Hot Grrrl Shit

Interviewing people can be nerve-wracking. Talking to people comes naturally, but the formality and hierarchy that comes with conducting interviews sometimes transform my extroversion into fear. When I sat down with Gabby outside of Canteenm, I immediately felt at ease. We chatted while we waited for Sam, Gabby’s partner in crime to come. Sam was waiting for the delayed AC, in true city-girl fashion. 

I first discovered Anxiety Grlz through Quimbys, my favorite zine store. Appon first glance, Gabby and Sam’s ability to mix young adult angst with teen nostalgia are overwhelming. Their zines combine the existential, chronically online cynicism of the 2020s with the analog, light-hearted teen media of the 2000s. 

The zine is wildly creative, funny, and full of heart, but the main draw is the passion and friendship it was born out of. In sitting with Sam and Gabby, I was pleased to find out they exemplified everything I love about their zine. 

Gabby and Sam met at a party, as screenwriting majors at NYFA.  

“Classic college party. It was so tiny, and, like, the most disgusting, cheap wine you’ve ever had,” Gabby recalled, as if she could still feel the heat of the dorm and the sickeningly sweet CVS wine.

As most parties among art majors go, at some point, a guitar was pulled out, and a drunken sing-a-long was started.

“I was cracking up, because I was like ‘This is crazy, right?’ I heard a sort of off-beat clap, I looked to my side, and it was Gabby,” Sam pitched in. 

Gabby and Sam’s shared discomfort with the dorm-room sing-a-long sparked an immediate friendship. The comfortable kind that you don’t have to force. Then the pandemic hit, and they were separated, Gabby going home to California, and Sam returning to Maryland. 

They kept contact during the pandemic, and both decided to move back to New York. Like most people coming of age during the pandemic, Sam and Gabby turned to Pinterest for self-discovery. 

“We got obsessed with Riot Grrrl,” Gabby shared, “Me and Sam really liked Riot Grrrl. We also really liked J-14 magazines, so we’re like ‘what if we put them together’,”.

And Axniety Grlz was born. The inspiration for the zine was built on Sam and Gabby’s shared love of girly teen magazines, and the punk rock feminism of Riot Grrrl. The glue that holds all of these aspects together is Gabby and Sam’s sense of humor, and sense of self. These qualities shine the most through the name of their zine.

“It came from Riot Grrrl, but instead of rioting, we have anxiety,” Sam joked. 

The name started off as an inside joke turned Snapchat group chat name, as most inside jokes among Gen Z become. The juxtaposition of — punk rock rebellion and crippling social anxiety is one that women know all too well. 

“That is very much the female experience. Like, the pressure to be a bad bich but then also the pressure to not be anxious about things,”

Capturing the female experience in a comforting, light-hearted way is where Gabby and Sam shine. Anxiety Grlz is a safe space where you can giggle over a chose your own adventure date with Vinnie Hacker, without the threat of your feminist card being revoked.

The real heart of the zines lies within the genuine friendship they share. 

“I fall in love with Sam more and more… She’s a phenomenal writer. I cannot fucking edit, I can’t do anything– but Sam, I go to her house, we’ll have a meeting and she does all things things,” Gabby gushed, looking at Sam adoringly. 

Sam, the quieter of the two, quickly spoke up to affirm Gabby right back. 

“I realized more and more that she’s just so good at the marketing side of it. She got us into Quimbys, she got us into this other store to share our tote bags,” Sam said. 

Their creative bond extends beyond their zine, however. Simply put, Gabby and Sam are ready to take over the world. 

“We want to make our own production company, so we can start stamping our stuff on people’s work that we love, and our own stuff… Everything, zines, clothing, our own screenwriting.”