Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Monica Lewinsky TED talks, Mary Barra prepares for a deposition, and the Empire showrunner tells us how she turned the series into a weekly must-watch. Read on to learn how a group of high school students are using cookies to promote wage equality. Enjoy your Friday.
EVERYONE'S TALKING
• A survivor. Yesterday, Monica Lewinsky gave a TED talk on the culture of humiliation, stepping back onto the public stage for the first time since speaking at a Forbes' conference last year. She dubbed herself "Patient Zero" and called for an end to internet shaming. In the New York Times, Lewinsky shares her (uh, understandable) concerns about opening up to the media, and talks about what she hopes her speech will achieve. "In someone else’s darkest moment, lodged in their subconscious might be the knowledge that there was someone else who was, at one point in time, the most humiliated person in the world," she says. "And that she survived it.”
ALSO IN THE HEADLINES
• A money management master. Meet Maheen Rahmano, CEO of Alfalah GHP Investment Management Ltd. in Karachi, Pakistan. Rahmano oversees the equivalent of $180 million in stocks and bonds, and positioned her firm for a potential 40% jump in client assets in 2015. Yet she says her gender makes it hard to get the respect she deserves. "After all these years, I still routinely get asked why I don’t just design clothes," says Rahmano. Bloomberg
• Tapping foreign friends. Clinton Foundation documents reveal that the organization raised millions of dollars from foreigners with connections to their home governments during the period when Hillary Clinton was secretary of state. Records show that, collectively, these donors gave between $34 million and $68 million. WSJ
• Legal battles continue. General Motors CEO Mary Barra in October will be deposed by lawyers representing consumers who have sued the automaker over its defective ignition switches. Other GM employees are also expected to be deposed, with examinations starting in May. WSJ
• Actually, they can. Emily Goldwyn, 25, and Sasha Spielberg, 24, are film industry royalty (their respective dads are John Goldwyn and Steven Spielberg) who choose not to follow the typical Hollywood path. Together, the two write and star in the first-ever scripted series for Snapchat, “Literally Can’t Even.” New York Times
• Building an empire. Already missing Empire? Ilene Chaiken, showrunner of the Fox breakout hit (and creator of Showtime series The L Word), sheds some light on what makes Empire so addictive. "One of the first things I said as a principle is you have to make the audience gasp at least three times an episode—maybe more," says Chaiken. I'd say she succeeds. Fast Company
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
• Tackling the trolls. In this op-ed, actor Ashley Judd writes movingly about the threatening and abusive messages she received after sending out a basketball-related tweet last weekend. Judd draws a connection between the online vitriol and the sexual abuse she experienced earlier in her life, and notes that this behavior is far from rare. "What happened to me is the devastating social norm experienced by millions of girls and women on the Internet," writes Judd. MIC
• Cellphone switch-up. Current chairwoman Cher Wang will replace Peter Chou as the CEO of Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC. The move comes at a time when the company’s share of the global phone market, once in the double digits, is less than 2%. WSJ
• On the record. On Thursday, Lindsey Vonn won the super-G at the World Cup Finals, earning a 19th World Cup season title. Vonn has now tied the men's record, which was set by Swedish skier Ingemar Stenmark. Can she break it? We'll have to wait for next year to find out. NBC Sports
• Watch your words. Janet Napolitano, former Secretary of Homeland Security and current president of the University of California, has apologized for describing a student protest as "crap." She made the remark when students disrupted a UC regents meeting, chanting and stripping as a protest against higher tuition. "I’m sorry for using a word I don't usually use," said Napolitano. LA Times
• Baking for equal pay. The Young Democrats Club at Jordan High School in Utah had a bake sale to promote wage equality. How do you send a message with cookies? Charge men $1 per treat, while women pay just 77 cents. Good4Utah
CORRECTION: Former Facebook employee Chia Hong is suing the company for sex harassment, not sexual harassment.
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ON MY RADAR
What gender inequality looks like in collegiate sports The Atlantic
China's "queen of poker" talks about what it's like to play professionally in Macau Business Insider
PowerPoint karaoke brings stress relief to Silicon Valley's embattled office workers WSJ
The Tumblr that's fighting for gender equality in the music industry Mic
QUOTE
Do something you really love... If you love it, it'll get you through the hard times, and if you don't, it's not authentic or real anyway
fashion designer Vera Wang
