Kayleigh Ruller is a NYC-based food writer and digital creator with words in Eater, Food & Wine, and Condé Nast Traveler. She works full time as a brand manager at Ovation Network. In this episode Kayleigh and I run it back to our UCLA meet cute. We discuss how Kayleigh carved her creative niche postgrad and our respective creative practices. What happens when all the energy you would put towards a romantic crush goes elsewhere? Listen to find out. * “A Surfer, the Ocean and a Pas de Deux Born on the Waves,” Gia Kourlas for NYTimes * Scrapbooking * This is the Only Kingdom by Jaquira Díaz (I have only read one book all month and that’s how you know the surf is up) * “NeoNeo Surf Rethinks the Wetsuit Afterlife,” Phebe Whal for Modern Luxury * Channel Islands Feb’s Fish (obsessed) Buddies: * Honeypot: the team was kind enough to send me some of their products to try! I am especially loving their sensitive skin line, their nighttime routine line & their organic lube (strawberry flavored for extra fun lol). Anyone with a vagina should have access to their organic pads, tampons and care products. * The Hinge Team gifted me Hinge premium and I have been loving it so much. Reasons Hinge Premium is worth it: * Filter by political affiliation (for my liberal queens) * Your likes at the top (more matches with hotties) * Seeing everyone who likes you at the same time (don’t need to waste time flipping through likes, just match who you want) * Unlimited likes (sit on your couch on Sunday and maxx before Monday) * Neo Neo Surf: I just wrapped an incredible photoshoot with Neo Neo surf, a woman owned and operated company that repurposes used neoprene into items for use. As a surfer, it’s important to me to recycle any old wetsuits I have because neoprene does not break down organically. I snagged a laptop sleep made of repurposed wetsuit material and I can’t wait to use it to carry my computer back and forth to school in the fall. Crushing Personal Ads August 2026: * 25F, Los Angeles based, and 5’8 so I’ll know if you’re actually 5’10. Writer and comedian, looking for a guy to riff with, add on Goodreads, and share clothes with * 23F, EU/UK/US working rights. Global citizen in the unironic way. Tall and blonde and certified sommelier. looking for a someone to drink wine, eat cheese, and have 6-8 children with. WLM in Madrid / Bangkok. * 31F, NYC based MFA student by day, real estate mogul by night. Long, lean and maybe a little mean? Looking for a guy with taste. Books. Apartments. Shoes. Clothes. Must love dogs, roller blading & Central Park. Put a ring on it before it’s too late. Anyone interested? What’s Next on the Substack? * Read my latest essay, “Long Live the Short King.” What do you think? Is the term “short king” subversive or derogatory or both? * I’m turning 25 in 2 weeks & I got wisdom to share about 25 years on this planet. Happy Virgo Season! * Are you interested in doing a video interview for the podcast? Some Housekeeping: I will be supporting myself after graduating my MFA program this year. I am going to be charging $5/month for paid subscriptions to this Substack or $50/year to help make that transition to writing full time. Here’s what a paid subscription to this Substack includes: * My monthly personal essays will remain free, but they will become paywalled after 2 months. * e.g. if you want to read “Ben from Hinge,” you will need to become a paid subscriber * Crushing Podcast episodes will remain free, but I will introduce a paywall after 2 months. * Access to collaborations with other creatives will be for paid subscribers going forward. * e.g. Tide2Table NYC, Sarah Cortina * You will also need to pay to comment Thank you so much for your support over the past four years on Substack. I can’t believe I’ve been doing this for that long! I know some of you have been around since I had just about 100 subscribers. If there is any other serialized content you’d like to see, don’t be a stranger :) To receive new posts from all Crushing verticals and to support my transition from graduate school to professional life, consider becoming a paid subscriber Crushing is a reader-supported publication. To support my transition to writing full-time, consider becoming a paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit crushing.substack.com/subscribe
