Rebecca Wadey, Ensemble Co-Founder 17.01.25

Working adjacent to the newsroom of Aotearoa’s largest news organisation over the past year was a real trip. So many incredible, talented and experienced journalists reporting news of job losses through the media industry while navigating their own upheavals. So it came as no surprise, and somewhat of a relief, when Ensemble – the women’s lifestyle and culture platform I founded with friend and fashion media icon Zoe Walker Ahwa in 2020, and sold to said organisation in 2021 – became the latest to be impacted by ongoing media restructures.

There’s no way we were going to let ourselves be closed down though. It wasn’t even a live possibility. We swiftly (and, to their credit, effortlessly) negotiated a transfer of ownership back to ourselves just before Christmas. And we start this year with a clean slate of (unpaid) possibility, stretched out on the horizon like the most beautiful optic illusion of shimmer where the ocean meets the sky in a typical Coromandel summer. That is: The most beautiful expanse of potential I can imagine.

The thing is, media is broken. We all know that. The advent of online/digital media back in the early aughts supposedly heralded a new era for publishers and consumers, but the thing is no one ever worked out how to monetise it – especially as a standalone platform (i.e. not a site launched in support of a print product). But of course it’s not just digital media that has a problem. All mediums are fucked in various ways, both simple and complex. I always hated the advertising model in traditional print titles: write stories on how aging is bad so the beauty companies can run ads for creams to a terrified audience, tell people they are less than in insidiously subtle ways so they will consume to conform. Women do not need to buy into that. You do you boo. And there is an easy way around it; find a community that uplifts you, that you believe in, and support it in return however you are able.

Support of Ensemble might be financial. For only $7/month (the cost of an oat latte a month) you can help ensure our survival, or for those with fewer resources it might be engaging with, sharing and advocating for our content on the site and/or Instagram.

The reason we never considered being shuttered is because we believed so strongly in our community, and we knew our community in return believed in us.

Community has long been my north star, my guiding light for everything I do. When I was diagnosed with breast cancer at the tender age of 26, community was literally my saviour. I learnt that people of disparate backgrounds, competing ideologies – an ensemble of humans if you will – coming together through times good and bad could heal and nurture me in ways I’d never imagined. I’m witnessing this now, on social media, from afar, in LA where communities of people are pooling together allowing us to see beauty in the horrific.

On a smaller level, I think Ensemble both feeds and is fed by our community. In a way similar to the Rubettes! We were the only media platform who would break the news of bullying and misogyny at Lonely Lingerie, and who took the Auckland Central political candidates to sit front row at NZ Fashion Week (still the most genius encapsulation of everything we stand for that I can think of, and an example of Zoe’s incredible mind). All alongside looking into random beauty trends, hardcore fandom, and featuring people with important stories to tell– everything we do is with our community in mind. Will this provoke? Educate? Entertain? We ask ourselves these questions before publishing anything.

Last year was bleak AF. So many incredible places we took for granted closed down. I know RUBY customers, who obviously care about their local community and issues around sustainability and consumerism that RUBY educates so well on, understand the importance of supporting your favourite places before they are gone. I urge you to also turn this lens to the media you consume. No one has the ad dollars they once had and every provider is in danger of falling over any day. You could donate to your local student radio, or look into a paid subscription to any of the platforms you consume (please, consider us!). The work we do is valuable and the best future for us is one our community pays for, rather than expecting to get it for free.

It’s a strange mindset to get into, paying for online media. Even I’ve had to rethink my attitude towards it. I’ll defend the price of well-made clothes, explain to my children why good quality locally made food is expensive, and then expect to look up recipes, reviews, incredible essays, interviews, opinion pieces and photo shoots - the work of people who spent many years honing their craft in various creative fields, including myself! - for free. It’s undeniable we’ve reached a critical point where we need to protect these industries before they’re gone. From a news perspective it’s crucial because, democracy. From an arts, culture and women’s interest perspective it’s crucial as the world and various organisations and governments that exist within it are threatening our stability and our voices. In challenging economic times traditionally most companies, including media, act conservatively and with caution. Fuck that mentality. Ensemble have never shied away from a challenge. No one could ever accuse us of being risk-averse. That’s the energy we’re bringing to 2025. The best is yet to come indeed….

Written by Rebecca Wadey