#5SmartReads - June 23, 2022

Olivia is the co-founder of Fresh Starts Registry, the first ever registry for anyone navigating life changes. Her background is in social media marketing, and she is the founder of March Lion Media, which has managed social media for all sorts of companies and people for a decade. Olivia is a single mom of two amazing boys on Long Island (born and bred!), and in her spare time, she is working on a novel, loves to read about sociology and families, and collects crystals.

Family Ghosts In The Executive Suite (Harvard Business Review)

I am fascinated by the way trauma impacts our day-to-day life, especially when it comes to the way we interact in the work space. This piece from Harvard Business Review taps into the roles we played as children in our family systems and how they affect the way we interact with our colleagues and as leaders in the workplace. I was born a natural leader (I have strong BSE: big sister energy), but I definitely am a people pleaser, too! I really liked the tips in this piece for changing our personal narrative in our careers and as leaders.

Are Millennial Food Influencers Okay? (NY Eater)

I've been managing social media for clients for over a decade, so I always take the time to read pieces like this one from Eater, about the massive changes in the social media + influencer world - especially when it pertains to the OG influencers. As someone who's been in the world since the beginning, I very much see the vast differences in what used to turn the needle on social media and how the platforms have changed. It's like the difference between buying a house outright and renting - one is on borrowed land (ahem ahem, algorithm changes) and sometimes major shifts occur and you can't do anything about it. This piece which investigates what's happening to the original food bloggers and influencers is a fascinating look at how we've all changed the way we ingest social media and influence, too.

Why Did The Star Wars Hotel Flop? Disney Is Desperate To Find Out (Fatherly)

Yikes. It's rare for Disney to have such a flop of a project, but the Star Wars immersion hotel was just that. So why did it fail? Obviously Covid played a part in this, but...it's not the whole story. Did you check out the Star Wars hotel? Disney is looking to understand why their first fully immersive hotel experience was so bad that no one wanted to book a stay by paying the customers who did book at the hotel to complete a paid survey on what went wrong. It's a fascinating look at the importance of focus groups and reassessing when things simply don't go as planned!

The Grandparents Are NOT Okay (Burnt Toast)

I've been dieting my entire life and now, in my late 30s, I've made a resolution to never diet again; I've worked with body coaches to develop healthy habits, and I'm really proud of myself for finally coming to a place of acceptance and love for my body and habits. I'm a huge fan of Virginia Sole-Smith's newsletter Burnt Toast, and this issue about the Boomer generation's fatphobia was both enlightening and aggravating. I'm very careful to not give food mortality to my sons, and I know I'm not the only parent of my generation to eschew diet culture forever and raise their kids differently - but we have some forces against us as a parent culture - and this newsletter addresses how to handle that.

Christina Aguilera Tapped Into Her ‘Dirrty’ Roots For L.A. Pride 2022 (W Magazine)

Wow. That's all I can say is WOW. I'm a big fan of Christina Aguilera and she showed up when it came to fashion for her show at L.A. Pride this year. She wore 8 custom new outfits - and I so appreciate that her stylists tapped into LGBTQ+ designers for each creation. Each look is a masterpiece and both visually stunning and also tells a story.

This W Magazine article gives a behind the scenes look into the styles and how they came to be - and let's just give a standing ovation to the rainbow outfit because it's brilliantly crafted and just beyond gorgeous! Which outfit is your fave?