About Take It Personal

We show you why moments in sports and culture are bigger and deeper than they look.

Take It Personal is a weekly podcast and Substack where we explore current topics in culture, media, sports, and the internet. We share candid thoughts that reflect what people are really thinking, sometimes politely, sometimes more bluntly, and always with humor.

Hosted by Steph Bartlett, Will Austen, and Jamie Renell.

If your group chat had a microphone and a mild obsession with context, it would look like this.

What you’ll find here

We don’t stick to one format because culture doesn’t stick to one mood.

Subscribe and expect a mix of:

• Longer reads when the take needs room to breathe

• Short posts when the point is simple, and the internet is loud

• Illustrations and visuals that make the chaos easier to understand

• Hot-take voice notes when something happens, and waiting a week would be irresponsible, so real-time reactions.

• Video is the most straightforward way to say it (or the funniest)

Everything lives here in one place, so you can actually find it again later. Revolutionary concept, we know.

What we cover

Sports-as-culture, music, TV and Film, media moments, internet behavior and culture, and the personal stuff that gets stirred up beneath it all.

Sometimes it’s hilarious. Sometimes it’s heavy. Usually, like life, it is both.

Why subscribe

Because your feed is chaotic and your time is valuable.

We’ll deliver the best takes straight to your inbox—so you can stay in the loop without living online.

Start here

— Steph, Will, and Jamie