After almost a decade at Mamamia, Clare Stephens has stepped out on her own.
But the former Editor-in-Chief wasn’t prepared to flee the nest for just anything, telling Mediaweek she knew whatever came next had to count.
“It was scary because I was at Mamamia for almost 10 years, but I also had a very big sense that I knew what I wanted to do,” she said.
“For me, it was about moving to the next phase of my career and being able to own not only the things that I create, but also my own mistakes.”
Stephens’ first move into that independent space is bold: the launch of her new podcast The Pile-On and her debut novel The Worst Thing I’ve Ever Done, released just days apart.
Both projects circle the same idea – what it really feels like when the internet turns on you.
“The book centres on a character who is in the centre of an online pile-on and it’s about public shaming,” she explained, adding that she had gotten the idea from “just being in media” and witnessing cancel culture firsthand.
From viral content to independent projects
The new podcast, hosted on Acast and produced by award-winning producer Lize Ratliff, builds directly on Stephens’ book research.
“As I was writing the book, I interviewed a whole lot of high profile Australians about their experiences of online pile-ons and I knew I’d have to do a podcast because they were just incredible,” she explained.
Episode one features Hannah Ferguson, CEO and co-founder of Cheek Media, unpacking the backlash to her comments on US political commentator Charlie Kirk.
“If people knew their side of the story, they would look at them really differently,” Stephens explains, adding that the issues faced with online discourse include the loss of nuance, and the ability to read social cues and someone’s body language.
“You sit opposite them and you go, you’re not a villain. You’re not evil. It’s not that simple,” Stephens said. “I don’t think debate can happen effectively online. It’s too short, our attention spans are not long enough, and the algorithms are rewarding aggression and the most extreme view.”
Instead, she sees longform audio as an antidote, because “podcasting lets ideas breathe.”
Women, identity and public life
Her work also reflects a preoccupation with how identity shapes public scrutiny.
“We have really, really high moral standards for anyone whose identity we deem to be political. If you’re a woman, you’re meant to be a feminist. If you are a person of colour, you’re meant to be speaking about racial issues,” she said.
“What you get is a whole lot of people who are terrified of living any kind of public life. All while those who have always occupied space in public, occupy more and more because they’re not held to the same standard,” she explained.
Owning her next chapter
Stephens’ said her decade at Mamamia was formative: “I do feel like working at Mamma Mia for 10 years, I do feel like I had seven different jobs because of the nature of digital media”. But stepping out on her own marks a conscious shift.
Her record speaks for itself. She co-hosted the chart-topping Cancelled and created But, Are You Happy?, which Apple named its Best New Podcast of 2023.
Now, with both a novel and a podcast arriving in the same week, Stephens has staked out her independence. And as she puts it, it’s not just about ownership of the work – it’s about ownership of the risk.