What does it feel like to be a sophomore in high school and the editor in chief of a highly-anticipated new website for teen girls whose talented writing staff — at least in a few cases – is almost twice your age? We have no idea. But Tavi Gevinson does. Last night her latest project Rookie went live, and while most categories on the site are awaiting their first post (“We were just born! Give us time!” reads the error message), you can get a sense of where this is all going from her editor’s letter. “Rookie is a place to make the best of the beautiful pain and cringe-worthy awkwardness of being an adolescent girl,” Tavi writes. “When it becomes harder to appreciate these things, we also have good plain fun and visual pleasure. When you’re sick of having to be happy all the time, we have lots of eye-rolling rants, too.”
Given the fact that Style Rookie, the fashion blog that launched Tavi into the public eye as a tween, has such an adult following, we’re wondering if she’ll able to connect as well with audiences who her own age — and won’t necessarily notice her precociousness, let alone find it charming. Then there’s the idea of her running the editorial show at such as a young age, bossing around writers with years, if not decades on her, in the experience department. All of that said, if she’s able to deliver on her vision, then we think teen girls — who admittedly, face a bit of a publishing void these days — are in for a real treat. And if we’re being honest, there are probably plenty of 20- and 30-somethings who will be going along for the ride too.