Working Girl's Guide: Edition #3

Welcome to installment #3 of the Working Girl’s Guide. Up today: northern lights, Apple stock buyback, my trip to Bermuda with my mom, and the oversized blazer that will earn you an immediate promotion. Let’s get into it.

You might have seen the northern lights that were visible in a lot of the US over the weekend. Or if you didn’t, you definitely saw a million Instagram stories from everyone you’ve ever known. But are we all going to die?? Basically, no. It’s just a solar storm that collided with earth’s magnetic field. That’s when charged particles from the sun blast into space and hit the earth, which sounds terrifying, but according to scientists, actually isn’t.

Noelia Voigt, who was Miss USA 2023, and UmaSofia Srivastava, the former Miss Teen USA 2023, both gave up their titles, citing mental health and lack of value alignment. According to Voigt, the organization is “toxic.” She accused them of “bullying and harassment,” and said the CEO and President, Laylah Rose, is “cold and unnecessarily aggressive.” Love that Voigt and Srivastava are standing up for what they believe in. Major slays all around!

Apple announced a plan to buy back $110 billion of its shares, and a bunch of companies are following suit, with almost $1 trillion of buybacks from big tech companies planned over the next year. Why though?? Basically, companies execute stock buybacks, aka share repurchases, in order to up the value of outstanding shares (more ownership = fewer shares on the market which = higher value for individual shares). They do this when they think their shares are undervalued, or when they want to improve their financial ratios. It’s like when you’re dating multiple people, and don’t really have the time to care about any of them, so then you pick one, and now you can invest more of your time/energy into that one person. Sort of???

It’s been way too long since I’ve gone OOO for more than a few hours, so I took my mom on a much-deserved (for her) trip to Bermuda (!). Beaches were unreal, fruity cocktails were even better, and I definitely need a hairspray rec from all of you to tame these windy flyaways (see my terrifyingly windblown hair below). Truly such an unforgettable trip, and feel very lucky to have spent some QT with my biggest supporter / OG fan.

Enough dresses + beachy waves. We’re back to blazers and corporate slays (my wheelhouse, if you will). I will die on a hill that investing in an oversized blazer is the best decision you can make. I wear this thing to the office then throw on a bodysuit and boom...I'm heading to happy hour? Did someone say fashionista? Here's an outfit I threw together for drinks with friends...I'll save discussing the perfect oversized jeans for another newsletter, but yes, you also need those.

If you’re like me and trying to exercise more but getting bogged down with everything else you have to do, then I need you to understand that there is nothing you can’t accomplish while walking at 2.8 speed and 12 incline on the treadmill. I know I didn’t invent the hot girl incline walk, but my WFH take on it is as follows: set up my laptop on the tread (literally at my local gym), respond to emails / get my personal inbox down to 0 / plan a bday party for a friend / go over my expenses and spending. Someone can probably explain this better than I can, but I feel like I can focus better while I’m walking, and plus, boring tasks + exercise at same time = SUPER EFFICIENT.

On this week’s episode of the podcast, Ross and I answer the burning question on the tip of everyone’s tongue: what do B2B Sales and proposing to your girlfriend have in common? You might be surprised. Also surprising: Ross was once banned from LinkedIn. How does that even happen? And tune in for our answers to classic listener-submitted questions, like “What do I do next as a top performer?” and “How do I ask my coworker about their cult?”

Thanks for reading!