The truth that no one tells you about being a founder and being your own business owner is that there are going to be days where you have to block your entire day and pivot because something happens in your personal life.
You could potentially work through the pain. You could Web MD your symptoms, but at the end of the day, going for that doctor’s appointment and checking on your own health matters because the business will always be there, but you might not be.
This week I had a little bit of a health scare, and I’m pretty avoidant when it comes to addressing those things. Part of that is when you are a business owner, there’s less likelihood of being insured, and having out-of-pocket expenses is a real roadblock to going for routine checkups.
I’m of a camp that I go to the doctor when I’m sick and I feel something major, not for preventative care. As I’ve reached my mid-30s, it’s something that I’m advocating for myself to change and become more educated about.
Health doesn’t just come from those moments where you feel sick, but it comes from every moment before that. It comes from regulating your sleep schedule, taking the right vitamins, and intaking the right food. And it comes by moving your body.
I don’t talk about this a lot, but I think it’s worth mentioning this week as we head into these beautiful summer months where days are longer and we feel superhuman energy. There has to be better ways for women to take care of their health without compromising their pocketbooks. I don’t have the answer for this, but I’m determined to find some resources and share them with our community next week, so stay tuned.
In the meantime, we’ve got some goodies for you. Keep reading below.
THIS WEEK’S MOOD
Off the noise, present check-in
Quiet building is the flex
Success on your own terms
LET’S CHAT THE CHISME
Business & Marketing News
Kayla Rowe walked into Essence Fest with a feminine wellness brand and walked out with her line headed to more than 4,000 CVS stores, after buyers reportedly flew to New Orleans to see the crowd at her booth for themselves. The move that’s working right now.
This week’s biggest venture checks went to AI infrastructure, energy, and biotech, led by a $1.75 billion raise for energy startup Joulent. Follow the money and it’s telling on itself, the real capital is flowing to the boring machinery that runs the world while the internet argues about chatbots.
Culture & Lifestyle
Cardi B brought a full immersive Grow-Good Beauty experience to Essence Fest, turning her months-old haircare line into a room people lined up to touch. That’s the difference between a celebrity who licenses her name and a founder who shows up for it in person, and Cardi understood the assignment.
With Rhode riding its billion-dollar e.l.f. exit into Sephora and Rare Beauty still breaking records, the industry’s quietly asking whether the celebrity beauty gold rush is hitting its ceiling.
Tech & Leadership
AI has been the most-cited reason for U.S. tech layoffs for four straight months now, with Microsoft cutting another 4,800 roles across sales and Xbox on July 6. Posting record profits while announcing mass layoffs in the same breath tells you everything. We’re watching.
The new Work AI Index clocked people saving around 11 hours a week with AI, while only 13 percent of their companies perform any better for it. Hand the robot your busywork all day, the whole game is still what you do with the judgment and the hours it hands back.
Presence Is the New Distribution
Line all of it up and the same thread runs through everything. The market’s quietly re-pricing what’s scarce, and it’s landing on presence, judgment, and trust you can stand next to.
The founders winning right now are the quiet ones, building something real enough that buyers show up in person to check.
Capital keeps drifting toward boring infrastructure while consumer hype gets more skeptical by the month.
Every “AI replaced them” headline is one quarter away from a quiet “we hired them back.”
A famous name opens the door, the product and the community are what keep it open.
Being a thoughtful human in the room is starting to look less like a soft skill and more like a moat.
The energy we’re building in.
ICYMTP (In Case You Missed The Pod)
If you want the real-world version of everything up there, go straight to my conversation with Camila Pinzón, co-founder of the clean beauty brand House of Cidra.
My favorite part, she describes legacy as a daily decision, the thing you choose to build every single day. Go watch it on YouTube or listen on your favorite podcast platform this week, you’ll walk away wanting to call your mom and rewrite your whole positioning.
Xx,
Victoria
P.S. If your bestie is quietly building something real while the internet screams about reach, forward this to her. She’s doing it right and needs to know it.
