Fortune Most Powerful Women

“It made me feel terrible. And it also was such a gift.” Sallie Krawcheck, Wall Street veteran and founder of Ellevest, walked Fortune through her early career and the building of Ellevest. Her work has led Krawcheck, 59, to become one of the most powerful women—and people, period—on Wall Street. During her ascent, Krawcheck led Bank of America’s Global Wealth and Investment Management division, and served as CEO of Sanford Bernstein and CFO of Citigroup, among many other plum roles. In an interview with Fortune, Krawcheck discussed being fired twice from glass-cliff jobs. bit.ly/4cNtoSL

Huge thanks to Ellie Austin and Fortune for this feature! When I started Kitsch, bootstrapping seemed like a burden, but it turned out to be a blessing. The constraints and challenges shaped Kitsch into exactly what it needed to be. Grateful for my incredible team, husband Jeremy Thurswell, and community. ALSO - Huge shout out to single moms. My mom was an incredible role model for determination, hard work, and figuring things out as you go.

Cassandra Thurswell was 25 when she started hand-making hair ties in her Los Angeles apartment and selling them door to door. Raised in Wisconsin by a hairdresser single mom, Thurswell’s initial goal was to make “cute things” that the Midwestern women who she grew up around would enjoy and be able to afford. “I was thinking about the young woman or girl and what she reached for every single day,” she recalls. “What’s something that I could do that no one else had put attention on? To me, that product was a basic hair elastic.” Fourteen years later, what began for Thurswell as a passion for colorful accessories, has evolved into Kitsch, a hugely popular beauty brand with a hefty social media presence. Read more: https://lnkd.in/eWkbTjST

The CEO of Hero Cosmetics can be your hero. Ju Rhyu might be best known for Mighty Patch, the ubiquitous barely-there pimple patch you may see on people’s faces everywhere from the grocery store, to the office, to a night on the town. “When you have acne, you feel more insecure, you feel more introverted, you feel like everyone is staring at your face,” Rhyu, 45, told Fortune. “The products and solutions we offer really do work and really do save the day. It was really important for me to have something punchy, positive, and emotional.” Read more:bit.ly/3W5zHvx

The target customer at J. Jill, the 63-year-old American womenswear brand, is “sophisticated.” Aged 45 and older with $150,000 or more in household income, “she’s well-educated, she’s shopping the social channels, she’s shopping wherever, whenever she wants to,” says CEO Claire Spofford. So when the brand’s product wasn’t up to snuff, the customer noticed. J. Jill was founded in Massachusetts in 1955 and acquired by Talbots in 2006 for $517 million. Since then, the brand known for its easy-to-wear basics and catalog business has been through a steep drop-off in value. bit.ly/4bketyn

Eugenia Kuyda is the founder and CEO of Replika, an 8-year-old startup that offers an AI companion. Its 2 million users and 500,000 paying subscribers talk to Replika’s chatbot to lift their moods, work through life’s hardest challenges, and stave off loneliness. Replika was used by some as a romantic AI companion; the company spun off that functionality into a separate platform called Blush. Kuyda spends much of her time trying to destigmatize the role of AI in dating. People’s dismissal of these kinds of chatbots is often a “knee-jerk reaction,” she says. Instead of judging people who seek out companionship or, yes, romantic and sexual connection from AI, she says, we should dig deeper. bit.ly/3xKLc22

It’s been a tumultuous few years for Away, the luggage brand that’s iconic hard-shell bag has been carried by the likes of Margot Robbie and Prince Harry. Allegations of a toxic workplace in 2019 led to multiple changes in management, while demand plummeted early in the pandemic. Earlier this year, the company restructured, cutting 25% of its staff. An IPO went from seemingly imminent to on the back burner. But Jen Rubio, cofounder and CEO, says the company is past those growing pains—and ready to embrace its next chapter as the startup approaches its second decade in business. Read more: bit.ly/4cjshue

Absolutely loved this edit! Sometimes brining positive change means taking action yourself. Go check out Jane Thier's amazing article on Sallie Krawcheck on Fortune.com!

“The industry tends to look past women and mostly serve men.” Sallie Krawcheck, the founder of Ellevest, a virtual financial advisory geared towards women, quickly became one of the most powerful women—and people, period—on Wall Street. Along her ascent, Krawcheck led Bank of America’s Global Wealth and Investment Management division, CEO of Sanford Bernstein and was CFO of Citigroup, among many other plum roles. (In 2002, Fortune even dubbed her “the last honest analyst.”) The problem: Women don’t have enough money, in Krawcheck’s view, and shrewd investing is the only solution. That opportunity became Ellevest, which Krawcheck launched the day before the 2016 election, and currently boasts a user base of three million and $2 billion in assets under management. Krawcheck told Fortune how she built the firm, why she insists women still need their own platform, and the biggest pitfalls in her career that almost sidelined her. Read the full interview here: https://lnkd.in/eZtxaHTy

Taking an extra eight minutes to draft out a text … that’s hot. At least if you ask Paris Hilton. The socialite who reigned over the 2000s with an iron fist, or rather, a small chihuahua, welcomes back the Y2K resurgence with seemingly open arms. Jeans are low-rise and phones are low-tech, and Hilton thinks it’s a fad that is born out of trying to break out of the mold. “Flip phones are making a comeback right now because people wanna flip the script, do something different,’ the famous former carrier of an iconic pink Razr told Fortune at an event hosted by Motorola. Of course, Hilton’s sign off happened at Motorola’s event as the phone company unveiled a new model of flip phone. bit.ly/4cDZr7W