How This Classy Career Girl Is Making Her Side Hustle a Reality - Classy Career Girl

How This Classy Career Girl Is Making Her Side Hustle a Reality Annafi Wahed is on a mission to close the gap between liberal and conservative news. Her brainchild is The Flip Side, a daily digest summarizing analysis from both sides of the political spectrum. Annafi, who is actually a certified CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst), had no journalism background prior to launching her newsletter. However, she is determined to make a difference in the way news is reported. Annafi relies on Shapr to help connect her with the collaborators, mentors and new readers for the newsletter. Shapr is a completely free app that uses your location and up to 10 self-selected interests such as #journalism and #politics to introduce the most relevant professionals in your area. Every day, Shapr suggests 10-20 nearby people who are open to grabbing coffee and interested in the same topics. You can swipe right or click Meet on the profiles that interest you. All swipes are anonymous until a match is made. At that point, you can message your new contact and set up a conversation IRL. [Related: 17 Time Management Tips for Busy Entrepreneurs] Annafi started using the app when she decided to launch a newsletter but didn’t know how to get started. “I was influenced by the news cycle surrounding the election,” says Annafi. “I didn’t want to wake up each morning knowing I wasn’t doing enough to make a difference, so I set out to create a bipartisan news source that would help readers break from their social media echo chambers.” While Annafi had her dream newsletter in mind, she needed to meet the right (and left) people to make it happen. After hearing about Shapr through a friend, Annafi started swiping to meet collaborators and mentors for her project. Through the app, she met a cartoonist who now provides illustrations for her newsletter. Another fruitful connection was a PR professional, who walked Annafi through some basic tips for getting her newsletter seen. Annafi says that in one cup of coffee, she learned how to pitch her newsletter to journalists, discovered ways to find readers on social media, and got some important tips on what not to do. Her latest connection is an investor, who is considering joining the project and helping her vision become sustainable. “Since it’s launch in February, we have hundreds of daily readers of the newsletter, but I want it to get bigger. Shapr is helping me quickly connect with interesting and inspiring professionals who can give me tips on growing my project, and help me create a roadmap for how to turn it into a business.” [Related: How to Advance Your Career With a Side-Hustle] The Flip Side does not yet make money, so Annafi is working fulltime to pay the bills. Late every evening, she combs through the top quotes and opinions compiled by her team of liberal and conservative writers to find an equal balance of news. Annafi says that Shapr’s ease of use has made it possible for her to network with a side gig and a fulltime job. “Events are exhausting,” she adds. “Stick to Shapr and start making your vision a reality.” If you’re a driven female eager to launch a side hustle or looking for friends in your field, Shapr is the ideal app to get you started. Download Shapr to meet other classy career women in your city. This article was sponsored by Shapr.