Good morning! Three states are pushing to restrict abortion pill access, Hailey Bieber’s beauty brand expects to do more than $100 million in revenue this year, and here are the highlights from Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Summit.
– Power play. Hello! It’s been a thrilling week on the ground at the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit. To those of you who joined us in Laguna Niguel, Calif., thank you for being there. It was a pleasure to spend time with you and hear about your incredible work, from the biggest companies to early-stage startups to women making a difference outside of business.
We’ve already shared some of the highlights in this newsletter—from Lizzo and Cameron Diaz and Katherine Power’s Avaline to Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson and GM chief Marry Barra.
Before we finish the week, here’s what else we learned in Laguna:
Every Mother Counts founder Christy Turlington Burns and Moms First founder Reshma Saujani (who has a new podcast for women in midlife!) dived into the ways policy failures around childcare and maternal health are crushing working parents.
Fannie Mae CEO Priscilla Almodovár says a “confidence gap” is limiting women’s potential as homeowners.
Fearless Fund founder Arian Simone and Hello Alice cofounder Elizabeth Gore were united when both their businesses were sued in anti-affirmative action lawsuits funded by Stephen Miller’s America First. The two women (and their businesses) made it through those trials and urge companies not to abandon DEI—even if that means calling those efforts something else within a P&L.
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office director Kathi Vidal is developing AI policy for the Biden-Harris administration, and she has one issue with Tesla: its technology identifies all pedestrians as white men.
Artemis Patrick, CEO for Sephora North America, says the beauty retailer is at the center of trends on TikTok and Instagram on purpose—and it takes strategy.
Stuart Isett for Fortune
WNBA legend and current Seattle Storm co-owner Sue Bird says that athletes are great hires for businesses, thanks to skills like teamwork and perseverance.
Halle Berry started advocating for better treatment and research for menopause after being misdiagnosed with herpes. She has a new company called Respin and has lobbied Congress for funding for menopause.
Hollywood producer Debra Martin Chase was behind classics like The Princess Diaries and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. But she almost gave up on the business after she couldn’t get projects made that featured women of color.
Thanks so much for following along this year. We’ll be back to our regular programming next week!
Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
The Most Powerful Women Daily newsletter is Fortune’s daily briefing for and about the women leading the business world. Today’s edition was curated by Nina Ajemian. Subscribe here.
ALSO IN THE HEADLINES
– Revisiting restrictions. Missouri, Kansas, and Idaho are pushing to restrict access to the abortion pill and bring limitations back to how they stood before they were relaxed by the FDA in 2016 and 2021. In June, the Supreme Court agreed to keep access to the medication in place. AP
– On the Rhode to success. Hailey Bieber’s beauty brand Rhode shared that it’s set to bring in over $100 million in revenue this year, thanks to its online direct-consumer business. The company, which Bieber launched in 2022, has also seen its social following take off, with 136.1% year-over-year growth in its TikTok following (which is over 1 million) for the period ending in June 2024. WWD
– B-ball broadcast. Women’s pro basketball league Unrivaled signed a deal with Warner Bros. Discovery to air games on TNT Sports and truTV and stream on Max; terms of the multiyear deal were not disclosed. WNBA players Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier cofounded the new three-on-three league in 2023. CNBC
– In her publishing era. Taylor Swift’s recently announced book commemorating the Eras Tour will be published under her own new imprint called Taylor Swift Publications. Without a traditional publisher, Swift will receive a larger share of the book’s revenue. Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour Book will be sold exclusively at Target. Business Insider
MOVERS AND SHAKERS
Narvar, a post-purchase intelligence platform, named Anisa Kumar CEO. She was previously the company’s chief customer officer.
Nayya, a benefits intelligence platform, appointed Sarah Liebel as president and chief operating officer. Most recently, she was president and chief growth officer at BetterUp.
Mars, a pet care products and veterinary services provider, appointed Nefertiti Greene global president for Mars veterinary health and Katie Devine as global president of the science and diagnostics division. Most recently, Greene was president of Mars science and diagnostics. Devine served as president of U.S. general medicines, Canada & Puerto Rico at Johnson & Johnson.
Contentful, a composable content platform, appointed Elizabeth Maxson as chief marketing officer. Most recently, Maxson was CMO at Tableau.
Veeam, a data resilience company, named Lucy Hur chief people officer. She most recently served as chief people officer at Slalom.
ON MY RADAR
Inside the WNBA’s big, bold, record-breaking year Wall Street Journal
23andMe’s entire board resigned on the same day. Founder Anne Wojcicki still thinks the startup is savable Fortune
Can a troubled Victoria’s Secret successfully write its next chapter? It’s certainly pulling out all the stops CNN
PARTING WORDS
“Every woman needs to be in this movement of AI by being an early adopter of AI.”
— Lan Guan, chief AI officer at Accenture, on the importance of women embracing the AI era
