Profile: Sarah Warn
Founder and editor of AfterEllen.com, the ever-growing and expansive lesbian website based in the United States. Sarah grew up in a small town in Washington State, received her B.A. from Wellesley College and a Master's Degree in Theological Studies from Harvard University. She spent several years working in online marketing before founding AfterEllen.com.

―When did you begin AfterEllen.com?

I started it in April 2002. For the first 3 years, I didn’t earn any money with it ― I had no advertisers and I was working a full-time job. But during my 4th year I quit my job and found advertisers.

―You were managing the website on your own at first?

Yes, I started it alone, and for a long time I was the only one writing the articles. It was just a hobby. I didn’t know how to get writers at all. But before too long, something happened and people started to e-mail me asking, “Hey, do you need any writers?” So slowly I found other people to write, and then I started paying them after about the third year. The nice thing about lesbians is that they really want to see the site that you are creating - they want to help you.

―Why did you start it?

Um, I think for a lot of the same reasons that you want to start your website. That is, I looked around, and I couldn’t really find anything resembling what I had been looking for. That is, information available for lesbians online. Plus I’m an entertainment junkie, so I wanted an excuse to write about this kind of stuff, you know!

―Could you tell me a little more about your background?

I had worked for a travel website. I did online marketing for them and, before that, I was with a large online ad agency. So for the last 8 years, my background has been in online marketing. As I told you, AfterEllen.com was just a hobby, but all of a sudden it became the largest lesbian website on the internet. So, I thought, “OK, I'll try quitting my job and see how this goes. I'll give this a shot as an actual business.

―In your opinion, what makes your website unique compared to other gay and lesbian websites?

For one thing, it’s focused completely on entertainment. Also, we only write about women who are openly gay or bisexual. We don’t cover women who are straight, unless they’re playing a gay role. There's one exception, a new daily pop culture blog where we do write about non-lesbian stuff. But that’s just a subset, the main site doesn’t do that. We’re expressly welcoming bisexual women, which I think is different from a lot of other sites. We have a section for them.

―Why did you create a special section for bisexual women? Did you have it from the beginning, or did you add it after seeing a need?

I had it from the beginning, because some of my ex-girlfriends, and some of my best friends, are bisexual. I love them, so I wanted to include them!

―How are bisexuals perceived in the lesbian community in America? Are they welcomed?

I think it depends on which generation you’re talking about. They tend to be more accepted among young girls, but also it just depends on where you are, you know. I think, like, 25% of our readers identify as bisexual. There’s a huge number out there, and I think they just feel more marginalized.

―You said earlier that you’re an entertainment freak ― what do you like the most about lesbian culture? What attracts you so much?

Um, well, I love TV (laughs), so I think that images are really important to lesbian visibility. Anyone living amidst pop culture knows that if you’re not represented, it affects you in some way ― it makes you feel like maybe you don’t have the right to have your stories told. I think it’s important that we’re represented, so I’m just doing my part to try to make that happen.

―What do you think your website has changed for lesbians? Do you think there’s an “after afterellen” ?

Well, I don’t know. That’s a good question! Um, I think it helped people feel connected, who might have otherwise not. Well, I like to try to give people a heads up about lesbian entertainment so they can find it. Most of the time, it’s hard to find the good stuff on your own. So it helps when information can travel by word of mouth. I get a lot of e-mails from people saying that the site helped them to feel like they were a part of something bigger. Because the majority of lesbians and bisexuals don’t live in LA or NYC, and this helps them to sort of feel connected to a larger community, you know.

―By the way, do your parents know about your website? You’re out to them, right?

Yes. I told my parents quite a while ago, and they were fine. I mean, it took them a while to be really supportive but they did come to a Power Up gala recently, so I think they’re totally fine now. (laughs) My mum actually proofreads my column every week (laughs).

―That’s great! Actually, it reminds me of a story told to me by Otsuji, an out female politician in Osaka. Her mother had written a letter to a local newspaper, saying that she never really accepted the fact that her daughter was gay until she had broken her arm and had to stay with her daughter and her daughter’s girlfriend for a week. She saw a totally normal couple ― like any other straight settled-down couple, and all her pre-judgments went out the window. She closed the letter by saying that she has come to totally accept and supports her daughter 100%. It was a very moving letter.

Wow, that’s so nice! I think more parents are becoming ok with it here. But I still have friends who are not yet out to their parents - even into their 30s.

―Did you ever have an interview that went really bad? (laughs)

(laughs) Um, I’m trying to figure out the bad ones, but I had some really good ones. Erin Daniels from The L Word was great. She’s straight, but she plays a lesbian. Who else? Iyari (Limon) who played Kennedy on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, she came out at the interview. She played a lesbian in Buffy. I actually interviewed her at Dinah Shore last year in 2005 ― she was with her girlfriend ― and I was like, “Um, I didn’t know you were gay!” We had interviewed her before, and she hadn’t said anything about it. She was straight at that time, so when she came out as bisexual in our second interview, that was fun. Plus, I’m a big Buffy fan!

―And for bad ones? (laughs)

(laughs) Right, for bad ones. Oh, yes, there are some, I won’t say who. But basically some people want to rail on the whole lesbian community, and kind of complain in their interviews. Like, as if [AfterEllen] represented the whole lesbian community. They feel let down by their lesbian community, and they just want to bitch about it. So they complain to us ― which is fine (laughs) ― but it’s not really our fault. (laughs)