Hello everyone,
I've been thinking a lot about visibility lately. Not the vanity metrics kind, but the deeper question underneath: how much of yourself do you actually owe the internet?
It came up at a networking event last weekend. It came up in my DMs after I posted my first reel of 2026. It comes up basically every time I talk to a founder who's terrified of "putting themselves out there" because they've conflated showing up with selling out.
Here's where I've landed: your personal brand is not a tell-all novella. You get to decide what goes on the walls. The rest? Yours to keep. Being visible and being private aren't opposites. They're choices you make, story by story, post by post.
Anyway. Enough philosophy. Here's what's been on my radar this week.
What I’ve been thinking about lately
Some sentences just hit different. The kind of lines you return to on mornings when you need reminding that holding on isn't always strength, it's sometimes just expensive. Read here
Your favorite apps feel like checking an empty fridge, and it's not just you. Two-thirds of Gen Z say social media does more harm than good, and the rest of us are just swiping out of muscle memory. Read here
Building a personal brand doesn't mean writing a tell-all novella. You tell the story you want to tell. Everything else? Yours. Read here
Business & Marketing
Mel Robbins Is No Longer Just Telling You What to Do, She's Selling You Something to Take The podcast host turned author turned Golden Globe nominee just launched Pure Genius Protein, a TSA-friendly protein shot specifically designed for women who are too busy taking care of everyone else.
Sol de Janeiro Is the Most Duped Brand in America and It's Not Even Close The beauty brand saw 8,800 "dupe" Google searches in November alone, more than double Chanel's numbers.
Drunk Elephant Wants You to Know It's for Adults Now After sales tanked from becoming a Gen Alpha obsession, the brand is pivoting to a more mature image with clinical results and active ingredients.
Culture & Lifestyle
No, Kylie Jenner Did Not Secretly Become Kylie Chalamet That viral name card was fake, but Timothée did call her his "partner of three years" in his Golden Globes acceptance speech, so make of that what you will.
Amy Poehler Just Won the First-Ever Golden Globe for Podcasting Her show "Good Hang" beat out SmartLess, Call Her Daddy, and Mel Robbins for the inaugural award, and yes, she took a shot at NPR in her speech.
The Royal Family Hired a Crisis PR Expert and Swears It's Not for a Crisis Kate and William's new hire from Edelman specializes in crisis management, but sure, totally routine staffing decision.
Tech & Leadership
You Can Now Reserve a Holographic AI Companion That Lives in a Jar Razer's Project AVA is a 3D desk companion that handles scheduling and translation, and honestly, we're one step away from Tamagotchis with opinions.
Nvidia Wants to Put AI in Every Car on the Planet Jensen Huang unveiled Alpamayo, a self-driving platform that teaches cars to "reason" through rare scenarios, and Mercedes is already on board.
Meta Is Fighting Australia's Under-16 Social Media Ban After blocking over 500,000 accounts, the company is now arguing for "age appropriate" experiences instead of blanket restrictions. Classic.
Saanya Ali turned a New Year's Eve dare into SOIRÉE, a platform connecting over 100,000 engaged foodies through her newsletter and social channels.
Her approach to community building is kind of like throwing a dinner party for strangers: it's not about the perfect menu, it's about creating the conditions for real connection to happen.
Key takeaways:
Pivoting isn't giving up, it's getting closer to the thing that actually fits
Food is the ultimate cultural connector (and a surprisingly solid business model)
The founder identity crisis is real, and talking about it helps
Listen to the full episode: Apple Podcasts | Spotify
ICYMI: Forget Remote vs. Office. Here's What's Next.
We've spent five years arguing about WHERE we work while completely missing the actual revolution happening in HOW we work. Microshifting (working in flexible time blocks instead of fixed hours) is what 65% of workers actually want, and that number jumps to 73% for millennials. The 9-to-5 was designed for factory floors, not knowledge workers whose brains literally cannot focus for eight consecutive hours. The future of work isn't about location, it's about control. Read more here
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Hit reply and let me know what you'd like to see!
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P.S. If you’re thinking “I wish my brand had content like this” good news: we can make that happen. Let’s Talk!