Latest Reflections
Why gender-focused reporters burn out at alarming rate and what to do about it
Luba Kassova | May 03, 2023
Last month at the International Journalism Festival, two editors – Megan Clement of Impact newsletter and Ankita Anand of Unbias the News – revealed the preliminary results of a survey among journalists and editors who cover gender news....
Have you ever been gaslighted. Here is how to recognise it and protect your reality
Luba Kassova | April 19, 2023
The first time I heard the term gaslighting (psychological manipulation to undermine someone’s perception of reality) was in June 2021, during the pandemic. I was interviewing Kalani*, a wellbeing consultant, a woman of colour, who had had cancer and...
The many facets of womanhood
Luba Kassova | March 08, 2023
On International Women’s Day I find myself pondering over what defines womanhood. What does being a woman mean for me? One image emerges before my eyes - assured, confident and powerful. The image of my mother. It is she who laid the foundation of my...
Drained at 16… The toll of a year of 60 exams
Luba Kassova | February 23, 2023
I watch my 16-year-old boy’s spark and his cracking sense of humour drain from him every time he approaches his exams. He is 16. This year alone he will take a total of some 60 mock or real exams. When a cycle of mock exams is over, he...
Should there really be a special place in hell for women who do not help other women?
Luba Kassova | February 07, 2023
“There is a special place in hell for women who don’t help other women”, noted Madeline Albright in her 2006 keynote speech at a Celebrating Inspiration luncheon with the WNBA’s All Decade team. Recently I have seen this statement...
New Year’s lessons from my first-ever retreat
Luba Kassova | January 25, 2023
Unshackle yourself from the inevitable disappointment of too many New Year’s resolutions. Just set one. On the last day of every year, I typically make a number of resolutions for the year ahead which I invariably fail to fulfil. Humbled by my...
Why this song could not have been written about a man. The high price of being a woman in politics
Luba Kassova | January 11, 2023
This opinion piece was first published in Bulgarian by the Bulgarian news provider offnews.bg “Tired ..., a hungry hyena, I enter the office ... with a moustache on, tarted up and ready for battle, without a penny in my pocket ... at this...
The auditorium may be dark, but it is not empty
Luba Kassova | December 14, 2022
Four years ago, I made a significant change in my career to focus on non-fiction narrative writing. Since then, I have also been dabbling with journalism - my opinion pieces have been published in six countries, and my writing has been quoted in another 70....
When does being a helpful parent become unhelpful?
Luba Kassova | November 29, 2022
“I freaking loved that alarm clock. I loved what it gave me – which was power and agency over my own little life.” In her new book The Light We Carry, Michelle Obama shares an incomparably valuable gift she received from her mother:...
Humanity’s most universal bias and why we should talk to our children about death
Luba Kassova | October 07, 2022
Whether and how much to talk about death with our children has been a point of debate between Richard and me for years. “We talk to them about death too much”, Richard would remark. “We mustn’t focus on it so frequently....
