Hello everyone,
I’m so so excited to announce that just launched our brand new website!!!
I’m unwell. The branding is gorgeous, my pride and joy. It’s everything I ever wanted in to convert to you, but in pictures and words what this community means. Everything feels new and intentional, not to mention, a little surreal. The team has been working on this for months, and seeing it all come together this week has been one of those pinch-me moments.
So yeah. We're excited. Very excited.
It feels fitting that we're launching during a moment that feels so undeniable for women. The landscape is shifting. Time are changing. We’re changing.
In 2025, nearly 49% of new U.S. businesses were founded by women. Women now own 42% of all businesses, with women-owned businesses growing 26% this year alone. This isn't a trend. It's a structural shift.
And where are women winning hardest? Beauty. Wellness. Personal care. Culture-shaping industries. Rare Beauty built a language around mental health. Rhode turned minimalism into a billion-dollar mood. Huda Beauty became a global empire rooted in creator-led vision before that was even a buzzword.
These brands aren't successful because they're pretty. They're successful because women don't just sell products. We build worlds people want to belong to.
This is what empowerment actually looks like. Not slogans. Ownership. Revenue. Influence.
If you're building something right now, quietly or loudly, imperfectly or boldly, this moment includes you too.
Go explore the new site. Let us know what you think.
Talking About That… Sequins & Spuds is in 10 days!!!
Our first event is less than two weeks away, and it finally feels real. Everything we have been building is coming together, and the energy around it feels genuinely exciting.
In case you missed it, on February 7 in New York City we are hosting Sequins and Spuds, our first in person gathering. It was designed to feel like the opposite of everything exhausting about networking and more like a good night spent with a curated group of women you will actually want to know. Maybe even a reason to finally wear that outfit you have been saving.
This night is for you if you are building something, seeking more meaningful connection, or simply craving a space that feels intentional without being performative.
If this feels like something you do not want to miss, save your spot while you can.
THIS WEEK’S MOOD <3
♡ This Week's Mood ♡
Working day and night to get everything out the door
Finishing touches on Sequins & Spuds
LOTS of coffee
Meetings on meetings on meetings
That specific kind of tired that means something's actually happening
And honestly? So much gratitude
Business & Marketing
Summer Fridays introduces Softline Lip Liners. Made for your lip combo. A smooth, blendable liner designed to enhance the natural shape of the lips, launching in 8 shades. A smart product extension that leans into everyday usability, not transformation.
UGG drops 2026 Valentine’s Day collection. UGG continues to lean into comfort-as-a-lifestyle, reframing Valentine’s Day away from traditional romance and toward self-love, softness, and everyday indulgence.
Disney celebrates High School Musical’s 20th anniversary. Nostalgia marketing at its finest. The celebration taps directly into millennial and Gen Z emotional memory, proving that cultural moments from the early 2000s are now legacy IPs with renewed commercial power.
US beauty brands are accelerating their push into Dubai and the wider UAE, and it’s not subtle. American beauty players are fast-tracking expansion across the region, using Sephora Middle East and Ulta Beauty’s planned 2025 entry to access a projected 60 billion dollar MENA beauty market, with Dubai’s flagship malls emerging as key testing grounds. The growth is driven by clean beauty, celebrity-led brands, and mass-market plays targeting Gen Z, positioning Dubai as a global proving ground for what scales next in beauty.
Culture & Lifestyle
Harry Styles announces 2026 tour by tapping NBC’s Steve Kornacki as “HSHQ Chief News Analyst”. A playful crossover between pop culture and broadcast journalism. By using Kornacki’s trusted, data-driven persona, Harry Styles reframed a tour announcement as a “news moment,” showing how leaders and brands borrow credibility from adjacent industries to cut through noise.
Valentino Garavani’s funeral became a rare moment of collective pause for the fashion world.Hundreds of mourners gathered in Rome to honor the legendary designer, with industry leaders, creatives, and cultural icons in attendance. The turnout itself spoke volumes. Valentino wasn’t just influential, he shaped how elegance, femininity, and glamour were defined for decades. From Hollywood to royalty, his work dressed generations of women and set a standard that outlived trends, algorithms, and fashion cycles. His legacy isn’t just measured in gowns, but in the cultural weight he carried and the reverence the industry showed when he was gone.
NFL fashion is getting a serious style moment ahead of the Super Bowl.
Kyle Smith, the league’s first fashion editor, has been transforming football’s traditional tunnel walks and game-day arrivals into genuine style showcases and with the Super Bowl approaching, that crossover is hitting a new peak. As part of the trend, Abercrombie & Fitch is hosting an exclusive fashion show the night before the big game, tied to Super Bowl weekend and paired with a celebrity flag football event. The move reflects how the NFL is leaning into fashion, player style, and cultural moments to deepen engagement beyond the sport itself, and how fashion is becoming part of the narrative around major sporting events rather than just a byproduct of them.
Tech & Leadership
Meta Is Putting Money Behind AI Glasses That Solve Real Problems, Not Just Look Futuristic. The program supports both scaled applications and new high-potential use cases across agriculture, healthcare, education, and accessibility. Early adopters are already using the glasses for hands-free data capture, real-time learning, and on-the-ground decision making. Meta is positioning AI glasses as practical infrastructure, not just a consumer gadget.
US beauty brands are accelerating their push into Dubai and the wider UAE, and it’s not subtle. American beauty players are fast-tracking expansion across the region, using Sephora Middle East and Ulta Beauty’s planned 2025 entry to access a projected 60 billion dollar MENA beauty market, with Dubai’s flagship malls emerging as key testing grounds.
The growth is driven by clean beauty, celebrity-led brands, and mass-market plays targeting Gen Z, positioning Dubai as a global proving ground for what scales next in beauty.
Bobbi Brown shares brand slip-up on Substack. Bobbi Brown revealed how Jones Road almost launched a new body product line with placeholder Lorem Ipsum text on the packaging. Instead of hiding the mistake, she used Substack to tell the story herself, turning an operational error into a moment of transparency, leadership, and brand trust. Long-form storytelling as brand equity.
The Bigger Pattern We're Watching
Brands are prioritizing everyday utility and emotional relevance over transformation and hype
Nostalgia is being used as legacy power, not throwback gimmicks
Culture is collapsing silos between fashion, beauty, sports, and entertainment to meet attention where it actually lives
Leadership is becoming more human, transparent, and story driven
Technology is shifting from futuristic spectacle to practical, real world value
The winning signal right now is presence over performance and meaning over noise
THE MHOB PODCAST
EPISODE OF THE WEEK
Listen to the full episode: Apple Podcasts | Spotify
In this conversation:
How to recognize when your traditional career isn't fully filling your cup and what to do about it without abandoning financial security.
The strategic approach to building multiple income streams - from content creation to product development - while maintaining your primary profession.
The importance of scheduling self-care like business meetings to prevent burnout before it happens, not after you crash.
How to leverage your unique professional background as your competitive advantage in saturated markets.
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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.