Stassi Schroeder Clark, Former ‘Vanderpump Rules’ Star, Brings Her Weekly Podcast to Dear Media (EXCLUSIVE)

Todd Spangler

Stassi Schroeder Clark’s weekly lifestyle podcast, “Straight Up With Stassi,” has joined Dear Media’s roster of 80-plus shows — and it’s getting a new name.

Beginning today, the podcast will be renamed “Stassi.” With distribution deal for Schroeder Clark’s podcast, Dear Media has announced a “refreshed content format” along with new visual branding across all podcast distribution platforms. Schroeder Clark aims to bring the podcast — which she launched in March 2015 — back to “the roots of its early days, focusing on authenticity, candid, and quick-witted takes on her day-to-day life,” according to Dear Media.

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New episodes will continue to premiere on Wednesdays with a mix of Schroeder Clark’s pop-culture commentary and her “honest and relatable conversations about real-life topics,” according to Dear Media.

Schroeder Clark, commenting on the new approach she’s taking with the “Stassi” podcast under the partnership with Dear Media, said in a statement provided to Variety, “I’m peeling away the structure and letting the show be a little more chaotic… but life is chaotic, so there’s that. The podcasting space has grown and evolved so much, and it’s become more formal than when I first started in 2015. I want to bring back the informality and destructure it a bit. I want to get back to the stream-of-consciousness rants, further connect with my listeners, and have more fun with the hour each week we have together. Dear Media is like the girl’s girl of podcast networks and I love how supportive they’ve been of this vision.”

Founded in 2018, Dear Media describes itself as “a platform for amplifying women’s voices with original, creative programming.” The company’s roster of podcasts shows includes “Pretty Basic” with Alisha Marie and Remi Cruz; “Not Skinny but Not Fat” with Amanda Hirsch; and “The Toast” with Jackie and Claudia Oshry.

“Stassi has built such a vibrant and engaged audience with her podcast, and we’re honored to help bring her funny, ever recognizable voice to even more listeners worldwide,” said Paige Port, president of Dear Media, in announcing the pact. “‘Stassi’ fits right in with Dear Media’s roster of pop-culture programming and highly engaged audiences. She is a delightful addition to the Dear Media family.”

Schroeder Clark’s Straight Up With Stassi Live tour in 2019 sold out shows across the U.S., and she’s since gone on the road with two additional live tours: the Bougie Bus Tour in 2020 and the Mommy Dearest Tour in 2023. In 2019, Schroeder Clark released her first book, “Next Level Basic: The Definitive Basic Bitch Handbook” and in 2022 her second book, “Off With My Head: The Definitive Basic B*tch Handbook to Survive Rock Bottom,” became a New York Times bestseller. Schroeder Clark is represented by WME and law firm Miloknay Weiner.

Schroeder Clark currently resides in L.A. with her husband, Beau Clark (who had appeared on “Vanderpump Rules”), and their two children, Hartford and Messer.

Schroeder Clark was a star on Bravo’s hit reality series “Vanderpump Rules,” which she appeared on for eight seasons, from 2013-20. In 2020, Bravo fired her from the show after former cast member Faith Stowers revealed Schroeder Clark had reported Stowers to the police for a crime she had nothing to do with. In an interview that year on Tamron Hall’s talk show, Schroeder Clark reflected on her past comments, including statements on her podcast in 2017 about the #OscarsSoWhite controversy. “It is absolutely my fault that I didn’t know better, but the issue is I did not know better,” Schroeder Clark said in the interview. “I want to be a part of the solution, I’ve been a part of the problem for years now.” Schroeder Clark has said she turned down the chance to join Bravo’s “The Valley,” a spinoff of “Vanderpump Rules” that premiered March 19, with a cast that includes Jax Taylor, Brittany Cartwright and Kristen Doute (each of whom were fired from the flagship show alongside Schroeder Clark in 2020).

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