When Clementine Ford decided to bring back the Big Sister Hotline podcast format she first launched in lockdown, she knew the right partner would have to do more than just host her podcast.
For the uninitiated, Ford has never shied away controversy: From her views on Palestine to her comments made about men during Covid (a tweet, later apologised for, about Covid ‘not killing enough men.’).
So, when it came to finding the right fit for the format, the decision came down to so much more than just the right company for the right brand. For Ford, they’d have to embrace her, unfiltered.
“I’ve always intended to bring the format back, but was waiting for the right time and opportunity,” she says. “Thankfully, circumstances aligned to help me do so with Kind Regards, and here we are.”
Kind Regards was founded by Megan Pustetto and Alex Jae, both women boasting extensive and multi-hyphen careers in the media.
Their mission, according to their website is to create a platform with unmatched experience where creators thrive, stories shine, and women run the show.
Kind Regards founders Megan Pustetto and Alex Jae
Her connection to the network began with Pustetto, the pair bonding over a shared love of Married at First Sight, though Ford is quick to challenge the assumptions people might make about her new creative partner. “Because of her work as a pop culture gossip queen, I think people could assume she’s mean-spirited and untrustworthy,” she says. “But honestly, the opposite is true. Megan is probably one of the most authentic people I’ve met, especially when it comes to her approach to relationships.”
That authenticity, Ford says, is paired with a rare industry quality: a refusal to pander. “She’s kind and hard-working, and she isn’t afraid to upset the majority. She’s not sycophantic, which is a rare trait in this industry. She’s staunch on the issues that matter.”
For Ford, that moral courage is non-negotiable. “It matters to me that the people I work with are willing to be led by moral courage and not shareholder concerns,” she says.
And crucially, she adds, the Kind Regards team knows exactly who they’re working with, and why. “They know who I am and what I stand for, and I trust that they’ll never try to sanitise me or tone me down. That means a lot.”
Cutting through the podcast clutter
Ford isn’t shy about the state of the podcasting landscape, or the people crowding it.
“Every man and his dog have turned to podcast creation,” she says. “We’re collapsing under the weight of dudes in backwards caps and the uncalloused hands of men who’ve never touched a brick a day in their life, all eager to talk about how they built the world and that’s why they should be given a wife.”
Her fix? “Men should be forced to do a breathalyser test before they’re allowed access to a microphone… and by that I mean if they’re breathing, the microphone should automatically disconnect.”
It’s an irreverent but deliberate point: Big Sister Hotline isn’t trying to be just another voice in the noise.
“In addition to being actually smart and funny, it’s also a rich source of additional material,” she says. Listener questions might start with practical dilemmas, but Ford often weaves in literary references, like Mary Oliver’s The Journey, which she describes as a call to step into the wild and listen for “a voice you begin to recognise as your own” growing louder.
Stepping into the ‘big sister’ role
That blend of wit, cultural awareness, and moral clarity also defines her approach as the “big sister” in the room.
“To give properly good life advice, you have to be curious about life,” she says. “That means being willing to see beyond the things we’re told are normal… and having a robust understanding of politics and art and culture, so you can say to the 35-year-old woman terrified of winding up alone that life is so much bigger than the small story we’ve all been presented with.”
Her answers draw from her own writing and the work of other thinkers, with a clear-eyed aim: “a new way of thinking, a path out of despair, a means of seeing themselves as the hero of their own story.”
Clementine Ford
Why advertisers can’t buy her… unless they really mean it
It’s that mix of candour and conviction that also shapes her relationships with advertisers.
“The most valuable thing I have is my authenticity,” she says. “I care about my audience far more than I care about the numbers of that audience.”
That means turning down partnerships that don’t align with her values, even if it costs her financially. “Not everyone likes my style. They’d prefer me to be nicer, more polite, less ‘volatile’. A lot of places would be more comfortable with shallow, girl-boss-type feminism, and find feminism with depth and bite to be more off-putting. Ha, I’m being my own worst advertiser here!”
Still, she insists that for those willing to “take a little heat,” she’s “an excellent investment” with staying power: “I will outlast religion, that’s how much longevity I have in me.”
When it comes to advertisers and brands, Ford is onto something with her push for authenticity.
The top traits brands seek from influencers is honesty (67%), followed by creativity (47%) and charisma (38%), according to research conducted by Snapchat and MAGNA Media Trials for its Influencer Marketing Playbook.
Recent research from Taboola also found the same hunger for authenticity, with data showing that campaigns reflecting diverse ethnicities, body types, gender identities and appearances deliver stronger engagement and brand loyalty.
Inclusivity is now a baseline, not a bolt‑on.
Living with, and relishing, controversy
And then there’s the question of controversy, a label she finds more revealing of the media than of herself.
“If I were a conservative man with robust opinions on women, immigration, and sport, I’d have three television shows and a prime-time slot on talk-back radio,” she says. “The media industry loves ‘controversial’ men.”
“Unlike the people intent on tripping me up, I genuinely do care about being a better person and will own it if I’ve done the wrong thing,” she says.
Ford points out she’s never been accused of a crime, never groped anyone, never stolen anything, never earned a reputation as a diva. “If people were honest, they’d admit I’m not a particularly controversial person. What I am is brave enough to say what I think regardless of who likes it or not.”
She doesn’t care about the “right” parties or the approval of the industry’s power players, and that refusal to play the game seems to rankle.
“They hate that I don’t care what they think. They hate that they can’t threaten me with their headlines… Honestly, I really love that I bother them so much.”
You can listen to Big Sister Hotline here or where ever you get your podcast fix.