Founder’s note: Looking back at what we’ve achieved so far

KARACHI: As Cutacut turns one, I look back at what we have achieved in the past year with a sense of pride and accomplishment. We started off, determined to establish Cutacut as a brand that is dynamic, fluid, unapologetic, uncensored, progressive and young but most importantly, we wanted to offer an alternative narrative that we all felt was missing in the mainstream media.

I feel that some of the content that really made Cutacut stand out from other publications includes our testimonial-styled videos on everyday discrimination faced by minorities living in Pakistan, or young women talking openly about body shaming and sexual abuse. We often try to present issues through overlooked or unconventional perspectives. On Valentines day last year, we asked couples who had been married for over two decades to tell us about love. This year, we featured people who are single. We started a series called ‘Let’s Talk About Sex’ which set off a few raised eyebrows but was largely well received. I am so proud of the way we never buckled under pressure and of how the team covered trending news topics that we felt strongly about; sexual harassment by celebrities, unfair dismissals of minorities from positions of power, shadism, and racism used by brands in their marketing campaigns are just a few.

We have made a few mistakes, felt a bit lost at certain points of our one-year journey and faced setbacks, but I feel that we have always managed to come back stronger and stay true to our values. We will always aim to shine light on elitism; ageism; prejudice; oppression and bigotry and the problems they bring not just to those directly impacted by them but for all of us as a community and a nation.

I know that we have only taken our first steps, but I hope and believe they have been steps in the right direction. I want to thank all our readers and invite you to join us on this journey. Our path is not the well-trodden one. Every day we try to better ourselves, open new ground and discuss the issues that ought to be at the heart of our politics and journalism, but often do not get their due attention.

If I were to choose a quote that best describes the Cutacut attitude it would be Maya Angelou’s:

“My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humour and some style.”

Sara Siddiqi

Founder and Co-editor