Like Sophia is a publication about love and passion, and also memory, reinvention, desire, contradiction, and the stories we tell ourselves to make sense of it all.
I write about the relationships I’ve had, the good ones, the bad ones, and the ones that changed me, because there’s always something to learn if you’re paying attention.
I explore how I try to remain a hopeful romantic in a world that doesn’t always reward it, and about the persistent belief that something better is still possible.
And I explore getting older, how absurd it is, and what it means to keep becoming who you are anyway.
This is for women who feel deeply and are done changing themselves to be easier to understand. It’s for women who want more honesty, more connection, and more truth, even when it’s uncomfortable.
I named this publication Like Sophia for Sophia Loren because she never made herself smaller to fit the room. She made the room adjust.
If you’ve ever been called “too much,” you’re in the right place.
About Toni
Toni Albertson is professor of journalism and public relations who spent nearly two decades at a local college building one of the most celebrated student media programs in the country. She joined USC Annenberg in 2022 as a part time lecturer where she teaches her favorite subjects—public relations and entertainment and celebrity PR. She’s been a magazine editor, a feature writer, a music columnist, a public relations executive, a radio host, and a writing mentor to more students than she can count.
Like Sophia is where she writes about love, longing, beauty, and what it actually looks like to refuse to make yourself smaller for anyone. She started this publication because she believes the women who feel everything are often the most interesting ones in the room, and someone should be writing for them, and about them.
She lives in Southern California with her husband and her cat, Frankie, aka Ol' Blue Eyes. She will always be a hopeful romantic who believes passionate love doesn't just exist in the movies.
