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Now for today's episode:

What happens when the person selling the story starts questioning the story she's been sold?

In this episode of Freelance Writing Direct, I talk with Lu Chekowsky, author of Don't Buy What I'm Selling: On Breaking Up with Advertising and Finally Learning to Love My Whole Fat Self, about advertising, ambition, body image, approval, and the stories we absorb about who we're supposed to be.

Lu shares how she turned decades inside the advertising industry into a deeply personal book that also examines the culture of selling, beauty, success, and self-worth.

In this episode:

• What advertising teaches us about desire and identity
• The connection between ambition, approval, and self-worth
• Blending memoir with cultural critique
• Writing candidly about body image, grief, and family

Watch on YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSsu2Vg3jIA

About Lu

Lu Chekowsky is a writer, Emmy Award-winning creative director, and author of Don't Buy What I'm Selling. Her career has included senior creative roles at Facebook, Comedy Central, MTV, and Wieden+Kennedy. For her complete bio go to https://estelleserasmus.com/podcast (see episode #211)

Link

Website: https://www.lchekowsky.com

Get More From Estelle Erasmus

I'm teaching my eight-week NYU course, Write to Publish: How to Get Your Work in Print and Beyond, live online beginning October 13. You'll learn how to develop personal and reported essays, create a compelling story arc, pitch online and print publications, and revise your work. We'll also hear directly from visiting editors and authors, and explore a curated list of publication opportunities. Learn more and register here.

Latest Substack post: Detail with a Pulse to Make Your Writing Sing. A great detail doesn't just describe a scene. It carries emotion, tension, character, or meaning. Here's how to find the one detail that makes a scene come alive.
Plus, paid subscribers can send me up to three paragraphs for feedback. https://estelleserasmus.substack.com/p/detail-with-a-pulse-to-make-your.

Upcoming Writer's Digest Webinar
Join me on October 29 for The First Five Pages: Making Your Memoir Impossible to Put Down, a live Writer's Digest webinar about creating an opening that captures readers, agents, and editors from the start. Register here: https://writersdigestuniversity.mykajabi.com/the-first-five-pages 

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Freelance Writing Direct Podcast — 2026 Signal Awards Finalist — Education; 2026  Podcast of the Year, Business (American Writing Awards) 

About Estelle
Estelle Erasmus is an award-winning journalist, TEDx speaker, and author of Writing That Gets Noticed. She is the host, founder, and executive producer of Freelance Writing Direct, an adjunct professor at NYU, and the former editor-in-chief of five national magazines with a combined reach of 10 million readers.

Her work has appeared in more than 150 publications, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, WIRED, PBS/Next Avenue, The Independent, and AARP The Magazine.

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