Sari Botton

And then I suddenly, like, if I even got a first interview, I couldn't get a second interview.

And people were saying really ageist things to me.

And, you know, I was being interviewed by people in their 30s.

And they were saying things to me like, haven't you done enough of this?

Aren't you ready to try something else?

Like, what?

I'm just, like, reaching the top of my game.

What are you talking about?

You know, I was 54.

And one person said to me, I'm surprised a legend like you would even be interested in a job like this, which is a very backhanded way of saying you're overqualified.

But also, like, you know, when you hear it from a 30-year-old, it's like, you're not complimenting me right now.

You know, and then the jobs went to people in their 30s.

And...

My eyes were opened.

And then so many other jobs, I could not even get an interview in a field that I was kind of a star in.

Everybody wanted to be published by me at Longreads.

I also, I freelanced.

I was a freelance editor at Catapult for a while, and everybody wanted to work with me.

And yet I could not get arrested in the job market.

And then, so at Longreads, I had started a series called Fine Lines that was the precursor to Oldster.