2025ish: In/Out
The shake-ups I predict in the areas I (and maybe you) work & consume in
Note: This post does not reflect my hopes, dreams or heart’s desires so don’t shoot the messenger.1It’s merely what I’ve seen coming and late 2024 proved its well on its way. So buckle up babes and smoke ‘em if you’ve got ‘em , it’s gonna be a wild ride.
In: “Masculinity” (for Women)
The world’s been tough on women. We will get tough right back.
Traditionally male-coded traits and behaviors2 - steeliness, running the numbers, assertiveness, taking credit, playing the game, straight talk, gun ownership - will enter the female space. Along with tenacity and strength, these qualities have always been female, but we often didn’t own them outright.
It’s time to do so, in hot girl, bad bitch or grown crone ways.
This has been fighting its way in the edges: think Kristi Noem’s dog, Angel Reese, Amanda Zurawski, Real Housewives, Ilona Maher, nail trends that border on Wolverine.
But it’s time it entered the other bastions: women’s media, self-help, the workplace and women’s groups.
Think: Stoicism for women not bros, more Barstoolish female podcasters, survivors as strong warriors vs victims, CFO and COO mindsets
Also In: Femininity as Unapologetic Escapism
But don’t get it twisted. This is not the “act like a man” of the 1980s.
Feminine aesthetics, romance fiction, Hallmark movies and beauty will continue to thrive (see that dress) because the nostalgia and beauty are comfort and relief.
But some interesting hybrids may pop up:
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Out: Female Empowerment™ & Millennial Feminism
Fair Play, Male Tears mugs, girl power commercials and platitudes? Failed.
Rah-rah is blah.3 Empowerment is a corporate cash-in way past its sell-date4 along with Life Coachery as usual.
It’s equally exhausting to hear how exhausting it all is. 2022-24 was a needed examination of emotional labor, de-influencing, etc., but after a while it’s trauma dumping.
We need our energy.
The body will continue to keep the score but it is time for a new game. See: Revolution Girlies, below.
In: Flyover, Scuzz & Corporate MAGA
To be clear, these are not equivalent, but the coastal elites never got that. So let’s keep it simple for those who don’t know tree from military camo.
Flyover is here and WT is so back. What was once uniformly derided is, in fact, under commercialized. Flyover in all its forms can ride out the last Authenticity™ fumes.
Americana Drag is still trending. A Hadid is dating an actual cowboy and Lana del Rey married a alligator boat driver. SF annexed TX. White rappers went Nashville. The Whale Tail is, sadly, back.
Meanwhile, Hachette just started a conservative imprint called, I kid you not:
If you are not from the upper Midwest and have not heard of Scheel’s, you soon will. I predict it will become the retailer to watch over the Trump administration. It’s family-run, employee-owned, red, white and blue-blooded and it has great service and good product - along with bronze presidential and military statues, shooting galleries, in-store ferris wheels.
In: Analog Vice: Cigs, Diet Coke, Meat, Dairy, Carbs
Cigs. Stimulants, cocaine, caffeine and nicotine are trending. Dairy. Meat. Carbs. Beef tallow is coming back to a french fry and even face cream near you.5
With the tariffs coming, the yassified food trend will probably bounce back to Big Corporate food. More for economic necessity and boredom than anything else. Bring it, RFK Jr!
Also In: Throwback NYC Biz Shizz
Greed is good. Ego, too. Loud luxury. IPOs and M&A are predicted to roar back. Wolves of Wall Street and Art of the Dealers, press your ties, text your guy and dump the cottagecore for shiny metal things.
With AI taking over, attitude (and generational wealth) is everything!
WFH is over and there’s a whole generation that never got to dress up for work nor self-medicate at work happy hours. Who will be the modern Club Monaco or Banana Republic to get Gen Z office-ready?
Out: Erewhon-ness, Corporate Self-Care & “Wellness”
Not entirely—Erewhon is fine—but several things cooking make the wellness bubble as has been feel, well, has-been:
Crunchiness is being co-opted by the MAGA/RFK crowd, which will turn off the originators and coastals.
Adaptogens, reiki, nootropics, yoga are all beginning to downtrend, based on search traffic and sales data. Now that drugs are back, the mainstreaming of these will flatten or slump as people want faster fixes and sure things.
Goop has reduced its staff by 30-ish% this year and has dropped wellness as a pillar. What remains: fashion, beauty, food.
Self care talk is tired and sheet masks aren’t going to be enough to reduce the stress of what’s ahead. Heavy weights for women, martial arts as self-defense, military-inspired workouts, weird machines that pump sensation over relaxation will continue to come in for women. It also feels like the sweat drench of group spin could return just for the catharsis and ability to cry anonymously in public.
Small group fitness and clubs will reign as we crave humanity in an AI world.
Out: DEI
Robby Starbuck won, except a few companies like Costco. DEI rollbacks are almost complete and books like this are getting recommended to me from very surprising corners:6
This does not mean efforts here or in ESG should end. They just need reframing or retrenching—and maybe a look into parallel economies and alliances as the next legs of the journey.
In fact, the reframing already exists. This just in from a founder friend:
My friends in the space who survived never called themselves DEI, they call themselves cultural strategists helping companies stay relevant - speaks to their bottom line (the only thing they care about )
In: Devices, Drugs & Interventions
Already rebranding as performance vs wellness, the rise in devices, drugs and mild med will only be sped up by any dissolution of regulations and Big Tech in DC.
See: Red light therapy, dry needling, infrared, stem cells, med spas, medical tourism, telehealth GLP-1, Oura rings, unbothered data sharing.
AI therapy and AI coaches will start to take over regular therapy. Lawsuits and life-changing testimonials will both follow.
Out: Doing the Work
Just like adaptogens and nootropics, mindfulness, meditation apps, yoga are all downtrending according to search traffic. We’re just not that disciplined as a country.
In: Generational Gaps, Youth Nihilism, Chaos Embrace
Gen Alpha refuses hyper realistic video games, is poised to reject social media and will grow up not just social natives but AI natives.
Their brains will be infinitely different than those of the past.
In: Revolution Girlies & Politics as Fandom
Luigi Mangione may be buried by the mass media and over-perped by NYC and its monied overlords. But #freeLuigi brought politics into a modern female fandom, not Fox News, dad rallies and podcasts (which are basically talk radio).
Cute Millennial moms and Gen Z baddies were literally dancing in the streets while calling out CEOs, “getting ready with me” while giving tactics for billionaire resistance or calling shooting a las spoon.
The trail was paved by K-pop.
Out: Sustainable Biz As It Has Been
Many are predicting sutainable businesses as out. I don’t believe it. Alpha and Z are too dialed into the reality of climate. But just like DEI/ESG it will require fresh approaches.7
Out: the Kardashians, traditional influencing and getting texted or emailed by any politician (🤞🏻)
But SKIMS will continue to kick ass because the brand transcends Kim.
2025 will require curiosity, tenacity, endurance, technique and a deep sense of the cosmic joke. Let’s do it.. together! 🥂
Women are driving gun ownership rates right now.
Coded! Coded! We all know women already live many of these qualities but honestly, we often punish each other for them just as much as we may accuse the patriarchy of it.
And I’ve already openly attempted to manifest its demise!
Incidentally expiration dates on food may be phased out. Why?
I tried a beef tallow hand cream and within 10 minutes the smell made me ill, soaked into my steering wheel and I feared being attacked by a dog. But indeed, it IS moisturizing
You know who you are, I’m on chapter 4
CMOs, Non-Profit Leaders, VC, Founders in the space - book a free consult with me. Sincerely!
I have re-read this several times. It’s fascinating and in a lot of ways I am here for it. Or a trip to Scheels atleast.