Time for my favorite part of the week, ICYMI!!!

ICYMI ₊♡₊˚ 🍒・₊✧ ₊

Happy Sunday Angels

It feels so good to be back in Los Angeles after London. Katie’s coming this week before Lucky #3 returns, so we’re locking in some serious steps forward—and I’ve got three incredible female founder interviews that practically fell into my lap. You’re going to love them.

London gave us 7 days of pure sunshine and—miraculously—no stolen phones. Adjusting to travel is always tough, especially 10 days post-op, but that didn’t stop me from soaking it all in (and making the most of my one outfit)! When have you ever seen me push a product so hard, you need these pants!! I just ordered 2 more colors in a size 1 for reference.

My Top 10% moments:
♡ Hosting an HSR London meetup
♡ Getting my Neko Health scan (see below!)
♡ Tearing up at Bryony & Kaspar’s wedding
♡ Indulging in amazing food
♡ Cozy nights in with my bestie—a must whenever I’m in town.

♡ Introducing the HSR Global WhatsApp Community Channel ♡ This is something we’ve been working on for quite a while, but that we’ve moved up in the launch calendar (after our HSR London meetup), is the HSR Global WhatsApp channel. This is a community zone by you, for you. It’s peer-led, community-driven, and built on the energy of ambitious, like-minded women. Whether you’re here to make new friends in your city, share podcast recs, find a business co-founder or just know where the best Pilates class is this week in your city—this is where it will all happen. To sign up, download WhatsApp and join here.

Being in London meant missing Expo West for the first time in three years—which also happens to be where Lucky #3 and I finally met in person last year. Expo West is always a pulse check on what’s trending in food, packaging, and consumer habits, so I tapped my dear friend (and former colleague!) Nikki Gryll—who runs the leading emerging food & bev PR firm, Knack PR—to take us with her. She’s this week’s guest feature—and her insights are so good that they’re in the paid section only 💸. Plus I’m including the long awaited follow up to The Price of Being Cool with Paige Rowin from Bilt.

This Week’s Mood Board

The Investing in Creators Episode

Investing $60M to Find the Next Mr. Beast—The Future of Influencers, Creators, and Venture Capital with Megan Lightcap

In this episode of Hot Smart Rich, I sit down with Megan Lightcap, Partner at Slow Ventures, one of the leading venture capital firms backing content creators and digital-first businesses. With a $60M seed-stage fund, Megan and Sam Lessin are betting big on the creator economy, where social media platforms, personal brands, and original content are shaping the future of digital entrepreneurship.

The Consumer Behavior Trends I Gossiped
About The Most This Week

♡ The unbundling of IG Reels: I’m guilty of overthinking what I post on IG—yet here, on this newsletter, TikTok, or the podcast, I write, post, and yap about whatever I want like it’s my personal diary. This week on TikTok, I broke down the only successful business formula you need to know—because the idea of unbundling and bundling kept coming up in conversation. It’s clear this is IG’s next move, but will it work? Only time will tell and not if Michael Grimes has something to say about (see below).

♡ I’m8health: If you hadn’t heard of I’m8health before this past week and you’re chronically online, you likely have now—thanks to the sheer number of IG ads they’re running. They’re featuring subject-matter experts (like @JamesDiNicolantonio and @bengreenfieldfitness) who are selling out—I mean, buying into—the longevity of David Beckham. To be clear, I haven’t looked into the science but with this many ads running simultaneously at one time, you can’t help but think something must be up…

♡ Consumer is not dead- just ask Unilever Ventures - While Lucky #3 and I were at their London offices this week, we had a deep dive on how consumer is very much alive. In fact, according to Bloomberg, the global wellness industry is now worth $6.3 TRILLION—for reference, the global pharmaceutical industry sits at just $1.6 TRILLION. So while everyone is obsessed with funding and building in ai, just keep calm and carry on with your silly little consumer businesses (that is sarcasm if it doesn’t read right).

♡ The Future of GP Visits is Here, It’s Called Neko Health and It’s Already Worth $1.8B- Prepare to be sick of me talking about Neko Health—but sorry, not sorry—because I’ve never experienced healthcare like this. In just 10 minutes, 70 sensors collected 50 million data points on my health—for just £299. No wonder the Swedish-founded company— by Spotify’s Daniel Ek—has a 100,000-person waitlist (which I was able to bypass thanks to Lucky #3). The scan checks moles, metabolic conditions, stroke and heart attack risk factors, blood fats, blood sugars, pre-diabetes risks, skin cancer, and blood abnormalities—all in minutes. With more young adults being diagnosed with cancer than ever before (according to TIME), preventative, early detection will be the next big thing. It’s no surprise that Neko Health has raised $325M with just five investors since launch.

♡ Michael Grimes & TikTok- the former Morgan Stanley tech investment banker who did Uber’s IPO and Twitter’s Takeover (both very difficult assignments) who you’ll start to become familiar with, solely because he’s just been tasked with leading a US Sovereign Wealth Fund to support Donald Trump’s effort to give the US a stake in projects he considers critical to national security buy TikTok.

♡ Canada vs. the USA (and not the fun kind, like hockey) – Writing this on the plane back from the UK, so by the time you read this, Trump may have flip-flopped again and tariffs could be delayed yet again but either way, Canada is the U.S.’s 2nd biggest trading partner, and everything from your favorite beauty brands (MAC Cosmetics, Ilia Beauty, Deciem, Nudestix), to aluminum, to cars, and yes, even maple syrup will be affected. In the words of Jenn Harper, CEO and Founder of Cheekbone Beauty to BOF, “This will kill small businesses, absolutely, 100 percent. This is doing nothing for the economy. It is just creating more inflation and making all of our goods, no matter who we are — in Canada or the US — just cost more.”

Consumer News

♡ the brands, people, places, things that have captured my attention ♡

♡ Women’s Health & Beauty ♡

• Millie maternity clinics raise $12M in Series A funding – from TechCrunch

• Summer Fridays launches Jet Lag Eye Patches, hydrating and de-puffing hydrogel patches – from Instagram

• Taylor Swift-loved viral makeup patch brand Fazit lands at Target – from Beauty Independent

• Louis Vuitton enters the beauty space with a new luxury makeup line – from Harper’s Bazaar

• Katy Perry’s non-alc brand, De Soi (HSR portfolio company), gets a boost from its 29-year-old CEO with a nonlinear career path – from Forbes

• Nikki Lee Joins Wella Professionals as Global Ambassador - via Instagram

♡ Media, Entertainment & Creator ♡

• Maggie Sellers shares her travel hacks, routines, and preferences with Luxury Travel Consultant- Atelier Le Monde

• Skims debuts its latest swimwear drop with a 60-foot Kim Kardashian balloon in Times Square – from Instagram

• Emily Oberg, founder of Sporty & Rich, launches Sensual Sport, a new sexual wellness brand – from Instagram

• Serena Williams becomes the newest owner of Toronto Tempo, marking her latest move in sports investment – from Instagram

♡ E-Commerce, Retail & Social ♡

• Year of Ours taps SZA’s stylist for a Super Bowl-inspired capsule collection – from WWD

• Sofia Richie Grainge launches Sofia for Tommy, a capsule collection with Tommy Hilfiger – from WWD

• Australian sun care brand Naked Sundays expands in North America, now at Ulta and Shoppers Drug Mart – from Instagram

• PrettyLittleThing unveils a major rebrand, aiming to redefine “accessible luxury” – from Instagram

♡ Tech, Business & Investing ♡

• MrBeast sets his valuation at $5B – from Yahoo Finance

• Jennifer Garner’s Once Upon a Farm weighs IPO - from Yahoo Finance

• De Soi, HSR portfolio company, is going Nationwide with Southern Glazer's Wine & Spirits - from Wine Business

• Women-founded mezcal brand Doce Mezcal secures investment from Pronghorn and announces a New York distribution deal with Blueprint Spirits/Union Beer – from Instagram

The Pulse on Consumption: Inside Expo West

By: Nikki Gryll, founder of Knack Public Relations (@knack_pr)

For 3 days, 70,000+ people put on their comfiest sneakers and custom swag to walk the endless aisles of better-for-you food + beverage products. Over 3,000 brands set up a booth to show off + sample their newest creations. It’s truly a celebration of CPG innovation + a sneak peek at your future favorite grocery finds.

You encounter big brands like Chobani and Kodiak Cakes and emerging brands you’ve never heard of before. You sample actually innovative products like cocoa bone broth and pasta chips. You fangirl equally as hard over the founders of your pantry essentials as you do Cravings Founder Chrissy Teigen.

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