Respectfully, who the hell is Joss Richard?
Because knowing who I am is important: I’ve worked in the entertainment industry for the past 12+ years. I’ve had titles like Producer and Social and Editorial Director. I’ve worked at some of the most notable companies (The Walt Disney Company, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Red Table Talk, Netflix, Paramount, Hello Sunshine, Reese’s Book Club) and interviewed A-List celebrities (Jennifer Aniston, Sandra Bullock, Christopher Plummer, etc.) I’ve been formally recognized with a Daytime Emmy Award and my debut romcom novel IT’S DIFFERENT THIS TIME is coming out in October.
After many months (yes, I know, months) of subscribing to incredibly talented, creative, funny, and interesting women on Substack I finally felt empowered to create my own. The catch is, this is selfishly for me. I mean, it’s of course for you too dear reader (if I’m lucky that anyone even reads this) but as an only child whose best friend was her diary, I’m excited to get in touch with my emotions again.
“Why now?” You ask. Well, I have my book coming out this year, I decided to leave what I thought was my dream job and leap into the world of freelancing, and things are kind of scary out there right now (like outside of my home…just in the world…in general). It feels like a pivotal time in my life and while I can hardly process any of it, I think this substack will help me try.
We’re not changing lives here, I’m not trying to say anything profound, I’m just having fun.
In 2015 I wrote a blog when I first moved to Los Angeles called JossBecause (I know, it’s genius). I wrote that with the intention of people reading it. I wrote that because I for some reason thought moving from Toronto to LA all by myself made me the most interesting person in the world? It never felt authentic.
In 2018 I created an online magazine called Seek Minimal. It interviewed owners of sustainable brands and to my surprise, it became an “overnight success”. The problem was that I was never truly passionate about it. I had the passion to create something new that I could call my own, but it didn’t feel authentic because as much as I want to shop sustainably, that wasn’t my life mission.
In 2020 I created another online magazine called Sunday Morning Stories which interviewed artists, actors, directors, etc. about their routine during Covid. I was able to interview some of my dream guests and for some reason, never saw it through.
In 2021 I started my own business called Margot it was an online platform where women and gender-marginalized individuals could find a mentor and pay for virtual coffee chats. This had huge success. I was doing interviews after interviews and even got featured in POPSUGAR - I believed this was going to be it. I was going to become a successful entrepreneur, but my interest for it died. Until this day I’m not sure exactly what it was - maybe that the idea of “virtual” coffees became obsolete for a little bit once the world started to open up again post-pandemic, or maybe I was just never built for being a business owner.
In 2023 I created and am now the host of Three’s Company, Too: The Official Rewatch Podcast - I go through every single episode of my favorite TV show and talk about it with friends, strangers, creatives, people who love the show or hate it. I started that podcast for fun because I selfishly wanted to talk about Three’s Company and I selfishly wanted to make other people talk about it. That podcast is the most authentic you will hear…and I guess see me. To my core, I am a fangirl who loves 70s and 80s sitcoms and wants to have interesting conversations with people about things I love. I made that podcast for me and it’s fun and rewarding.
Now it’s 2025 and I’m ready for JossBecause 2.0 - meaning, I’m just really going to write about whatever the fuck I want and maybe it’ll resonate with someone! Maybe it won’t, but I’m going to have fun doing it and I’m not going to treat it like work.
So…what is this?
Unless I have hundreds and hundreds of subscribers (I will be absolutely shocked and humbled if we get to that point) everything here is free. I’ll be sharing weekly substacks about life, the writing process, what I’m watching, reading, liking, hating, etc. Consider this a space that feels like you’re just talking shit with an old friend.
Finally…like, follow, subscribe *crying laughing sweating emoji*
*round of applause because we both made it to the end!*
love hearing your journey and happy to support the real you 🫶
the hsm reference