Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Rent the Runway has lost seven top execs in the past ten months, Kohl’s may soon get its first female CEO, and working women in Japan report an epidemic of “pregnancy harassment.” Enjoy your Tuesday.
EVERYONE'S TALKING
• Culture clash? Fortune's Daniel Roberts reports that Rent the Runway, a fashion rental company, has lost seven top execs in the past ten months. Roberts spoke to five former RTR employees, each of whom said that the turnover is due to serious problems with the company culture, which they described as "unwelcoming, stressful and occasionally hostile." Jennifer Hyman, CEO of Rent the Runway, disagrees, saying that the changes are simply a natural step in the lifecycle of a growing startup. “Like any startup in hyper-growth mode, growth often brings change, and with it, evolution in the executive team,” she says. Fortune
ALSO IN THE HEADLINES
• Kohl's contenders. Kohl's has named Sona Chawla, a former Walgreens e-commerce executive, its new COO. The appointment makes Chawla one of two leading candidates to be the retailer's next CEO. She will be competing for the top job with chief merchandising and marketing officer Michelle Gass, who Kohl's recruited away from Starbucks two years ago. Fortune
• The Gawker gap. Dayna Evans, a former Gawker writer who now works at New York Magazine, writes about Gawker Media's "woman problem." She describes a company in which the work of women writers and editors—including those who work for Jezebel, the group's only publication aimed at female readers—is regularly overlooked. Evans also writes that there's an "egregious pay discrepancy" between Gawker's male and female employees. Medium
• Berated for childbearing. A new survey of female workers in Japan finds that more than one-fifth of permanent employees—and nearly half of temporary workers—report that they've been demoted, dismissed, unfairly treated, or verbally harassed because of pregnancy and childbearing. Quartz
• Parsing Polyvore. Polyvore CEO Jess Lee talks to Fortune's Leena Rao about why she sold the social commerce site to Yahoo and what she envisions for Polyvore's future. Fortune
• Why perfection is imperfect. Simone Marean, executive director of Girls Leadership, a nonprofit that teaches girls life and leadership skills, says striving for perfection is the No. 1 enemy when it comes to raising confident young women. To help girls learn to lead, she says, we must focus on teaching them to fail. Fortune
• Passing on the little pink pill. In Viagra's first month on the market, more than half a million men got prescriptions. Compare that to the 227 prescriptions written for Addyi, the women’s libido-boosting pill, in its first few weeks. Doctors blame Addyi's serious potential side effects. Bloomberg
• Family (leave) feud. Sen. Bernie Sanders is taking on Hillary Clinton over paid family leave, an issue that she supports but has yet to release a plan to tackle. Sanders, on the other hand, backs Congressional legislation to create a federal fund to reimburse workers who take time off after the birth or adoption of a child, to care for a family member or to deal with a serious health problem. WSJ
MOVERS AND SHAKERS: Sue Brooks has been named Reuters’ global head of product. Previously, she served as director of international products and platforms at The Associated Press. Former Observer editor-in-chief (and Gawker founding editor) Elizabeth Spiers has launched a new lifestyle design site called Everup.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
• Ad advocate. Samantha Skey, CMO of SheKnows Media, takes on critics of "girl power" ads (think Always' "Like a Girl" campaign). While Skey acknowledges that the genre can be sappy or manipulative, she argues that these women-friendly spots are helping to chip away at the larger problem of sexism in the ad industry. Fortune
• Ronda's return? What’s next for UFC fighter Ronda Rousey, who just suffered her first-ever loss? The New York Times notes that, at 28, Rousey is young for the sport (the median age of a UFC champ is 31), and Rousey herself posted on Instagram that “I’ll be back.” Fortune's Daniel Roberts also weighed in, saying that he doesn't expect the loss to hurt Rousey's stardom or the UFC's popularity. Curious about Holly Holm, the woman who defeated Rousey? People has a quick introduction to the fighter, who is known as "The Preacher's Daughter."
• A different kind of gamer. Meet game designer Nina Freeman, who makes quiet, personal video games about sex and relationships. The Guardian
• Shore style. Former Jersey Shore reality TV star Nicole "Snooki" LaValle is back, launching a new clothing line called—what else?—Snooki Love. Racked
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ON MY RADAR
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This new Barbie ad starring a boy challenges gender stereotypes Refinery29
QUOTE
I had a crappy answer, but it was a fair question.
Former Republican vice presidential candidate and pundit Sarah Palin, backtracking on Katie Couric's famous 2008 question about what newspapers had informed Palin's world view. Palin did not name a single paper in her answer and had previously criticized the question as having a 'partisan agenda.'
