When Aliyah Guttmann wrote “G-d Willing, Next By You…” for this paper last March, she thought of it as a one off, an article expressing her frustrations at the assumption that she would be an emotional mess as she watched her younger brother get married before her. Guttmann says that she wrote the piece and sent it to The Observer because it’s the sort of article she wished she’d read while in school here, when the assumptions about everyone’s life plans—and the pressure to get started on said plans—were neatly laid out. Graduate college, and if for some reason you weren’t already married, do so.
As someone who had “failed at getting her MRS from Stern,” Guttmann felt herself in a unique position: a single girl watching her younger brother prepare to march down the aisle. Guttmann says that most people expected her to be an emotional wreck, even though she wasn’t; she even helped her brother beef up the proposal and choose the ring.
When preparing to graduate her Media Management program at the New School, Guttmann needed to complete her Capstone Project—the school’s version of a thesis or exit project. At first, Guttmann thought she might do something about Jewish weddings, an arena she’d already worked in. Guttmann says though, that she’d done so much with weddings that she wanted to find out who she was beyond that, and remembered her article.
As Guttmann thought about the piece and the audience, she realized that, though the internet is fairly crammed with lifestyle blogs, there wasn’t one that existed for single, frum girls living on their own.
They say you should be the change you want to see in the world: Guttmann created one.
Since this was a project for business school, no slapdash job would do. Guttmann came up with a business plan, conducted market research and looked at prospective writers. Her goal was to create a blog that took all the best parts from other women’s magazines and sites—Cosmo, Marie Claire—and then threw in what they were missing: content targeting Orthodox, single women. Guttmann said she wanted to target a more diverse type of reader, while still appealing to the religious side of things, like with a post about how to make Shabbat on a budget.
Before launching the site itself, Guttmann put up a BETA version, including a comprehensive summary for visitors to fill out, which asked them a wide range of questions, from their hobbies and interests to clothing preferences, and even their sexual experience. Guttmann says that she made the questionnaire anonymous because she wanted to know what religious girls were actually thinking, saying, and doing as opposed to what was socially and religiously acceptable for them to own up to.
As for the name of the blog, choosing one was no easy task. While trying to remember all the permutations she’d gone through, Guttmann pulled out her laptop to scroll through the backlog of documents she has relating to the blog, pointing out different names that cropped up.
At one point she considered calling it Badass Bible, invoking the names and stories of the tough matriarchs from Tanakh, like Yael and Esther. A friend jokingly suggested she call it “Pilegesh,” another Biblical reference, this time to the ancient Hebrew term for a concubine.
In the end, Guttmann settled on Badass Banot, a name that, she says, made some people nervous. Some felt that the word “badass” was the problem, as it would be far too jarring for religious girls, and was perhaps slightly unprofessional. Others felt that the word “banot” was too restrictive, and might keep girls from other religious backgrounds from investing in the community.
Guttmann says that in the end, she kept the name, because it targets exactly the demographic she hopes the blog will attract.
The intended readers of Badass Banot, says Guttmann, are independent Jewish women. Originally, the blog targeted specifically single women, but Guttmann says that there are plenty of girls who are dating or married and still want to be involved. (Guttmann herself now falls into this category: she says that the “wonderful irony” of it all is that, just as she launched the blog, a celebration of being a single, religious girl, she got engaged.)
The religious levels of her readers, says Guttmann, is where the widest range lies. Most of the readers identify as Modern Orthodox, but the term can be defined so broadly that each individual reader may differ in her observance level. Guttmann defines it as “someone trying to live an authentic, religious life” in whatever way she think works and that has a personal and meaningful slant.
Guttmann has big plans for Badass Banot: her eventual goal is to have the blog printed as a magazine, something that people can curl up with on Shabbat. As for the idealistic objectives of the site, Guttmann hopes that it will help religious women learn to be okay with being single and enjoy their own company. Guttmann herself credits her seven years of singlehood as making her happier and more self-confident, and making her current relationship a stronger and happier one. She wants to highlight the big ambitions of women, and also help them make a delicious dinner on a budget.
As Guttmann points out, we can all be more than one thing: the balabusta and the boss. “We should celebrate that,” she concluded.