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Mischa Anouk Smith

@mischasmith

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Features Editor @marieclaireuk
@ppa_live Best Writer/ Columnist 2026 Winner
@_bsme Best Features Writer Shortlist
@evawuk Write to End VAWG shortlist

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It’s ironic to win a @PPA Award for Best Writer and not know what to write about it. Self-promotion feels icky even as our careers increasingly depend on it (that feels especially true in journalism).

Before the awards, I spoke at @graduatefashionfoundation about navigating a career in the industry, and speaking to students reminded me of the winding route I took to become Features Editor of @marieclaireuk. A lot was down to needing a job and not having the luxury of being too precious about what that job was (product writing, copywriting, social media — anything that felt editorial-adjacent). Graduating into a recession, having spent three years — and a lot more money — on a degree that didn’t feel particularly relevant to the new era of media I was trying to join, didn’t much help either.

Journalism is a privileged industry filled with people from privileged backgrounds. I fall into that camp too, in ways, but I didn’t have any industry connections or financial help.

Living in London meant always having to have a job that would cover my rent, and that job was never going to be in publishing, at least not right away — and barely now either, (we do it for the love of the game, baby!).

So while this award is an enormous honour, it’s also a reminder that there isn't one right way in. Sometimes the route is messy, indirect and much longer, but while getting paid to write is really hard, writing itself is free — if you enjoy it enough that you’ll write knowing no one might ever read it, you’re halfway there.

Winning this award hasn’t magically removed my imposter syndrome, but it has made me realise that I’m now in a position to help smooth some of the bumps that once blocked my own path.

Journalism needs more diverse voices and more routes into the industry, so if you're a young writer reading this and wondering whether there's space for you here, there is. Pitch me. I'd love to hear from you.

Thank you to everyone who has trusted me with their stories over the years. The best journalism is always collaborative, and none of us does this work alone.

And thank you to the judges for this incredible recognition.

#PPAAwards #Journalism #futurejournalists by @mischasmith

I’ve had this week circled in my calendar for a while now, and I’ve spent a lot of time imagining how I might feel when it rolls around. Stuck on boring commutes and the in-between moments that my mind always rushes to fill, I’ve thought about what it might feel like to cross the finish line at the Hackney Half; to write my week 12 reflection of The Artist’s Way after trying — and failing — to finish it so many times before. And I’ve thought about how I’d feel standing in a room full of writers I admire and respect and finally feeling like I’ve “cracked it”, as if being nominated for Best Features Writer will automatically wipe away my well-established imposter syndrome. The week is here, and it’s not at all how I imagined. Of course it’s not. I have a virus that means I might not be able to run @hackneymoves on Sunday and @juliacameronlive’s book is in the flat I left two weeks ago without realising I wouldn’t be able to go back for a while (long, gross story for another post), and, as always seems to be the way, the culmination of those curveballs — and a few more thrown in for good measure — has sent my imposter syndrome sky rocketing. As I packed an outfit for tonight’s @_bsme awards, I felt that all-too-familiar urge to rain-check instead. The toxic mix of an overactive mind and imposter syndrome is telling me to stay home, that I should never have been nominated in the first place. But I was nominated, and I have this post to prove it, as well as the features that got me here. I don’t have a neat way to close this overshare, and I’m not predicting a win tonight that will give me a cute ‘follow your dreams’ style closer, but as another finish line stretches in front of me this weekend (hopefully!), I’m humbled (and daunted!) remembering that finishing can be just as hard as starting — just don’t tell me that if I make it to mile 13 on Sunday.

#impostersyndrome #femalewriters #bsme by @mischasmith

Like most thirty-somethings, the will-I-won’t-I question of motherhood rattles around my head most days. A friend once described the “co-mumdrum” as it’s been clunkily dubbed, as a feeling that’s “not always at the forefront of my mind, but it’s always there”. I’ve spent a lot of time at Marie Claire trying to wrestle my own uncertainty into words — a few of those are in the slides here — but I’ve ultimately come away wondering if the decision of whether or not have kids is even mine to make. Of course, there’s the biological factor, but there’s also the many economic factors. I had the chance to discuss some of those on this morning’s @BBC Politics Live. An honour to be asked into Westminster (even if I can currently only rewatch these clips on mute).
#kidsorchildfree #motherhood #bbcpoliticslive #childfree #childfreemillennial by @mischasmith

Outfits + articles. You know the drill by @mischasmith

You’re not an influencer, so why does that weekend away with the girls feel unfinished until it’s posted? In her latest video, Mischa Anouk Smith unpacks why so many of us feel compelled to turn our downtime into content, from the “imagined audience” we perform for to the quiet pressure of “aspirational labour”. It says a lot about how we’re living right now. Sound familiar? Read the full piece at the link in bio. by @mischasmith

Weddings aren't just celebrations anymore, they're productions, and the guests are the crew. From hired content creators to friends handed a wedding video as their gift, more of us are being quietly drafted into capturing the big day. When "will it go viral?" becomes part of the plan, what happens to the celebration itself? Read the full piece at the link in bio. by @mischasmith

Summer edition! by @mischasmith

The vibe has shifted 🦇 by @mischasmith

🌀algo cleanse 🌀 I’ve been deep into
AI reporting (angry guys watch out, I have another story planned), but I couldn’t do it without filling my cup first. Endlessly grateful to have grown up in Devon — and infinite gratitude to have experienced life pre-social media and endless screens. And yes, I know the irony of posting this all on social media. by @mischasmith

“But by all means, go ahead and build a massive data centre in East London”; that’s the snarky comment I left on @thelondonstandard’s carousel of the country’s once “green and pleasant land” turned arid after weeks of extreme heat and barely any rain. More than 6,000 people liked it.

So I investigated whether 6k+ of us were right to be confused by the contradiction between everyday folks being asked to conserve water supplies while thirsty AI centres are being built across the country.

I spoke to experts at @londonschoolofeconomics, British Water, @chathamhouse_org and @uchicago and what I found was startling: 84% of new UK data-centre developments are earmarked for areas already water-stressed or projected to be by 2040. @officialthameswater estimates data centres could drive around 30% of new water demand in its region.

If we’re being asked to conserve increasingly scarce resources, are we asking enough tough questions about the resources required to power the AI boom?

As Sini Matikainen puts it: “Access to water is a fundamental right for human beings, not data centres.”

Link in bio for the full report 🔗 by @mischasmith

Partly because, a few months ago, I found myself sitting in a fertility clinic being given the same advice: if I thought I might want children, I should freeze my eggs now.

I’ve been thinking a lot about @aoc documenting her decision to freeze her eggs at 36.

The difference is that I still don’t know whether I want them.

A pretty literal chicken-and-egg situation.

Watching the conversation around AOC has made me think again about something I wrote for @marieclaireuk …

… We spend so much time talking about women’s biological clocks and nowhere near enough time talking about the economic clocks we’re racing against too.

I wrote about what happened when I tried to find certainty about my fertility…

…and discovered that biology wasn’t actually the thing making the decision hardest.

Read it now at the link in bio or Marie Claire UK 🩷 by @mischasmith

Reducing later motherhood to a conversation about fertility alone does women a disservice. Celebrity pregnancies can be inspiring; they can also be misleading. Both things can be true. Here, Mischa Smith explores the question we should really be asking. Read the full story at the link in bio. by @mischasmith