Sammi’s Manifesto of the Week 🌶️📈 

There’s never been a better time to be a smart, slightly-controversial person (but particularly a woman) in media. I’ve been doing a lot of reflecting about the wins, milestones, and struggles of this year. As most of you know, I try to balance content creation and building out my Social Currency brand AND having a full time corporate job (I work at a company that rhymes with shmamazon). And balance isn’t the right word for what I’ve been doing. In reality, I’ve been working tireless 15-hour days, with constant shuffling between two very different worlds.

Needless to say, I can’t continue to do both forever because burnout is a real thing. When I ask myself why I choose to keep building my Social Currency platform (which currently includes this newsletter, a podcast that’s launching in Q1 of next year, and some other types of content that I can’t speak about yet), it’s because I feel compelled to jump into this white space that’s stuck out to me over the past few years. This white space is this opportunity to create a platform for people (majority of my audience is women) that are thirsty for a new type of content - one that spans the intersection of Wall Street, startups, venture capital AND culturally relevant events and the famous people that dominate headlines of traditional media.

I’m exhausted by all of the stuffy business advice that’s out there. I’m tired of the overly buttoned-up business content that has been boiled down into such rudimentary basics that it doesn’t seem to even teach you anything. The platform that I’m building is something that I hope is refreshing, filled with hot takes 🌶️ where I actually talk about the realities of business that most people don’t go into. And ultimately, I want my content to be something that leaves you more informed and entertained.

I’m saying all of this because I still think that there is a MASSIVE opportunity that spans well beyond me to have other women enter this space. It’s time to shake things up and provide business content that is real, raw, and unfiltered, and I think 2025 is going to be the year that business content for women explodes. More to come on this. 🔥 

Business, Economy & Culture🛍️📈💸:

Netflix’s Extraordinary Parental Leave Was Part of Its Culture. That’s Over. 🎬👶🕒 Netflix’s once-pioneering parental leave policy, unlimited time off in their child’s first year, has been trimmed, leaving employees grappling with what this means for work-life balance. The company has spent the past few years walking back the leave policy, issuing vague and sometimes conflicting guidance internally without explicitly retracting this benefit. 😔📉⏳  (wsj)

The Secrets of the Man Who Made Nvidia the World’s Most Powerful Company 🤖🔬💎 Nvidia’s rise to become a global powerhouse happened because of its aggressive dominance in AI but ALSO because of the leadership tactics from CEO Jensen Huang. Jensen implemented a T5T (top 5 things) system, in which all employees across the organization summarized the top 5 things they’ve been working on, thinking about and noticing at the company. He reads these emails daily, even from employees far below him. 🚀📈💡(wsj)

Crumbl’s Massive Empire Was Never About The Cookies 🍪🏗️💼 The Crumbl app has been downloaded over 6.4 million times in the US this year. They’ve opened hundreds of stores this year and they are seemingly avoiding the pitfalls of many franchised food companies: they’re spacing out their locations and keeping the hype alive through their constantly changing flavors. 🚀📊✨(vox)

Lego Flowers Are a Hot Holiday Gift for Kids and Adults 🌷🧩🎁 Apparently these lego bouquets are some of the best-selling toys in America (I’m not a lego girl, so I had no idea). These Lego roses were part of a strategic push to appeal to older audiences, not just kiddos. In 2020, Lego even introduces its “Adults Welcome” campaign, and it seems to be working. 🌸✨🎄 (bloomberg)

Whoopi Goldberg Aims to Raise Awareness About Women's Sports With New Network 🏀📺🌟 Whoopi co-founded a women’s sports network with George Chung, co-founder of international media holding company Jungo TV. It’s the first global media channel dedicated exclusively to highlighting women’s sports and is available in the U.S. on the free streaming service Vizio WatchFree+. 💪🎤👏(cnbc)

ServiceTitan’s IPO Is a Big Winner That Could Inspire Fintechs 💼🚿📈 ServiceTitan’s IPO was a welcome success on Wall Street on Thursday. The stock price popped to over $100/share from it’s opening IPO price at $71. This is a win for a company who last raised capital under some aggressive terms: during ServiceTitan’s November 2022 Series H raise, the company agreed to grant those investors a “compounding IPO ratchet structure. You can read more about what exactly this means here. 🔧💡🚀 (tech crunch)

Raw Milk: The Influencer Wellness Fad With a Side of Bird Flu 🥛📸🦠 Raw milk is making a controversial comeback as a wellness trend, but it comes with some serious risks. On social media, this seems to be inspired by the “tradwife” set, but positive bird flu tests show that its risk is rising along with its popularity. This whole trend feels a lot to me like the whole raw meat trend... gross. 😷🦢❗(bof)

The US TikTok ban is getting closer. What does it mean for brands and creators? As the TikTok ban looms, creators and brands are scrambling to adapt. TikTok contributed $24.2 billion to US GDP last year, according to a report by economics consultancy Oxford Economics. It drove $14.7 billion in small business owners’ revenue and supported 224,000 jobs. And there are over 170 million active users in the US (as per the report), ready to watch. No one is happier about this than Meta… ⏳💡🌍 (vogue business)

What Is Agentic AI, and How Will It Change Work? 🤖🧠📊 Agentic AI refers to AI systems and models that can act autonomously to achieve goals without the need for constant human guidance. Customer service industries will absolutely be incorporating agentic AI into their businesses in the future, and we’ll see a decline of human customer service agents as a result of this. 🌐🔍💼 (hbr)

How quiet luxury changed dupe culture 💼✨🤫 Quiet luxury’s rise is redefining the fashion world, pushing dupes to the sidelines. This year, we’ve seen a marked increase in luxury goods pricing, while affordable “dupe” options have been within reach. A few surprising brand names were mentioned in the article: Uniqlo, Gap, and Banana Republic.🌟🪄👜 (vogue business)

Sauna and a Show? Why This Theatrical, Naked Spa Experience Is on the Rise 🔥🚿🎭 Imagine sweating while naked in a sauna while watching live performances—these are two activities that I never imagined who go together. In the German practice of aufguss, ‘saunameisters’ dramatically fan aromatic hot air at you. The hotel mentioned in the article is in Italy, Hotel Chalet Mirabell (it’s gorgeous). 🎤🌡️🛁 (wsj)

Why was a murder suspect’s Instagram taken down, but not his Goodreads? 🕵️📱📚 The most famous murder suspect of the moment was very active online. Millions of people flocked to his online accounts to try to find out more about him. This raises questions about platform policies: while Instagram erased his presence, Goodreads made the account private on Tuesday before making it public again on Wednesday, and it’s now private again. Meanwhile, on Monday, X suspended Mr. Mangione’s account, then it reinstated it. Mr. Mangione’s X account was still online as of Wednesday afternoon and had more than 400,000 followers. 🤔💻❓(nyt)

Stanley Recalls More Than 2 Million Travel Mugs Over Burn Hazard (☕⚠️🔥 Stanley issued a recall for 2.6 million mugs this week over concerns that loose lids could fall off mid-sip. Stanley has received reports of injuries stemming from the loose lids, according to the safety commission. Worldwide, there have been 91 reports detailing how the mugs’ lids detached during use. 🚨❗🛑(nyt)

Shopify looks to bigger clients for steadier profits 🛒📊🤝 Shopify’s turning its focus to enterprise clients, seeking stable profits and long-term growth. The e-commerce giant is aiming high, partnering with retail heavyweights to future-proof its business. 🚀🏢💼 (wsj)

Psychology & Mindset 🧠💭

Why Not Tell Someone They Look Great Today? 🧠💭🤔Apparently, the compliment market is booming. New Yorkers claim that there’s been an uptick in compliments that they’ve been receiving from random strangers. Think about it, when was the last time you gave someone a compliment and they didn’t act flattered or say thank you? ❤️🌍 (nyt)

How to Strengthen Your Happiness Muscle 🌱🌟💡Almost anyone can learn to increase their reward sensitivity by training themselves to notice and savor their positive emotions. Per the article: A 2023 study co-led by Dr. Meuret found that when adults experiencing depression or anxiety participated in 15 weeks of psychotherapy focused on enhancing positive emotions, they reported more improvement than a group whose therapy focused on reducing negative emotions. (nyt)

3 Ways to Recharge Your Battery & 3 Daily Practices to Reduce Stress by 100% with the CEO of Calm @Davidko 🧘‍♂️🔋🌟 David Ko, CEO of Calm, shares 3 simple ways to recharge your energy and tackle stress head-on. From mindful breathing to gratitude journaling, these daily practices can help to make you a bit more balanced during this chaotic time of year. 🎙️🕊️💪 (spotify podcast)

Venture Capital/Innovation & Entrepreneurship💰🌍💼:

Ev Williams, Twitter and Medium Founder, Unveils New Social App 📱🚀🌐 Ev Williams is back with a new company, aiming to reinvent how we connect and communicate online. The founder of Twitter and Medium was lonely after he exited from Medium, and he came up with a new idea to help mitigate his loneliness. Last month, they raised $6 million in funding from Obvious Ventures, an investment firm that he co-founded. ✍️💡🔗 (nyt)

Anybotics raises $60M to bring more autonomous industrial robots to the US 🤖💼🚀 Swiss robotics company Anybotics secures $60M to expand its cutting-edge autonomous robots in the US market. From oil rigs to factories, these bots promise to revolutionize industrial work. 🛠️✨🤔 (tech crunch)

A Controversial Plan to Refreeze the Arctic is Seeking Promising Results. But Scientists Warn of Big Risk ❄️🧊🌍 A bold geoengineering plan aims to refreeze Arctic ice. While early results look hopeful, scientists caution against unforeseen risks to ecosystems and weather patterns. Their ultimate plan is to thicken ice over more than 386,000 square miles of the Arctic — an area more than twice the size of California. 🌦️🌱⚠️ (cnn)

Resources/Links 🌶️🧥

My First Million’s Copywriting Crash Course - ✍️ 🔥 I’m in the middle of watching this video now and will finish it this weekend, so if anyone wants to watch it too and trade notes/best practices, send me a note.

Red Antler’s State of Brand 2025 - 😀💹 Red Antler is the branding guru behind the hottest brands of the DTC-era and beyond, so I enjoyed reading this state of affairs for all brand strategy, behavior and growth.

The New Consumer 2025 Trends Report 📊🛍️🔮 This report reveals trends like eco-conscious buying 🌱, hyper-personalized experiences 🤖, and the power of community-driven brands. As a side note, The New Consumer is an incredible site and Dan has such great takes about the state of marketing, consumer and brands.🚀💡✨ 

Remove Paywall ❌💳🔓 This tool allows you to unlock the knowledge behind the paywall. As someone who looks at hundreds of articles a week, this resource has been super helpful.🤔🌍✨

This cheat sheet for negotiation best practices ✏️📝 This sheet is full of good reminders before you to into a negotiation of any kind.

This light therapy lamp to help fight off seasonal depression 🛋️⚡️ This time of year is tough for so many; when I lived in New York, I definitely had seasonal depression. Hopefully this lamp (or one like it) can help to make your winters less dreary.

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