What drives an essentially offline personality with just 1,200 Instagram followers—who struggles with captions and values nuance over brevity—to start a Substack?

Hi! I’m Dr. Emma Smith.

Despite my occasional missteps with social media, I've always enjoyed writing. My mother once told me, “Writing is just painting a picture with words,” when I struggled with my fourth-grade book report. That simple framing turned a daunting task into something not just doable but fun. In college, I started out as an accounting major but quickly found my home in the Philosophy department. The chance to study and write about knowledge and truth, Greek poetics, and big, wonderful, sometimes terrifying abstract thoughts on the very nature of existence was too unique an opportunity to squander.

Over the years, I’ve been fortunate enough to find several outlets, some of them paid, for my writing. I’ve written for a marriage website and an online magazine and have been quoted in several online and print publications. I’ve edited colleagues' work for free and helped students conceptualize their writing as well. Yet, nothing ever felt good enough to pursue.

And then, I wrote my dissertation.

My dissertation was a hermeneutic phenomenological study, and there were several points when my Chair had to remind me that I was writing a research paper, not a philosophical treatise. Applying Heidegger’s hermeneutic phenomenology brought me alive as both a scholar and a person, firing synapses and expanding my worldview. This experience cemented my passion for exploring the way we interpret and assign meaning to our experiences—an approach that now deeply influences my work in individual and couples therapy.

The goal of this Substack is simple: to write about intimacy and relationships through a philosophical lens. For years, I saw the world differently and thought it was because I was just… different or broken. That belief kept me small. But over the last few years, I've realized that this difference in perspective is my strength—my secret sauce. This Substack is where I’ll share that perspective with you.

Subscriptions

Subscriptions to my Substack are free, giving you access to 99% of my posts. Paid subscriptions, priced at just $5/month (or $50/year), are optional—a way to say 'cheers' across the internet if you enjoy my writing and want to support more of it. The perks are simple: 1) exclusive posts, 2) the ability to post comments, and 3) the satisfaction of helping me justify my philosophy degree.

Accessibility

I’ll include an audio format for each post. Substack will treat it like a podcast, but it’s really just me reading the content aloud for those who prefer listening or find audio more accessible. Accessibility is important to me—I once interned at a school for children with dyslexia, so this is near and dear to my heart.

This Substack is a passion project—a much-needed outlet for someone who may never master short-form posts. I hope you'll join me on this journey by subscribing, whether for free or with a little extra support.

Get full access to The Intimate Philosopher at emmasmithphd.substack.com/subscribe