A quote from Miranda Sawyer's Observer review of Mag Hags

A quote from the Mag Hags review in the Irish Independent

Podcast Episodes

Travel back in time to check out your favourite title!

Who We Are

Journalists, magazine readers, and IRL mates

CO-HOST

Lucy Douglas

Lucy is an award-winning editor. Before moving into the less-sexy-but-better-paid world of brand content, she wrote for the likes of The Guardian and The Telegraph, and edited indy magazines including Positive News. She came up with the idea for Mag Hags while brainstorming with Franki for an upcoming job interview. One of the tasks the recruiters had set was to suggest features for the forthcoming 50 year anniversary edition of the publication. As they went through the archives, looking for ideas, they were gripped by the stories they encountered, by turns fascinating, twee, hilarious, and problematic. “This would make a great podcast,” she said. Three years later, Mag Hags was born. Like many Millennial women, Lucy can trace her love of glossy mags back to poring over the problem pages of Sugar and Just 17 in the mid-90s. Graduating to titles such as New Woman and Cosmopolitan, her passion took hold and from then on, she knew was going to work in journalism.

CO-HOST

Franki Cookney

Franki has been a reporter and features writer for over 15 years, writing for The Guardian, The Mirror, The Independent, The Sun, Cosmopolitan, The Sunday Times, Forbes, WIRED, and many more. She got the podcasting bug in 2016, making her first show at her kitchen table, and hasn't looked back. In 2019 an episode of her sex and relationships podcast The Second Circle was shortlisted for an MJA Award. In 2021 she successfully crowdfunded a limited documentary series, which allowed her to outsource the editing to focus on reporting, writing and hosting. With Mag Hags she's excited to be back in the audio production seat again. From being inspired by the investigative reporting in Marie Claire, to obsessing over the sex tips in More (and eventually going on to write a fair few sex tips herself), magazines have played a huge role in Franki's life. While she may have moved on from free lip gloss and hair mascara, she still enjoys the occasional DIY face mask.

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Cosmopolitan, October 1992