TheLi.st — an oddly named, 10-year-old social network that has been linking successful women with up and comers — has been sold to New Power Media, headed by Ann Shoket, the author and one-time “Seventeen” magazine editor in chief.
Founded by lawyer and media blogger Rachel Sklar and Glynnis MacNicol, author of the bestselling memoir “No One Tells You This,” TheLi.st has an exclusive membership with only 500 names — but it is an impressive and diverse list.
Among its members are Jodi Kantor, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist whose expose of Harvey Weinstein in the New York Times helped bring down the sleazy media mogul; Alyssa Mastromonaco, President Obama’s former deputy chief of staff of operations who went on to be COO of Vice Media; and Monica Lewinsky, the former White House intern turned anti-bullying advocate.
“It’s an instant brain trust,” said Sklar, whose tech and media career includes contributing to CNN, writing a column at the Huffington Post, blogging for Fish Bowl NY and writing as an editor at large on Dan Abrams’ Mediaite. She founded TheLi.st in 2010 with the pitch, “You become consiglieres for your colleagues.”
Communication is via email, where members can sound one out and offer advice on anything from pay scales to searching for funding to workplace gender issues. “It useful to ask other people rather than figure it out painfully on your own,” Sklar said.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Shoket said she plans to tap into the names for speaker series, influencer media dinners, virtual summits and workshops. But she said she is not looking for explosive growth in new members to add to the list.
“The goal is not to scale this community,” said Shoket, who said she was introduced to TheLi.st when she was invited to join by Adda Birnir, the CEO of online tech education firm Skillcrush. “The goal is to add new revenue streams.”
Other members include Girls Who Code CEO Reshma Saujani, fashion and media personality Stacy London, Random House Executive Editor Jamia Wilson, MSNBC Anchor Alicia Menendez and Luvvie Ajayi, author of bestseller “I’m Judging You: The Do Better Manual.”