What is The Business of Women?*
Twirling the culture/marketing/womanhood ouroboros.
Why This Newsletter?
Women are:
• 81% of social media influencers
• 2/3 of marketing & advertising professions
• 85% of consumer spending decisions
• 40% of U.S. breadwinners
We drive this thing. And yet:
The Love-Hate-?! of Buying In
Despite all that economic and industry power, overwhelmingly women say brands don’t get us. Culture, work and the whole damn system? Don’t get me started.
Few brands are even a little courageous.
And consumers? Well, it’s complicated.
We go girlboss, we hate girlboss. We buy a body positive phone case, we telemed Ozempic. We critique late-stage capitalism as a business launch strategy. We trash-talk fast fashion on a friend-date to Target.
You could call it hypocrisy, or you could call it the system. When we’ve been sold that buying things is our identity, belief system and civic duty, yeah. When we’ve been trained to constantly self-improve and fit in, of course.
It used to be easier.
It’s Our Business. Can We Change it?
I’ve struggled with these contradictions, especially in the current takedown culture. But this many women working in the industries and buying the stuff, I can’t be alone.
So let’s dissect it, discuss it and make it better. Together.
Background: As a kid, fashion magazines were sacred texts full of promise. Then I ripped them to shreds in Women’s Studies. Then I worked in the beauty industry. Back then, we thought organic shampoo would save the world. (Spoiler alert: didn’t.)
After working in female-focused brands my whole career, I even co-founded one: Wile, a supplement brand for midlife women focused on mental wellness and perimenopause.
It was another proof point that brands can be smart, mildly subversive AND fairly mainstream.
Engagement spikes for cultural deep dives on things like midlife women’s body image, plastic surgery and “aging gracefully.” Any post on Gwyneth Paltrow is a cocaine bear for clicks.
Bro SVPs will tell you marketing to women has got to stay positive (or tear jerking). A male buyer told us one of my product babies, Un-Anger a woman’s anger product would never sell. Women tell us they “need it by the gallon.”
It takes women to change things on the shelves, scroll and culture.
The Biz of Women: Part Cultural Critique, Part Trend Piece
Why aren’t we?
Well, we’ve got a lot going on. So I’m hoping this micro-corner can be a place to dissect forces, shine light on good trouble and dig into the forces surrounding us.
The goal of the newsletter? To be a better version of the conversations I have with smart colleagues and hopefully grow a little space of like-minded folks to share differing ideas.
I’ll talk to smart marketers, push out perspective, do some roundups.
My dream: This space can grow into a place that marketers, cultural critics and product junkies can all get something out of, most of the time.
Thanks for playing. And remember: NEVER pinch an inch.
* and what isn’t