lot to look forward to, and a lot of them are more personal projects that I’m very excited about.
Everyone that knows me knows that no matter how busy client work gets, I always make time for just shooting myself for the sake of shooting. And those passion projects are so meaningful to me. So I have a couple of those lined up.
And I'm looking forward to finding my inspiration in places outside of social media. Film, movies, and just like…I miss going to live shows and concerts and places where I can exist in person. I'm actually very excited to explore a lot of that because I think this city where we’re from, Chicago, has so much of that culture.
And so I'm actually very excited to see what kind of inspiration that will bring to my future projects.
Thanks for reading! Shoot us a reply, comment, or DM if anything resonated with you in particular—we respond to them all.
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