5 Q's with Kara Jesella and Marisa Meltzer

I admit it. I wasn’t exactly on the cutting edge of cool in the eighties and nineties. I wasn’t even allowed to watch Saved By the Bell, so I definitely did not get to read Sassy (sadly). But Kara Jesella and Marisa Meltzer did. Inspired by their shared loved of Sassy, the two wrote a book called How Sassy Changed My Life , which was just released yesterday. I'm pretty impressed by what these ladies uncovered and how they put it into context with Third Wave Feminism, so dust off your Caboodle and read on…
Urban Muse: Could you give us a little sneak peek at what readers can expect to learn about Sassy and the teen magazine movement?
Kara and Marisa: How Sassy Changed My Life is a book about the rise and fall of a teen magazine that was unlike any teen magazine that came before—or since. We talk about how the magazine came to be and why it was so important—because it brought teen girls what they weren’t being brought in other places, like independent culture, a version of feminism that was especially for them, and advice on sex. We also talk about what was going on behind-the-scenes at the magazine and why it couldn’t last.UM: I'd love to hear how two collaborated during the writing and editing process... How did you two blend your voices?
K & M: We had worked together as writer and editor before we started writing the book—Marisa wrote some stories for Kara when she was an editor at Teen Vogue—and so we were used to collaborating. And we already knew we had the same sensibility. Our approach to writing the book was to spend a lot of time at our favorite tea shop, where we would talk through all of the ideas and the structure for whatever part of the book we were working on. Then we would divide up the work—who would write what—and once we were each done with a draft, we'd begin emailing it back and forth to one another, editing each other's copy until we were both happy with the result. By the end of the book we were no longer sure who had originally written what.UM: What's the most surprising thing you discovered while you were researching the book?
K & M: There were so many surprising things that it was hard to say. But we realized over and over again that Sassy was even more groundbreaking than we had even realized initially. Marisa and I almost fell off our chairs when we went back through old issues of Seventeen magazine from the same time that Sassy debuted and realized how unbelievably retro it sounded. There were all kinds of articles on how to decorate your first apartment with your new husband. This was in a magazine aimed at teenagers! It all made a little more sense when we found out that the editor-in-chief of Seventeen was a sixty-something-year-old ex-nun (ed. note: I'm still shocked about that one).UM: You both have written for some pretty impressive publications. Any tips on querying and building relationships with editors?
K & M: Patience is always something important, since the length of time between pitching an editor and getting the piece published can sometimes be lengthy. Having original ideas is also pretty key, but I think it's also really important not to force them. When you stumble upon a really great story, it never feels forced.UM: Aside from Sassy, what is your favorite pop culture reference from the Sassy years (1988-1994)?
K & M: So many! We're both pretty obsessed with that era. There's riot grrrl, glitter makeup, tiaras and mary janes, The Secret History, Juliana Hatfield, Beverly Hills, 90210, the Sub Pop Singles Club. Our editor's assistant was saying that she and a friend were going over the book's index and both started cracking up at the very mention of Caboodles. She sent Marisa an email and was like, "I looooved my Caboodle. It was pink." It made me laugh.
Thank you both! Order your very own copy of How Sassy Changed My Life here .