In the Making… - Jenny Cipoletti

I’ve been thinking about Substack for a long time.

After more than a decade and a half of blogging on my own site, thousands of posts to Instagram, sharing newsletters, building Pinterest boards, and creating across just about every platform imaginable, I didn’t want to arrive here simply because everyone else was. If you know me, you know I’ve never been interested in doing something for the sake of keeping up. I’ve always tried to create from a place of intention, timelessness, and meaning, never from trend or urgency.

And yet, here I am. Launching in this space on the brink of my 40th birthday.

That feels important.

Over the past sixteen years of sharing my life and work publicly, I’ve watched both myself and the internet evolve. Platforms change, algorithms shift, and the way we connect has become louder, faster, and often more fragmented. I’ve continued to prioritize my own website for that very reason, because I believe deeply in owning your work and your relationship with your audience. If one day Instagram disappears, or changes beyond recognition (which it kind of has if we’re being honest), I want to still have a direct, thoughtful connection to the people who have chosen to be here.

But most importantly, both as a creator and as a consumer, I’ve felt a shift. A desire for depth over speed. For nuance over performance. For writing that isn’t rushed, edited for clicks, or confined to a caption. I find myself gravitating toward Substack because it offers a new space to connect, think, to reflect, and to actually say something. And as I approach a new decade of life, that feels exactly right.

I can’t help but notice how constant my own evolution has been. As a woman. As a mother. As a business owner. As a creative. Nothing has ever felt static, and I don’t believe it’s meant to. We are always becoming something new, even when we don’t yet have language for it.

That is where the name ‘In the Making’ comes from.

To be creative is to always be in the making. To be human is to be unfinished. I don’t believe in arriving. I believe in becoming.

This space will be a reflection of that.

I often find myself having conversations about the difference between being an influencer and being a content creator. I’ve always identified with the latter. So much of my work happens behind the scenes, concepting, writing, styling, producing, refining, and building narratives for both my own brands and the brands I partner with. There is a level of intention, labor, and creative process that doesn’t always translate on Instagram, and I want this to be a place where I can pull back the curtain. A space for those who are curious, who want to understand the work, or who are building something of their own and want a more honest look at what that process actually entails.

At the same time, life has seasons. The past few years, much of my energy has gone into restoring our home, a project that required patience, vision, and more restraint than I ever expected. As that chapter comes to a close, I feel a renewed sense of creative momentum. I’m excited to return more fully to cooking and baking, to using our kitchen as a place of gathering and creativity again, and to share more recipes, menus, and moments from the table. Naturally, that will weave in closely with Cucina Cipoletti, because food has always been central to how I connect, host, and care.

The phrase In the Making holds many meanings for me.

I am a mother in the making, still learning, still growing, still becoming alongside my children.

I am a business owner in the making, evolving through each chapter, each risk, each lesson learned.

And every day, there is something in the making in the kitchen, a meal, a gathering, a celebration, a quiet dinner at home.

This Substack will reflect all of that. Motherhood, business, creativity, food, beauty, aging, ambition, doubt, joy, and the constant process of becoming who we are meant to be.

If you’ve found your way here, I imagine you might feel the same. Like you’re somewhere in between who you were and who you’re becoming. Still curious. Still evolving. Still very much in the making.

I’m so glad you’re here.

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