Shonda Rhimes launched her new website Shondaland.com on Monday, adding a new Hearst digital media platform to her long list of responsibilities.
The website Shondaland.com will cover politics, culture, style, health and relationships through interviews, essays and video content. Among the first pieces on the site are an advice column called “Agony Auntie,” a list of book recommendations, a personal essay from “Scandal” star Katie Lowes about buying a home, an interview with Rep. Maxine Waters conducted by Rhimes and a Trumpcare explainer written by Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards.
“This is not a lifestyle site,” Rhimes wrote in her inaugural column, introducing the site. “Because my idea wasn’t to bring all of you amazing, thoughtful, curious, interesting people together, gather you around a digital campfire, and feed you a lifestyle.”
“We’re inclusive, accessible, intimate, grounded, and inspiring,” she wrote. “We have smart and funny and very relatable stories in all the essential categories you’d imagine: work, love, family, politics, activism, money, culture … In other words, we’re not giving you lifestyle at Shondaland.com. We’re giving you life.”
Similar to Hearst’s partnership with Lena Dunham’s Lenny, Shondaland.com’s content will be hosted on the company’s platform and will be syndicated across its other sites, including Cosmopolitan, ELLE, Harper’s Bazaar and Marie Claire.
“We’re excited to partner with Shonda Rhimes to bring her unique voice and vision to our highly engaged audience of more than 200 million users a month,” Hearst Magazines Digital Media global president Troy Young said in a statement. “As an empowering and inclusive platform for women, we know that Shondaland.com will become a must-read for her passionate and growing community of fans.”