Listen:
Nina Badzin is someone you want as a friend. But, you aren’t lucky enough to have her as a friend in real life (as I do), then you definitely want to soak in her advice about every aspect of friendship you can imagine, from toxic friendships to making friends in midlife, to dealing with changing milestones in these relationships to dealing with envy and just about every emotion through her podcast Dear Nina: Conversations About Friendship and her Substack (links to both below). Because even if you don’t know Nina personally, her sage and measured advice on the permutations of friendship is invaluable.
In This Episode
- How Nina Badzin transitioned from parenting essays to writing exclusively about friendship
- Why Nina started Dear Nina, Conversations About Friendship and how the podcast has evolved
- The challenges of pitching to podcasts and what makes a great pitch
- How Nina monetizes her writing and podcast through paid Substack subscriptions
- The importance of pivoting and adapting as a writer and creator
- How friendships evolve over time and why letting go of expectations can improve relationships
Watch on YouTube
About Nina
Nina Badzin is the host of the top 1% charted podcast Dear Nina: Conversations About Friendship. As an essayist and freelance writer, she’s had numerous pieces published on a wide variety of topics, but she started focusing on friendship in 2014. Nina moved to writing solely about friendship in 2021. Her Substack, “Conversations About Friendship” is a go-to newsletter for friendship advice, and her private Facebook group, “Dear Nina: The Group,” has become a community where people help each other solve friendship problems and talk about books, shows, and more.
Connect with Nina
Facebook: Dear Nina: The Group
Estelle’s episode on Nina’s Podcast
#97 Disclosing my Invisible Disability Increased the Intimacy in My Friendships
Connect with Estelle
Erasmus Estelle Erasmus: an award-winning journalist, is the author of WRITING THAT GETS NOTICED (named a “Best Book for Writers” by Poets & Writers Magazine), a Contributing Editor for Writer’s Digest, and host of the podcast Freelance Writing Direct, which was named the winner of 2025 Podcast of the Year (under the education category) by the American Writing Awards. She is an adjunct instructor for NYU’s School of Professional Studies/Center for Publishing and Applied Liberal Arts, where she received a 2023 Teaching Excellence Award, and has written for over 150 publications, including The New York Times, Next Avenue/PBS, WIRED, The Independent,The Washington Post, and AARP: The Magazine, and was the editor-in-chief of five national publications. Follow her on Substack
Apply to be on Freelance Writing Direct in a coaching episode: email [email protected] and state three of the issues you are dealing with that you would like Estelle’s help with.
Get Writing That Gets Noticed, named a Best Book for Writers by Poets & Writers Magazine.
Order Her Audiobook
Writing That Gets Noticed was selected as the Feb/March book for My WriteDay’s subscription box service of writing craft books! So honored! My WRITEDAY is a bi-monthly subscription box program that delivers curated products from authors, creators, and small businesses to readers in the US. It’s unique in that many products are sourced from writers who are also crafters and artisans.
Sign up for Estelle’s Substack(for craft advice and writing opportunities). Paid subscribers receive opportunities for pitch reviews, plus bonus clips from Freelance Writing Direct guests.
Read Estelle’s latest post on Substack (and an offer to paid subscribers) 5 Hard Truths about Essay Writing
Student Work
Congrats to my NYU student Jodi H. Arndt for her searing and sad piece on Next Avenue that she workshopped during class: Losing My Mom, Even Though She’s Still Here.
NYU even highlighted it on their instagram.
* If you are interested in publishing on Next Avenue, this is episode #118 with Julie Pfitzinger, Managing Editor of Next Avenue
Classes
Estelle’s private small Zoom classes are sold out for March 2025 and May/June 2025 (the May/June class sold out in 2 days). Email her at [email protected] to get on the list for her next class (in the Fall) and find out how to secure your spot.There are currently 2 spots left for her fiction class for September. She is also doing a nonfiction class in October/November, and there are a handful of spots left.
Her newest NYU class now taking registrations is Writing About Your Life Through Memoir, Essays and Articles.
Webinars
Grab your spot for the next editor-on-call event in partnership with NYU. Estelle will be in conversation with Willa Bennett, the editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan and Seventeen magazines. Register here before space runs out.
Sign up for her Webinar on April 24th from 1:00-2:30 pm ET for Writer’s Digest: Layering Throughlines and Timelines into Your Essays and Books to Pack a Punch. It will be generative, informational, and interactive.
Appearance
I was a guest on Dr. Risa Ryger’s Instagram Live series Disruptive Conversations spilling the tea on how I traversed my transition from positional power to, my own power. To watch/listen go here.
Conference Appearance
I’m delighted to be speaking at Open Secrets Live on May 3rd on the relationship panel. Here is a link to the event (there are limited tickets left for $25). Here is a recent piece I wrote for Next Avenue/PBS about life as the ‘Dating Diva‘. Here is a link Rachel’s episode #129 on the podcast.
Here is a description of the panel I’m in. I love the company I’m with.
Panel of essayists and memoir authors discussing relationships and how to write about them. Speakers include Dirty Lola, sex edutainer, Estelle Erasmus, author of Writing That Gets Noticed and host of the Freelance Writing Direct podcast, Judy McGuire, author of How Not to Date, Gabrielle Alexa Noel, content creator and author of How to Live With the Internet and Not Let It Run Your Life, and Molly Roden Winter, author of More: A Memoir of Open Marriage. Moderated by Rachel Kramer Bussel.
