Editor's Letter · Volume VI
Perfectly Cursed Life is the publication I couldn't find in 2019 — a place where the messy, awkward, and unprintable parts of modern adulthood got the same care and craft as the glossy ones. Five years and 2,140 essays later, we're still funded entirely by readers who believe the same thing.
96,400 readers. One email each Thursday. Zero ads, ever.
A Note On How We're Funded
"We do not run display ads. We do not sell reader data. We do not write copy that flatters a sponsor. Every essay on this site exists because a paying reader — or a curious free one — decided our work was worth their Thursday morning. That is the entire business model. It has been the entire business model since a folding table in Brooklyn in February 2019, and it will remain so for as long as I'm allowed to edit this magazine."
The Editors · 2024
The masthead is small on purpose. Every essay passes through a working editor with a named beat — and the two clinicians below review pieces touching mental health, but they are Editorial Reviewers, not your therapist.
Founded PCL in a Brooklyn apartment in February 2019 after eight years at The Atlantic. Edits the editor's letter and the quarterly print zine. Lives in Bed-Stuy with a rescue greyhound named Receipts.
Brooklyn, NY
Joined 2020. Runs the editorial calendar and oversees the 22-person essayist collective. Previously features editor at Vox.
Atlanta, GA
Edits the dating, friendship, and family channels. Author of the forthcoming book Goodbye for Now (Penguin, 2025).
Los Angeles, CA
Licensed clinical social worker on retainer. Reviews essays touching therapy, medication, and crisis. Does not provide clinical care to readers.
Brooklyn, NY
Licensed psychologist on retainer. Reviews essays on burnout, grief, and quarter-life collapse. Advisory role only — not a clinician-of-record for any reader.
Chicago, IL
Commissioned the first 200 essays. Now edits the Money, Work, and Rent channels. Teaches the PCL Essay Workshop.
Queens, NY
Writes the Thursday newsletter and runs the 48,000-member Discord. Previously at Substack's editorial team.
Brooklyn, NY
Verifies every statistic cited in our essays. PCL's original research has been cited by the WHO and 31 university counseling centers.
London, UK
Disclosure: Our two licensed clinicians are Editorial Reviewers — they fact-check and safeguard essays touching mental health. They are not on staff clinicians and do not provide therapy, diagnosis, or treatment to readers. PCL essays are not peer-reviewed research.
Selected Press & Awards · 2022–2024
Also featured in The Atlantic, Wired, Glamour, and NPR's Life Kit.
By the Numbers · Reader Edition, 2024
Author roster includes 3 New York Times bestselling authors and 2 Pulitzer finalists. Translated into 6 languages by the volunteer Cursed Translators network. Community of 48,000 across Discord and Substack.
One Last Thing
Every Thursday morning, the Cursed Club newsletter lands in 96,400 inboxes with the week's best new essay, an editor's note from Lena, a reader dispatch from somewhere in the world, and one piece of expert-backed advice. It's free. It will always be free. It is the single best way to read this magazine.
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