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

ICYMI ₊♡₊˚ 🍒・₊✧ ₊

Konnichiwa Angels,

I’m in Tokyo! It’s my first time in Japan with Lucky #3—aka Mr. Worldwide Maximalist—who refuses to miss a beat, so this jet lag kit is my saving grace to keep me from wanting to pass out 24/7. We made it just in time for cherry blossom season, and if it’s not already on your bucket list, add it immediately—there’s truly nothing like it.

We’re here for a mix of pleasure, business, and my first couples YPO trip! We arrived two days early to take full advantage of the vintage shopping, fish markets, and foodie scene—and thanks to ChatGPT, my side gig as the family travel agent just got a whole lot easier.

Here’s what we packed into our first two days before YPO Stars kicked off. I’ve also gotten a ton of questions about how I manage to eat gluten-free while traveling, especially with the language barrier. The secret? One app that works globally: Find Me Gluten Free. My boyfriend’s brother recommended it, and it’s helped us find the best gluten-free meals—from ramen and crêpes to even pizza. I’ve only had one hiccup so far and it was the only place we’ve eaten at that wasn’t from the app.

I plan to embody this week’s quote: Travel Far Enough to Meet Yourself from David Mitchell and can’t wait to spill all the things on next week’s Tokyo Podcast Vlog Episode.

This Week’s Mood Board

♡ This Week’s Episode ♡

In this episode of Hot Smart Rich, I sit down with Dianna Cohen—the founder of Crown Affair, the premium beauty brand redefining clean luxury in haircare. Dianna’s journey started long before building her own brand—she launched her career working alongside Emily Weiss at Into The Gloss, then went on to shape the stories of modern DTC icons like Away. That background gave her a masterclass in brand building.

By 2024, she had scaled Crown Affair to $20M in sales and raised $15M in venture funding. Then she did something few founders would dare to do: she fired herself as CEO.

This episode isn’t about quitting—it’s about redefining. Dianna opens up about what it means to build a premium, emotionally resonant brand in the age of hustle culture, and how stepping into a more creative, intuitive role has become her most powerful chapter yet.

Consumer Trends I Gossiped
About Most This Week

♡ Lauryn Bosstick is Playing Chess: Lauryn Bosstick launched what could have been an April Fools' Day prank, but when you think about it is incredibly smart and needed—premium toliet paper. Timed perfectly with April Fools Day, she likely earned twice the mentions and impressions simply from people debating whether it was “serious or not” based on the day she chose to launch. Remember, timing matters almost as much as what you wipe with down there.

♡ The New It Business for It Girls, Clothing Rental: Do I regret passing on Pickle now that clothing rental is the new it business for it girls? Don’t be fooled by the news that Nuuly—Urban Outfitters' rental platform—just turned a profit; it only took a $100M investment from Urban Outfitters to get it there. So, I guess only time will tell whether I missed the boat or not but just because I passed as an investor, doesn’t mean I will as a consumer and I’m thinking about trying it out when I get home.

♡ Em Rata Making Lemonade Out of Lemons: Em Rata—known for her perfect body—just became relatable with the worst haircut of all time. I have no doubt we’re about to see her career revitalize after knocking herself down a few pedestals with this move. But the real lesson here for brand builders? Move fast. Kérastase immediately jumped in to sponsor the first video, attempting to style the chaos.

♡ Two Social Media Managers Who Deserve a Raise: After DeuxMoi spotted Sydney Sweeney post-breakup at Glen Powell’s sister’s wedding, Amazon Prime Video jumped in with the perfect marketing move to say something—without really having to say something. And then there’s an emerging brand, Gush, which I had never heard of—until I saw this hilarious TikTok. It instantly caught my attention with how perfectly they placed their product into a genuinely funny video about calling the bar first to “check the vibes.” And after looking into it, if it’s made with 100% Korean pears, it has to work to avoid your hangover… right!?

♡ Introducing Clown Affair—the meme account behind Crown Affair. It kind of reminds me of when the perfectly curated Glossier launched Glossier Play—except this time, it was executed well. I don’t know about you, but I’m excited to follow along with the meme account for girls who will always love millennial pink.

♡ Rhode Exploring a $1B Sale of Beauty Brand, Rhode: Lucky #3 would agree—I could probably take a page out of Hailey Bieber’s book- for every hater, there are twice as many people who love you. Despite the constant negative press and internet noise, she’s exploring a $1B sale of her less-than-three-year-old beauty brand, Rhode. Clearing over $200M in sales per year, just remember: you’ll never get hated on by someone you’d want to switch bank accounts with. Keep building.

Consumer News

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

♡ Women’s Health & Beauty ♡

• John Cena stars in Neutrogena’s new campaign, emphasizing the importance of skincare for men – from Business of Fashion

• LYS Beauty closes a Series A round to fuel Sephora expansion and deepen its clean, inclusive beauty mission – from Beauty Independent

• Bread Beauty Supply acquired by Topicals founder, forming a powerful duo in clean beauty – from Business of Fashion

• Lauryn Bosstick (The Skinny Confidential) launches viral pink toilet paper—yes, really – from WWD

• How Lauryn Bosstick turned The Skinny Confidential from blog readers into product buyers – from Inc.

• Hailey Bieber is reportedly exploring a sale of her beauty brand Rhode, signaling a potential shift in the celebrity beauty landscape – from Business of Fashion

♡ Media, Entertainment & Creator ♡

• Cardi B and Revolve Group team up for a beauty and fashion joint venture – from WWD

• Crown Affair launches a meme account, @clownaffair, blending beauty and self-aware humor – from Instagram

• SourcedBy announces Alisha Kumar as COO, bringing operator energy and early-stage excellence – from Instagram

• Vogue Business reports on the rise of stylists for sports teams—the fashion industry’s next power niche – from Vogue Business

• Blue Origin makes history with an all-female spaceflight crew—featuring trailblazers across STEM and entertainment – from Elle

• TOGETHXR, co-founded by athletes including Alex Morgan and Chloe Kim, raises growth capital to expand its women’s sports media empire – from Instagram

♡ E-Commerce, Retail & Social ♡

• Unilever acquires natural personal care brand Wild, pushing deeper into sustainable CPG – from Unilever

• Jones, a modern nicotine lozenge brand, raises $10M Series A to rebrand NRT for Gen Z – from Instagram

• Paris Hilton’s nonprofit doles out $1M to women-owned businesses affected by fires – from NBC Los Angeles

♡ Tech, Business & Investing ♡

• OpenAI closes a record-breaking $40B funding round, led by SoftBank—the largest private raise in history – from CNBC

• Entrepreneur profiles four women who built multi-million-dollar companies after turning 40 – from Entrepreneur

• Forbes’ 2025 Billionaires List reveals only 113 self-made women, highlighting the systemic gaps in wealth and access – from Instagram

• WSJ reports on a growing trend: American women are giving up on marriage – from WSJ

• The Trump administration extends TikTok’s deadline again, giving the platform more time to secure a sale or face a U.S. ban – from CNBC

There’s this unspoken myth in startup culture — that if you’re the one who started it, you should be the one to run it. Forever.

But here’s what I’ve seen firsthand: some of the most promising brands stall out, lose steam, or worse, implode — not because the product isn’t good, or the market isn’t there, but because the founder just can’t get out of their own way.

I was talking to a friend in the industry recently, and she said it best: “They’re running a nine-figure brand into the ground because they refuse to get out of their own way.” I won’t name names. But if you’ve worked in venture-backed consumer, you’ve seen it, too.

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