Again in August, Sofia Franklyn, the 31-year-old host of standard podcast “Sofia with an F,” was talking together with her standard candor when she famous the significance she places on courting a “wealthy” man.
“I’m not joking, I’ve asked the last three dudes I’ve dated for their bank account info on the first date,” Franklyn mentioned.
The statements—tame compared to lots of Franklyn’s conversations—caught on in conservative media, used as fodder on Fox Information and making their means into the New York Submit. Readers can think about the feedback and responses that adopted: Among the many nicest names she was referred to as was a gold digger.
Franklyn has hosted “Sofia with an F” for nearly three years, launching it shortly after her much-publicized split from mega-hit podcast “Call her Daddy” over disagreements together with her contract renewal. She isn’t new to controversy; after she left “Call Her Daddy,” articles abounded about what occurred between her and former former co-host Alex Cooper, who now runs her personal media empire. However for as a lot as she’s used to igniting debate on-line, the uproar about her feedback caught Franklyn, who calls herself “rarely very serious,” abruptly.
“I remember my mom called me and she said, ‘oh my god, you’re in the Buenos Aires newspaper.’ It went international. I was pretty taken aback,” Franklyn tells Fortune. “When these tiny little soundbites get picked up with no context…they can come off a certain way that maybe it wasn’t meant to.”
Franklyn says she misplaced just a few thousand followers after the incident, primarily males. However she stands by her phrases. A girl discussing cash is almost always controversial, she’s studying, whether or not she’s exaggerating her statements for comedic impact or not. Nonetheless, Franklyn says it’s vital to be frank in conversations about cash. And he or she’s discovered sufficient over her profession to ask for what she desires, no matter how folks react.
“I think it’s just insecure men who couldn’t handle a comment like that. I’m an incel’s worst nightmare,” she says. “Your partner should be on your same level…I want women to be careful out there.”
Franklyn’s street to success
Franklyn isn’t dwelling on the controversy. Regardless of what critics say, she is working her personal profitable enterprise, fostering a neighborhood of loyal listeners whereas constructing her private checking account within the course of.
Her attraction for the reason that Name Her Daddy days is that of your funniest buddy who’s all the time up for a great time. On a current episode of “Sofia with an F,” she gave a deep-dive into her personal private funds with Ramit Sethi, a money guru and star of Netflix’s “How to Get Rich,” who congratulated her on her funds after viewing her accounts on air.
“We’re talking about a lot of money here,” Sethi mentioned. “You will be a multi-, multi-, multi-millionaire.”
Her path to her present dream job wasn’t all the time straight-forward. Franklyn grew up in Utah, raised by a single mom. She says she wished to make it to New York, however didn’t know get there. She ended up working in finance at Morgan Stanley out of school for 4 years, a job she disliked however knew would offer a secure earnings.
Franklyn describes herself as inventive, observant, and a day dreamer. If she may give her youthful self recommendation, she says it’d be to really imagine she was able to doing what she dreamed of and take extra dangers. Quite than finding out economics in faculty, she would have studied English or communications and guess on herself.
“Every single day I would sit in my cubicle and dream of podcasts, because I would listen to them all day,” she says. “I do think in a weird way I totally manifested where I am today.”
She began podcasting in 2018 with Cooper. The duo, who have been greatest associates and roommates, would focus on their relationships, intercourse lives, and residing in New York. It discovered an viewers shortly, rising to over 2 million listeners in two months, according to AdExchanger. After only a handful of episodes, the pair quickly agreed to a cope with Barstool Sports activities for a $75,000-per-year base wage, plus bonuses primarily based on downloads and merchandise, and branded alcohol gross sales. With its immediate success, they every reportedly earned $500,000 that year from the present alone.
When it got here time to resume their contract, Franklyn wished extra. She reportedly requested for $1 million a 12 months and a better proportion of the merchandise gross sales; Cooper and Barstool founder Dave Portnoy reduce her out utterly. Portnoy and listeners alike referred to as her greedy and disloyal.
Regardless of the drama surrounding that break up, it’s arduous to argue that she was fallacious: A 12 months later, Cooper famously inked a $60 million, three-year-deal with Spotify to distribute the podcast. Franklyn knew what the present she was making was value.
It’s additionally arduous to argue that her personal path hasn’t labored out. She’s gone from residing paycheck-to-paycheck to, she says, earning more than she did at Barstool even with out the Spotify payday. It’s taken plenty of work, she says, and he or she typically has bother drawing boundaries, a difficulty she didn’t have together with her finance job. As a result of she posts about her life, she’s all the time questioning whether or not she ought to be filming one thing, whether or not it’s her trip or nighttime routine.
Nonetheless, she’s not complaining. “I completely adore, love, and know how blessed I am to have this job. I am so grateful,” she says. “You get to do this s— you love, you just have to film it and make it for the general public and get paid. It’s amazing and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
The recommendation she would give to somebody trying to make it within the present media atmosphere: “Work your a– off.” And perhaps take it simple on the partying.
Now that her present has turned her into one thing of an influencer, she is aware of how arduous it may be to not evaluate your self to others. However she encourages folks to prioritize saving their cash, it doesn’t matter what life they see portrayed by associates or, sure, influencers on Instagram or TikTok.
“All designer bags that you see on Instagram are from Canal Street. Period. Fact,” she jokes. “Just stay in your lane and don’t compare. There is always going to be someone younger, hotter, richer, so you can’t think that way.”
