#5SmartReads - February 10, 2023

Olivia on Barns & Noble's turnaround, who controls dating, and Anna Kendrick's newest movie

February 10, 2023

Olivia Dreizen Howell is the co-founder and CEO of Fresh Starts Registry, the first and only platform for everything you need to begin again, including divorce or breakup, moving, career changes, stepping into your truth, or starting again after grief. She's a single mom of two amazing boys on Long Island (born and bred!), and in her spare time, she loves to watercolor, make handmade cards, read about generational trauma, listen to 90s music, and collect crystals I know nothing about, but love the way they feel.

As someone deeply invested in the world of media, books, and building businesses, I was very intrigued by this piece from Ted Gioia's Substack about the major changes Barnes and Noble have been through in the last few years.

I've always loved Barnes and Noble, and this was a really interesting look at how B&N brought in new leadership who turned the boat around, but...not in the way you'd think. The line that I loved from this piece was,

"But I almost hate to say it, because the lesson is so simple. If you want to sell music, you must love those songs."

As an entrepreneur and CEO who is totally obsessed with my company, I very much understand this concept and think it's important to have a real and true love for what you are doing in order to make change in the industry. Have you noticed a change in Barnes and Noble in the past few years?

Oh, I loved this piece by Debbie Millman, a designer and brand consultant all about building your personal brand - or, do we need to? As someone who has found her way into building a personal brand (let's be honest, I've had a personal brand on the internet since my AOL chat room days in 1997), I am fascinated with the concept of what it means to have a personal brand - and does everyone need a personal brand in 2023?

This piece takes us through the history of branding, personal branding, social media and celebrity branding. If you're in marketing, engrossed in pop culture, or building a personal brand, you're going to want to read this piece.

I really loved this line,

"Brands are constructed entities people conjure and create with imagination and innovation. The success or failure of that projection is measured by how many people become engaged and invested in the communication."

If this is the case - are personal brands authentic to who we are? So many great questions to think about!

Have you ever tried online dating?

I started dating people I met on the internet (specifically Match.com and JDate) back in the early 2000s, and eventually met my (now ex) husband on Match. I was fascinated with this article outlining the history of the business of dating apps, and how much of a superpower Match.com is in the world of dating apps.

However, people are starting to catch on that these apps may be more about the business than the people and connection (shocker, lol). It's an interesting look at the world of dating apps, the behind the scenes of how the apps work (do they work?), and the future of dating apps.

Well, as someone who is currently raising capital for her company, this TechCrunch piece quite literally made my blood boil. Did you know that in 2021, female founders received 1.9% of the capital deployed by VCs.

This article by the wonderful Dominic Madori outlines what's happening in the world of female founders and poses thoughtful and insightful questions about this disgraceful inequity in the world of startups. As someone who is going through the process of raising, I can tell you, this article is spot on - and so disheartening.

It's time to talk about this in a bigger conversation about generational wealth for women, how women's finances are tied to men, and what we can do about this.

I've been doing a lot of reading about Anna Kendrick's new film, "Alice, Darling," because it's the story of a woman who realizes she's experiencing intimate partner violence. IPV is often a looked over violence because it's incredibly nuanced and usually, in fact, most of the time, there is zero physical violence involved - in fact, in my own experience, it was all emotional abuse, which is frightening, because it's hard to explain to others, and often, people don't believe you.

I cried watching the trailer for this, and honestly, I'm going to have to really prepare myself to watch this, as IPV can make you question every single thing around you. I'm so proud of Anna for sharing her story via this movie and speaking out about her own experience with this.

I hope by sharing my story, and her story, more women will feel safe talking about what's happening in their homes.

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