Podcast appearances and mentions of karen frost

Welcome to the Water Quality Association Podcast. In this episode, we'll talk about the Hydropitch Challenge at the upcoming 2025 WQA Convention & Expo, with WQAs Vice President for Innovation and Technology Jonathan Adams and Karen Frost, Vice President for Economic Development & Innovation at The Water Council. We'll discuss the purpose of the Challenge, how the participants were selected, what will take place during the live event on stage at the WQA Convention, and what attendees can take away from this educational and inspiring event. Plus, we'll have our WQA Tip. Learn more about the WQA Convention at https://wqa.org/convention.

In the first half of the show our guest is Karen Frost, long-time Portland bicycle activist and the first Executive Director of the Bicycle Transportation Alliance. In the second half of the show Nedra speaks with Atlanta urban geographer Neill Davis whose work is at the intersection of education, transportation, planning, and sustainability.

With the open enrollment season right around the corner, the focus is shifting from merely offering benefits to optimizing the value employees derive from them. This podcast explores how organizations are working towards the important task of strategically aligning benefits with their workforce's diverse needs and preferences. Join our open enrollment experts Laine Thomas Conway and Karen Frost for their insights.

The Internet plays a central role in how we communicate, share information, disseminate ideas, maintain social connections, and conduct business. The Internet also exacerbates existing problems regarding irrationality, bias, wrongful discrimination, exploitation, and dehumanization. Moreover, the Internet gives rise to new ethical and epistemological problems – fake news, sock-puppetry, internet hoaxes, disinformation, and so on. In Who Should We Be Online?: A Social Epistemology for the Internet (Oxford University Press 2023), Karen Frost-Arnold proposes a multi-layered social epistemology designed to assist us in navigating the fraught normative landscape of the online world. Robert Talisse is the W. Alton Jones Professor of Philosophy at Vanderbilt University. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

The Internet plays a central role in how we communicate, share information, disseminate ideas, maintain social connections, and conduct business. The Internet also exacerbates existing problems regarding irrationality, bias, wrongful discrimination, exploitation, and dehumanization. Moreover, the Internet gives rise to new ethical and epistemological problems – fake news, sock-puppetry, internet hoaxes, disinformation, and so on. In Who Should We Be Online?: A Social Epistemology for the Internet (Oxford University Press 2023), Karen Frost-Arnold proposes a multi-layered social epistemology designed to assist us in navigating the fraught normative landscape of the online world. Robert Talisse is the W. Alton Jones Professor of Philosophy at Vanderbilt University. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/philosophy

The Internet plays a central role in how we communicate, share information, disseminate ideas, maintain social connections, and conduct business. The Internet also exacerbates existing problems regarding irrationality, bias, wrongful discrimination, exploitation, and dehumanization. Moreover, the Internet gives rise to new ethical and epistemological problems – fake news, sock-puppetry, internet hoaxes, disinformation, and so on. In Who Should We Be Online?: A Social Epistemology for the Internet (Oxford University Press 2023), Karen Frost-Arnold proposes a multi-layered social epistemology designed to assist us in navigating the fraught normative landscape of the online world. Robert Talisse is the W. Alton Jones Professor of Philosophy at Vanderbilt University. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/sociology

The Internet plays a central role in how we communicate, share information, disseminate ideas, maintain social connections, and conduct business. The Internet also exacerbates existing problems regarding irrationality, bias, wrongful discrimination, exploitation, and dehumanization. Moreover, the Internet gives rise to new ethical and epistemological problems – fake news, sock-puppetry, internet hoaxes, disinformation, and so on. In Who Should We Be Online?: A Social Epistemology for the Internet (Oxford University Press 2023), Karen Frost-Arnold proposes a multi-layered social epistemology designed to assist us in navigating the fraught normative landscape of the online world. Robert Talisse is the W. Alton Jones Professor of Philosophy at Vanderbilt University. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/communications

The Internet plays a central role in how we communicate, share information, disseminate ideas, maintain social connections, and conduct business. The Internet also exacerbates existing problems regarding irrationality, bias, wrongful discrimination, exploitation, and dehumanization. Moreover, the Internet gives rise to new ethical and epistemological problems – fake news, sock-puppetry, internet hoaxes, disinformation, and so on. In Who Should We Be Online?: A Social Epistemology for the Internet (Oxford University Press 2023), Karen Frost-Arnold proposes a multi-layered social epistemology designed to assist us in navigating the fraught normative landscape of the online world. Robert Talisse is the W. Alton Jones Professor of Philosophy at Vanderbilt University. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/science-technology-and-society

The Internet plays a central role in how we communicate, share information, disseminate ideas, maintain social connections, and conduct business. The Internet also exacerbates existing problems regarding irrationality, bias, wrongful discrimination, exploitation, and dehumanization. Moreover, the Internet gives rise to new ethical and epistemological problems – fake news, sock-puppetry, internet hoaxes, disinformation, and so on. In Who Should We Be Online?: A Social Epistemology for the Internet (Oxford University Press 2023), Karen Frost-Arnold proposes a multi-layered social epistemology designed to assist us in navigating the fraught normative landscape of the online world. Robert Talisse is the W. Alton Jones Professor of Philosophy at Vanderbilt University. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/technology

The Internet plays a central role in how we communicate, share information, disseminate ideas, maintain social connections, and conduct business. The Internet also exacerbates existing problems regarding irrationality, bias, wrongful discrimination, exploitation, and dehumanization. Moreover, the Internet gives rise to new ethical and epistemological problems – fake news, sock-puppetry, internet hoaxes, disinformation, and so on. In Who Should We Be Online?: A Social Epistemology for the Internet (Oxford University Press 2023), Karen Frost-Arnold proposes a multi-layered social epistemology designed to assist us in navigating the fraught normative landscape of the online world. Robert Talisse is the W. Alton Jones Professor of Philosophy at Vanderbilt University. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/book-of-the-day

The Internet plays a central role in how we communicate, share information, disseminate ideas, maintain social connections, and conduct business. The Internet also exacerbates existing problems regarding irrationality, bias, wrongful discrimination, exploitation, and dehumanization. Moreover, the Internet gives rise to new ethical and epistemological problems – fake news, sock-puppetry, internet hoaxes, disinformation, and so on. In Who Should We Be Online?: A Social Epistemology for the Internet (Oxford University Press 2023), Karen Frost-Arnold proposes a multi-layered social epistemology designed to assist us in navigating the fraught normative landscape of the online world. Robert Talisse is the W. Alton Jones Professor of Philosophy at Vanderbilt University.

We have a rapid-fire discussion about one of our all-time favorite topics: queer female representation in media! Karen Frost describes herself as a "professional lesbian dabbler," but that majorly downplays the WEALTH of knowledge she has as a result of ceaselessly mining the data for queer TV shows, films, and web series! We discuss how (and why) projects like Nicole's As Love Goes face increasing difficulty when it comes to funding, and why outlets like Autostraddle are having trouble staying afloat. We also address the anger in our community over how many queer female-fronted shows have been cancelled recently (spoiler alert: direct your rage more towards sexism than homophobia...). Plus, we wax nostalgic (or rather, *non*-nostalgic) about how there used to be so few queer female characters on TV that you LITERALLY knew all of them, and Karen shares how Xena: Warrior Princess kickstarted her entire career path!Follow Karen at @Lez_Dish on both Twitter and Instagram, and listen to Peaches Aren't the Only Fruit and GossipINT wherever you get your podcasts. Also, check out https://www.karenfrostbooks.com/ for info on all of Karen's books!

Author Karen Frost joins us for a chat this week, to talk about her sapphic YA fantasy series, Destiny & Darkness. We also discuss upcoming books, what it takes to be a successful writer, and the importance of reviews and beta reading when writing. . . Find Karen Frost at: > https://www.karenfrostbooks.com > @Lez_Dish (Twitter) > @lez_dish (Instagram) > DawnTreader2016 (AO3) . Find Us at: ★YouTube: https://youtu.be/n3jq5LfO8Ts ★ . ★ Social channels★ ⧱Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/allstarsbookclub ⧱Instagram(Z): @zeesreadingnook (C): @kamloth ⧱Twitter (Z): @zeesreadingnook⧱ . ❤Don't forget to hit the subscription button to be notified of new updates!❤

For many people, 2020 was a year of crisis. New realities forced consumers to focus on the present. What do I need right now? What can I afford right now? How do I maintain my health right now? Naturally, thoughts of the future and long-term savings fell to the wayside. Yet it's precisely these long-term savings strategies that can help people through moments of crisis. With this in mind, Karli Dunkelberger and Karen Frost of Alight discuss the strategies benefit administrators and employers can use to coax consumers back to a savings mindset. From lifestyle cards to account seeding, learn the best ways to support employees during times of hardship and set them up for long-term financial success.

It's 1965 and a pregnant Karen and her two children are moving to a new estate. It looks like the future – but what does the future have in store? Spanning six decades, Karen's Town takes us from 1960′s London, through the turbulent 1980′s, the dawn of a new millennium and back to the present day. Karen’s Town by Michelle Bonnard Written for The Market Estate Project 2010, Karen's Town follows the life of resident Karen Frost, which runs in strange parallel to the life of the estate itself. A dramatic, funny and touching story that questions the extent to which the place in which we live, influences and moulds the person we become? And what we can do to fight for change? Starring : Kellie Shirley (EastEnders, In the Long Run, The Office), Caroline Martin, Rachael Chisolm, Martha Swann, Michelle Bonnard, Robin Pearce and Justin Mitchell-Davey. Written By: Michelle Bonnard Edited By: Lester Barry Directed By: Hannah Eidinow CONTAINS SWEARING AND ADULT CONTENT More audio drama

With so many irons in the fire, Liz and Sarah decide to try time blocking. Will task batching and day theming keep them on track? (We shall see...) Then, in Hollywood Jobs, they talk to JuVee Productions Creative TV Executive Karen Frost about her career trajectory and why being an agent’s assistant helped her get where she is today. Karen also shares how she co-founded WOC Hikes, a regular networking event for Women of Color in Hollywood. This week’s Hollywood Hack: share your successes!  Time blocking: https://blog.rescuetime.com/time-blocking-101/ JuVee Productions: http://www.juveeproductions.com/ Karen Frost on Twitter: @revkarenfrost WOC Hikes on Instagram: @wochikes Photo by Icons8 Team on Unsplash

Today on the show we're joined by the highly talented Karen Frost who is a television producer, fellow podcaster and spiritual advisor. Karen is a creative executive at JuVee Productions, Viola Davis and Julius Tennon's production company that is focused on developing the content of marginalized and emerging writers. In this episode, you will hear all about the podcast Drunken Church Ladies, which she co-hosts with her wife and her personal struggles with breaking out of religious traditions to find her own spiritual path. Karen is passionate about redefining God and what it means to be spiritual, fully committed to creating a society that is wholly inclusive and one that can reconstruct ancient ways that no longer serve the greater good of all. She shares about the obstacles she has had to overcome as a queer person of color, the mental shift she had to make to finally get into the entertainment industry and what the spiritual center, Bodhi, meant to her in the process. Some of the other topics we cover include dry counties, filtering through scripts, the massive advancement of the LGBTQ community, the importance of faith and the conflicting voices around climate change. There is a ton of wisdom to get out of this episode, so be sure to join in on the conversation! For more information about artists, links and resources from this episode, please visit https://notrealart.com/karen-frost-advocating-for-love/ Key Points From This Episode: Thoughts on drinking wine while podcasting and Karen's show, Drunken Church Ladies. Settling into the podcasting process and Karen's unique segmented structure. Breaking out of religious traditions and the lack of spaces to explore spirituality. Karen's mission to redefine God and to reconstruct religious narratives. How JuVee Productions helped Karen to find her own voice as a queer person of color. Working with Viola Davis and her role at JuVee Productions. Learning faith in LA's worst economic period! Being introduced to a new way of faith at Bodhi and the essence of what they believe. Realizing that she needed to get rid of internal biases to get into the entertainment industry. Creating stories that are like both mirrors and windows. More about Karen's producer role and how they help artists to develop and refine their ideas. Being sent hundreds of scripts and the criteria for them to warrant a second look. Recording all new ideas, her creative process and why Karen believes in rigorous outlining. Mormons, memberships and, moonshine in dry counties. Diversity and unexpected friendships as some of the best things about spiritual centers. Thanksgiving at Viola's house and the incredible authenticity she demonstrated. Steering clear of works that perpetuate stereotypes and the kind of narratives to avoid. The massive progress there has been made in terms of LGBTQ rights. Views on the creation of an inclusive country and letting go of what no longer serves us. The importance of patience in the re-birth of the US and why we need antagonists. Climate change, capitalism and the impact that a single person can have. The diverse mentalities and philosophies in the US and the need for new paradigms.  

Today on the show we’re joined by the highly talented Karen Frost who is a television producer, fellow podcaster and spiritual advisor. Karen is a creative executive at JuVee Productions, Viola Davis and Julius Tennon’s production company that is focused on developing the content of marginalized and emerging writers. In this episode, you will hear all about the podcast Drunken Church Ladies, which she co-hosts with her wife and her personal struggles with breaking out of religious traditions to find her own spiritual path. Karen is passionate about redefining God and what it means to be spiritual, fully committed to creating a society that is wholly inclusive and one that can reconstruct ancient ways that no longer serve the greater good of all. She shares about the obstacles she has had to overcome as a queer person of color, the mental shift she had to make to finally get into the entertainment industry and what the spiritual center, Bodhi, meant to her in the process. Some of the other topics we cover include dry counties, filtering through scripts, the massive advancement of the LGBTQ community, the importance of faith and the conflicting voices around climate change. There is a ton of wisdom to get out of this episode, so be sure to join in on the conversation! Key Points From This Episode:   Thoughts on drinking wine while podcasting and Karen's show, Drunken Church Ladies. Settling into the podcasting process and Karen's unique segmented structure. Breaking out of religious traditions and the lack of spaces to explore spirituality. Karen’s mission to redefine God and to reconstruct religious narratives. How JuVee Productions helped Karen to find her own voice as a queer person of color. Working with Viola Davis and her role at JuVee Productions. Learning faith in LA's worst economic period! Being introduced to a new way of faith at Bodhi and the essence of what they believe. Realizing that she needed to get rid of internal biases to get into the entertainment industry. Creating stories that are like both mirrors and windows. More about Karen's producer role and how they help artists to develop and refine their ideas. Being sent hundreds of scripts and the criteria for them to warrant a second look. Recording all new ideas, her creative process and why Karen believes in rigorous outlining. Mormons, memberships and, moonshine in dry counties. Diversity and unexpected friendships as some of the best things about spiritual centers. Thanksgiving at Viola’s house and the incredible authenticity she demonstrated. Steering clear of works that perpetuate stereotypes and the kind of narratives to avoid. The massive progress there has been made in terms of LGBTQ rights. Views on the creation of an inclusive country and letting go of what no longer serves us. The importance of patience in the re-birth of the US and why we need antagonists. Climate change, capitalism and the impact that a single person can have. The diverse mentalities and philosophies in the US and the need for new paradigms. Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode: Karen Frost — https://www.revkarenfrost.com/about-karen/ Karen Frost on Twitter — https://twitter.com/revkarenfrost Drunken Church Ladies Podcast — https://www.drunkenchurchladies.com/ JuVee Productions — http://www.juveeproductions.com/ Spirit Uncensored — https://www.spirituncensored.org/ Columbia College Chicago — https://www.colum.edu/ Viola Davis on Twitter — https://twitter.com/violadavis?ref_src Pam Redwood — https://www.smgspeakers.com/team_members/pam-redwood-harris/ Bodhi — https://bodhicenter.org/ Alec Baldwin —  https://www.alecbaldwin.com/ Channing Dungey — https://www.linkedin.com/in/channing-dungey-57a47a183/ Jorge Gutierrez on Twitter — https://twitter.com/mexopolis Netflix — https://www.netflix.com/ The Breakfast Club — https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088847/ Samantha Bee on Twitter — https://twitter.com/iamsambee Big Mouth —...

A Sordid Tale of AfterEllen with Former Content Contributor Karen Frost  First of all, for people who might not know… What is AfterEllen? For the Generation-ZERS  AfterEllen was founded in 2002. Prior to its founding, there hadn’t really been a queer women-specific site that focused on queer female representation in the entertainment industry. AfterEllen flagged for readers when there was a queer female character on TV, offered movie reviews, and conducted interviews with women in queer roles. Over time, the site went through several sort of cosmetic variations, to include video logs and sock puppet re-enactments of “The L Word,” but for 17 years it’s stayed true to its original ideology of identifying and promoting queer female visibility on TV and in movies. Show Notes:                                         Before the Intro - 15 secs  What About Dat? Is a Podcast Queens Production,  Sponsored by Archetype Footwear.  Archetype Footwear OVER MUSIC INTRO - 30 - seconds Jen - Welcome Back to another episode of What About Dat? A podcast where I talk about socially relevant television and speak with thought leaders who want greater visibility and representation in film, television, and digital publication for women, lgbtqia, and their allies.  Today on the podcast we are joined by arm-chair TV-Pundit, former content contributor for AfterEllen, Lez Watch TV, and Tello Film Productions. The Queer Queen of analytics and data and Young adult novelist of the upcoming, “Daughter of Fire Series,” Book 1. Conspiracy of the Dark.   The lovely Karen Frost. Jen - Thank you so much for joining me today, I’ve been a huge fan since you decided to eat your sandwich next to me at Clexa Con.  Karen - Thank you for having me.    Jen - What did you do before writing for AfterEllen? What compelled you to reach out and become involved in the publication?  Karen - I’d read the site since probably a few months after its founding. Every day, I would go on and see if there was a new article. Frankly, back in the early 2000s there was so little representation that there were only new articles a few times a month. The site was absolutely pivotal to my formation of a queer identity as a teenager, and I’d always dreamed of contributing, so when a call went out for writers in 2015, I hoped I’d be picked. Jen - Of your 182 articles what is the piece you are most proud of?  Karen - Let me preface my answer with a bit of a story. In 2016, there was a MASSIVE uproar in the queer female community after the character of Lexa on the CW show “The 100” was killed. Without getting into fandom-specifics, one of the things to come out of it was the feeling, “Why are our characters always being killed off?” For the first time, someone put together the data on it, and we discovered that 25-30% of all queer female characters have been killed off on TV shows. That’s a rate orders of magnitude larger than straight characters. Put another way, there was a statistically significant tendency of shows to kill off our characters. But had no one done the math, that knowledge would have remained in the realm of “feelings” rather than “data.” Because of work to highlight this problem, the next two years saw a plummeting in the number of queer female characters who were killed. Now, to get back to your question of what article I’m most proud of, I would say that the articles that I’m most proud of are the ones that used data to make a point about representation, for example showing that an actresses’ best chance of getting an Oscar nomination and winning since 2002 has been to play a queer character. I believe that it’s hard to convince Hollywood to have more representation using just “feelings,” but if you use data to show the profitability, then it’s hard for Hollywood to say no.   Jen - At ClexaCon, you briefly mentioned a mass exodus from AfterEllen? What happened? Why did so many writers cease their involvement with the publication?  Karen - The mass exodus happened in September 2016 when then-editor Trish Bendix was fired after six years at her position. Evolve Media, who owned AfterEllen at the time, announced it could no longer keep a full-time editor given that AfterEllen wasn’t meeting revenue goals and that it would be reducing the amount of content produced. The relationship between Trish and Evolve immediately soured, and all the writers but me chose to leave in solidarity with Trish. Anyone interested in those dynamics should read an article Trish posted about the dying queer media and the struggle to monetize it. She had a first row seat for years in seeing how the entire media landscape was affected, not just AfterEllen.  Jen - You wrote an article entitled “Why I stayed,” which was a compelling counter-argument for why you were going to continue to contribute articles to AfterEllen during a time when other people were leaving. Why did you stay?  Karen - As I mentioned before, AfterEllen was an absolutely pivotal part of my identity formation as a teenager, and I realized that the site would continue to exist whether all the writers stayed or left. It would continue to be a global platform with the ability to create positive impact for young women coming to terms with their sexual orientation. Girls in Bangladesh, Kenya, South Korea, Argentina, and even in the US wouldn’t know about the backstory with Trish. Two or five or however many years later, they would log onto the site and I wanted them to have something to read that would help them. I think we often become very myopic and Anglo-centric when we think about the world just because we write in English, but there is SO much of the world that is also impacted by what we write. Jen - What was your turning point? What made you finally leave?  Karen - After Trish, Evolve Media hired Memoree Joelle as the new editor. Memoree came to the site with some baggage in the sense that she had expressed what were perceived to be anti-transgender comments in the past. We writers knew about those sentiments, but for the first several years, she kept the sentiments behind those comments private and off the site. In late December 2018, however, when it became clear that Evolve Media was looking to sell AfterEllen and would no longer be monitoring whether she was publishing anti-trans rhetoric, she began to publish that rhetoric through the AfterEllen Twitter handle. That’s actually a bit of an over simplification in the sense that Memoree would argue that she’s not “anti-trans” per se but rather that she feels that as the LGBT community has focused on trans issues, it has come at the cost of lesbian issues and therefore she seeks a more equitable balance of resources and energy. However, the delivery of that message came across as extremely anti-trans.  By December 2018, I could no longer remain with AfterEllen. As someone who doesn’t share Memoree’s ideology, it was impossible to continue to be associated with it. As much as I believed in the spirit of AfterEllen’s mission, to have stayed any longer would have been to condone that sort of bigotry, which I don’t.  Jen - What are some of your takeaways from working at AfterEllen?  Karen - I would say the biggest takeaway is that Hollywood is changing. Often we get impatient at the pace of change, but in 2002 we might see three queer female characters in movies a year and in 2019 we’re talking about whether Valkyrie and Captain Marvel will date in massive, billion dollar grossing Marvel movies. The amount and quality of representation today is unbelievable compared to two decades ago and earlier. I’d like to believe that some of that is a result of the great work done by people at AfterEllen, Autostraddle, and other sites.  The other takeaway is that yes, queer media is dying. That’s for a variety of reasons, but one thing that I would flag is stovepiping in our community. For a decade, readers would come to sites like AfterEllen or Autostraddle and they would read about all the queer content on TV. There was a unified base of knowledge that was shared among the community. Everyone knew, for example, the ten shows that had queer characters. Now people seem to be falling into a few fandoms and not paying attention to what’s happening outside those few. Readership for sites like AfterEllen is dying in part because rather than going to AfterEllen, viewers are going to show-specific sites. But if we lose these universal or aggregative sites, then we lose a really good repository of knowledge. Book Trailer - 1min + Jen- “Conspiracy of the Dark” - Is really different from the deeply analytical articles you’ve put out into the world. Where did the inspiration for the project come from? How did you find your story? Karen - I’ve always loved Young Adult fantasy. Ever since I was a kid, that’s always been my favorite genre. But there really haven’t been a ton of queer protagonists in mainstream books. When I was a teenager, there were three: Malinda Lo’s “Ash” and “Huntress,” and then Tamora Pierce’s “The Will of the Empress.” So with “Conspiracy of the Dark,” the inspiration was just to write a good and interesting story, but also to create more content for young queer women. We need stories of our own, and if mainstream publishers aren’t particularly interested in giving it to us, then we have to write it and disseminate it any way we can.  Jen - Being that you write high-fantasy, what kind of research do you do, and how long do you spend researching before beginning a book? One of the luxuries of high fantasy is that no research is necessary! I love it. You just open up your computer and go. Jen - What does literary success look like to you? If you could have it all, what would it look like with journalism and writing, what does success look like for you?  Karen - I would say that literary success for queer content looks very different from straight content. Here’s what I mean: JK Rowling has made a billion dollars off the Harry Potter series and merchandising. If you’re going to write straight content, that’s success. Success is fame and fortune. But queer content will never sell like that. No one will be getting rich off queer content, and in fact I only know of one queer female writer who makes enough to do it full-time. To me, success in our genre is impact. If someone reads my book and says, “Wow, this is fantastic. I’ve never before seen myself portrayed as a knight or a mage,” then that’s success. All I want to do is put out the content that didn’t exist when I was a teenager. Let’s fill figurative libraries with the content that the mainstream has denied us for centuries.   It’s largely the same with journalism: success is about creating impact. It’s almost impossible to know if the articles that I write have caused anyone in Hollywood to re-evaluate how they do representation, but I hope they have. Ultimately, fame is fleeting and subjective. Here today, gone tomorrow. But if an article plants the seed where Hollywood says, “Hey, maybe Captain Marvel CAN be gay,” then that’s impact forever. Jen - What’s the most difficult thing about writing queer characters?  Karen - There’s nothing difficult about writing queer characters…if you’re already queer yourself. I think where we see more difficulty is when straight people are writing queer characters.  Jen - How does your background in queer pop-culture effect the way you write characters? Karen - Not exactly. I will say, however, that there was a queer couple on TV whose dynamic I really liked so I used their dynamic as the basis of the romantic pairing in my book.   Jen - What was your hardest scene to write? Why? Karen - The opening few pages of my book. In the initial draft, I wanted the description of my character’s world to be very detailed so that readers would feel immersed in it. I immediately realized, however, that it was too much and no one would get past those pages. They would stop reading. So I had to go back and cut.   Jen - What was the pitch process like trying to sell your concept to literary agents? Karen - The way publishing works is that for mainstream publishers, normally you get a literary agent and the agent then tries to market your book to publishers like Harper Collins. So in essence you have two barriers to get over: finding a literary agent and then finding a publisher. Literary agents post online what they’re looking for: cook books, fantasy, sci-fi, etc. I ended up querying 17 literary agents, all of whom specifically said they wanted LGBT content and fantasy content. Every single one of them turned the book down. Then I tried Bella Books, for which you don’t use a literary agent, and also was turned down. The truth is that mainstream publishing really doesn’t want queer female YA content right now, and the two or so books a year that come out with it feel like a miracle. For me, I was also hurt by the fact that to date, queer women haven’t shown an interest in YA fantasy as a genre. The most popular genre is contemporary romance. So for any publisher taking on the book, it’s a risk. It could turn out that neither gays nor straights want to read it.   Jen - How did you connect with Ylva publishing?  Karen - I sent my manuscript to them using the website instructions. To be honest, it was my last effort. If Ylva hadn’t taken it, I would have given up. Ylva has been wonderful to work with, and I really, really am glad they believed in the book and decided to take a chance on it. Jen -  Moving forward what do you think will happen to queer digital publications? Do you think you will ever return to journalizing or has that ship passed?    Karen - I think we’re seeing an atomization of queer digital publications. The revenue structure that supported blogs and websites in the mid to late 2000s is gone. There’s just not the money in it, and that hurts websites. When they can’t stay monetized, they fold, and that trend impacts not just the queer sites, but everyone. For queer content, what pops up are small, personal websites run by one or two people. The problem with sites like that is it’s hard to direct traffic to them. With so many, how do readers know to go to them? It’s not that they’re bad, but rather it’s hard for them to promote themselves. For myself, I love writing about queer topics, particularly in the entertainment field, but frankly, my ability to return to that field isn’t contingent on me. With this atomizing, people feel like they want to run their sites themselves without outside content. What that’s meant is that I can’t get anyone to take my free articles. So while I have lots of ideas for articles, I have no place to publish them.   Jen - This has been an interview with Karen Frost, thank you so much for being here today. Your presence elevates the podcast. Please come back soon. Be sure to follow us on twitter @whatabout_dat.  Music Outro   

  Do you love YA Novels? But wish for more queer-centric representation? Well, then look no further, Daughter of Fire -- Conspiracy of the Dark is the Lesbian Harry Potter you've been carving. It's a four part series which follows the story of a young woman who can conjure fire with her hands. Available at Ylva Publishing this book trailer was produced compliments of What About Dat? TV Recap and Review, be sure to look for our next podcast with author Karen Frost.   https://www.ylva-publishing.com/product/daughter-of-fire-conspiracy-of-the-dark-by-karen-frost/  I am the daughter of winter. My people are strong and unbending as ice. I was born with the frozen winds sweeping through my hair, with snow dusted across my skin. I am. I am. I am… For Aeryn, a girl born to the remote, wintry Ice Crown region of Ilirya, the outside world is a fantasy: a series of wonderful stories told by occasional passing travellers. She never imagines anything for her life beyond following in her parents’ footsteps. But the discovery that she has the rare gift of magic shatters her isolated world. Aeryn can create and tame fire. It’s an intoxicating, raw, and thrilling power, but it also sets her apart. And her gift attracts attention. She is whisked from her home in the wilds to train at Windhall University and master her magic. There, Aeryn slowly learns the truth about the real world, with its strange mix of people and powers, and so many intertwining threads of shadows and light. She’s drawn to unattainable Lyse, a beautiful healer in training who makes Aeryn’s heart soar. But she also senses a creeping darkness all around that could threaten the future of the kingdom itself. A compelling, original, evocative fantasy novel for young and old. Part one of the Destiny and Darkness series.

TV executive Rev. Karen Frost talks about her path in Hollywood and her current role as creative executive at Viola Davis’s JuVee Productions.

Click To Play play_blip_movie_392722(); Karen Frost, from Frost Media Relations, attracts new clients mainly through word-of-mouth. Hear some success stories about her clients and how she used media to enhance their visibility.

Click To Play play_blip_movie_392722(); Karen Frost, from Frost Media Relations, attracts new clients mainly through word-of-mouth. Hear some success stories about her clients and how she used media to enhance their visibility.

Click To Play play_blip_movie_362152(); Karen Frost, from Frost Media Relations, started her own business ten years ago. She learned the nuts and bolts of entrepreneurship from her father. When she started FMR, he had had his own business for ten years. Karen also shares her secrets how to deal with the everyday risks and unexpected events, which always occur in business.