Anna Silman

How the Crisis PR Machine Shapes What You Think About Celebrities The disinformation age has hit Hollywood, and the celebrity-industrial complex is armed to the teeth. Meet the crisis publicists, right-wing wranglers, and trolls for hire who are influencing what we ...

must read @annasilman.bsky.social's fascinating and delicious dive into the very curious world of crisis PR:

www.gq.com/story/how-th...

How the Crisis PR Machine Shapes What You Think About Celebrities The disinformation age has hit Hollywood, and the celebrity-industrial complex is armed to the teeth. Meet the crisis publicists, right-wing wranglers, and trolls for hire who are influencing what we ...

For GQ, I wrote about the dark arts of celeb crisis PR, feat. Harvey Weinstein’s motorcycle-riding rep, a day at the Diddy trial, and the founder of a service called "TrollToll” offering to flood GQ’s website with views for me (I said no, but thanks): www.gq.com/story/how-th...

The Socialite and the Scammer: How a bunch of rich New Yorkers got conned by a man with beautiful hair and armfuls of fake Birkins George Mickum wormed his way into NYC's high society with truffles and caviar. Now he's banned from the Carlyle and blacklisted from gala season.

Loved working with the great Kate Taylor on this delicious story about 'Birkin bandit' George Mickum scamming high-society with armfuls of counterfeit handbags: www.businessinsider.com/george-micku...

How Merve Emre became the hottest — and most reviled — name in literary criticism As Merve Emre takes over the literary world, the book critic has received hate mail and gone head-to-head with top universities.

Possibly my fave piece to date was my profile of Merve Emre, which strangely got hundreds of literature PHD students to subscribe to Business Insider: www.businessinsider.com/merve-emre-b...

Ex-Bon Appétit editor Marissa Ross says the wine world ruined her. Now she's back and ready to give it hell. Bon Appétit's Marissa Ross was the darling of the wine world, until misogyny and abuse scandals drove her out.

I got deep with ex-Bon Appetit wine editor Marissa Ross about infighting in the natural wine world and the dark side of 2010s influencer culture: www.businessinsider.com/marissa-ross...

Jessica Fern's 'Polysecure' promised a world beyond monogamy. She didn't say it would be easy. Jessica Fern's 2020 sleeper hit "Polysecure" has become the new polyamory bible — and a status symbol for the sexually enlightened.

And profiles! I hung out with Polysecure author Jessica Fern in Asheville and explored why the book has become such a phenomenon: www.businessinsider.com/jessica-fern...

'Bad Summer People,' a salacious summer read, is causing chaos in a Fire Island town full of wealthy Manhattanites When Emma Rosenblum's novel, "Bad Summer People," leaked last year, it turned the vacation town of Saltaire into a gossip frenzy. It's finally hitting shelves in May.

Can never have enough stories about niche rich person vacation drama, and this piece, about Emma Rosenblum's novel causing chaos in the Fire Island town that inspired it, was a delight to report: www.businessinsider.com/emma-rosenbl...

MDMA therapy could be legal by summer. Why are so many advocates sounding the alarm? Inside the pharma greed and questionable research that could derail Rick Doblin's 40-year quest to legalize MDMA therapy.

With support from a Berkeley @scipsychedelics.bsky.social fellowship, I published an in-depth look at the controversial rise of MAPS and its long quest to legalize therapeutic MDMA — shortly before the dream was dashed: www.businessinsider.com/mdma-therapy...

Ketamine is being sold as a depression wonder drug. For some, it's making everything worse. Ketamine therapy is a revolutionary new depression treatment. But as multimillion-dollar investments pour in, some people find they can't stop.

My story on ketamine and addiction, an important topic to me personally, was one of the first pieces in a mainstream outlet to look at the risks of ketamine dependency as everyone was touting it as a wonder drug. As always, the reality is complex: www.businessinsider.com/ketamine-the...

Scooter Braun's right-hand man wanted to make Camila Sterling a star. After she died in his hotel room, he wanted the world to forget. David Bolno's relationship with the Colombian singer Camila Sterling appears more intertwined than the music bigwig has acknowledged.

I followed it up with this piece, co-written with @thenewsham.bsky.social, about the tragic death of aspiring singer Camila Sterling in Scooter’s right-hand man’s hotel room: www.businessinsider.com/david-bolno-...

The many faces of Scooter Braun Justin Bieber's manager, Scooter Braun, presents himself as the consummate good guy, but critics say he's built an empire on broken relationships, running afoul of stars like Kanye West.

My six-month story on Scooter Braun — the most comprehensive investigation on the polarizing music mogul to date — in which I got yelled at by Kanye on the phone and received a whole lot of letters from Marty Singer (thanks as always to BI's lawyers): www.businessinsider.com/scooter-brau...

Mutiny at Great Jones: How a cofounder war led every employee to quit Instagram's trendiest cookware company While Great Jones' affordable, pastel-colored cookware became a must-have for millennials, a war was brewing between the estranged best-friend founders.

My story about the staff mutiny and cofounder breakup at Great Jones made a big splash when it came out, back in the heady final days of the Girlboss era (were we ever so young?)
www.businessinsider.com/great-jones-...

Today is my last day at @businessinsider.com and I wanted to highlight some of my favorite stories of the past few years. If you’re an editor and would like to work together please get in touch - annaesilman@gmail.com.

It’s true

I’m leaving BI at the end of the month. Grateful to everyone who has supported my work these past four years. Excited/terrified to give full-time freelance a try — hoping to write more, pitch outlets I’ve always admired and generally try some new things. If you want to work with me please reach out!