Mia Freedman: Renegade Collective

From a young age I really liked magazines. When I could afford to buy them I went overboard. I collected them. I moved states several times with more magazines than furniture (insane). When I worked for the largest publishing house in the country I was in my element. Looking back I wondered how I got it so wrong. I now find magazines boring. Over a year ago  I imposed a ban on magazine buying and haven’t missed the glossies one bit.

But Renegade Collective is a magazine and I confess I did fork over the $9.95 instead of waiting to read it at the Doctors in two years time. But I needed to read the article on Mia Freedman and as it covered more than 4 pages I wasn’t going to be able to speed read it in the Newsagency before putting it  back on the shelf and commending myself on yet another successful week without mags.

So I bought it.

Why did I need to read about Mia Freedman?

Well you see for girls who love mags and aspired to work in the glamorous Packer- founded stable on Park Street Mia Freedman is an icon. The former Cosmopolitan Editor is to my generation what Ita Butrose is baby boomers: a woman with her finger on the zeitgeist.

I’ll admit that Freedman has been on occasion a tad annoying and her ups (Cosmopolitan, Mamamia) have been just as spectacular as her downs (Channel Nine, ) but love her or hate her the one thing Mia Freedman continues to be is exposed. I have been thinking and writing plenty on vulnerability lately and how you let go and be whoever it is you are. I feel like whatever else Freedman is she is real. She has put herself on the line, sometimes impaled herself on the fence but somehow she manages to pull herself off, scramble over it and just keep going. If someone was ever going to write anything about me I would hope they would say I had great hair, fabulous shoes and that I was kind and stuff but most of all I hope they would say I was real.

Mia Freedman you are real so congratulations on the website and thanks so much for making me break by magazine ban – you owe me 10 bucks!