iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Isabelle Roughol @isabelleroughol.com · 08/10/2026

The scammers are getting so good. Someone out there has my number & knows I work with @petergeoghegan.bsky.social. The “I am in a meeting” bit came after I tried to call. I had earlier told Peter I was busy but could help later so totally believable he would check in. Almost got had 🤬

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Isabelle Roughol @isabelleroughol.com · 08/09/2026

I just let my supporting members in on the secret of my next Broad History series for the autumn, so it's time for a final lookback on this summer's rollercoaster ride. (And yes, this all gets made solo in my bedroom.)

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Isabelle Roughol @isabelleroughol.com · 26/08/2026

@jonnelledge.bsky.social probably hasn’t told you but he has a book out

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Isabelle Roughol @isabelleroughol.com · 25/07/2026

Sorry to be actually girl but it’s an original image, one of several by Maximilien LAMY / AFP on Moutchic beach. That tree exists. It’s a lake beach, not the ocean.

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Isabelle Roughol @isabelleroughol.com · 18/07/2026

My god this company used to be known for design 🤯

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Isabelle Roughol @isabelleroughol.com · 12/07/2026

The people have spoken. 🥹 Broad History, wherever you get your pods and broadhistory.com

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Isabelle Roughol @isabelleroughol.com · 05/07/2026

My IG followers come to me for history but I was so mad…

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Isabelle Roughol @isabelleroughol.com · 02/07/2026

I take particular pleasure in having beat Steven Bartlett.

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Isabelle Roughol @isabelleroughol.com · 28/06/2026

Peak childless cat lady: my cat fell asleep on my gilmore girls embroidery

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Isabelle Roughol @isabelleroughol.com · 26/06/2026

What in the fresh AI hell in this? My mistake, I looked at the White House semi-quincentennial website. Shoulda known. PS: Tune in to Broad History all summer for the real stories of women in the American Revolution, told by expert historians (and me). No AI involved. Sign up at my link in bio.

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Isabelle Roughol @isabelleroughol.com · 25/06/2026

They’re a global outlet with a third of their subscribers outside America, they’re covering a European story, converting in nearly every single sentence and offering a fahrenheit/celsius toggle on their infographic which defaults to F. This feels a bit unfair to them.

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Isabelle Roughol @isabelleroughol.com · 25/06/2026

Relocated to the garden last night and slept 6 blissful straight hours under the stars. At last. This is totally normal…

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Isabelle Roughol @isabelleroughol.com · 22/06/2026

God forbid you pay a small tax out of your $60 billion annual net income without raising prices

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Isabelle Roughol @isabelleroughol.com · 20/06/2026

Amid all the cagefighting and virility theater of semi quincentennial celebrations, we need to tell another story. Here’s a sneak peek of my upcoming Women of the American Revolution series with the legendary Carol Berkin. In your feeds on the Fourth of July.

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Isabelle Roughol @isabelleroughol.com · 15/06/2026

how many brands does your brand have? (this is Zeteo US only and i had to zoom out 3 times to get it all in one screenshot)

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Isabelle Roughol @isabelleroughol.com · 06/06/2026

Revisiting childhood vinyls and just realising I was pretty much raised by the USSR Symphony

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Isabelle Roughol @isabelleroughol.com · 06/06/2026

It took 6 episodes to reach the first thousand download, but just two more to reach the next thousand. Steady wins the race. If you're a listener, thank you. If you're not, get to it! www.broadhistory.com or look for Broad History wherever you get your podcasts

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Isabelle Roughol @isabelleroughol.com · 05/06/2026

The utter shamelessness of scammers

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Isabelle Roughol @isabelleroughol.com · 05/06/2026

Mate, I’m happy for their success but no, 10% of humanity does not listen to this small stable of 6 single-language podcasts.

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Isabelle Roughol @isabelleroughol.com · 05/06/2026

How much CO2 do you think it emits to “summarize” a two-word email into 3 bullet points?

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Isabelle Roughol @isabelleroughol.com · 04/06/2026

What’s your favourite Odyssey adaptation? Wrong answers only

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Isabelle Roughol @isabelleroughol.com · 27/05/2026

how much do you bet of gmail's 'smart features' usage is just people accidentally clicking that new AI icon THAT SITS RIGHT NEXT TO LABELS AND LOOKS EXACTLY THE SAME? no? just me?

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Isabelle Roughol @isabelleroughol.com · 27/05/2026

My education in podcasting? Spending a year and a half of the last decade listening to them

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Isabelle Roughol @isabelleroughol.com · 24/05/2026

not me trying to save the english language one LLM at a time

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Isabelle Roughol @isabelleroughol.com · 12/05/2026

Most of my listeners are in the UK or US but hello Oman, Thailand, Romania, Cameroon, Venezuela... I see you 🫶

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Isabelle Roughol @isabelleroughol.com · 11/05/2026

The obvious and enraging flaw in tfl’s strategy is there’s no continuity between bus and tube. You should pay a single distance-based fare whatever combination of means of public transport you take. Instead, taking the bus to the train adds £1.75 to every trip.

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Isabelle Roughol @isabelleroughol.com · 08/05/2026

Oh great, Patreon creating another closed garden where creators put their entire business and audience in the hands of a social platform with its own incentives. Yay, we needed another one of those.

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Isabelle Roughol @isabelleroughol.com · 02/05/2026

Tiny but growing. Done no distribution to speak of. I can't afford to work on my show full-time and I do *everything* (like I need to read 2 books & prep interviews tomorrow). One day...

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Isabelle Roughol @isabelleroughol.com · 28/04/2026

Live from Senate House 👩‍🎓

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Isabelle Roughol @isabelleroughol.com · 22/04/2026

More cool stuff I built with zero coding skills whatsoever. Sorry engineers, I can't afford you.

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Isabelle Roughol @isabelleroughol.com · 22/04/2026

Just sharing some cool things i've built lately on broadhistory.com to show you that writing really is the least interesting way to use AI in indie media

Cool things
I built in minutes
What I vibecoded to improve audience growth and monetisation on my indie site – mostly in a single afternoon

A custom homepage
experience that
adapts to where you
are in the audience
journey

A membership page
that lets you join or donate
in the currency and
amount of your choice
... without ever leaving the site

A (soft) metered
registration or pay wall
for frequent visitors

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Isabelle Roughol @isabelleroughol.com · 14/04/2026

best google doc comment of my career

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Isabelle Roughol @isabelleroughol.com · 13/04/2026

Substack: hey, we're just neutral transparent software letting all people equally put ideas out into the world Also Substack: hey, let me suggest this great creator you should totally subscribe to right there in the middle of your homepage

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Isabelle Roughol @isabelleroughol.com · 06/04/2026

Not a bad day for getting older

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Isabelle Roughol @isabelleroughol.com · 30/03/2026

My new podcast got its first (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️) review! This is a free way you can truly help – leave a kind word on Apple or Spotify 😁 podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/b... open.spotify.com/show/4fdcRPK... Kdrathedragon, bless you! And promise, producing solo is slow, but I'm picking up the pace ❤️

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Isabelle Roughol @isabelleroughol.com · 11/03/2026

Shit, Claude just made me laugh out loud. We are screwed. (It also helped me build an amazing, pick-your-own-adventure membership/donation page of the kind I struggled in vain to build 5 years ago and 2 months ago.) 👀 www.broadhistory.com/membership/

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Isabelle Roughol @isabelleroughol.com · 04/03/2026

I can’t believe no one at Monocle watched succession

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Isabelle Roughol @isabelleroughol.com · 01/03/2026

Not sharing numbers or names but this is a real-life platform cost projection I just did for a real-life middlingly successful indie media. Red = Substack. Green = Beehiiv. Blue = Ghost. The question is, are all those network effects worth 5x-ing your cost?

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Isabelle Roughol @isabelleroughol.com · 21/02/2026

I stumped the AI with my opening move. It’s refusing to play its turn. Is there a badge for that @nytgames.bsky.social ?

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Isabelle Roughol @isabelleroughol.com · 20/02/2026

Patting myself on the back a bit. With thanks to Mike Berlin, Kate Redford, @julialaite.bsky.social, @brodiewaddell.bsky.social, @bbkhistorical.bsky.social and all my classmates. This was quite fun, would do again.

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Isabelle Roughol @isabelleroughol.com · 18/02/2026

Husbands and wives, working together, in both their names, and inheriting/buying a business from another woman, that too happened.

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Isabelle Roughol @isabelleroughol.com · 18/02/2026

Always be diversifying, Mildred.

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Isabelle Roughol @isabelleroughol.com · 18/02/2026

But wait, there's more. (Mary "Beauty" Wiggett, you legend.)

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Isabelle Roughol @isabelleroughol.com · 18/02/2026

When the NYT asked "Did women ruin the workplace?" (puh-lease 🙄) they hit on one of my history pet peeves: WHEREVER DID WE GET THE IDEA THAT WOMEN DIDN'T USE TO WORK? (Sorry for shouting, I feel strongly about this.) Here are some 18th century business cards of, yes, shudder, women.

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Isabelle Roughol @isabelleroughol.com · 18/02/2026

(No pressure Bluesky but this did NUMBERS on LinkedIn.)

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Isabelle Roughol @isabelleroughol.com · 17/02/2026

@petergeoghegan.bsky.social’s reporting on Labour Together’s attempts to discredit journalists continuing to make waves. In @thetimes.com’s podcast today, appreciate the credit at the top of the show, classy 🙏

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