Photos by Rich Schmitt/Staff Photographer
By MAGNOLIA LAFLEUR | Reporter
Palisadian Marlborough School junior Sophia Yassinger has created a blog called Dear Monday, where she gives advice to a community of teenage girls in hopes of helping her peers with all their sticky life questions.
Born in Los Angeles and raised in Cheviot Hills, Yassinger moved to the Palisades her eighth-grade year in 2019—the same year she began her blog.
“During middle school, I noticed a lot of my peers were creating ‘blogs’ … really they were just Instagram accounts where they showed off their designer outfits, expensive skincare products and glamorous vacations,” Yassinger told the Palisadian-Post. “Even though I barely knew about blogging, I thought to myself, ‘I could do this.’ But I could make it real, write about what I know and speak to girls in an authentic way.”
Thanks to compelling content and answers, Yassinger reached over 15,000 subscribers to her blog under a year, with 80,000 followers on Instagram and TikTok. With visitors from 126 countries, Dear Monday’s audience is mainly comprised of American middle and high school girls between the ages of 12 and 16.
Stamped as her “middle girls,” Yassinger explained that the target audience of her blog are girls “who feel stuck in the middle,” who are intelligent, studious homebodies who also enjoy hanging out with friends and having fun.
“We have many acquaintances but only a few true best friends,” Yassinger shared. “We have our quirks and unique interests, but are also super basic and like watching ‘Gossip Girl,’ wearing Brandy Melville and Converse. I say ‘we’ because I am one with my community. My blogs are basically me writing to my younger self, and I am often referred to as an ‘internet big sister.’”
Having an affinity for drawing on her personal life experiences in order to deliver not only relatable anecdotes but sensitive and informative answers, Yassinger also works to create an entertaining blog that reminds her followers: “We got this.”
Along with creating weekly Monday evening blogs posts, she’s also on her school’s golf team and co-runs the surf club. She’s a Diller Teen Fellow (a leadership development program for Jewish teenagers) and a member of the Entrepreneurship Capstone at Marlborough, where she’s been working on creating her own fashion line.
“These extracurriculars do not feel like burdens to me,” she shared. “I am so passionate and invested in solving the problems I see in the world, and dedicating my non-school hours to bringing my ideas to fruition. I manage my time through lists. I love lists.”
During the pandemic, Yassinger found that “negative circumstances can have a silver lining” and worked overtime to create content for her peers, posting two to five TikToks per day, blog posts twice per week and Instagram posts three times per week.
Yassinger said that she has received rave testimonials from young girls that resoundingly echo the sentiment of readers, including “you have made me feel like I’m not alone, and I am so grateful for your concern and your advice.” Yassinger shared hopes to expand her market in order to help as many young girls as possible.
“To be a good person is to be kind,” Yassinger said. “I’ve noticed through middle and high school that those who are most disloyal, selfish and unhappy are those who cannot find happiness in their life and spread their insecurities onto others. No matter the circumstances of a friendship fight or argument with their parents, I am always sharing with my readers the stronger, more admirable person is the one who emulates kindness and maintains respect. To be a resilient person is to see every closed door or ‘no’ as a pathway to a new door.”
Noting her mom, grandmothers and aunt as her biggest inspirations, Yassinger said she is also inspired by her peers, including other teens she has met from Palisades Charter High School upon joining the Youth and Government and Teen Council through the YMCA.
“I have made incredible lifelong friends since moving here, and feel so lucky to be able to experience some of the most special moments of my adolescence surfing at Sunset Point with my Pali friends or watching the sunset at the bluffs,” Yassinger told the Post. “This town and location are truly magical. I hope that tweens and teens find Dear Monday Blog, and find comfort and a safe space in the community my followers and I are building together.”
Yassinger’s blog can be found at dearmondayblog.com.
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