Hi, I’m Amy Kugler — a writer, strategist, and leadership whisperer. I work with executives and creatives who are at a turning point. They’ve built impressive careers and full lives… and they’re also burned out, stuck, or ready to finally say the thing they’ve never said out loud.

This newsletter is a home for buried stories — the ones we carry in our bodies, hide in the margins, or whisper to each other late at night. Through essays, prompts, and interviews, I help people tell the truth about:

• Ambition and caregiving

• Grief, identity, and mental health

• Motherhood and menopause

• Systems that fail us, and how we find our way anyway

Whether you’re here as a fellow writer, an executive aching to build something that actually matters, or someone in a season of reinvention — you’re in the right place.

Subscribe for weekly reflections, messy middle moments, and brave new beginnings. And if you’re ready to go deeper, you can join the paid tier for writing accountability, live Q&As, and a community that gets it.

Let’s write the stories that will outlast us.

Here’s what you can expect:

Free subscribers get a big virtual hug and:

• Essays about the unscripted life as I’m experiencing it, including commentary on motherhood, caregiving, mental health and <gestures wildly> all that is happening with the world.

• Select writing prompts to help you reconnect with your own stories

• Curated lists what is sparking my joy

• Creative pep talks - for you, but mostly for myself.

For $5/month or $50 a year (less than a date-night babysitter!), you will support Unscripted and give me the time and space to hone my writing, alongside my work with BEAM to change the narrative around motherhood, one shared experience at a time. I’m so grateful we’re on this journey together.

Paid subscribers get a virtual (or in-person hug) and all free content, plus:

• All free-tier content

• Monthly live calls: writing circles, story development sessions, or community coaching

• Premium prompts, exercises, and mindset shifts to help you move from “stuck” to “writing”

• Behind-the-scenes essays on storytelling as a business, strategy, or healing practice

• Early access to retreats, workshops, and limited coaching spots

• Invitations to co-build new experiments or editorial series

If a paid subscription is out of reach for any reason, and you’d like access to these offerings, email me at amy@amykugler.com. We have scholarships and the most important part is that you’re here and we’re talking.

About me

I’m a writer, advocate, entrepreneur, executive, media consultant, podcaster, producer, empath, mother, and more. I founded BEAM after hearing thousands of stories of mothers about their untold experiences after a post about a lackluster nursing room went viral. I’ve poured 20+ years of my life into impact-driven media and storytelling campaigns, working with everyone from global executives to early-stage startups. My words have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Worth.com, Forbes, Thrive Global, The Washington Post, The Seattle Times, and more.

I believe in the power of our stories to do incredible things. They connect us, helping us feel seen and understood. Human-scale storytelling exponentially grows our ability to move public policy, shape new narratives, and move us all forward.

Everyone has a story worth telling, a voice worth hearing, and a purpose worth pursuing.

My writing lives at the intersection of those stories that stir your soul and sometimes piss you off. I love sharing about my two kids, my husband, and our dog, along with the many adventures we share in Seattle, WA.

Writing projects in the works:

• Memoir - the mess and moxie of motherhood and mental health, and how I discovered my superpower at age 40.

• Essay Collection - how our superpowers give us a new life, and how we hold both/and in our new powers while making sense of our enduring past.

• Children’s picture book - inspired by my kids and how their emotions shapeshift them into new beloved beings

• Children’s chapter books - think The Wild Robot meets Nancy Drew, but for 1st/2nd graders.

I’m elated to offer some of the equally hilarious and thought-provoking conversations here - you know, the kind we’d have if we were sitting across from each other at a wine bar or a coffee shop. So, grab a seat and let’s dive in.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.