Kells McPhillips is a health and wellness writer whose journalism has appeared in The New York Times, Well+Good, Fortune, Runner’s World, Outside, Yoga Journal, and others. Kells also holds an MFA in Creative Writing from The New School in New York City. In 2022, her short fiction was shortlisted for The Masters Review Summer Short Story Award for New Writers, and she is the 2023 recipient of theOffice fellowship in Santa Monica. She’s hard at work on a novel in the early mornings.
In this episode, hear how Kells got to her place as a freelance writer and her many different positions held at the highly regarded wellness magazine, Well + Good. Hear her thoughts on the world of freelance writing and how the world of journalism and media is changing now more than ever.
Here’s What You’ll Learn:
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Kells McPhillips is a health and wellness writer whose journalism has appeared in The New York Times, Well+Good, Fortune, Runner’s World, Outside, Yoga Journal, and others. Kells also holds an MFA in Creative Writing from The New School in New York City. In 2022, her short fiction was shortlisted for The Masters Review Summer Short Story Award for New Writers, and she is the 2023 recipient of theOffice fellowship in Santa Monica. She’s hard at work on a novel in the early mornings.
In this episode, hear how Kells got to her place as a freelance writer and her many different positions held at the highly regarded wellness magazine, Well + Good. Hear her thoughts on the world of freelance writing and how the world of journalism and media is changing now more than ever.
Here’s What You’ll Learn:
Listener Links:
Lexie Smith
Hey guys, I'm Lexie Smith, a mom, multi hyphenate entrepreneur and the founder and CEO of the PR bar Inc, coaching platform and agency. In my career I've had the privilege of guiding countless brands, genius, publicists, eager students and ambitious entrepreneurs on their PR journeys. I've danced with the Giants and nurtured startups, directed in house PR departments lend my expertise to boards and spread knowledge across universities nationwide. Throughout all of this, I've seen our industry change and evolve while simultaneously proving that some timeless fundamentals remain unshaken. This show takes you behind the scenes of the world of media, marketing and PR, aiming to teach you all the new tips, tricks and how the best and brightest are achieving success overseas. Now it's time to grow. Welcome to the show. Kells MC Phillips is a health and wellness writer whose journalism has appeared in The New York Times Well in good fortune Runner's World outside Yoga Journal and others. Kells holds an MFA in creative writing from the New School in New York City in 2022. Her short fiction was shortlisted for the Masters review summer short story award for new writers, and she is the 2023, recipient of the office fellowship in Santa Monica Kells, welcome to the show. Before we dive in, where is home base? And what do you like to do outside of work for fun?
Kells McPhillips
Thank you, again, so much for having me. I live in Santa Monica, California now. And I outside of work, do a lot of reading, and also a lot of movement, like running and climbing and hiking. Southern California is such a beautiful place to live for that sort of thing. So it's just when you're not outside, you sort of have outside FOMO
Lexie Smith
where in Santa Monica are you at I used to live in Santa Monica.
Kells McPhillips
I'm actually really close to the beach now. Like I live, like a 20 minute walk away. It's really, really nice to just be able to like go and be there.
Lexie Smith
i It's funny. So I lived in Santa Monica for three years. And I kind of bounced all around the closest I was third in Washington. And then I was on the other side of the freeway across from Lincoln. And I loved the walkability of it. The one thing that I really, really disliked was parking.
Kells McPhillips
Oh, yes, yeah, it's a cool thing. We have a great spot, which is like we have a covered garage, which is really nice here too. Because lately, there have been like a lot of people like messing with people's cars, like stealing things and everything. So nice to be able to lock up your car. But yeah, it makes it Avantika sound great. Usually it feels pretty safe, but at night, you know, you can
Lexie Smith
Yeah. It's a nice part of LA but so book wise, I know you're an author, but what do you like to read?
Kells McPhillips
I'm not an author yet. I Well, I've written some short stories that have gotten placed, but I'm still working on it. I'm working on a book though. So hopefully one day, you know, we keep keep going work, or keep working and keep, you know, keep writing. I am mostly a literary fiction reader. I just love kind of like that mix of story and language. So I kind of need both. And I just finished this really great, short story collection called heartbroke by Chelsea beaker. And I do love short stories in the summer because I have like a little bit shorter of an attention span. And I can just kind of dip in and out without feeling like, Oh, I haven't finished a book all summer. Yeah, it's been really nice.
Lexie Smith
What book are you working on? What's the topic?
Kells McPhillips
Oh, this question, or is it secret? Oh, no, it's not a secret. But it's funny because every time someone asks me I, like get so anxious, which is funny, because I should just talk about the book. The book I'm working on now is a climate fiction novel. Like the word that people are using now is clarify. But I don't know if everyone knows what that is. It's about a woman who is actually a shark reporter. She's living in this time where global warming has made it so that all the sharks are coming closer and closer to shore. So there are more shark attacks every single day. And thus, there's a need for shark reporters on these different attacks. So basically, this woman goes to an area that's loosely based off Cape Cod to pack up her grandmother's belongings. And her grandmother was this famous actress and she starts to sort of as She's packing up her grandmother's things, everything is just sort of coming to a head. She's writing about sharks, and she's really kind of coming to grips with some of the traumas that her grandmother endured. And it's sort of like a family The drama meets like a kind of raunchy shark movie, which those are some of my favorite movies like, JAWS is a Raji Jaws is a masterpiece, but like the mag, some of those more like, amazing, but very, like, you know, can't be movies. So that's sort of what I'm aiming for. I hope I explained that Okay, did
Lexie Smith
I'm captivated and terrified sharks are literally my number one fear on the planet, it has gotten more and more and more irrational. When I've gotten older. I love the beach, but even like, ankle deep water these days, I'm like, I'm gonna die, they're gonna come get the climate change part is terrifying. Do you do you? Okay, this is another loaded question. Do you have a general rough idea of when this might be available, hopefully, for the world to read, or,
Kells McPhillips
who knows. I mean, it's publishing is such a funny thing. I say, from an outside of publishing right now I am, you know, working on a third draft of this book. And I'm hoping to get an agent in the fall, or in the early like, in springtime. But it's once you get an agent, it can take so much longer than you would think it's, you know, usually you're going back and forth with your agent for a bit and going through edits. And then once you sell the book to the editor at Simon and Schuster, whoever you get to publish the book also does edits. So it can take a really long time. Like, if they you know, sometimes things get fast tracked, and they'll come out in like a year, but sometimes, it'll take three years, like I might be 30. By the time I'm like, really like talking about this book, which is good, maybe because it seems like I need a little bit of time to work on the pitch.
Lexie Smith
No, you your pitch was great. I was captivated. Or my producer messaged me to she's like, Oh my god, I'm obsessed with sharks. So you have two readers right now. And guys will include where you can connect with Kelly's at the end of the show. And that way, you can stay on her radar and keep an eye out for that. So I literally sharks are my worst fear. Um, so let me repeat, like rain it in Lexie, as I start to sweat. We're going to talk a little bit real quick before we get into kind of present day conversation about your career. CliffsNotes. So walk us through just high level. What came before today?
Kells McPhillips
Huh? Yeah, I started I guess like my really like when I kind of track back by career. It actually kind of starts at a meditation studio in New York City. I was working there as a volunteer so I could get free meditation. And the founder whose name was le burrows was kind enough to put my application for well, and good to kind of just put in a good word for me, I had applied to be the an intern at well and good. And actually, the first time oh, I should say, well, and good is like a women's health and wellness website. And at the time, it was really, it's very big now. But at the time, it was a little smaller. And actually, the first time I applied for the internship, I didn't, I didn't get it, they gave it to someone else. And I inquired again, when it was the next internship cycle, and I finally got it. So it took a little bit of effort to kind of get into the journalism field and some help from Le but then, once I was in a really like, I feel like I can really track how everything, everything great that's happened in my career kind of started there. So I started as an intern, but I was quickly hired after well, not quickly, but like a year later, I was hired as an editorial assistant. And then I was promoted to being a news writer, and then eventually to being a staff writer. And then from there, I kind of went off and decided to do my own thing. I tried to go in house at a few different like, wellness companies that weren't editorial, but I found that that wasn't really my thing. And so I've just since then been freelancing. And it's interesting, because it's just like, you just sort of see slowly how more and more people who, from your past are helping you get jobs and your presence. So a lot of people I worked with that well and good have now moved on to other places, and I work with them at ad companies, various different companies. So now I write for fortune and shape and outside and still well and good. And I've written one story for The New York Times, hoping to write more. I've also worked on the brand side for calm and equinox and beekeepers, naturals and a few other wellness companies. So I've kind of been around quite a bit.
Lexie Smith
All the places. Erica Sloane who's I believe she's still the current Lifestyle Editor. I had her on the show. So longtime listeners should be very familiar with well and good but huge fan. And actually I did want to real quick discuss two of your positions that well and good because I think titles can get really convoluted or confusing from the outside looking in. What would you say is the difference between when you are A News Writer and just As a staff writer,
Kells McPhillips
as a news writer, I was responsible for writing three to five stories a day that were very timely. So wellness stories that were like, if a celebrity used a particular product or wore a particular pair of leggings that we wanted to cover, or on a more serious note, if like the CDC released new exercise guidelines, I was responsible for writing about that. So I would write like three to five stories a day, it was, it was a hustle, it was like, you gotta be writing something every hour and a half or, you know, you're not going to meet your quota. So once you're a staff writer, it's a little bit more relaxed. And you can, you know, take a little bit more time that said, you still most staff writers still have to write like three stories a day, but they'll just be less timely. So it could be a story that's like, more what we call evergreen, which is just a story that's, you know, relevant year round. So that's sort of the that's, that's like the major difference between the two. Is there anything else that is kind of unclear there?
Lexie Smith
No, I think that's super, super helpful. And you just kind of reflect back from the pitching standpoint, right? When you're pitching and correct me if I'm wrong, at least for well, and good. The news was, it has to be breaking news, right? It's what's happening now, where when you became the staff writer, maybe you were receiving more evergreen, I always say evergreen is ever relevant. And actually, I think Erica Sloane, ironically, is the one who taught me that term on that show, Evergreen is ever relevant. And so now probably it opens up the opportunity for who you might be receiving pitches from, or the pool of stories you can pull from.
Kells McPhillips
Yeah, and most writers have like a huge backlog of stories that they've pitched and want to write. And so you're always kind of pulling from there. And as you get good pitches, you kind of incorporate it into your your quote, like your long list of things that you would like to one day, right when you have time.
Lexie Smith
So what So you're freelancing now, what are the different types of stories and beats you're covering these days.
Kells McPhillips
So it's interesting, because ever since I mean, even working at well and good, I never could niche down, I was the only person on staff who wasn't a specific type of writer, meaning like, I wasn't a fitness writer, I wasn't a lifestyle writer, I wasn't a relationship writer, I have always sort of just done general wellness. And that's what I'm doing now, too. So I write about such a wide range of topics in the wellness world. Everything from you know, commerce stories, which I write quite a few of them, especially for shape. And to like things that are exercise related, or things that are general wellness related, or like I just wrote a story on hypnosis. So we'll all really kind of go all over the place. But my favorite stories to write and the ones that I think give me the most fulfillment are like sports related stories, and stories about women's health and kind of like health disparities. Like that's really what makes me feel good. But you have to balance it out. Because you know, if you wrote about that stuff all the time, at least for me, I would, I would be very unhappy.
Lexie Smith
Especially circa 2023. Everything that's happening. So how do you go about securing or sifting through? What actually gets published? Is it just all your assigned? Or to talk me through? If you have 500 ideas? Or you have 6000 pitches? Which ones are what's the process? Like? For tween what actually makes it online?
Kells McPhillips
Oh, yeah. Well, so since I'm freelance a lot, I have a nice mix between people assigning me things like people reaching out and saying, Hey, can you write this particular story? And people asking me for pitches or me just cold pitching people? So I'll have a lot of times if I have a good relationship with an editor, I'll just ask what's going what's what's doing well, like, what topics are really hitting on the site, and then I'll go out into the world. And like, ideate, from there, and from that, it's just deadlines. You know, it's like people saying, we want to have the story up in the next two weeks, you know, we want to have the story up by next month. And that's just sort of how I IQ it. It's just like, anything that gets assigned to me, I'm usually working just like a month to a month and a half in advance. It's it's very like, it's in a way, like less structured than working in house because you could just have, or it's more structured than working in house because it's just like I have these things do and if I don't do them, I won't get paid and I won't be able to pay my rent. And so it's very, like straightforward,
Lexie Smith
actually. And let's dig a little bit more into lead times which you've kind of just started bringing up from the freelance perspective. Are you always operating on pretty quick lead times? Is there any sort of average does it really just depend publication by publication give us any insight there. So from the pitching side, right, we have some sort of idea of when we should be trying to hit a freelancers inbox.
Kells McPhillips
Yeah, you know, it's, it is a pretty big range. I think for things that I'm getting pitched. It's usually like, if I get pitched something, it will be like a month or a little bit longer before it ends up, you know, going live. The whole process, especially so when editors assign you something usually, like, there's a bit of urgency there, because it's like, they, they're trying to get it out because they want to hit a traffic goal, or they're really eager to cover this particular topic. But when I pitch something, because someone sent me like a great pitch on in my email, and I'm like, you know, sending it off, and it editors like approved, there's usually less urgency there. So it could take anywhere between like, yeah, like three weeks, or like a month and a half, depending, but I would I think it's just as long as the pitches, if the pitch is like super timely, then it's going to be a little bit quicker of a process, which is why like I always, I always think that timely pitches are the best ones. Because there's a sense of urgency there that I think you kind of need to give journalists a little bit of get up and then give editors a little bit of get up to get it online.
Lexie Smith
Yeah. And in terms of when you were back at well, in good in house. lead times. I know news, you kind of shared with the from the news writing perspective, it was daily, three stories a day, would you say relatively as a staff writer when it was a little bit more lenient? Generally speaking, same rules apply meaning if it was super timely, right, it would get pressed forward
Kells McPhillips
Yeah, yeah, it's, it's pretty much always going to be that if a writer has like a long queue, or at least if I had a long queue of things I wanted to write. But yeah, if it's an urgent thing, it's like that could be up the next day. Like if you, you know, I've had a, for example, when let's use some of the recent women's wellness or women's health news. If there's an abortion ban in a particular state, sometimes I'll get a pitch from like a doctor. And they're like, I would love to be a source for this if you need someone to comment on it, and that their commentary might go out that day. So you know, it's it's definitely there's just such a huge range of how quickly things go out. Depending on how timely they are. You know
Lexie Smith
that I send out a community newsletter round up every Tuesday chock full of resources, free media kit, downloads, event invites, journalists, contacts, visibility opportunities. Basically, if you're not on the list, hit pause and sign up. It's super simple. Go to the PR bar inc.com/newsworthy. That link is in the show notes. Okay, back to the show. That's super helpful to hear, actually, because I do think a lot of education is out there that consistently preaches long lead times, like three to six months out. And I think for some print, that can be the case, but there are a lot more short form opportunities when we hone in on the timeliness element of it. So I think that's worth worth talking about to kind of share both perspectives for sure. So, this year, and last year, especially in my opinion, I'm dating myself a little bit having been in the industry now for 13 years, I've seen so much change, and I'm seeing so many people going into freelancing. I'd love to just hear someone in the industry, anything that you've noticed, or any perspectives you have or any inclinations about where journalism is. I know this is a huge question, but where journalism is headed even a year or two from now, do you think you know, internal staff will continue to shrink and everyone's gonna freelancer? Anything that you think Gru you're preparing for?
Kells McPhillips
Yeah, it's a really good question. Actually. I wrote down some of my thoughts, because I was like, I need to be able to organize this when we're talking. You know, you're right. Things are changing so fast between the layoffs, and also artificial intelligence. Things are just like really, really changing. I mean, even since I started freelancing, it's it's just seeing people kind of have to molt out of this like full time, job and into like, every day I'm, I'm pitching. I'm a freelancer now. I think it's just, yeah, it's a lot to witness. And I think something I've just noticed in general is that people actually, let me let me back up a little um, I think the first thing I want to answer your question about, like more people coming out or like coming to do freelance, I personally write down I'm a pretty big advocate for that, I think just really transparently, like going freelance for me, was such a freeing thing. Because, you know, in house people, they don't often get paid very well. And it's a, it's definitely a grind. It's like, as I said, you have quotas, you have to reach them every single day and writing as as automatic as it can feel, when you write every day. It's, it's not an easy thing. And it can be taxing. So I think, the freedom to go freelance and kind of be able to take, you know, I mean, actually take six hours, and I'm be really thoughtful with this article, or I'm going to, you know, get paid commensurate with the amount of work that I put into this, it can feel really fulfilling in a way that sometimes like being in house can't. So I think that I think that unfortunately, editorial teams might continue to shrink. But I think that there is sort of, maybe an upside to that. And certainly, there are a lot of obstacles to being freelance, like, you know, you have to pay for your own health care. And if you don't pitch enough, like, you're not going to get the money that you need to, like, keep living and pay your rent and all those important things. But I think that there is a certain freedom there. And you kind of have to take the good with the bad to be a little bit trite. spective good. Um, yeah, I think it's, yeah, it's really complicated, though, because I can see it both ways. But I did write down like some more, just like themes I've noticed in journalism, please. I think, if you've already had a lot of people on the show talk about this, but I think a lot of brands are starting to just take their commerce strategies way more seriously. I've just seen it with the people that I've done, we used to do sort of a, I don't want to say like sloppy, but just a little bit more like wild. We had like more of a wild way of writing commerce, where it was like, you know, we're gonna make a list of things. And maybe some we've tested, maybe some we haven't tested. Now, people are taking it really, really seriously, like just working at the few companies I've worked at, they're really intense, like systems for testing things. And what gets what gets included in a round up what information gets included in the round up? How can we engage the most readers. So there's so much thoughtfulness happening around commerce, which I think is really good, because for a while commerce was like a little bit of a wild west situation. I think it's better for consumers that it's like getting a little bit more structured. I think from the pitching side, that's important to know, because it's like you can pay attention to, you know, what, what is my product? What is its unique offering? How can I make the process of doing a commerce right up the easiest for the writer? I think that that can be really useful, like as a perspective. And then the second one, I think we've already mentioned this, but just like artificial intelligence is definitely I'm seeing just becoming more and more of a presence in journalism in the journalism world. And I think that, I don't know entirely what to think of it yet. I have a lot of existential anxiety about it. But I think it's already been started to, we're already starting to use it as a tool for some of the more soul sucking aspects of journalism, which are, you know, in my opinion, just like catering to Google. So what's really nice about tools like chat GVT, or other tools, as you can basically plug in, like, make me an outline for a story about how to water my plants and Google or chat, GBT will essentially show you what Google favors, of course, you have to do your homework too, and make sure that it's not off. But it will show you okay, you need a paragraph about this, you need a paragraph about this. So I think that AI is, is really becoming a good tool. And that's like a good tool for pitching too. Because, you know, if you're pitching a story, these are the things I'm going to be asked. So that's yeah, that's been just like a really big, like, just a huge adjustment because it just feels you know, I grew up in the like, era where it was like, if you take a single word from someone else, or something else, that's plagiarism, and it's terrible and certainly that's still true, but robots make it a little bit more confusing.
Lexie Smith
Yeah, I mean, I completely in following along with everything you've you've said it the commerce part to to backtrack for a second. I from a consumer, not that anyone cares what I think but I'm Hey, it's my show. So I can I got it, what I want, I was just looking the other day for a stroller, my family and I were going abroad and I want to get a travel story, travel stroller, and I look at journalism and the articles that are coming up so differently now. Because I do feel well, I, I I'm actually really happy to hear there's a vetting process because part of me feels a little jaded and wondering, Am I really getting the best suggestions? Or am I getting, you know, who had the best affiliate link setup, you know, in this program? So it's nice to hear the positive in house that there are a lot more structured vetting systems and that you actually think it's helping the consumers because maybe I'm, it sounds like I'm misinformed or jaded a little bit. So that's good for me to hear. Because I was I was getting so bad. I'm like, I don't want just the two, the two strollers that is on every single article. Yet I digress. So what I do want to do, you know, in the spirit of robots is acknowledge you as a human and you as a writer and talk through a little bit of rapid fire preferential pitching questions, which basically just means there's no right or wrong answer. Just what you prefer and don't prefer in your inbox. So are you game?
Kells McPhillips
Okay, sounds good.
Lexie Smith
Okay, so, first question. Do you have a day of the week you prefer to be pitched?
Kells McPhillips
I think any day except for Friday,
Lexie Smith
okay. Time of day.
Kells McPhillips
Think morning is better? Because the later it gets in the day, the more likely it's going to get buried by a bunch of nighttime emails, and then it's gone.
Lexie Smith
Okay. What about social media pitching? Do you are you open to receiving pitches via social media?
Kells McPhillips
I would prefer to just be in my inbox. I think it's good to kind of keep those things separate.
Lexie Smith
Yeah. Okay. Are you I don't even know, do we call x Twitter? Or is it officially called x? I don't know. jury's still out? Are you using x and or Twitter? Or do you plan to continue using that platform?
Kells McPhillips
No, I never really used Twitter, except for to retweet articles. And that was before Elon Musk stepped in and I'm not very interested in being part of that platform. Now. I do have threads that I need to start using more and I just got on blue sky, but I haven't done anything with it yet. Okay, I'm not really sure what to do with the whole like Twitter situation.
Lexie Smith
Threads. Okay. So threads is on your radar mental note for myself to stop procrastinating on that platform.
Kells McPhillips
I mean, I don't know how many people are using it. I know a lot of people joined initially, but then I feel like it just I stopped hearing people talk about it.
Lexie Smith
Kind of reminded me of clubhouse but we'll see. Because I feel like clubhouse was super big for a minute. And then it went crickets, but we will see. Okay, so pleasant trees do you prefer when someone takes sentence or two in the beginning of a pitch to acknowledge you, as a writer mentioned a past article or something? More than just straight to the point?
Kells McPhillips
Hmm, yeah, it's, it's really nice. But I think at the end of the day, if it's a good pitch, it doesn't matter if there's a pleasant treat or not. But it is a nice thing to just acknowledge that we're both humans before you jump in.
Lexie Smith
Okay. Do you have a preference on who is pitching you? Meaning? Is it okay, if it's a business owner? Do you prefer publicists? Does it matter?
Kells McPhillips
Hmm, no, both are totally fine. Okay.
Lexie Smith
Are you okay? With follow ups?
Kells McPhillips
Yes, but only one? No more than
Lexie Smith
okay. And cadence on that? Like, do you have a preference? Like, give me a week? Or does it? Do you have any kind of metric on that?
Kells McPhillips
Yeah, I think send the email and then just like put a week in your calendar and be like, I'm gonna follow up in a week. I just this with pitching to like, when I'm pitching an editor, I just think it's nice to give people a little bit of breathing room.
Lexie Smith
Fair enough. Okay. And then my last question, and this is mostly for your commerce stories, do you require affiliate links for products that you feature?
Kells McPhillips
So this is a good question. I so I do not. I'm not in charge of picking the products for like, like I said, the the commerce people I write for, they have an entire team that test things. So I'm not responsible for picking the products. I just write them up. But they always use affiliate links. So I'm assuming that's a requirement. Okay. Yeah, I think but I in my experience, like not I'm not writing stories like this now. But I remember working it well and good. That if there was an amazing product that didn't have an affiliate link that just excited us or made us feel like it was a next, you know, the next thing in the wellness conversation, it didn't matter if it had an affiliate link, they would get covered anyway. So it's just a Like a little bit of unique Ness, I think sometimes you really have
Lexie Smith
to stand out you actually, I have an offshoot question then. So if someone Do you can you do anything if someone pitches you product? Or you just said you don't pick products, but as a freelancer? Do you ever pitch products? Or is that all up to the Commerce teams?
Kells McPhillips
Well, I do sometimes. So if someone if someone pitches me something to try, I might do right like and I tried it. Like, I'm trying the art artificial intelligence fitness system called tempo now they like look at your they can like sense the how good your pull up, but are so you're like squatting form is by using artificial intelligence? Oh, so I'm testing that, for example. Like they pitched me. We're reading a dedicated story on that. And I pitched the story like they will they pitched me and then I pitched the story to the place where it's going to come out. But okay.
Lexie Smith
So there's still there's still room for there for an exceptional product or pitch. Okay.
Kells McPhillips
I would say it has to be more interactive. Like it has to be something that something you could write 1000 words about, you know,
Lexie Smith
yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's okay. That's great. And experience. It's something that you can, that's great insight. And then last question is, do you have any pitching pet peeves that come to mind? Hmm.
Kells McPhillips
I think the biggest one is just pitching me things that I don't cover. Or I'm very sick of getting weight loss, and dieting pitches. I don't want to hear the words bikini body from anyone ever again. summer's over. So luckily, those pitches are going to be not coming in my inbox. But it does sort of blow my mind that I still get pitches like that, and 2023. So yeah, but to just just speak a little bit more on my first point of like, just when you're pitching someone, it's just so important that you actually know what they write about. And I know it's a little bit of extra homework, but it's very frustrating. Like if you're a wellness writer, and you're getting pitches about like politics, that you would never cover obviously, there are some politics that overlap with wellness, but, you know, I'm like, I don't write about that.
Lexie Smith
For sure. And also read the room a little bit too. I think you can do homework and tend to like, pick up if you're the type of writer who would be covering bikini body, bikini by season, right. Read the room a little bit. Okay, amazing. Thank you. That was super helpful. My I keep saying my last question. But my last question outside of actually I have two more. I lied. Here we go. Two more questions outside of rapid fire. First, we talked pitching, what can we find you sipping? So my signature question what is your favorite beverage alcoholic or non alcoholic? Of course.
Kells McPhillips
I feel like it's just coffee like coffee with oat milk I love especially just the first one of the day. None of the other ones ever taste as good as the first one. I don't know what that is about. I also like the little ollie pop drinks. Have you had those like? They're like gut health drinks. I don't know how actually good they are for your gut. I cannot verify but they're like little sodas. And the the root beer flavor that's very nostalgic because I used to always drink root beer as a kid. So I love that
Lexie Smith
one do you shop at Trader Joe's?
Kells McPhillips
I do but I'll go to Whole Foods just to get a just to get oat milk and Ollie
Lexie Smith
well okay, so if you haven't tried it already my signature morning drink that I have right next to me that Trader Joe's has a oat milk like brown sugar creamer it's oat milk, but like like it doesn't sound that healthy but it's not terrible. It's really really good. It's oat milk with like a pinch of brown sugar. So I highly highly suggest like on a treat yourself day even though I treat myself every morning with it
Kells McPhillips
really good because I It annoys me that I have to go to another store to get Yeah,
Lexie Smith
they haven't it's like one of their most popular things. One of the it was a Trader Joe's favorite thing I discovered it during I think I when I was breastfeeding I couldn't have dairy or pregnant I can't remember that whole phase of my life is a blur now. Um, anyways, I highly suggest it's it's in it's next to the oat milk. It's small. It's like a brown sugar oat milk. CREAMER. Okay. Really, really bomb. Okay, last last last last question is Where can people connect with you? Where can they learn more? Where should we send them? Okay,
Kells McPhillips
I am just at Kells MC Phillips on I don't know if I should spell should I spell it to people? I
Lexie Smith
will put it in the show shown Okay, cool.
Kells McPhillips
I'm just at cosmic Phillips on everything Instagram threads. Tick tock. I have been on tick tock a little bit but not really that much. And you can also just email me and this one's also really easy. Kells Mike Phillips at G dell.com I have kept things really basic. So hopefully it's not hard to thank you for
Lexie Smith
that and thank you for being someone who's not so so. So safeguarding your email that it takes a publicist like five hours to find it. I respect but at the same time, I'm like, just publish your email. So I appreciate that. No, this was such a wonderful conversation. I know everyone's going to be blown away by what you shared. I feel like I got a healthy new perspective to on commerce, which I appreciate and I just want to say thank you so much for coming on the show.
Kells McPhillips
Thank you so much for having me. Lexie.
Lexie Smith
Hey, guys, if you are enjoying the pitching and sipping podcast, please do me a huge favor and leave a review wherever you are listening. If you want to connect with me to learn more about the PR bar Inc. You can do so on Instagram Act, the PR bar underscore Inc. Or you can check out my website at the PR bar inc.com Cheers