What is it about trad wife influencers that’s so captivating – even to die-hard feminists?
In this episode, Jena and Michelle dive into the world of trad wife content: where it comes from, how it evolved from family vlogging into a warmly-lit homesteading aesthetic, and why so many people find it hard to look away.
That conversation serves as the backdrop for Yesteryear, the buzzy debut novel by caro claire burke. Its heroine, Natalie, is a modern-day trad wife influencer who wakes up in 1855 and has to survive the reality she’d been romanticizing online. Jena and Michelle discuss what the book gets right about performance in life and online, where it falls short, and why its premise was compelling enough for Anne Hathaway to purchase the film rights while the manuscript was still a first draft.
IF YOU WANT TO STAY SPOILER-FREE WHILE LISTENING, SKIP AHEAD FROM 26:20-34:30.
They also explore the growing scrutiny of momfluencers and family vlogging, and what impact it can have on the children who appear in their parents’ content.
Plus: Pope Leo has spoken on AI and humanity, and Stephen Colbert says goodbye to The Late Show.
Follow Did You See? with Jena and Michelle on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or Podcast Addict.
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Read our writing about trad wife influencers:
Check out our recs:
Like, Follow, Subscribe by Fortesa Latifi, 2026.
The House of My Mother: A Daughter’s Quest for Freedom by Shari Franke, 2025.
Educated by Tara Westover, 2018.
An Update on our Family, 2025.
Want to learn more?
The Caro episode, Diabolical Lies, 2026.
Child Influencer Project - UK and Ireland, University of Essex.
I was raised in conservative evangelicialism. Yesteryear missed its mark., The Pomegranate, 2026.
Meet the queen of the ‘trad wives’ (and her eight children), The Times, 2024.
MomTok is the apotheosis of 21st-century womanhood, The Atlantic, 2024.
The rise and fall of the trad wife, The New Yorker, 2024.
Shari Franke tells all, Under the Influence with Jo Piazza, 2025.
She gave birth two weeks ago. Now she’s in a beauty pageant., New York Times, 2024.
The trad wife paradox, What Now? with Trevor Noah (guest: Anne Helen Petersen), 2024.
TN bill regarding children in social media content heads to gov’s desk, The Tennessean, 2026.
Utah passed a law to protect child influencers, Teen Vogue, 2025.
Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke review – the downfall of an all-American trad wife, The Guardian, 2026.
Yesteryear with Caro Claire Burke: trad wives, secret lives, and twist ending, Be There in Five, 2026.
Links from the open:
Anthropic co-founder Chris Olah’s remarks on Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical “Magnifica humanitas,” Anthropic, 2026.
Magnifica Humanitas, The Holy See, 2026.
Main takeaways from Pope Leo’s encyclical on AI, New York Times, 2026.
Wanton destruction of CBS property – Letterman & Colbert toss stuff off the roof of the Ed Sullivan, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, 2026.
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About Did You See? with Jena and Michelle
Did you see that? Whether it’s in the news or pop culture, in print or online, we are living in a media overload. It’s a lot to process!
Did You See? is for anyone looking for space to pause and work through the media moments shaping how we see and understand the world.
Michelle Ciulla Lipkin spent 25+ years in media and education — as a media literacy educator, advocate, and CUNY lecturer.
Jena Wuu spent 15+ years in tech and policy — building Uber in Europe and founding Meta’s global information ecosystem program.
Two friends, two different perspectives on the same media landscape, and a shared belief that there’s always something more to the story. ◾
