Sunday, February 6, 2021

Hi! I decided to send the newsletter early this week to avoid getting lost during the Superbowl. Despite my headline, I will confess that I do not have a Superbowl doodle. Shoutout to my friend Alex who filled me in... Tom Brady is not longer a Patriot?! I was behind.

Before I get into the doodles I DO have for you, I want to thank you for reading last week's newsletter about my mom and for the supportive, kind messages. I was scared to share, but I'm glad I did. I'm thinking about her a lot this month <3

And, I am getting surgery tomorrow to fix a leak in my left ear. I'm not exactly sure how recovery will be (I took next week off work), so the newsletter may or may not come next Sunday depending on how I feel.

On to the doodles — this week, I was inspired by lots of juicy news. I explain an exposé about the demise of Ample Hills, a popular ice cream brand that started in Brooklyn; I doodle about the poor billionaires having a tough time; I share a snippet of a column about the stock market influencers based on my doodles, and I deliver on the Sex & the City "where are they now" video! 

The scoop on Brooklyn ice cream darling's MELTDOWN 

Last week, an exposé revealed everything that went wrong with this promising, beloved Brooklyn-based ice cream company.

Someone at work asked if anyone had the TLDR (too long, didn't read) on this story, which is very long. I'm a huge Ample Hills fan (it has been there during friend catch-ups, breakups, quality time with my dad, etc..), so I had actually read it and texted a synopsis to my friends in the neighborhood and I sent a screenshot of that to my coworkers. They suggested a doodle.

More scoop:

I actually went to Ample Hills in my neighborhood yesterday to see if it was open. It was, and I talked to the scooper there. He said the founders were really nice but had no business sense. He also asked if the story was bad because he hadn't read it yet ... "Yes." Also, I think some people thought stores closed because of the pandemic, but it seems the two were unrelated. The company went bankrupt in mid-March, and that's why stores closed. They're now reopening under new management.

Some empathy:

I have a soft spot for the founders because my parents ran a business together and because I'm also a creative who struggles with numbers. Please don't ask me how my Etsy finances work, I truly have no idea. But for me, the stakes are a little bit of money out of my own pocket, for them, it was millions of money from investors. But I did learn something from my dad, who has been advising startups for decades — you have to look at the financial statements if you're running a business! This couple didn't. And I've been listening to their podcast, which is honest, inspiring, and interesting. They got in over their heads and moved too fast.

This was one of the most challenging doodles I've done because I had to synthesize a lot of info into 9 squares and make it light-hearted but informative and accurate. I tapped into my journalism skills, too. I think it's one of my most useful ones so far and I'm proud of it! Tell me what you think!

I made a video of this too! My longest yet because this is a big story. 

Billionaires are literally shaking in their towers 

Five years ago, 432 Park Ave was finished, adding an ugly super-tall skyscraper to the Manhattan skyline. It was called a middle finger, a cigarette, an abomination... It's very skinny and looks unsafe and unlivable. Well, apparently it is. And the billionaire residents are complaining about leaks, wind noise, shaking, losing value, etc. They're also fighting with each other about how to deal with the problems, which somehow makes this story even more satisfying. I bet they'd happily move into a sturdy, old 5-story walk-up now.

That inspired me to include some other billionaires. The hedge fund managers can breathe for a minute now that they got some control of the Gamestop stock, but the story won't be over that fast whether it's lawsuits or more unrest from us little people.

And, Jeff Bezos surprised us by announcing he's stepping down as Amazon's CEO and will just be chairman. I asked myself to pull up some of his most memorable moments like that little cheating/nude photo scandal, his divorce, and creating a country-wide competition for a new HQ2. 

I wrote a column! 

Elon Musk Emerges as a Stock Market Influencer During a Dramatic Week for Investors

My first cartoon column was published in Disruptive Technologiststs today based on two of last week's doodles! Here is a preview:

Growing up, I remember my dad watching Jim Cramer all day yelling about the stock market on cable TV. Ah, simpler times.

It seems like now, all it takes is following Twitter, especially Elon Musk, to see where the market is going. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing — I’m just a marketer with some risk-averse investments. And I draw cartoons.

This week, the stock market stories gave me inspiration for a couple of doodles about stock market influencers, a new people vs. the rich narrative, and unlikely unity.

Read the whole thing here.

I dress up like the Sex & the City characters

I included this doodle in a newsletter a couple of weeks ago, but here's the video! While I await the Sex & the City return as And just like that and an HBO Max account to borrow, I imagine where the Sex and the City characters would be today with a doodle and some dress-up. 

We’ve got Miranda, Steve, Charlotte, Carrie, Big, and Samantha keeping up with the times. 

I think it's one of my favorite videos because I mixed the doodles and myself naturally to tell the story. And, I finally made a proper YouTube thumbnail.

Danielle in Doodle updates

I sold a few Valentine's Day cards this week, yay! (thanks to some of you who have ordered! I am feeling the love! <3 ) But, not from USPS, which is slow, especially for customers out of state. 

And I got a funny mean comment on my tweet about my Amy Schumer responding to Hilaria Baldwin doodle.

"You cannot decide what someone else 'meant', do you realize how ridiculous that is? If Amy didn’t explicitly say something, you have zero right to declare the meaning behind her words. Good heavens, it’s 2021, surely you would have learned that lesson by now."

They clearly don't get my humor but I appreciate the engagement. Also, I recently discovered that Amy has been accused of stealing jokes, thanks to a helpful comment on YouTube, so, I don't think I'm the person he should be scolding!

Thanks for reading! See you next week, or the week after, recovery dependent. Enjoy the Superbowl! But not like this group of friends in a hilarious SNL spoof last night with Dan Levy (amazing host!)

xo

PS: Some email housekeeping:

1) Sometimes this newsletter goes to promotions, so add the address to contacts if you want to receive it in your main inbox. 

2) You can reply directly to this email and I will receive it!