Courtney Maum on ‘Alan Opts Out,’ Facebook Marketplace, and Her Greek Yogurt Hot Take

Are you one bad day away from leaving your job, burning it all down, and going fully off-grid? In Courtney Maum’s Alan Opts Out, someone finally does.

When advertising executive Alan Anderson bombs the biggest pitch of his career, he does the only rational thing: drops out of the rat race entirely and moves into his daughters’ playhouse in the backyard of their fancy Greenwich, CT, home.

One person who — shocker — isn’t thrilled by this development? Alan’s aspirational wife, Vivian, who is this close to joining the town’s elite women’s club, the Queen Annes. She just needs that pricey swimming pool built, a few more social auditions nailed, and a husband who acts like a normal person. (And don’t get her started on their daughters.) Expect a sharp, funny, and all-too-timely tale about ambition, consumerism, and the cost of keeping up.

We asked Maum a few questions. Here’s what she had to say…

Q: If you could be the world’s leading expert on one thing, what would it be?

Maum: Why rebrands are a mistake. If I could lecture for the rest of my life on why it was an error for Dunkin’ Donuts to drop the “Donuts” from their logo, I’d happily do so.

Q: What’s your shortcut to relaxation?

Maum: My Shakti acupressure mat. When inner calm [feels out of reach], 20 minutes on those gruesome spikes forces me to find it.

Q: What’s one unpopular opinion you have? 

Maum: Greek yogurt tastes like cardboard.

Q: What’s the last thing you read that you can’t stop thinking about?

Maum: Lauren Hough’s Monster of a Land. It looks at the current wealth disparity in America with something rare these days: nuance and compassion.

Q: What’s one thing everyone needs to watch?

Maum: DTF St Louis. I think this slow, weird, powerful show about male friendship is a much-needed antidote to the manosphere.

Q: What’s your favorite unapologetic indulgence? 

Maum: Horseback riding, which is the most effective and meaningful way I’ve found to regulate my nervous system. I’m high-strung, but if I ride anxious, the horse senses it, and they bolt. So I have to overcome the worst parts of my character to be a good equestrian. Horses are my edibles, honestly.

Q: What’s a corner of the internet you recently discovered? 

Maum: Facebook Marketplace. I check it every morning before I get to work, not because I need anything, but because it brings me joy to see the wacky, hyperintimate things that people [nearby] are trying to part with. It’s how I keep track of trends and where the nation’s head is at. Like, right now, there are so many chicken coops. I think a lot of people got chickens during the pandemic, but it proved too much work for them.

Q: What’s the one thing you can’t leave the house without? 

Maum: My Moleskine weekly notebook. I’m an analog girlie, so I’d be completely lost without my planner.

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