'It reconnected me to the Rookie that I started': Tavi Gevinson on ending Rookie Magazine

For the past seven years, Rookie Magazine was a refuge for a generation of young people online. Its founder Tavi Gevinson was 15 years old when she started it back in 2011, and by then she had already broken through as a hugely influential fashion writer.

As an 11-year-old blogger, Gevinson's online popularity had put her in the same rooms as the world's top editors. Major magazines published glowing profiles about her, calling her the next big thing in media. With Rookie Magazine, Gevinson put the voices of young people front and centre. It covered topics ranging from how to choose birth control to dealing with depression to grief support and everything in between. 

Rookie Magazine was hugely successful and some people think that it changed the entire landscape of the internet, especially for girls and women. So when Gevinson announced that Rookie Magazine was shutting down, a lot of people felt like something big was coming to an end. Gevinson joined Tom Power from New York to reflect on the beginnings of Rookie Magazine, why free content isn't sustainable in the age of social media, and what's ahead for her. 

— Produced by ​Cora Nijhawan

Miss an episode of CBC q? Download our podcast here.